Picks/WatkinsGlen/SunAfternoon
#1
08-05-2013, 06:30 AM
Picks/WatkinsGlen/SunAfternoon
Points and Congratulatory Remarks
Congrats to Jerry (77GP) for getting his first win of the year in Pocono! That win gives him a major moral boost going into Watkins Glen! That run moves him to 2nd in the Segment, just three races in!
Congrats to Keane for holding the overall points lead. However, for the third time this year, he is ahead in a tie breaker with me due to race wins.
Segment 3 is currently lead by a slim margin by Evan, SSMeansSuperSexy
Overall
1) Leprechaun93 2068 Leader (4 wins)
2) Cowboy6622 2068 Leader (1 win)
3) 02 Earnhardt 2020 -48
4) STUMPMI 2017 -51
5) MnteCrloSS47 2004 -64
6) BlazedSS 1978 -90
7) SSmeansSuperSexy 1964 -104
8) 77GP 1963 -105
9) monte carlo 3831 1940 -128
10) butch049 1935 -133
11) SupplySgt 1934 -134
12) Ricks 2006 SS 1904 -160
13) zjerry 1901 -163
14) 03JGMonte 1857 -211
15) carlm54stl 1851 -217
16) silverfish3 1835 -233
17) RocknSS04 1791
18) 05MistreSS 869
19) KCFITz78 620
Segment 3
1) 03JGMonte 345 Leader
2) 77GP 324 -21 (1 win in the Segment)
3) BlazedSS 324 -21
4) RocknSS04 322 -23
5) zjerry 318 -27
6) 02Earnhardt 317 -28
7) SSMeansSuperSexy 316 -29
8) Leprechaun93 309 -36 (1 win in the Segment)
9) Cowboy6622 309 -36
10) STUMPMI 309 -36
11) carlm54stl 298 -47
12) KCFitz78 296 -49
13) SupplySgt 288 -57
14) Mnte CarloSS47 286 -59
15) butch 049 281 -64
16) silverfish33 257 -78
17) Ricks 2006 SS 233 -102
18) monte carlo 3831 229 -106
This Week at Watkins Glen
Road courses seem to offer some of the best racing in NASCAR these days. They have the beating and banging of the short tracks, the emphasis on making the Chase means that teams focus on being good for these races because hey, nobody wants to miss the chase because you didn't feel like doing well in this one race. Plus, hey, those bonus points count just as much in the Chase!
Also, there are drivers who are consistently good, consistently terrible, inconsistent with good and bad, and some guys who are good at one road course and terrible at the other.... so lets sort out who is who...
CHEVROLET TEAMS
The only place the Toyota's and the For'ds may have a hcance may be this week at Watkins Glen.
Hendrick
The Hendrick gang seems to falter here in recent year.s..
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon's better road course is Sonoma. Neither guy has phenomenal finishes here. Plus, Jimmie took that major hit in turn 1 here as a Busch series driver years ago...
Jeff Gordon was the King of the Road in the 90's, winning 7 consecutive road course races, more than any other NASCAR driver... but he hasn't done that in recent years. While posting good finishes, he seems to hover around 10th-15th recently at this track, with Sonoma being his better track.
Let me put this in bold print, maybe someone will read it that way.... Dale Earnahrdt Jr barely has a snowballs hcance in hell of winning this race!!! He has one top 10 here back when Bush was President, 9/11 was just another fall day, and Jay Leno was still filling his monologue with Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky jokes. Dale Jr sucks at road racing. Plus, everything from engines blowing to brake lines going out have put Dale Jr in precarious positions here. STAY AWAY!!
Kasey is hard to tell here.... he has some good road racing experience and that win at Sonoma, but that seems to be his better road track.
Stewart Haas
I've said for years... Newman basically just wins his 1-2 races a year, and runs like crap everywhere else. He runs like crap here.
Stewart, however, is great here... he was urnning 3rd and spun here last year with like 20-25 to go and recovered okay, but he is a great orad racer here nonetheless.
Childres
While Harvick is pretty good here, I'd just look for him to clock off another top 10-top 15 and move along. I don't see him winning here honeslty.
Burton and Menard.... meh, you know the drill there.
Earnhardt Ganassi
McMurry is a little underrated on road courses, but not enough to make him a sleeper pick.
Montoya is your sleeper... he got tied up in a mess on lap 1 at Pocono, but was alright the weeks before that nad is a good road racer. However, he is Mr. Jet Dryer and Mr. Inconsistent and Mr. "I'm going to crash into everybody becasue my tire changer missed a lug." Seirously, can you depend on tha?
FORD RACING
Petty Motorsports
Ambrose is the man at Watkins Glen... Nationwide wins, two cup wins... but here is the thing.
How often does the hyped up driver end up crashing or something sutpid at a race? Johnson was all the hype at Pocono and look what happens. Ambrose is going to have some hype going to Watkins Glen. Does the pressure get him? Does luck?
The Petty team has tested at both road courses this year. I think they're pulling all the cards for these races.
Penske
The other hope for Ford comes from these guys. Joey Logano seems better at Sonoma, but isn't to be counted out at Watkins Glen either. Brad KEselowski has 3 tops 10s, two of them a pair of 2nd place runs in the last two years. He's getting a corner turned and might be right for the Glen.
Roush
On the good years, Edwards seems to do good at this track. He won a Nationwide race here a couple years back and can't be counted out. However, this isn't a good year for Ford so unless he dominates practice, I'm not betting on him.
Biffle and Stenhouse just aren't on par and aren't great road racers to bet on. Unless Stenhouse gained a lto of Nationwide experience or somethign stupid like that.
TOYOTA TEAMS
Joe Gibbs
One of the best picks this week has to be Pyle Buschit. Kyle, with the exception of his first time out here being a 33rd for Hendrick in 2005, has been in the top 10 every year. Last year, if not for oil on the track, he would have won easily, but still spun on the last lap and got a top 10. I think Kyle is going to be a tough guy to beat here.
Denny Hamlin is so far off his game he isn't even worth the gamble.
Kenseth was never a great road racer at Roush, and has been so off and inconsistent lately that he isn't worth betting on.
Michael Waltrip Racing
Clint Bowyer might be a tempting pick ,but he has been off a little the last couple of weeks and Sonoma is his better road track. Truex might be temping, but the same is true for him.
All that said.....
My Picks:
1) Marcos Ambrose
2) Brad Keselowski
3) Kyle Busch
Congrats to Jerry (77GP) for getting his first win of the year in Pocono! That win gives him a major moral boost going into Watkins Glen! That run moves him to 2nd in the Segment, just three races in!
Congrats to Keane for holding the overall points lead. However, for the third time this year, he is ahead in a tie breaker with me due to race wins.
Segment 3 is currently lead by a slim margin by Evan, SSMeansSuperSexy
Overall
1) Leprechaun93 2068 Leader (4 wins)
2) Cowboy6622 2068 Leader (1 win)
3) 02 Earnhardt 2020 -48
4) STUMPMI 2017 -51
5) MnteCrloSS47 2004 -64
6) BlazedSS 1978 -90
7) SSmeansSuperSexy 1964 -104
8) 77GP 1963 -105
9) monte carlo 3831 1940 -128
10) butch049 1935 -133
11) SupplySgt 1934 -134
12) Ricks 2006 SS 1904 -160
13) zjerry 1901 -163
14) 03JGMonte 1857 -211
15) carlm54stl 1851 -217
16) silverfish3 1835 -233
17) RocknSS04 1791
18) 05MistreSS 869
19) KCFITz78 620
Segment 3
1) 03JGMonte 345 Leader
2) 77GP 324 -21 (1 win in the Segment)
3) BlazedSS 324 -21
4) RocknSS04 322 -23
5) zjerry 318 -27
6) 02Earnhardt 317 -28
7) SSMeansSuperSexy 316 -29
8) Leprechaun93 309 -36 (1 win in the Segment)
9) Cowboy6622 309 -36
10) STUMPMI 309 -36
11) carlm54stl 298 -47
12) KCFitz78 296 -49
13) SupplySgt 288 -57
14) Mnte CarloSS47 286 -59
15) butch 049 281 -64
16) silverfish33 257 -78
17) Ricks 2006 SS 233 -102
18) monte carlo 3831 229 -106
This Week at Watkins Glen
Road courses seem to offer some of the best racing in NASCAR these days. They have the beating and banging of the short tracks, the emphasis on making the Chase means that teams focus on being good for these races because hey, nobody wants to miss the chase because you didn't feel like doing well in this one race. Plus, hey, those bonus points count just as much in the Chase!
Also, there are drivers who are consistently good, consistently terrible, inconsistent with good and bad, and some guys who are good at one road course and terrible at the other.... so lets sort out who is who...
CHEVROLET TEAMS
The only place the Toyota's and the For'ds may have a hcance may be this week at Watkins Glen.
Hendrick
The Hendrick gang seems to falter here in recent year.s..
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon's better road course is Sonoma. Neither guy has phenomenal finishes here. Plus, Jimmie took that major hit in turn 1 here as a Busch series driver years ago...
Jeff Gordon was the King of the Road in the 90's, winning 7 consecutive road course races, more than any other NASCAR driver... but he hasn't done that in recent years. While posting good finishes, he seems to hover around 10th-15th recently at this track, with Sonoma being his better track.
Let me put this in bold print, maybe someone will read it that way.... Dale Earnahrdt Jr barely has a snowballs hcance in hell of winning this race!!! He has one top 10 here back when Bush was President, 9/11 was just another fall day, and Jay Leno was still filling his monologue with Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky jokes. Dale Jr sucks at road racing. Plus, everything from engines blowing to brake lines going out have put Dale Jr in precarious positions here. STAY AWAY!!
Kasey is hard to tell here.... he has some good road racing experience and that win at Sonoma, but that seems to be his better road track.
Stewart Haas
I've said for years... Newman basically just wins his 1-2 races a year, and runs like crap everywhere else. He runs like crap here.
Stewart, however, is great here... he was urnning 3rd and spun here last year with like 20-25 to go and recovered okay, but he is a great orad racer here nonetheless.
Childres
While Harvick is pretty good here, I'd just look for him to clock off another top 10-top 15 and move along. I don't see him winning here honeslty.
Burton and Menard.... meh, you know the drill there.
Earnhardt Ganassi
McMurry is a little underrated on road courses, but not enough to make him a sleeper pick.
Montoya is your sleeper... he got tied up in a mess on lap 1 at Pocono, but was alright the weeks before that nad is a good road racer. However, he is Mr. Jet Dryer and Mr. Inconsistent and Mr. "I'm going to crash into everybody becasue my tire changer missed a lug." Seirously, can you depend on tha?
FORD RACING
Petty Motorsports
Ambrose is the man at Watkins Glen... Nationwide wins, two cup wins... but here is the thing.
How often does the hyped up driver end up crashing or something sutpid at a race? Johnson was all the hype at Pocono and look what happens. Ambrose is going to have some hype going to Watkins Glen. Does the pressure get him? Does luck?
The Petty team has tested at both road courses this year. I think they're pulling all the cards for these races.
Penske
The other hope for Ford comes from these guys. Joey Logano seems better at Sonoma, but isn't to be counted out at Watkins Glen either. Brad KEselowski has 3 tops 10s, two of them a pair of 2nd place runs in the last two years. He's getting a corner turned and might be right for the Glen.
Roush
On the good years, Edwards seems to do good at this track. He won a Nationwide race here a couple years back and can't be counted out. However, this isn't a good year for Ford so unless he dominates practice, I'm not betting on him.
Biffle and Stenhouse just aren't on par and aren't great road racers to bet on. Unless Stenhouse gained a lto of Nationwide experience or somethign stupid like that.
TOYOTA TEAMS
Joe Gibbs
One of the best picks this week has to be Pyle Buschit. Kyle, with the exception of his first time out here being a 33rd for Hendrick in 2005, has been in the top 10 every year. Last year, if not for oil on the track, he would have won easily, but still spun on the last lap and got a top 10. I think Kyle is going to be a tough guy to beat here.
Denny Hamlin is so far off his game he isn't even worth the gamble.
Kenseth was never a great road racer at Roush, and has been so off and inconsistent lately that he isn't worth betting on.
Michael Waltrip Racing
Clint Bowyer might be a tempting pick ,but he has been off a little the last couple of weeks and Sonoma is his better road track. Truex might be temping, but the same is true for him.
All that said.....
My Picks:
1) Marcos Ambrose
2) Brad Keselowski
3) Kyle Busch
Last edited by Cowboy6622; 08-05-2013 at 09:01 PM.
#5
08-05-2013, 02:09 PM
1. #9 Marcos Ambrose
2. #48 Jimmie Johnson
3. #47 A.J. Allmendinger <center>
2. #48 Jimmie Johnson
3. #47 A.J. Allmendinger <center>
Last edited by carlm54stl; 08-09-2013 at 03:33 PM. Reason: Changed pick
#10
08-07-2013, 12:40 PM
Dale Jr
Martin Truex Jr
Brad Keselowski
Martin Truex Jr
Brad Keselowski
Last edited by 02 Earnhardt Monte Carlo SS; 08-09-2013 at 03:08 PM.