“I’m passing along these thoughts from our resident Stats Whiz, Steve, who writes the NASCAR predicted finishes column.

How must Mark Martin’s crew feel after he offered to hop in the 24’s ride if his friend Jeff Gordon had his first child? On the surface, Martin’s offer seemed generous and just what you would expect from a classy guy like him. But wait. Martin could still make the Chase if he ran the full schedule the rest of the way. His crew likely would love the excitement of competing in the playoffs in their first season together. If Martin did not want to run the race under any circumstance, fine. But he’ll run it for his friend but not lay it out there for his team?

Also, this week’s penalties to Gordon and Johnson might send warnings signs to Dale Jr.

Why?

Well, if Hendrick is all one team, and some engineers on either the 24 or 48 teams found an improvement to the car, why didn’t the 5 or 25 teams find out about it and get to use it? Anybody?

Maybe Hendrick was going to experiment with the new design on two of its four cars. Maybe. Or, maybe there really are two sets of teams at Hendrick, the elite garage and the step-children?”

Lenox Industrial Tools 300

Fuel Mileage Fiasco

After a fuel mileage fiasco of a road course race in California the series heads to Loudon, New Hampshire this week. If NASCAR wants their viewer ratings to go up they had better think a little harder before they try and change things on the cars like the fuel cells. Yes, safety should be their number 1 concern but they also have to think about entertainment value.

After all, it is a business.

My Pick To Win Loudon

This week’s race is another COT race. That makes you think Hendrick, Gibbs, Penske and Childress to be the serious contenders. I am going to go with Tony Stewart for the win this weekend. Tony has finished 1st or 2nd in 3 of the last 4 races run at Loudon. He also had the car to beat at Bristol earlier this year in the first COT race ever run.

Loudon Frontrunners

The Hendrick teams have won almost every race run with the COT this season but Jimmie Johnson has been average here since sweeping the events in 2003 and Jeff Gordon has only 3 top 10’s in his last 11 races in Loudon. Kyle Busch won the race here last spring but followed it up with a 38th place finish last fall.

Ryan Newman has 2 wins and 7 top 10’s in 10 races run at Loudon. The Penske teams have been gaining momentum in the COT races as the season has progressed. Kurt Busch has also won at Loudon before, sweeping here in 2004 and then coming out to finish 2nd in the spring race of 2005. Since then Kurt has struggled a bit at the track.

Denny Hamlin has only 2 starts at Loudon but he seems to favor the flatter tracks on the circuit anyway. Denny finished 6th and 4th in his starts at the track last season and should be a serious contender when all is said and done.

Kevin Harvick won last falls race at Loudon as the Chase began. Kevin was awesome on these types of tracks all last season and the Childress teams have had good COT’s this year. They just seem to have some type of trouble mechanically during the races. Jeff Burton has 3 straight top 10 finishes at Loudon and has won here in the past. He also gave Kyle Busch a run for his money at Bristol earlier this year in the first COT race.

Martin Truex Jr. and DEI won the last COT race not taking into account last weeks race at the road course. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has 5 top 10 finishes in his last 8 races here while Martin had finishes of 18th and 22nd last season in his only 2 Cup starts at this track.

Roush Is Struggling

Roush Racing seems to be the big name team who is a little behind the curve when it comes to the COT. I’m not saying that they are terrible it just seems that they don’t have quite enough to contend for a win in these races.

Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards find themselves towards the front of the pack during the races but just can’t seem to find the right adjustment to make at the end to give them the shot at winning. Matt has finished in the top 10 at Loudon in 8 of his last 9 races. Greg has 3 top 5 finishes in his last 4 starts here and Carl finished second here last spring.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Tony Stewart (starter)
• Jimmie Johnson

Group B

• Ryan Newman (starter)
• Jamie McMurray (starter)
• Kurt Busch
• Denny Hamlin

Group C

• David Stremme(starter)
• JJ Yeley

Dark Horse

• Jamie McMurray

Stay Away From

• Casey Mears
• Clint Bowyer

“

“As NASCAR heads to the first road course of the 2007 season, we get the first influx of ‘Road Course Ringers’. I guess you could say they are the Cup version of ‘Buschwhackers’.

The main difference is that none of them have ever actually won a NASCAR Cup event road course race.

As a minor caveat, road courses aren’t new for NASCAR. The first official NASCAR (then Grand National) road course race was way back on June 13, 1954 at Linden Airport in Linden New Jersey. The 2-mile paved road course used the airports runways. Foreign cars were allowed to compete in the event and it was won by Al Keller in a Jaguar. Keller pocketed a cool $1,000.00 for the win.

This weekends Toyota Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway pays a few hundred thousand more. Several NASCAR wanabees are hoping to snag the prize money. The question for you and me though is, “Should I put them on my fantasy team?”

Here’s the shakedown on how these ‘ringers’ have performed in the NASCAR road course diversions thus far.

Klaus Graf

Klaus will be driving the #49 for BAM Racing. Klaus has raced in 1 Cup event (2004) at Infineon Raceway. He started 38th and finished on the lead lap in 17th.

Terry Labonte

Terry is back in action this weekend because he guarantees the #55 NAPA Hatted Ho’s car a starting spot in the race with his Championship Provisional. If the car is decent, Terry probably won’t need to use it. He has raced 18 Cup events at Infineon and 17 Cup event at Watkins Glen from 1989 – 2006. His average finish at Infineon is 18th (median is 13th). His average finish at Watkins Glen is 20th (median is 14th).

Boris Said

Boris can’t just be considered a ‘ringer’ anymore, since he is serious about racing his #160 ‘No Fear’ team in several Nextel Cup events. Boris has raced in 7 Cup events at Infineon (2000 – 06). He has raced 6 Cup events at Watkins Glen (1999, 01, 02, 03, 05, 06) and 3 Busch Series events at Watkins Glen (1998, 05, 06). His best finish at Infineon is 6th (twice). His average finish in Cup events at Infineon is 19th (his median finish is 9th). His average finish in Cup events at Watkins Glen is 23rd. His average finish in Busch Series events at Watkins Glen is 22nd. Boris finished 5th, 2nd & 3rd in the Mexico City Busch Series race (2005, 06, 07).

Ron Fellows

Ron has raced some low-budget cars with bad results. He’s also had some success in better cars. This weekend he will be driving a good car, the #96 DLP car that is normally piloted by Tony Raines. He’s won 3 Busch Series races at Watkins Glen. Ron has raced in 5 Cup events at Infineon (2001, 02, 03, 05, 06). He has raced 9 Cup events at Watkins Glen (1995, 98, 99, 00, 01, 03, 04, 05, 06). He has raced 7 Busch Series events at Watkins Glen. His average finish in Cup at Infineon is 23rd. His average finish in Cup at Watkins Glen is 29th. His average finish in the Busch Series at Watkins Glen is 12th.

Brian Simo

Brian is racing the #37 for Front Row Motorsports. Brian has raced in 3 Cup events at Infineon (2000, 01, 05). He has raced in 2 Cup events at Watkins Glen (2001, 06). His average finish respectively is 29th and 39th. The high point in NASCAR road racing was a 10th place finish in the #33 Richard Childress Racing at Infineon in 2005. Brian has raced 2 Busch Series events at Watkins Glen (1997, 06) with an average finish of 31st. He also raced in the Mexico City race earlier this year with a 22nd place finish.

PJ Jones

PJ is taking over the #00 David Reutimann Burger King ride this weekend for Michael Waltrip Racing. PJ has raced in 4 Cup events at Infineon (1993, 04, 05, 06). He has raced in 6 Cup events at Watkins Glen (1993, 94, 00, 02, 03, 05). His average finish at Infineon is 33rd. his average finish at Watkins Glen is 22nd.

Brandon Ash

Brandon is racing the #102 Dodge this weekend. Brandon has raced in 2 Cup events at Infineon (2004, 06). His average finish is 40th.

Marc Goossens

Marc is racing the #191 Toyota this weekend. Marc has raced in 1 Cup event at Watkins Glen (2006) and 1 Busch Series event at Mexico City (2006). He finished 43rd and 9th respectively.

Butch Leitzinger

Butch is racing the #36 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing this weekend. Butch Leitzinger has raced in 3 Cup events (1994, 95, 96) at Watkins Glen and 5 Busch Series events at Watkins Glen (1994, 95, 96, 00, 06). He has not race at Infineon Raceway in the NASCAR series. His average finish in Cup events at Watkins Glen is 21st. His average finish in Busch Series events at Watkins Glen is 17th.

I’m putting my fantasy money on Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.”

Toyota Savemart 350

Infineon Road Course Ringers

This week we head to California for the first of 2 road course races this year. There are 52 drivers entered for the 43 starting positions this weekend with a few ringers thrown in.

• Terry Labonte will drive the #55 for Michael Waltrip
• P.J. Jones is trying to qualify the David Reutimann #00
• Ron Fellows will be subbing for Tony Raines on the #96 DLP Chevy
• Boris Said will be manning the #60 for his own team
• Klaus Graf will try and qualify the #49 for BAM Racing

My Pick To Win Infineon

My pick to win this weekend is Jeff Gordon. However, if Jeff’s wife goes into labor with the couple’s first child, Mark Martin will step in for him and drive the car. Not a bad backup if you need one at a road course. Jeff has 10 road course wins and Mark has 5 during their careers. Half of Jeff’s wins have come at Sonoma.

Infineon Frontrunners

Tony Stewart should provide much of the competition this weekend for Jeff. Tony has 5 road course wins in his career with 2 of them coming at Sonoma. Tony has run very well at Sonoma over the past few years with both of his wins and a 2nd place finish coming in the last 6 races here.

Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch have both been very good at Sonoma over the last few years but they don’t get the notoriety for it. They have both had some of the best performing cars but seem to have some terrible luck during the race. Kurt got caught entering the pits when they were closed last year but the light turned just as he hit the commitment cone and he had no other choice than to pit.

Juan Pablo Montoya won the Busch Series road course race in Mexico this year but not without a little controversy. Juan spun out his teammate, Scott Pruett making his pass on the last lap. Chip Ganassi has not entered Scott for the first time in many years at a road course. Juan won’t get away with bullying his way to the front this weekend.

Denny Hamlin has been surprisingly good in the few road course races he has run. He finished 12th last year at Sonoma but won the Busch race in Mexico last season and finished 2nd there this season. This kid just keeps on showing what he can do with a race car and it will be interesting to see how much better he will get with more experience.

Ricky Rudd has always run well at road courses. Ricky has 4 top 5 finishes in his last 6 races at Sonoma. Ricky missed the race last year because he took the year off but he has a very good shot at giving Robert Yates Racing a solid finish once again this weekend.

If Robby Gordon can stay away from mechanical difficulties this weekend he will have a shot at winning his first race with his own team. Robby is one of the best road course drivers entered this weekend but has struggled with mechanical failures lately during the road course races.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Jeff Gordon (starter)
• Tony Stewart

Group B

• Juan Pablo Montoya (starter)
• Ricky Rudd (starter)
• Kurt Busch
• Ryan Newman

Group C

• Boris Said (starter)
• Ron Fellows

“

The Official BBQ Sauce™ of NASCAR this weekend is Apple BBQ Sauce. I say this weekend, because there’s a chance it will get replaced by next weekends entry. Bear with me as I briefly explain how this great sponsorship came about.

I think routine is a good thing. My mind takes comfort in knowing that no matter how crazy things may get during the week, I will indeed be brought back to ‘center’ with the familiarity and pleasure of the routine that is my weekend.

I don’t keep a calendar. I couldn’t make a dental appointment with certainty for 6 months from now. My days are dictated by whatever action is deemed most important. But, ask my wife or girls what I’m doing 1, 10 or 49 Sunday’s from now and they’ll all tell you the same thing:

• I’ll be watching the NASCAR race
• I’ll be cooking out on the grill

A few days ago, I got an email from Chef Jason Warren. He had put my free NASCAR Widgets on his website. Interestingly enough, his site is called Smoke Stack Jacks, and surely warranted an immediate visit. Among other things, Jason has some great looking recipes on his web site.

Since my darling wife starts to sweat at the mere glance of a pepper, I had to bypass the Chipotle BBQ Sauce & Cola BBQ Sauce recipes and try out the Apple BBQ Sauce. My daughter mixed what was looking like a vile concoction in a large bowl and I liberally slathered it on my grilling chicken during its last few minutes over the flames. It was a great hit! My wife gave it a 10 out of 10 rating, and she swore it wasn’t just because it’s Father’s Day (which I wish a ‘happy one’ to all).

Jason has other recipes ranging from Mexican Cornbread to Sweet Potato Pie to Falling Chocolate Cake. He’s even got a few meat Rubs and something he calls Mojo. My weekly routine of grilling is going to take on a whole new flavor for the rest of the summer. I bottled my remaining Apple BBQ sauce for my wife’s chicken next weekend. For me though, it’s gonna be Chipotle. Thanks Jason”

“I’ve been wanting this little calculator for 5 years.

I just finished up (the slightly unpolished version…it’s still a little wild in Internet Exploder Explorer) of a handy Fantasy NASCAR Team Points Calculator.

Most fantasy leagues don’t update your team score until the NASCAR points become official on Monday. If you’re like me, you’re figuring your team score, and maybe your competitions team score by hand after the race on Saturday or Sunday. What a hassle having several browser tabs open, going back and forth between the race results and each driver, adding up scores on scrap paper to figure where my teams placed this week.

I hope this calculator does the trick. Try it out!”

Citizens Bank 400

Missing Pocono

I missed the whole race on Sunday due to work but I guess I didn’t miss very much. Rain has played havoc with its share of races this year already and we still have a long way to go. Monday races aren’t good for most fans and I am all in favor of trying to run as many races on Saturday night as possible. The make-up day would be Sunday and that should be better for most everyone.

My Pick To Win Michigan

This week we head to Michigan and I am going to pick Mark Martin to win. Give Mark a good car with a lot of power under the hood and he will be there at the end. Mark has won four times at Michigan throughout his career and I have a feeling that this is his week to break out with his first win for Ginn Racing.

Michigan Frontrunners

The toughest teams to beat this weekend for Mark will be his old teammates. Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle have both won at Michigan multiple times during their career and Carl Edwards has been knocking on the door since he joined the series a few years ago. Matt won last fall and Greg won back to back in the fall of 2004 and the spring of 2005. Carl has 4 top 10’s in 5 races at Michigan with 3 of those finishes being top 5’s and a 2nd place finish last spring.

Jeff Gordon has been tough to beat this season no matter where he is running. Steve Latarte made the right call last week at Pocono, giving yet another victory to Jeff. Jeff is the last Chevy driver to win at Michigan and that was way back in 2001. Jeff finished 2nd last fall and will be looking for his 5th victory this season.

Drivers With Potential

Martin Truex Jr. and Casey Mears have both been on the top of their games the last couple of weeks. This is the type of track that these guys excel at. Granted neither of them has been stellar at Michigan but the way they are driving they could surprise people once again this weekend.

Ryan Newman has also been at the top of his game lately and he is also a multiple winner at Michigan. Since winning back to back in 2003 and 2004 at Michigan Ryan has struggles a little bit but the team is rolling right now.

Down On Their Luck

Jimmie Johnson had a lot of trouble at Pocono last weekend and he dropped to 4th in the point standings. His best career finish at Michigan is 4th and he has only 4 top 10 finishes in 10 races here. Never count this team out but this week there are better options for your fantasy team.

Tony Stewart hasn’t won at Michigan in 7 years but has been off and on there since then. He has 5 top 5’s and 2 runner-up finishes since then but he has also finished in the 40’s twice and in the 20’s 3 times. Tony just doesn’t seem like he’s ready to break out yet this season but when he does he will go on a roll similar to last season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has never won at Michigan and has only 4 top 10 finishes there. However 2 of those came last year when Dale finished 3rd and 6th in the two races respectively. It just doesn’t seem like this team has the right components in place to keep the car on the track without having some issue right now. I’m sure that looking for a new team to drive for next year isn’t helping this team out right now.

Neither Kevin Harvick nor Jeff Burton has won at Michigan yet. Kevin came close back in 2003 but other than that the highlights are few and far between for these two drivers. Once again there are going to be better picks for your fantasy team this weekend.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Matt Kenseth (starter)
• Greg Biffle

Group B

• Mark Martin (starter)
• Ryan Newman (starter)
• Denny Hamlin
• Kurt Busch

Group C

• Reed Sorenson (starter)
• David Ragan

“

Below is a running commentary of some thoughts while watching the Pocono 500.

Robby Gordon had a problem and brought out a caution, wow, that’s unexpected. I’m sure it won’t be his fault though, it never is, just ask him.

The Fords are getting killed, only Matt Kenseth is consistently in the top 10. Edwards looks ok, but Biffle looks awful. I would have thought that the manufacturer gap would be closing throughout the season, but that just doesn’t seem to be happening.

News Flash for Kyle Petty – Letarte and the 24 weren’t just lucky. They were smart. And more smart than lucky. The fact that it took him 15 laps to even begin to consider that Letarte knew what he was doing is an embarrassment for someone whose name is Petty. His quote of “I just can’t compete with that” sums it up nicely. Here’s to hoping Chad McCumbee gets a crew chief that’s a lot smarter than his owner.

Think Hendrick gets preferential treatment from NASCAR? No caution for Jimmie Johnson just like Robby Gordon. Nice to see the consistency. On the timing of the NASCAR’s caution to give Gordon the victory, it seemed about right. Could NASCAR have waited another lap, maybe. But it seemed right.

With the exception of Jimmie Johnson, teams that had good practice sessions are having good days. Having a fast car seems more important than where you are starting today. Guys like Vickers who qualified well but practiced poorly are steadily falling backwards. Bad luck for Johnson, who was poised to finish high.”

Pocono 500

What’s Gonna Happen To Kurt Busch?

NASCAR could come down very hard on Kurt Busch after his latest run in with Tony Stewart on Monday at Dover. This isn’t the first time that a driver has taken his frustrations out on pit road but NASCAR will stop this now before someone really gets hurt. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a suspension and I’m not sure that Roger Penske would appeal if NASCAR does hand down this penalty. Roger knew what Kurt could be like when he hired him but I also know that Kurt isn’t the first person to hit another car on pit road on purpose.

My Pick To Win Pocono

This week we head to Pocono and Denny Hamlin will win his first race of the year. Denny has come so close so often that this should be a no-brainer this week. Denny won both races at Pocono last year, sat on the Bud Pole in both of them and led just about every practice session there.

Pocono Frontrunners

After Denny the Hendrick teams should all be tough once again this year. Last fall the worst finishing Hendrick car was Kyle Busch in 12th place. Jimmie Johnson finished 10th and 6th, Brian Vickers finished 4th in both races and Jeff Gordon finished 3rd in the fall. The average finishing position of the 24, 25 and 48 cars cumulatively over the last 7 years is under 10.

Getting back to Kurt Busch. Kurt has been great at Pocono over the last 3 races. If it weren’t for Denny Hamlin being so dominant last year Kurt would have won 3 races in a row there. If NASCAR doesn’t hand down a suspension to Busch you need him in your starting lineup this weekend.

Mark Martin is probably the best driver at Pocono without having won there yet. I say yet because he could do it this year. Mark has finished in the top 10 in over half of the races he has run at Pocono and I has finished 2nd 6 times. This is in 40 races at this track and he has had a good car all year with Ginn Racing.

Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick have both done well at Pocono recently. Jeff finished 9th in both races last year and Kevin has 3 top 10 finishes in his last 4 races there. Kevin needs his luck to change a little bit to get back in the groove. He has good cars every week but seems to get bit by some mechanical issue that he hasn’t been able to overcome during the race.

Carl Edwards won the first time he raced at Pocono and then followed it up with a 4th place finish later that year. Last year he went the opposite way and finished 25th and 39th in the races run at Pocono. Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle both finished in the top 10 last spring but I think the Roush teams will miss Mark Martin’s advice for getting around Pocono this year.

Tony Stewart has been good at Pocono lately and can always find out some things about setups from Denny Hamlin’s team if they need it. Tony needs to get a good clean race under his belt because he has been in the spotlight during the races for all the wrong reasons lately.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran well at Pocono from 2002 thru 2004 but has taken steps backwards since then. Dale has dropped to 15th in points because of the tire problems he had at Dover and needs to get back on the top of his game. Nobody wants to fight their way back into the Chase in August. They would rather be solidified in the top 10 somewhere.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Jimmie Johnson (starter)
• Jeff Gordon

Group B

• Denny Hamlin (starter)
• Kurt Busch (starter)
• Mark Martin
• Ryan Newman

Group C

• JJ Yeley (starter)
• David Ragan

Darkhorse

• JJ Yeley

Stay Away From

• Casey Mears

“

“That gets the outrageously high team score on my fantasy NASCAR team. Let everyone on the league wonder how I scored so many points.

ESPN Stockcar Challenge is in week 2 of the second segment. We started with a fresh $100 and 5 drivers to buy before the Coca-Cola 600. I laid down my money, using every last cent, to buy Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray & JJ Yeley. Not a bad team.

Some cat scored 847 points with his team this last week for the Autism Speaks 400. Meanwhile, my team netted me 570 points.

I figured up what his team must be:

• Martin Truex Jr
• Ryan Newman
• Carl Edwards
• Denny Hamlin
• Clint Bowyer

That was 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 8th.

This team cost $98.6 2 weeks ago. It’s valued at $100.8 now.”