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Pocono Raceway: Sunoco Red Cross 500

Sorting Out The Sleepers

By Mike Maruska | July 30, 2008

Sleep Analysis: Finding the Pocono Sleepers

Before I get to this week's Sleepers notes and insight, it's important to remind everyone of the cardinal rule of Fantasy sports: Don't Outsmart Yourself.

Over the past few weeks I have grown tired of choosing Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson to win races each week. So this past week I decided to tab a darkhorse, Brian Vickers to win the Brickyard 400.

While Vickers has certainly impressed this year and is a front runner on speedways, Red Bull Racing isn't quite ready for prime time and it cost me.

Don't let it happen to you!

Now let's take a look at an entire list of drivers that won't win this weekend.

Elliott Sadler Sadler ran in the top ten all day at Indy and Gillet-Evernham appears to have built a few fast speedway cars. Sadler should find himself in the top 15 again.
Juan Pablo Montoya Two races, two crashes and suddenly Montoya is outside the top 20 in points. In three career Pocono starts Montoya has a 67.5 driver rating and a 24.7 average finish.
Travis Kvapil A 24.8 average finish is decent but a 48.8 driver rating says he's been more lucky than good at Pocono.
David Gilliland Gilliland finished 16th this spring at Pocono. He has defied his career curve this year and is a decent bet to finish in the top 20.
Casey Mears The good news is that Mears' teammates are all running well and getting fast cars. The bad news is that Mears has been unable to attain that performance.
Mark Martin Martin is the driver on this list with the best chance at a top five or top ten finish. He has 30 top 10's in 43 starts and owns a 95.3 driver rating in his last seven (driver rating numbers only go back to 2005).
David Reutimann
Paul Menard Aside from winning the pole at Daytona, Menard has had a rough summer. He did finish 25th at Pocono in June which is about where he is expected to run.
Robby Gordon After missing last August's race for his extra curricular activities in the Busch race, Gordon will be happy to be in the field.
Dave Blaney Blaney is steady, but not outstanding at Pocono. A 22.1 average finish at Pocono matches closely with his 26.3 season average.
Reed Sorenson No finishes better than 24th in his career at Pocono. Sorenson did show some progress at Indy with a 17th place finish, but Ganassi cars shouldn't be trusted at speedways this year.
Michael Waltrip After he couldn't avoid the headlines in 2007, Waltrip is surprisingly incognito this year. Sadly that means his performance is also MIA.
Sam Hornish Jr In the spring Hornish hit everything but the pacecar on his way to a 42nd place.
Regan Smith Smith qualified 4th in the spring Pocono race to everyone's surprise. He then faded to 28th, to no one's surprise.
Scott Riggs Riggs clawed his way back into the top 35 last week. He is good enough to avoid trouble and score some top 30 finishes. That's still not good enough to rely on for scoring points in a Fantasy game though.
Terry Labonte Labonte subs for Patrick Carpentier in the #10 this week while Carpentier drives in the Montreal Nationwide race. Labonte has done well to only use three Champ provisionals in seven races so far.
JJ Yeley A decent choice based on his 19.5 average finish and 67.9 driver rating. The trouble lies in Hall of Fame Racing and whether they can produce a fast enough car for Yeley to take advantage.
Joe Nemechek Nemechek is surprisingly good at Pocono with a 19.2 average finish in his last six starts. He also qualified 5th in the spring.
Michael McDowell Will have to qualify on time for the first time this year.
AJ Allmendinger Allmendinger comes off his first Cup top ten at Indy. He has been fast at speedway races like Charlotte, Pocono and Michigan. There is still the question about consistency for a young driver and young team.

Tell me more

Rk	Driver	Points	Back	W	5	10
2008 NASCAR Points Outside Top 20
21	Bobby Labonte	3448	-3236	0	0	2
22	David Reutimann	3397	-3287	0	0	4
23	Travis Kvapil	3384	-3300	0	0	4
24	Elliott Sadler	3364	-3320	0	2	8
25	Juan Pablo Montoya	3329	-3355	0	2	3
26	Paul Menard	3151	-3533	0	1	1
27	David Gilliland	3064	-3620	0	1	2
28	Mark Martin	3022	-3662	0	4	11
29	Michael Waltrip	2889	-3795	0	1	2
30	Dave Blaney	2851	-3833	0	0	2
31	Scott Riggs	2797	-3887	0	0	1
32	Reed Sorenson	2795	-3889	0	1	2
33	Robby Gordon	2770	-3914	0	0	3
34	Regan Smith	2672	-4012	0	0	0
35	Sam Hornish Jr	2523	-4161	0	0	0
36	AJ Allmendinger	2436	-4248	0	0	2
37	Joe Nemechek	1989	-4695	0	0	0
38	Patrick Carpentier	1794	-4890	0	0	0
39	Bill Elliott	1528	-5156	0	0	0
40	Michael McDowell	1466	-5218	0	0	0
41	JJ Yeley	1263	-5421	0	1	1
42	Aric Almirola	1075	-5609	0	0	1
43	Ken Schrader	1040	-5644	0	0	0
Complete NASCAR Point Standings