Aaron’s 499 HOT! Sheet
He may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of Hendrick Motorsports, but Casey Mears has handled the underdog role well. He has used information from his other three more popular teammates to his advantage, especially over the course of the last three events. As you can see on the chart, he has an average finish of about 13th. It has allowed him to climb into the top 25 in the standings. Last fall here he finished 6th, so you may want to consider him this weekend.
One man who probably wishes there wasn’t an off date because he was racing so well is Denny Hamlin. In fact, the bye week seemed to be the only thing that could cool him down. His average finish in the last four events is about 4th. Included in there was the victory at Martinsville. He is coming off of a 3rd place showing at Phoenix. Last fall at Talladega he went home 4th. Put him on the list of must-haves.
The same could be said no matter what track they’re racing on for Jimmie Johnson. The two time defending series champion caught a few bad breaks earlier in the season, but has finally started to look like the champion that he is. He has led nearly one-fourth of the laps in the last three races, and almost won all of them. He did just that at Phoenix. His superspeedway record is super impressive, so watch out on Sunday.
At the other end of the spectrum coming out of the off week is Kasey Kahne. He can’t get back on the track soon enough as he really took a dive into the deep end in the last three races. It started at Martinsville where he started 6th but ended 17th. At Texas he went from 10th to 25th. Then some real trouble hit at Phoenix when he qualified 5th but ended up 39 laps down in 36th. Until he gets back to his early season form, we need to put a caution flag on his name.
The same could be done to Greg Biffle. The #16 team has done well enough to keep him in the top 10 overall, but it hasn’t been very pretty. They have qualified in the mid to upper teens in every race except one. At Martinsville he finished a lap down in 20th. His worst result was one week later at Texas where he was scored 22 laps behind the leaders in 39th. His average finish at Talladega in 10 races is a whopping 26th, so we can’t recommend him for your roster.
profantasysports.com
Welcome To Talladega – May The Best Aero Package Win
Kurt Smith
If NASCAR is serious about putting racing success back in the hands of the driver, a position with which I agree and which was repeated frequently in their marketing of the new car, maybe they can consider removing Talladega from the schedule. Either that, or they need to remove the restrictor plate from the car.
Especially in recent years, it seems as though at no other track does the car setup mean so much and the driver mean so little. The usual suspects still tend to run at the front…Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart…but that also seems to be more of a function of their respective teams’ mastery of the aero package required to pass or get to the front there.
In the last 13 Talladega races, there have been just five winners from only three teams. Only one of those winners, Dale Jarrett in 2005, drove for someone other than DEI or Hendrick Motorsports. That was also the only win by a car that did not have a bowtie on the front. Nine…that’s right, nine…of the last 13 races have been won by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. or Jeff Gordon.
From October 2001 through October of 2004, DEI won five out of six races. From April 2004 through October of 2007, Hendrick Motorsports won six out of eight races. Memo to NASCAR: Your goal of “parity” isn’t working here.
This is actually surprising, because one would think that with all of the cars going the same speed in a big pack, there would be a different winner every race. Often the winner does happen to be a car that is in the right place at the right time. But it’s actually just the opposite—one team gains that slight aerodynamic edge, an edge that has nothing whatsoever to do with driver ability—and they win them all. If you remember when DEI was dominant at Talladega, it seemed as though the No. 8 and No. 15 cars were often running up at the front, and if they weren’t, you knew they would be before long.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has won at Bristol, Texas, Phoenix, and Richmond among other places, so far be it for me to call him a one trick pony, but seven of his 17 wins with DEI—nearly half of them—came at plate tracks. So either the draft is Junior’s specialty, or DEI didn’t have the setup mastered at most of the other tracks.
Junior left DEI because their equipment wasn’t up to snuff, which would answer that question.
Michael Waltrip and Brian Vickers are better examples of why the aero package determines the winner at plate races. Waltrip has a win at Talladega and three wins at Daytona, all with DEI. He has zero points wins everywhere else in over 20 years of racing in Cup. Since his departure from DEI and driving for Bill Davis and his own team, Waltrip has not dented the Top 15 at a plate track, his highest finish being an 18th at Daytona.
Brian Vickers won the fall Talladega race in 2006 (partly through inadvertently wrecking the two cars in front of him while he was running third…cars that were owned by DEI and Hendrick), and he also finished third in the Spring race. Those were two of five Top 5s he had that year. In the Red Bull Toyota last year, Vickers failed to qualify in the Spring and crashed for a 39th place finish in the Fall.
If that’s not convincing enough, you could also look at Yates Racing of late. Northern Tool + Equipment was smart to sponsor Travis Kvapil starting this weekend—Talladega is one of few places where Yates has run well these days.
Dale Jarrett’s 2005 win was his only win that year. His only other Top 5s came at Bristol, Sears Point, and (you guessed it) Daytona. His average finish that year at plate tracks was 7.5; at non-plate tracks, it was 19.6.
David Gilliland’s 2007 season is even more eye opening. His average finish at plate tracks was 12.5, and that’s including a 27th at Talladega in the fall. At non-plate tracks, it was 29.2. Now there’s someone I’ll bet you don’t hear complaining about restrictor plates too often.
Is the draft David Gilliland’s area of expertise? Or Michael Waltrip’s? Or Brian Vickers’? Do they have a better handle on it than drivers like Rusty Wallace or Matt Kenseth, two drivers that have won Cup titles but have never won at Talladega? To answer yes to that would be to say that a driver excels at Talladega by executing in the draft, rather than by having a car with a better aerodynamic setup than the others. That Waltrip and Vickers just happen to do that better than Wallace or Kenseth would be one strange coincidence. As Jack McCoy from Law & Order often says: “Juries don’t like coincidences.”
I don’t recall ever seeing a driver getting booted out of his ride at Talladega to be replaced by a “plate race specialist”. That occurs with second-tier teams regularly at road courses, and those teams sometimes do fairly well running the likes of Ron Fellows, Scott Pruett, or Boris Said in the car.
That full-time drivers are routinely replaced for road courses and not for Talladega, at the very least, suggests that road course racing is a specialized skill and plate racing is not. Perhaps Talladega should be replaced with a road course or two. That may sound unpalatable to many fans, but if the goal is to make it more about the driver and less about the car, and if the plates are absolutely, positively, never ever ever coming off at Talladega, then that could be a logical conclusion.
The debate about restrictor plates has gone on since they were introduced, even as they have become entrenched as a part of the sport. Bobby Allison, Rusty Wallace and many others have said the plates are necessary; Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and many others including the Official Columnist of NASCAR believe there must be a better alternative.
There are fans that prefer this kind of racing, but I don’t know if they are in the majority. Few NASCAR folks that I know personally like plate races. Talladega does sell out, but one could make the case that that is because it is in Alabama, and one of the most successful drivers there is the son of a legend and one of the few Southerners left in a sport that used to be dominated by them. But who knows. Would Fontana sell out with restrictor plates? I hope we never find out.
Besides causing big multi-car pileups and the occasional horrific crash, and besides causing drivers to be frequently dealt a costly DNF through no fault of their own, restrictor plates make it far more about the aero than the driver, and the results of the last six and a half years have made this very evident at Talladega.
Something is wrong here. When the driver really means very little and the aero package is everything, why is the driver the one getting paid so much money?
Kurt’s Restricted Shorts
* Tony Stewart leaving Joe Gibbs Racing to join with Haas/CNC? Did I just write that? Wow. That’s sort of like Paul McCartney leaving the Beatles to join the Strawberry Alarm Clock.
* Am I only one who thinks that had the Mexico City race been held in the U.S., that that track would not see another race until a LOT of things improved? There were two very long red flag periods because of inadequate walls and inadequate staffing for track cleanup; the yellow flag periods were beyond ridiculous in length (how can we run a quarter of the race under caution at a road course?); and ESPN lost the feed for a noticeable period of time because they lost power! On a perfectly sunny day! If all of this occurred at a track anywhere in the United States, racing fans would be demanding to know why NASCAR continues to hold races at a clearly third-rate facility. But no one is surprised, because we know why NASCAR is racing there. Anything to get away from that redneck image.
* I hope this race is a bit more exciting that last year’s Talladega SPoT debut…that was an utter snoozefest for 490 miles even if the finish was exciting. Jeff Gordon wasn’t the only one yawning. What if everyone gets the idea to hang back for the first 450 miles of the race? Who is going to run in the front? Jon Wood?
* I’m very glad to see both Yates Racing and Travis Kvapil score sponsorship for the 28 car, even if Kvapil did cost me a lot of fantasy league money with his mediocre Penske run in 2005. Here’s hoping the Northern Tool + Equipment No. 28 has a good race this weekend. And be sure to support NT&E for helping out a struggling team.
frontstretch.com
Driver Handicaps: Talladega
Racingone.com
Who's HOT at Talladega
* Jeff Gordon swept both races last season and leads all drivers with 801 laps led.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. has five wins and nine top 10s in 16 starts.
* Tony Stewart has finished second six times.
* Kurt Busch has finished eighth or better in the last seven races.
* Jimmie Johnson has a win and two runner-up finishes in his last four starts.
* Kevin Harvick currently holds the longest streak without a DNF.
Keep an Eye on at Talladega
* Ryan Newman is the lastest winner on a restrictor-plate track after his win at Daytona.
* Roush Racing worked on improvements to their superspeedway cars after Daytona. Also, the Roush Yates Engine shop always produced well on plate tracks for both teams.
* Kyle Busch led 86 laps and finished fourth in his first plate start driving a Toyota (Daytona).
* Denny Hamlin is coming off his first points paying top 10 on a plate track with his fourth-place run last fall at Talladega.
* Martin Truex Jr. has two top 10s in the Cup Series and three wins in the Nationwide Series at Talladega.
* Ken Schrader, who has 12 top 10s at Talladega, will be driving the No. 70 Haas Chevrolet this weekend.
Track Performers
Jeff Gordon leads all active drivers in wins (12) and laps led (1,312) on restrictor-plate tracks. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is second with seven wins and has the best average finish of 14.0 in 34 appearances (including NHIS in 2000). Sterling Marlin, who is entered in the No. 09 Chevrolet this weekend, is third in wins among active drivers. Marlin is also the active pole winner on plate tracks with seven. In 2006, Jimmie Johnson became the eighth driver to win back-to-back restrictor-plate races, with his wins in the Daytona 500 and Aaron's 499.
Talladega Rookie Report
DEI teammates Regan Smith and Aric Armirola are the only two rookies in the Aaron's 499 field to have made a Cup start at Talladega. Smith has a 24th and Amirola a 30th-place finish to his credit. Smith also has a top-10 finish in a Craftsman truck Series start at Talladega. Michael McDowell made an ARCA RE/MAX Series start at the track in 2007 and finished 33rd after starting 11th. Dario Franchitti also started an ARCA race and finished 17th last fall at Talladega. Sam Hornish, Jr. will be making his Talladega debut in Sunday's race. Rookie Standings
Qualifying Tidbits
Michael Waltrip is the most recent pole winner at Talladega Superspeedway giving Toyota its first-ever top spot when he turned the fastest lap in qualifying last October. Jeff Gordon won the pole for last season's Aaron's 499 and became the first driver to win a Cup race at Talladega from the pole, since Bobby Labonte turned the trick in 1998. Gordon also holds the distinction as the winner to have started the furthest back in the field when he took the green flag 36th in his 2000 season victory. In all, 13 drivers have gone on to win at the 2.66-mile speedway from the pole. Ford has won three of the last five Talladega poles including a string of three straight from 2005 through 2006.
RacingOne Staff Picks
Jeff Wackerlin: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Pete Pistone: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Rachael West: Jeff Gordon
Kym Opalenik: Tony Stewart
Top 20 Driver Notes - Ordered by Current Standings
1. Jeff Burton: Burton has raced in 58 restrictor-plate races, including the 2000 New Hampshire event where he led every lap. Burton has run 28 of the events at Talladega Superspeedway where he has captured two top fives and 10 top-10 finishes. His fourth-place finish in the 2006 spring race was his first top five and second top 10 in seven track starts with Richard Childress Racing. The 2004 fall race marked Burton's first race at Talladega with RCR. He led six laps in that event and ran in the lead pack until he broke a valve in the engine with five laps to go, relegating him to a 13th-place finish. Burton's worst finish with RCR at Talladega came last fall when he finished last after the engine expired in the No. 31 Chevrolet.
2. Kyle Busch: Busch's three top-five finishes at Daytona are his only top 10s in 13 starts on restrictor-plate tracks. His best effort in six starts at Talladega Superspeedway came in the 2006 fall event when he finished 11th.
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr: Although Earnhardt Jr. has posted an average finish of 28.2 in his last five starts at Talladega Superspeedway, his track record speaks for itself. From the fall event in 2001 through 2004, Earnhardt Jr. mastered Talladega scoring five wins - including four straight - and two runner-up finishes. Junior has the best finishing average (14.6) among all active drivers on restrictor-plate tracks and the fourth best (14.3) at Talladega. In 16 starts at the Alabama track, Earnhardt has led in 14 races, including 10 consecutive from 10/15/2000 - 05/01/2005, for a total of 570 laps. This weekend Earnhardt Jr. will be making his first track start with Hendrick Motorsports driving the same car (chassis No. 88-478) that won the Budweiser Shootout.
4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson won his first race at Talladega Superspeedway in the 2006 spring race after starting 16th. It was also his second plate win of 2006 after winning the Daytona 500. Last year he went on to finish second in both events for his fourth and fifth top 10 in 12 starts. In 2002, Johnson won his second of 14 career poles in his first race at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. In the 2004 Talladega fall event, Johnson equaled his worst finish (37th) after the engine overheated from a collision on pit road. In the last 10 races, Johnson has led in every race adding to his 186 laps led at Talladega.
5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick currently holds the longest streak without a DNF at Talladega Superspeedway of 14 races. In fact, he has only scored one DNF in 28 restrictor-plate races. Harvick, who has two runner-up Sprint Cup finishes at Talladega, saw his worst finish (23rd) in the last eight races come in 2006 after being black-flagged from prior damage. He rebounded in the last two events by posting a pair of sixth-place finishes. Last fall he finished 20th to put his overall average at 13.6. Harvick's best qualifying effort at Talladega came in the 2005 spring race when he won the pole. In that event he led 12 laps and finished 12th, snapping a four-race streak of finishes of seventh or better. This weekend Harvick will be racing the same car (chassis No. 219) that finished 14th in the Daytona 500.
6. Denny Hamlin: Last fall at Talladega Superspeedway, Hamlin scored his first top 10 in nine restrictor-plate starts by finishing fourth. However, Hamlin did score a win in the non-points paying Budweiser Shootout at Daytona in 2006. This weekend Hamlin will be back in the same car (chassis No. 188) that finished 17th at Daytona.
7. Tony Stewart: Prior to the 2006 fall race where he finished 22nd, Stewart finished second in three consecutive races at Talladega Superspeedway. In fact, his overall total of six runner-up finishes at Talladega ties him with Bobby Allison (Martinsville) and Mark Martin (Pocono) for most second-place finishes on a track without a victory. In 18 Talladega starts, Stewart has 11 top-10 finishes and has led 183 laps. This weekend Stewart will be back behind the wheel of the same car (chassis No. 199) that finished second in the Budweiser Shootout.
8. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer is coming off his first finish inside the top 30 at Talladega Superspeedway after coming home 11th last fall. The finish lowered his overall average to 30.2 in four starts. This weekend he will pilot the same car (chassis No. 223) that was leading the Daytona 500 until he was spun out with 17 laps to go.
9. Carl Edwards: Prior to 2007, Edwards put together a solid run of finishes in three consecutive races at Talladega Superspeedway. In that span, he recorded an average finish of 7.3, which included his career-best Talladega finish, of fifth, in the fall of 2005. His first two starts didn't fare as well, as he finished 42nd (mechanical) and 32nd (crash), respectively. Last year in this event, the engine failed in the No. 99 Ford and Edwards was relegated to another 42nd-place finish. This weekend Edwards will be racing a new chassis (RK-581) in the Aaron's 499.
10. Greg Biffle: Biffle has yet to post a top-10 finish in 10 starts at Talladega Superspeedway. His best finish of 13th came in the 2005 spring race. This weekend Biffle will be racing a brand new car (chassis No. RK-583) in the Aaron's 499.
11. Kasey Kahne: Kahne's only top 10 in eight starts at Talladega Superspeedway was a second-place finish in the 2006 fall race. Only once has Kahne scored a DNF at Talladega after crashing out of this event that same season. Overall, Kahne has a 20.4 average finish and had led 12 laps.
12. Ryan Newman: Newman has finished in the top 10 five times, including both races last year, in 12 starts at Talladega Superpseedway. His best finish is a pair of fourth-place efforts in the 2003 and 2005 fall race. With his winning Daytona 500 car sitting in the Daytona 500 Experience, Newman will race a brand new car (chassis No. 524) in the Aaron's 499.
13. Jeff Gordon: Gordon leads all active drivers with 12 wins on restrictor-plate tracks. Last fall he broke a tie with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the most wins among active drivers at Talladega Superspeedway after he took his sixth checkered flag. Last year in the event, Gordon also won after leading led 71 laps from the pole. His laps led total, of 801, currently leads all drivers. In the 2005 fall race, Gordon finished 37th ending a string of six consecutive races in which he led a lap, with the most being 139 in the 2005 spring race.
14. Martin Truex Jr: Truex Jr. snapped a streak of consecutive top 10s at Talladega Superspeedway last fall after finishing 42nd due to engine problems. This weekend will mark Truex's seventh Cup start at Talladega, which is the only track on the circuit where he has more than two Nationwide Series wins.
15. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth captured his best finish, of third, in 15 starts at Talladega Superspeedway in the 2005 fall race. In 2006, he continued the top-10 streak by finishing sixth and fourth, respectively. Kenseth led at least one lap in his first eight starts for an overall total of 61 and then led a combined 70 in four of the last five races. This weekend Kenseth will be driving a new chassis (No. RK-582) in the Aaron's 499.
16. Kurt Busch: Busch has finished in the top 10 in 11 of the 14 races he has competed in at Talladega Superspeedway, including the last seven events. His best finishes at the 2.66-mile superspeedway are three third-place runs, with two of them coming in two of the last three races. Busch, who has scored 18 top-10 finishes in 29 restrictor-plate races, has led at least one lap in 10 of the last 11 races at Talladega.
17. Juan Pablo Montoya: Montoya has yet to score a top 10 in five restrictor-plate races. His best finish on a plate track came last fall at Talladega Superspeedway when he placed 15th. Montoya will be racing one of the cars (chassis No. 808) that was tested in Preaseason Thunder at Daytona.
18. David Ragan: Since finishing fifth in the 2007 Daytona 500, Ragan has yet to post a top 10 in four additional restrictor-place races. This weekend Ragan will shoot for his first top 15 at Talladega by driving a new chassis (No. RK-598) in the Aaron's 499.
19. Brian Vickers: After winning the 2006 fall race with Hendrick Motorsports, Vickers only qualified for one race in 2007 with his new Red Bull Team. In that race he finished 29th after a crash took him out of contention. Vickers' average finish in seven starts at Talladega is 21.3.
20. Bobby Labonte: Labonte has one victory and 11 top-10 finishes in 30 races at Talladega Superspeedway. In a seven-race stretch between 1996-1999, Labonte never finished lower than eighth, but since then has gone on to post only three top 10s. He has started fifth or better five times and has led a total of 153 laps at the superspeedway. In four track starts with Petty Enterprises, Labonte has posted an average finish of 23.5.
Nemechek edges Stewart for Aaron's 499 pole
Sat 26th, April 2008
Talladega, AL (Sports Network) - "Front Row" Joe Nemechek lived up to his name winning the pole for Sunday's Aaron's 499 Sprint Cup race. The No.78 Chevrolet driver circled the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in 51.103 seconds (187.386 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Nemechek's first "Cup" pole of the season, fourth at Talladega and 10th of his career.
"I have a lot of people to thank," said Nemechek. "We work so hard, we're kind of the underdog team, a single-car team, out here competing with the big guys and we've been able to put one on them today."
It's already been a pretty good weekend for Tony Stewart as he won his second front row position in two days at Talladega. Yesterday, Stewart won the Nationwide Series pole and on Saturday afternoon he nearly duplicated the feat taking second place in the "Cup" qualifying event. The No.20 Home Depot Toyota circled the giant tri-oval in 51.237 seconds (186.896 m.p.h.).
It comes just a couple of days after it came out that Stewart was looking at his "employment options" after his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires (end of the 2009 season).
Ken Schrader (51.346) and A.J. Allmendinger (51.367) will start in row two.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (ninth), Jimmie Johnson (10th), Carl Edwards (11th), Jeff Gordon (20th), Ryan Newman (21st), Kurt Busch (23rd), Juan Pablo Montoya (26th), Jeff Burton (38th) and Kevin Harvick (39th).
If ever Gordon is going to kick-start his 2008 season, he's at the right place - Talladega. The four-time series champion swept both events on the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 2007 and has a total of six wins at the track. That number is tops for active drivers and second all-time to Dale Earnhardt.
If not for the current Gordon domination, the Talladega Superspeedway would be known as "Earnhardt's House." The Intimidator" owned the huge track, winning 10 times and son Earnhardt Jr. is third on the all-time wins list with five victories. All five of "Junior's" wins were with DEI.
As always in a restrictor-plate event, this race will be about putting your car in the right place at the right moment to take advantage of an opening.
That's how Newman won the last restrictor-plate event - the 2008 Daytona 500. He was sitting behind Tony Stewart and had his Penske teammate Kurt Busch right behind him. When Stewart ducked to the bottom of the track in hopes of hooking up with his JGR teammate Kyle Busch, Newman had a clear shot at the lead and help already behind him. It was no contest as he and Busch powered their way to a one-two finish.
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Saturday at 2 p.m. (et).
Aaron’s 499 PostQ
Of his 32 career wins Tony Stewart has scored just two of those before the 11th race of the season. Stewart has also never won a race at Talladega. The question is then why does he ranks at the No .1 driver on the PostQ forecast? Well, Stewart is considered one of the top restrictor plate drivers in the series averaging a 12th place finish over the last 17 restrictor plate races – tops in the series. He is also one of the top drivers at Talladega Superspeedway averaging a 13th place finish in 18 career starts five times finishing runner-up. Stewart is looking for his first trip to victory lane and if the PostQ forecast holds true, which we feel will, he will be there this Sunday afternoon.
Not that it wasn’t to be expected but Jimmie Johnson has turned his season around in the last month posting three consecutive top 5 finishes with a win coming at Phoenix. Johnson should be able to continue his streak of top 5 finishes at Talladega as he as been solid through the practice sessions (he only ran in one) and qualifying. Johnson is solidly in the top 12 in the point standings after sitting outside the coveted 12th position early in the season. Now all he has to focus on is running well and winning races – something he is accustomed to doing. Look for the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet to contend for the win in the Aaron’s 499.
Ever since pushing his teammate (Ryan Newman) to victory in the Daytona 500 and finishing second Kurt Busch has not done much. He has not finished in the top 10 since that race recording four finishes outside the top 20. Busch is looking for a solid run at Talladega and if his history shows anything it is that he is good on restrictor plate tracks. In 10 career starts at Talladega Busch is averaging a 10th place finish with five consecutive top 10 finishes. The Penske Racing teammates displayed there restrictor plate prowess in the season opener and will be looking to continue that success this weekend. Jump on the #2 Miller Lite Dodge bandwagon for this race.
One driver that has to be nervous about his weekend so far is Clint Bowyer. In the lone practice session in which he participated Bowyer ran well posting the 10th quickest time. In qualifying, however, Bowyer was among the slowest cars and will be starting well back in the field in the 41st position. Missing Happy Hour may have been a mistake for the #07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet driver. Another concern for the team is the fact that Bowyer is only averaging a 20th place finish in nine career restrictor plate starts. Couple that with the fact that he is averaging a 30th place finish in four starts at Talladega and it looks like it will be a rough weekend for the #07 team.
We were high on David Gilliland earlier in the weekend but after seeing the #38 Yates Racing Ford run in practice and qualifying he has fallen off our charts. Gilliland may still be a solid driver for the bottom of your lineup but it doesn’t look like he will compete for a top 10 finish. He will be starting from the tail end of the field in the 40th position and was not that much better in Happy Hour. There are plenty of other lower tier drivers that have looked strong and Gilliland is not one of them. We recommend avoiding him this weekend.
profantasysports.com
Stremme to Sub for Franchitti
RacingOne.com
David Stremme will return to Chip Ganassi Racing to sub for Dario Franchitti in Sunday's Aaron's 499 after Franchitti suffered a fractured left ankle and minor contusions during a lap 11 crash in the today's Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Stremme, who finished second in the Nationwide race, will make his first Cup start of the season. His last came at Homestead where he finished 11th with the Ganassi team.
He was granted approval from Rusty Wallace Inc. and Penske Racing to race in the 188-lap race.
Aaron`s 499 Preview
Jimmie Johnson finally broke through in Phoenix with his first win of the year, and he'll be looking to make it two in a row on April 27 when he hits the track in the Aaron's 499.
Johnson had just enough fuel to hold off Clint Bowyer and take the checkered flag in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on April 12, which gave the struggling Hendrick Motorsports team their first victory of the 2008 season. It was Johnson's fourth Top-10 result this season, and it puts him fourth in the driver standings.
Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, and Mark Martin rounded out the Top 5 in Phoenix, while Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Greg Biffle, and Kyle Busch made up the rest of the Top 10. Jeff Gordon had to settle for a 13th-place finish, while Tony Stewart was 14th, and Kevin Harvick was 19th. Kurt Busch (23rd), Kasey Kahne (36th), and Matt Kenseth (38th) were farther behind, while Ryan Newman didn't finish the race.
Burton's fourth-place result kept him atop the driver standings as the series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron's 499. Burton has three Top-5 and six Top-10 results so far this season, and he sits 80 points ahead of second-place Kyle Busch in the standings. Dale Jr. and Johnson are 86 and 99 points, respectively, behind Burton.
Harvick fell to fifth in the standings with his middling result at Phoenix, while Hamlin, Stewart, Bowyer, Edwards, Biffle, Kahne, and Newman are the rest of the current Top 12. Gordon moved up one spot in the standings to 13th, while Truex Jr. is now 14th, and Kenseth fell to 15th. Kurt Busch also dropped a position on the list to now sit in 16th.
Johnson has earned a series win at Talladega in the past - he visited victory lane in the Aaron's 499 back in 2006. Teammates Gordon and Earnhardt Jr., though, have had the most past success on that track. Gordon won both Talladega events in 2007, and he also picked up wins there in 2005, 2004, 2000, and 1996. Earnhardt Jr. won the EA Sports 500 in 2004, and he won four straight Talladega events from 2001 through 2003.
Hardly any other active drivers have earned Cup series wins at Talladega in their careers. Brian Vickers won the UAW-Ford 500 there in 2006, and Michael Waltrip took the EA Sports 500 in 2003. Bobby Labonte took the checkered flag in the DieHard 500 back in 1998, and Mark Martin grabbed his two Talladega wins back in 1995 and 1997.
Vegas oddsmakers like Kyle Busch's chances of picking up a win this week, as he's been pegged as the 9/2 favorite. Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart are next at 5/1 odds, with Gordon at 7/1 odds, and Johnson at 8/1 odds. Hamlin (11/1), Biffle (14/1), Harvick (14/1), Burton (17/1), and Edwards (17/1) round out the top tier of Talladega contenders.
Bowyer and Newman are both just back of that group at 18/1 odds to win this weekend, with Kenseth and Kurt Busch at 20/1 odds, and Kahne at 22/1 odds. Each of Mears, Truex Jr., and McMurray have been listed by the Vegas oddsmakers at 25/1 right now.
Earnhardt Jr. is the 7/2 Vegas favorite to win the Sprint Cup this season, with Kyle Busch at 4/1 odds, Johnson at 5/1 odds, Edwards at 6/1 odds, and both Gordon and Stewart at 7/1 odds. Biffle then sits at 9/1 odds to claim the championship this year, with Burton and Hamlin at 10/1 odds, and both Kenseth and Harvick just back at 12/1 odds.
After racing at the Alabama track the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will head to Richmond International Raceway for the Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400. That race will take place on May 3; the rest of that month's schedule will include the Dodge Challenger 500, the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, and then the Coca-Cola 600.
Trading Paint: Aaron's 499 picks
Welcome to Trading Paint, a weekly entry where a statewide panel of four auto racing "experts" will make picks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. This week: Sunday's Aaron's 499 in Talladega, Ala.
The rules are simple:
1. A panelist can't pick the same driver in back-to-back weeks.
2. Standings will be calculated each week based on the actual points earned by the drivers each panelist picks to win.
After seven weeks, the standings are as follows, with their pick of last week's winner in parentheses:
1. Steve Kaminski (Kyle Busch) -- 1,274
2. Jeff Bleiler (Kevin Harvick) -- 1,130
3. Mike Pryson (Tony Stewart) -- 1,020
4. Antoine Pitts (Carl Edwards) -- 1,013
Jeff Bleiler -- Jackson Citizen Patriot
I got beat up a little bit last time around when a seemingly decent pick (Harvick -- heck, even Kaminski had the guy as his sleeper) took a dump and wound up 19th. Not good enough for this panel, obviously. The high banks of Talladega provide refuge and easy opportunity for points.
• Winner -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. The guy's been close this year and Junior Nation is itching for a win and an end to his nearly two-year long drought. It would be more fitting for it to come in October at the Amp Energy-sponsored race, but this will do just fine, I'm sure.
• Sleeper -- Jeff Gordon. You can't deny the guy's good, especially at Talladega where he swept both races last year and has won four of the last seven at the 2.66-mile track. He'll be up there.
• No chance -- Jeff Burton. 34th and 43rd last year in Alabama. Ouch.
Steve Kaminski -- The Grand Rapids Press
For my friends on the Trading Paint panel, I present the Friday NASCAR Haiku. If you'll recall, a haiku is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of three lines of five, seven and five syllables in length.
• Winner -- Tony Stewart. He always has thrived in controversy, and with the news coming out this week that he wants out of Joe Gibbs Racing, look for him to come up big.
• Sleeper -- Kurt Busch. He has never won here, but his average finish is 10th in 14 starts, best among active drivers.
• No chance -- Kyle Busch. He sure looked great at Daytona in February, but he has failed to crack the top 32 in five of his six Talladega starts.
Antoine Pitts -- The Ann Arbor News
The long and winding road takes us for the first time this year to Talledega, and that's good news for me and bad news for everyone else because super speedways are my kind of track. No crying over restrictor plates here. It's just about staying in the lead and winning.
• Winner -- Kyle Busch. All of that Nationwide success has got to translate over to his Cup, you figure.
• Sleeper -- Tony Stewart. Might finally get back to making some news for something that happens on the track.
• No chance -- Sam Hornish Jr. Holding out for that long-awaited open wheel-NASCAR merger.
Mike Pryson -- Jackson Citizen Patriot
The Car of Tomorrow certainly is throwing past trends out the window when it comes to picking success on the Spint Cup circuit this season. And until I start stringing winners together (or at least top 5s), I refuse to give my worthy opponents in this challenge any grief. He who works near a window shouldn't be slinging lugnuts ... or something like that.
So without further ado (I thought Ado was a soccer player), here's what will happen this week at NASCAR's fastest playground:
• Winner -- Jeff Gordon. Granted, while this pick won't pick up many points since Mr. Gordon likely will be a consensus choice by any group that claims to watch a race once in a while, it still would be nice to get a strong finish. Gordon has won the last two races (and four of the last seven) at Talladega.
• Sleeper -- Kyle Busch. I know, I know. The guy has been a stud this season. Still, his last three finishes at Talladega have been 37-36-32. He'll be easy to overlook this week. He's also been the fastest car on the big tracks this season. Don't be surprised if he's the rabbit this weekend and has the field chasing him from the start.
• No chance -- Jeff Burton. Burton has struggled mightily at this place in recent years. Over his last five starts here, he's had just one top-5 finish (fourth in 2006). The other four starts have resulted in finishes no better than 27th. I'm expecting more of the same this weekend.
mlive.com
BRIAN GABRIELLE
Take Kyle Busch (+600), 1/6th unit. Sunday's race is a restrictor-plate affair at Talladega, which means it'll be mighty hard to predict. After all, your driver can be running great and near the front the entire day, only to get caught up in a wreck not of his own making on the final lap, and finish 40th. The drivers themselves will tell you that when you have stock cars drive 180 miles an hour for 500 miles while six inches away from one another, you might as well toss drivers' names into a hat. But it wouldn't be fun to watch unless we had a horse or two in the event, so my first pick is the younger Busch. He led 86 laps at the Daytona 500 back in February, and while I know his past Talladega history isn't very good (he has one career finish better than 32nd here in five tries), I really like the Toyota horsepower this year. Take Tony Stewart (+500), 1/6th unit. Did someone say something about Toyota horsepower? Stewart has been the center of controversy this week, but then, what else is new? It's how Smoke likes it. He's talking about leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after this season to take an ownership stake in Haas-CNC, which would be like A-Rod decided to leave the Yankees to go halvsies on the Nippon Ham Fighters. But whatever, I still think Smoke will be smoking in this race. Remember, he was really close to winning the 500 on the last lap earlier this year, and he's got six career second-place finishes at Talladega. Take Kurt Busch (+1200), 1/6th unit. It's obviously tempting to round out this card with someone like Jeff Gordon (+550). After all, Gordon swept Talladega in 2007, and Hendrick and Chevrolet have absolutely dominated this track for more than a decade. But I'd like to put a little scratch on a longer shot, so I'm going with Kyle's older brother Kurt. The elder Busch hasn't ever won a plate race, but man, he's been close. In fact, in his last seven Talladega events, he's finished eighth or better, and he's finished third and second in the last two Daytona races. I know the No. 2 isn't running very well at most other tracks so far this year, but throw all that out the window in the draft at 'Dega.
Rocketman Sports FREE Nascar Head to Head matchup Sunday
#18 Kyle Busch vs #24 Jeff Gordon
Play On: 3* #24 Jeff Gordon -110
I think Jeff Gordon has the best shot of winning this race. Gordon has 6 wins, thirteen Top 5 finishes and sixteen Top 10 finishes in his 30 starts here in Talladega. Gordon has an average finish of 14.9 here in Talladega. Gordon has won this race three of the past four years. Jeff Gordon's average finish at track type - RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACK is 11.2. In 5 races, he has 2 wins and 4 top 10 finishes. Kyle Busch has no Top 5 or Top 10 finishes in his 6 races here. Busch has an average finish of 31.7 here. We'll play Jeff Gordon for 3 units to finish ahead of Kyle Busch today! Thanks and good luck, Rocky