Coca-Cola 600: Edwards and Busch Dominate
By Brian Gabrielle
Carl Edwards couldn't quite come all the way back in our last Nascar program (2 weeks ago). He started 36th at Darlington, languished at the back of the field for much of the night, then came alive and finished second. Not quite good enough for a straight-up win, but he did take his head-to-head match-up against Jimmie Johnson, which made it a winning week for us. For the week, we profited 0.37 units on 1.5 units wagered, a return of 24.7%. For the season, we've profited 7.29 units on 15.5 units wagered, a return of 47.0%, and we've given you winning weeks in 10 of 11 events. (Note that if you'd eschewed the relatively conservative betting pattern we outline below, and simply bet one unit per wager we recommend, last week you'd have lost 2.13 units on four units wagered, but for the season, that would still leave you with a profit of 23.33 units on 43 units wagered, a return of 54.3%. But there's clearly a bit more week-to-week risk associated with that strategy.)
Take Carl Edwards (+600), 1/6th unit. On Sunday afternoon, the Sprint Cup drivers will undergo their longest test of the season, in the 600-mile race at Charlotte. It's a grueling affair on a super-fast cookie-cutter intermediate speedway of the type that Edwards dominated earlier in the season. He won at Texas, and he had Atlanta won before blowing his engine very late, with a big lead. Edwards will start 30th on Sunday, which isn't good, but as he showed at Darlington, it ain't just about where you start. I still think he'll have enough to come from the back to the front at this downforce track, and post a victory. He's got five top-10s at Charlotte in six Cup races here.
Take Kyle Busch (+400), 1/6th unit. Busch is the heavy favorite, and with good reason. He won at Atlanta and was third at Texas, and had the fastest car last Saturday night in the All-Star race, before blowing an engine. He also happened to lay down the fastest qualifying lap this Thursday, and so will start Sunday from the pole. Busch is erratic as all get out, but that Toyota horsepower is definitely serving him well. He'll be right there at the end.
Take Tony Stewart (+1200), 1/6th unit. Hm, I guess we aren't too concerned about starting positions this week, eh? Stewart will start 31st, one spot behind Edwards, but I expect that Busch's older teammate will be a threat. He had the best car at the end of this race last season, but lost in a fuel-mileage gambit to Casey Mears. Smoke finished second to Busch in Atlanta and seventh in Texas. Plus these are some seriously tasty odds for a driver this good, who's being penalized both for a poor qualifying effort and a first-lap wreck at Darlington two weeks ago, which makes him look like he's slumping.
In this week's head-to-head match-up, take Kyle Busch over Jimmie Johnson (-150), 1 unit. I don't know what's the bigger heresy here: the fact that Shrub is this big a favorite over the guy whose hood bears the same name as this week's track, or that I'm actually taking Busch. Johnson has five career wins in Charlotte, and 11 top-10 finishes in his last 12 races at this place. And I'm taking Kyle? Well, the logic goes like this: J.J. hasn't found everything he needs in his downforce program in the Car of Tomorrow just yet, while Busch is the hottest driver on the circuit. The thing we have to hope for here is that the erratic young driver of the No. 18 keeps his cool all night; if he does, I think he walks away with this match-up easy. If he doesn't, well, we're in trouble, because Johnson will certainly be close enough to pick up the pieces.
NASCAR confiscates Haas CNC's cars
By Lee Spencer
NASCAR officials confiscated both Haas CNC Racing's cars Saturday ahead of this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
According to a NASCAR official, both Scott Riggs' No. 66 and Johnny Sauter's No. 70 car had manipulated rear-wing mounts on the deck lid, causing them to not fit properly in the inspection grid.
NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said the violation was found as a result of the self-policing by teams in the garage area.
"It was brought to our attention, we followed up, we found it," Tharp said.
Riggs had qualified 13th for Sunday's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway while Sauter, who is outside the top 35 in owner points, had to qualify on time and was set to roll off from 43rd place. Although both drivers will be allowed to practice their backup cars and compete in the 400-lap event, they will do so using their backup cars and start from the rear of the field.
NASCAR official Brett Bodine accompanied the confiscation convoy that left the garage for NASCAR's Research and Development Center at 2:20 p.m. Early speculation is the team will be fined a minimum of $100,000 and docked 100 championship points for the infraction.
foxsports.com
Stewart looks for win in the 2nd biggest race of the day
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -Only one race really matters to Tony Stewart, and he'll be more than 600 miles from it on Sunday.
He accepted long ago that his chances of winning the Indianapolis 500 are slim-to-none, but that doesn't mean he has nothing to race for on Memorial Day weekend.
For Stewart, a win in the Coca-Cola 600 could soften the sting of not racing at Indy.
``It's a huge weekend in racing, no matter where you're at,'' said Stewart, who starts 31st on Sunday.
``It's Memorial Day weekend, it's the Coca-Cola 600 and this is all the teams' home track. This is a place you want to win at. This is bragging rights for all of us.''
In nine previous Coca-Cola 600s, Stewart has five top-10s. His best finish was third in 2001, the second and final time he ran ``The Double'' by racing in Indianapolis - he finished sixth there - then flying back to Lowe's Motor Speedway for NASCAR's longest race of the year.
A later start time in Indy makes it impossible for Stewart to attempt the feat again, at least not as long as he's running for a championship here in the Sprint Cup Series. So he has to settle for the 600, and thought he finally had a win here last year when he led 55 laps late but was two laps short of the finish on fuel.
A very late pit stop cost him the win when Casey Mears and a handful of others had enough gas in their tanks to race to the checkered flag.
``We should have won it and lost it on fuel mileage,'' Stewart said. ``I remember being so mad for the whole week because I lost the Coke 600. I didn't lose it because I got out-raced, I lost it on fuel mileage. Just losing it in that fashion was hard to take.''
He'd like another shot at it, but his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team is in a very different spot than it was one year ago.
For starters, the two-time Cup champion is entertaining offers to leave the team and is expected to make a decision in the next three to four weeks. Although his contract with JGR runs through 2009, the likelihood of Stewart being back in the 20 next year appears to be very slim.
He said this weekend he's ``on the back side of the hill of getting everything done.'' Team president J.D. Gibbs said only that talks are continuing to keep Stewart in his current ride.
But it's made for an unsettling situation for his team, particularly crew chief Greg Zipadelli. The two are in their 10th season together in the longest active driver-crew chief pairing in the garage, and the lingering questions about their future are clearly wearing on one of Stewart's most loyal supporters.
``Every guy on my team, everybody at the shop wants to know who is what and where, and what's going on,'' Zipadelli said. ``Everybody in the media wants to know what's going on. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do, somebody wants to ask you something about it.
``As tough as you think you are, as cool as you think you can be, when it gets brought up every day, it's a distraction.''
Zipadelli steadfastly maintains that Stewart's status is not what's kept the team from Victory Lane this year. And the distractions aren't so great to knock Stewart from his role as a consistent contender every time he climbs into his car.
But he argues a team can't be distracted and still be the one to beat every week.
``It's just way too early in the season, to me, to have that kind of stuff going on,'' he said. ``If it was Dover in the fall, it's one thing. I can't control this, I didn't start it, but it's certainly a little bit of a distraction and that's just the way it is.
``And the teams that don't have distractions and are focused 110 percent, those are the teams that are tough to beat.''
Gibbs doesn't believe the situation is severe enough to sidetrack the team, but acknowledges a level of uncertainty likely exists.
``There's something sitting there. How long is it going to sit there? That's frustrating and those guys want direction for the future,'' Gibbs said. ``Tony? It doesn't bother him. The guys? They just want to go and race. The rest of this stuff isn't what they signed on for.
``But I would be real surprised if it harmed them. They usually run pretty well when things are crazy.''
That's exactly what Zipadelli is hoping for as the season moves into the part of the schedule where Stewart typically heats up. Only twice in his career has he scored his first win of the season before the 11th race of the year, and most of his wins usually come during the hot summer months.
Still, questions linger about his inability to reach Victory Lane in a year in which teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have combined for four wins already.
Stewart insists he has no jealousy toward his fast, young teammates.
``We're running better than we were last year, but our teammates are too, which is great,'' he said. ``I guess I've been part of a multi-car team long enough to know the value of it as a driver. When your teammates are running good and even if they're running better - that's a good sign that you know your stuff is the same as theirs and you've got that same opportunity every week.
``It's just a matter of putting the day together, and we just haven't been able to put that day together yet. We're not into our part of the season yet, either.''
Zipadelli points to at least three races Stewart should have won this season, including a heartbreaking defeat in the season-opening Daytona 500. But those near-misses have done nothing to create animosity at JGR.
``Would I have liked to win? Yeah. Do I have any hard feelings or am upset that (Busch) has won races and (Hamlin) has won races? No way,'' he said. ``It is awesome to me to see our other teams do well. We've had nine very strong successful years, and I believe if we can get all of this behind us, we'll move forward.
``We've run well. We've run as good if not better as our other two teams at every race track. But you've got to put it altogether, you've got to have your details right.''
Trading Paint: Coca-Cola 600 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 Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, N.C.
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 11 races, the standings are as follows, with their pick of last week's winner in parentheses:
1. Steve Kaminski (Carl Edwards) -- 1,613
2 Antoine Pitts (Carl Edwards) -- 1,483
3 Jeff Bleiler (Kasey Kahne) -- 1,473
4. Mike Pryson (Carl Edwards) -- 1,424
Jeff Bleiler -- Jackson Citizen Patriot
I took a gamble in an attempt to make a bid to separate myself last time out by going with Kasey Kahne, despite a somewhat uninspiring start to his season. The move backfired, as all the other panelists went with runner-up Carl Edwards and Kahne was a lap down in 22nd. Thanks.
My big move did nothing more than bring me in line with Pitts and put Kaminski out further ahead than should be allowed at this juncture. Enough's enough. And a lot can happen over 600 miles.
• Winner -- Denny Hamlin. He finished ninth in the 600-milers in each of the last two seasons so he knows how to stay out of trouble in a grind-it-out marathon. Plus, he has seven top-10 finishes in 11 starts already this season. Make it eight.
• Sleeper -- Kasey Kahne. I know the kid burned me two weeks ago, but he got over a major hump by winning the All-Star race. That could be the momentum that Kahne uses to go back-to-back at Lowe's.
• No chance -- Juan Pablo Montoya. Just as he and crew chief Jimmy Elledge were starting to gel, Elledge gets dumped and Montoya now is with his third crew chief in a month. Hard to get any kind of cohesiveness with that kind of turmoil, and it'll show this weekend.
Steve Kaminski -- The Grand Rapids Press
A poll on racingone.com this week asks fans whether last week's all-star race should even be on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule.
I was surprised to see that 49 percent of about 9,000 fans that answered said NASCAR should instead add another points race, and 21 percent voted to give the drivers the week off. So, 70 percent say get rid of this race as it is.
Maybe the all-star race would be more appealing if the same drivers weren't returning Sunday to run 600 more miles.
• Winner -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch have split the four intermediate track races, but Earnhardt has been tough on these tracks, too. Look for Little E. to snap his winless drought.
• Sleeper -- Matt Kenseth. He'll break out of his season-long funk.
• No chance -- Juan Pablo Montoya. He got his third crew chief in a month this week. It's a desperate team.
Antoine Pitts -- The Ann Arbor News
Well, I never thought I'd be doing an Indy-NASCAR double, but here I am. Might as well win one race, finishing an hour or so before everyone else, hop in the jet and do the same in Charlotte. You all know I have it in me.
• Winner -- Kyle Busch. Three Cups wins, three Nationwide victories and another two this year in those nifty pickup truck races. Regardless of past struggles in Charlotte, how do you not pick this guy?
• Sleeper -- Casey Mears. The defending champ hasn't done much this season but perhaps there's some karma in returning to the track of his first Cup win.
• No chance -- Michael Waltrip. Remember after Daytona qualifying what a feel-good story he was? Nothing's gone right for him since.
Mike Pryson -- Jackson Citizen Patriot
No more Humpy at Lowe's Motor Speedway? That's kind of like McDonald's without Ronald. It's like Burger King without the King. It's like Subway without Jared. Maybe I need to get some lunch before I peer into my NASCAR crystal ball.
Now, back to the real business of picking NASCAR races. Two weeks ago, at Darlington, panelist Jeff Bleiler missed the memo about everyone picking Carl Edwards. It cost Mr. Bleiler valuable points as we rode Flippin' Carl to a second-place finish.
• Winner -- Jeff Gordon. Time to start riding the 24 car. Gordon is comfortably in contention for the title, but he still hasn't won a race. That should change this week.
• Sleeper -- Kurt Busch. This Busch is close to falling off the radar screen. The numbers say this guy is having a bad year. The numbers don't lie. His back is to the wall, and unless he can win a few races over the next month, he'll be out the outside looking in at the Chase. He also might be looking for work, as car owner Roger Penske doesn't like to lose.
• No chance -- Juan Pablo Montoya. Speaking of backs to the wall, Montoya is down to 16th in points. He's never down well at this week's venue and he's close to falling out of the hunt. It's looking more and more like the open-wheel invasion of NASCAR wasn't a big deal after all.
mlive.com
Coca-Cola 600 goes the extra mile -- or 100
The race at Lowe's Motor Speedway demands added endurance and patience for the drivers.
CONCORD, N.C. -- A 500-mile NASCAR race is grueling enough for its 43 drivers. But 600 miles?
"It's going to be a long, long night," Jeff Gordon said of today's Coca-Cola 600 Sprint Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "It's going to be tough, it always is."
When the race debuted 48 years ago with the opening of Lowe's (then called Charlotte Motor Speedway), the extra 100 miles were added to help it stand apart from the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend.
The extra mileage demands added endurance and patience for the drivers. They also have to contend with a drop in temperatures that affects the cars' handling on the 1.5-mile oval, because the race starts in the late afternoon and ends under the lights.
"We run 500 miles and your body gets used to it and you think you wouldn't notice another 100 miles added, but mentally you do," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon's teammate at Hendrick Motorsports.
"Physically it's not a problem, but mentally your brain is just worked after it's over," Earnhardt said.
To further complicate matters, this is the first year that NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow is being used in the 400-lap race, and many teams are still trying to figure out how best to set up the COT for such a long race.
"The car definitely is a challenge, and it's making it tougher on all the drivers and all the teams," said Gordon, a three-time 600 winner.
Race strategy revolves around pacing and patience, several drivers said.
"You don't necessarily rush, but you don't want to go a lap down," said pole-sitter Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing. "This is a long race where you can probably get your lap back, but with the way these cars are, we're not sure that we'll see many yellow flags."
Reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who also has won the 600 three times for Hendrick, said "you've got to be smart and take care of your stuff all night long, and then race at the end for the win."
He also said, "it's really amazing how fast it goes by when you're inside the car. For whatever reason, the laps click off and the time goes by and before you know it, you're in the closing laps."
Perhaps, but 600 miles "is a marathon of a race," said Carl Edwards who, like Busch, is a three-time winner this season.
That prompted one reporter to ask Edwards, who drives the No. 99 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, whether he ever gets bored in the car.
Replied Edwards: "It's never boring in a race car at one of these places. Never."
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Speculation is mounting that NASCAR's Labor Day race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana could be moved to October, starting next year.
The track has struggled to sell all of its 92,000 seats on Labor Day weekend partly because of the weekend's typically hot temperatures, and has petitioned NASCAR for another date.
One proposal being weighed is a three-track swap, in which Fontana would receive Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway's date in October, Atlanta Motor Speedway would get the Labor Day race and Talladega would receive Atlanta's fall date in October, the Charlotte Observer reported.
That would put the California race in the middle of the 10-race Chase for the Cup that decides NASCAR's premier championship.
But NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the sanctioning body is still meeting with officials for all tracks and that next year's schedule "is still being determined." NASCAR hopes to announce the schedule by September, he added.
Auto Club Speedway President Gillian Zucker said "nothing has been decided yet" and that the three-track swap idea "is one of several scenarios that I have heard are being discussed."
She also said "it's possible that [Labor Day] date will remain the same" next year but is hopeful of moving the race.
"Everyone is in agreement that a later date for the second [Fontana] race is in the best interests of the sport," Zucker said. Her track also stages a Cup race in late February.
latimes.com