Driver Recommendations for the 2010 Shelby American at Las Vegas

Sin City, Las Vegas. This is definitely a unique city that the boys roll into this weekend. I’m sure some of the drivers will visit a casino or two, but don’t expect any “Hangover” type scenarios to happen, although maybe the FOX TV coverage could work some of that in during the race. That could be pretty funny.

I know this is uncreative, but I’m sticking with the drivers that have the best average finish at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They finish in the top ten for a reason, so why not recommend them to be on your team?

This Week’s Recommendations:

Chaser: Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie’s California win should set anyone straight that was foolish enough to think his poor performance at Daytona meant he wouldn’t have a good year. Like most tracks, Jimmie has done very well in Las Vegas leading all drivers with 3 wins. His 11.1 place average finish is 3rd best among active drivers. Jimmie hasn’t finished in the top ten at Las Vegas since he won the 2007 race, so he’s due for another good run. Look for him to build on the California win and be up front all day.

Alternate Chaser: Denny Hamlin
Denny has 3 top tens in 4 career races in Las Vegas and is averaging an 11th place finish. He doesn’t have a win here, but he’s always hanging around the top 5 and could sneak into victory lane this weekend.

Kyle Busch
Kyle has been pretty quiet so far this year. A couple of 14th place finishes have been less than spectacular. Look for that to change in Las Vegas. This is his home track and he should have more family and friends in the stands making him push harder than he has in the first two races. Kyle did win the race here last year and is averaging an 11.2 place finish in his 6 career races at the speedway. Look for Kyle to drive a little more aggressively this weekend and push his way to the front.

Matt Kenseth
Like the other recommendations, Matt has a great average finish in Las Vegas; 12.4. He has 5 top tens in 10 career races with 2 wins and 4 top fives. Matt is a good driver, and is off to a solid start to the 2010 season.

Dark Horse: Jeff Burton
Jeff has started all 12 races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and has the best average finish, 9.8. He also has two wins at the track, 5 top fives, and 8 top tens. Jeff is one of the most underrated drivers on the circuit. He’s a very good driver and should probably be on your team about every week.

Driver Recommendations for the 2010 Auto Club 500

Let’s hope California can have their track stay together for the entire race, unlike Daytona. The 2+ hours of delays to fix the track were horrible. It did make for a pretty exciting finish though. Let’s hope we can have something similar in California. The Auto Club Speedway is a wide 2 mile D-shaped track that allows the drivers to hit speeds up to 200 miles per hour, and is plenty wide enough for 2-wide racing. It could make for a good race if the drivers are willing to mix it up a bit and do some bump drafting.

This Week’s Recommendations:

Chaser: Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie had a bad day at Daytona finishing 35th, but that’s nothing for him. California is a whole different story. He has dominated at this speedway with a NASCAR best, 4 wins and 5.8 place average finish. In the last 6 races here he has 6 top tens, 5 top fives, and 3 wins. Simply amazing. Jimmie is easily the favorite to win the race on Sunday.

Alternate Chaser: Carl Edwards
If you don’t want to go with the obvious choice of Jimmie as your chaser, then you need Carl on your team. His 6.6 place average finish is 2nd best at the Auto Club Speedway. He has 10 top ten finishes in 11 career races here. He’s pretty much a guarantee to finish in the top ten. If Jimmie isn’t on your team, then Carl has to be.

Matt Kenseth
I’ll stick with the drivers with the great average finishes at this track by picking Matt. He has the 3rd best average finish here with a 9.3. He’s tied for the 2nd most wins (3) at the speedway with Jeff Gordon. Matt has finished in the top ten in 8 of the last 9 races here. Over the past 4 or 5 years he’s been automatic.

Kyle Busch
Kyle has the 5th best average finish at the track with a 10.5 average. He has 8 top tens in 11 career races, and has one win at the track. He looked pretty good at times in Daytona, and ended up finishing 14th. I know he wants to get out of the gates with a good start to the 2010 season, so look for him to be determined on Sunday in California and take home a top 5 finish.

Dark Horse: Kevin Harvick
I know he’s 5th in points right now, but since I’m using the final standings from last season, and he finished 19th, he qualifies as a dark horse. Kevin had a very good race in Daytona and should be able to follow it up with another strong effort at the Auto Club Speedway. He does have 3 top tens in the last 4 races here, and 10 top tens in his 15 career races. After the good run in Daytona, Kevin’s confidence should be up, and will carry him to another top 10 finish.

Driver Recommendations for the 2010 Daytona 500

NASCAR’s Super Bowl is almost here! This is probably the most exciting time of the year for most NASCAR teams as they try to get off to a fast start and set the tone for the rest of the season. The only question is, who will have the good finishes and start the year off right?

With the new bump drafting restrictions gone it should make for more physical racing and more fun to watch racing. Because of the potential physical nature of the race I don’t think the rookies, or even 2nd or 3rd year drivers will fare too well. Look for the veterans to perform well at Daytona.

Reminder of how I recommend the teams:
All recommendations are based on the rules of Chad’s Fantasy NASCAR. I’ll select one chaser, and an alternate chaser, in case you don’t like the chaser I picked. I pick three other drivers that did not make the chase last season, one of them being a dark horse. In order to be a dark horse the driver must be 16th or worse in the points standings. For the first 5 races of the season I’ll use the standings from 2009 to pick the dark horse.

This Week’s Recommendations:

Chaser: Kurt Busch
Kurt has been the most consistent at Daytona over the last 5 races finishing in the top ten each time with 3 top fives. For his career (18 races) he’s finished in the top ten 10 times and top five 9 times. Last year he showed that he was still a top tier driver, and I expect him to show it again this season. Kurt should get off to a good start by contending for the win at Daytona.

Alternate Chaser: Tony Stewart
No one could have predicted the year that Tony Stewart would have in 2009. The first year team owner got it done on the track and was in the points lead for much of the season. There should be no let-up this season, especially at Daytona where he has won 3 races. Tony hasn’t won the Daytona 500 yet in his career, but this year count on him running in the lead pack and having a chance to pull it off at the end.

Matt Kenseth
This weekend Matt will try to pull off back-to-back Daytona 500 wins. I don’t know if he’ll be able to do it, but he should be in the top ten. He’s finished there in 4 of the last 5 races in Daytona.

Kevin Harvick
Kevin doesn’t have the best record at Daytona with only 6 top tens in 17 races, but he looked pretty good for the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night. I’m adding him to my team because of this, and because he’s my pick as the Comeback Driver of the Year. Kevin is too good of a driver to have back-to-back seasons finishing out of the top 15 in points.

Dark Horse: Elliott Sadler
Elliot finished 26th in the point standings last year, which unfortunately for him is about average. The good news for Sadler fans is that he runs well at Daytona. He finished 5th in last year’s 500, and 9 of his 68 career top ten finishes have come at this track. In 6 of the last races here he’s finished in the top ten. Those look like pretty good numbers to me.

2010 NASCAR Predictions

We’re a week away from the start of the NASCAR season, and every team thinks they have a chance to win the Sprint Cup championship. Daytona, NASCAR’s “Superbowl”, is the first step in achieving the goal but winning the 500 doesn’t guarantee a spot in the Chase. Just ask Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman about that.

Here are some of my predictions for the season. We’ll see how well I do in nine months time.

Champion: Jimmie Johnson
How can you go against Jimmie right now? I didn’t think that Jimmie would win 3 championships in a row, and last year I didn’t think he’d win 4 in a row. I’m not going to doubt Jimmie again. I have to see someone dethrone him before I pick someone else to win the Championship.

Most Disappointing: Greg Biffle
I don’t think Greg will have an awful year, but of the drivers that made the chase last year he has a lot of expectations to do better. I feel that he’s one of the weaker drivers that did make the chase, and there are better drivers that will make it this year, possibly bumping him out of the chase.

Most Surprising: David Ragan
2007 was David’s first full season in Sprint Cup and he finished 23rd in points. 2008 was a strong sophomore season and he finished 13th. He regressed in 2009 finishing 27th with only 2 top tens. I don’t think David will make the chase, but he should finish in the top 15 this season. With the resources of Roush Fenway Racing behind him there’s no reason David can’t have a bounce back season. If he doesn’t, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets let go.

Rookie Of The Year: Terry Cook
To be honest I think there’s only one other guy officially entered for Rookie Of The Year considerations (Kevin Conway). I’m not too familiar with either driver. The only reason I’m picking Terry Cook is he’ll be at Daytona and Kevin won’t. If he can make the race it’ll be an advantage for Terry.

Comeback Driver: Kevin Harvick
Kevin had a poor 2009, finishing 19th in points with only 9 top ten finishes. This was his worst showing since 2002 when he finished 21st with 8 top tens. He came back to finish 5th in 2003, and I expect him to do something similar for 2010. He hasn’t won a race since the Daytona 500 in 2007. I expect him to break the winless streak, get a couple wins, and make the chase.

Most Wins: Jimmie Johnson
He’s the champ, and he led the series with 7 wins last season. Like I said earlier, until someone can prove they’re better than Jimmie, I’m going to pick him.

Have predictions of your own? Leave a comment and let everyone know.

Driver Recommendations for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe`s Motor Speedway

The Coca-Cola 600 is easily the longest race of the season and it seems that each year it provides some memories. Let’s hope the guys keep racing hard all race long as they have in the past race or two and we get 600 miles of excitement, not boredom.

Recommendations this Week:

Chaser: Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie is the best at his sponsor’s track. He has the best average finish of any active driver at 8.9, tied for the most wins with five, and has twelve top 10 finishes in fifteen career races. Why wouldn’t you pick him?

Alternate Chaser: Tony Stewart
Tony is on fire. Over the past six races he’s cranked out five top 5 finishes. He’s also one of the best drivers at Lowe’s Motor Speedway with the 5th best average finish at 13.1, a win, six top 5s and eleven top 10s in twenty career races. Tony has a lot going for him this weekend, and may get his first win with his new team.

Ryan Newman
The only guy close to Stewart in the past five races has been his teammate Ryan Newman. He has three top 5s in the last five races, averaging a 8.8 place finish. Ryan hasn’t exactly fared well at this track with only five top 10s in sixteen career races, but when you’re on a streak like Ryan is, you need to keep him on your team and let it ride.

Mark Martin
What is there to say about Mark? He’s hitting his stride this season and does very well at Lowe’s. In forty eight career races he has four wins, seventeen top 5s and twenty two top 10s. His average finish of 15.9 is 7th best among active drivers. A good season should get better this weekend.

Dark Horse: Kasey Kahne
Kasey has had a pretty rough year. He’s only got two top 10 finishes so far and finds himself 16th in points. The good news is that he has done well on this track in the past. Over the last four races here, he’s finished in the top 10 three times with a win. He averages a 12.9 place finish, good enough for 4th best among active drivers.

Bonus Pick – Really Dark Horse: Bobby Labonte
Let’s face it; Bobby hasn’t had a good season since 2004, but he could make some noise this Sunday night. He’s raced here 32 times and has a 12.8 average finishing position with 2 wins, twelve top 5s, and seventeen top 10s. Even after his decline started in 2005 his worst finish was 18th at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, so anything can happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bobby contends for a top 10 most of the night, and ends up in the top 15 when the checkered flag is waved.