Race Results - Richmond

Better watch out Kyle, you start messing with Junior nation, you could be in big trouble. Denny Hamlin led 381 laps of a 410 lap race and didn’t finish on the lead lap. What a dominating performance, but sitting on the track with a flat tire wasn’t looked at too kindly by NASCAR, they parked him for 2 laps. Mikey Waltrip got parked for the entire race, what was he thinking? I loved his brother on the TV saying “they must be hooked together or something”. Yeah, if ‘or something’ means your hot head, no talent brother is pissed and has his foot smashed to the floorboard trying to run over the 5 for cutting you off.

In our pool, Cody got his first weekly win by not picking Hamlin or Kenseth, a couple of popular picks. Not only did he win, but he moved into second place overall, just 50 points behind Regan who had his first bad week of the year. Not only did Cody win, he set the record for the most money won in a week thanks to Rob picking Kurt Busch two weeks in a row.

The next race is another Saturday night affair, this time at Darlington. The lady in black. The track too tough to tame. The track with too many nicknames. Qualifying is Friday night, you know the drill.

Bristol results

It wasn’t easy, but between wrecks, steering gear box failures and fuel pickup problems, Toyota was kept out of Victory Lane this week. All three of the Gibbs cars took turns looking like the best of the day, but it was RCR who finished 1,2,3. Hendrick cars are still struggling this year. You know it’s bad when Junior is the best driver in your stable…just kidding. Gordon was never a factor, and Jimmie was up there most of the race, but faded like a bad tattoo late in the race.

In our pool, several people had good weeks. Brad had the best week and took home the money. Blond Dog, Jayson, Ryan, Cody and Byron all did well. And Byron did it with Kasey Kahne on his roster, that’s almost worth some bonus points. Regan had a solid week and is farther ahead of his closest competitor than he was last week. We had some unusual picks this week. Bobby Labonte was used for the second week in a row. That’s a record for this pool, and it didn’t turn out too good for Craig. And Scott went with the sentimental pick of DJ in his last points race (we’ll see if he stays retired or goes Mark Martin on us) and that didn’t turn out too good.

The next race is in Martinsville, on March 30th. You all get an Easter break, just like the Cup drivers. That’s right, your next picks are not due until Friday the 28th. Enjoy this Sunday afternoon with your wife, there’ll be no NASCAR to distract you.

Who to root for/against - Bristol

16 looks strong this year

Greg Biffle has been the fastest car a lot this season.

Toyota wins a up race

For the first time in a long time, a foreign car maker won a cup race.

Race results - Atlanta

Picks so far - Atlanta

The Carl loses 100 points...

...but keeps the win (sort of). The 100 points was expected, seems like the default penalty for messing with the TCWTW. The twist was the 10 point penalty "if" The Carl makes the chase. That's about as close as you can get to taking away a victory.

Wow, Robby got a break

Robby Gordon actually won his appeal for the wrong nose at Daytona. It seemed like he was getting a raw deal , but I didn't expect them to completely wipe out the points penalty. This is big for Robby, it puts him back in the top 35, which will be very important in a couple of races.

Oil tank reservoir cover

Here's a great explanation of the oil tank reservoir cover that The Carl is sure to be penalized for not having on his car at Vegas.

If you're interested in more, here's a pretty good description of the TCWTW and the forces that cars are subjected to.

Phoenix testing speeds

You can find the results of Phoenix testing here. Phoenix and Atlanta are completely different tracks, but you may want to remember these for the two Phoenix races later this year.

12th place

Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers are tied for 12th. Busch has the tiebreaker, so Busch is IN the top twelve, and Vickers is OUT. The widget to the left is wrong.

Race results - Vegas

We had some high scores this week, the “favorites” hurt a lot of us. Stewart and Gordon crashing out hurt some of us, Johnson’s horrible day hurt quite a few people. Kyle Busch seemed like the car to beat for quite a while, before he dropped off. It was strange to see so many typically good cars getting lapped just because they couldn’t get the handle. Edwards had a strong car, and it seemed like Biffle was probably the fastest, but made a couple mistakes that cost him track position. Ford looked strong.

Three people, Scott, Bob and Rob picked the winner. But Bob and Rob also had Gordon, and since Kenseth couldn’t stay out of Gordon’s way, that took them out. Brad had a good week, but no winner’s bonus means Scott get’s his first weekly win of the year. Regan keeps his overall lead in the pool, but Rob and Ryan are right there.

The next race is in Atlanta. This will be the first time at this track for the car with the wing (TCWTW, I’m going to try to get a trademark on that). Hendrick and Roush cars have been good here, we’ll see if the wing changes that.

The top twelve order will probably change later this week when The Carl gets some points taken away for running without an oil tank cover, but I don’t think anybody will move in or out. So go ahead and make your picks early if you want. Or keep your eyes on the Phoenix testing and see if that changes your mind at all.

Feeling iffy about your picks....

....here's some notes from the COT test at LVMS.

Picks so far - Vegas

Who to root for/against - Cali

Robby Gordon drops out of the top twelve

Not that anybody picked either of these drivers, but the top twelve has changed. Robby Gordon was penalized 100 points for his Dodge bumper in the 500. So he's out, Vickers is in.

How Junior ended up with Amp/Pepsi

Here's a pretty good article about went on behind the scenes when Pepsi signed Junior. Their plan is to use Junior to turn Amp into the "working man's" Red Bull. Energy drinks are a $6.5 BILLION market?

California picks so far

It's Wednesday already, and qualifying is on Friday. I'll try to keep the latest picks updated here.

Week 1 Results

Looks like not much has changed since last year. Regan started off the year with weekly win. I thought he might be in trouble when Harvick started complaining about engine problems on lap 5, but he held on to get a good finish. Hendrick cars looked like they had the best shot of keeping that foreign manufacturer out of the winner's circle for most of the race. But mechanical failures and bonehead moves took all four of them out of contention. Where did Dodge come from? Nobody was talking about Dodges leading up to the 500, and I guess we all bought in, we didn't have a single Dodge picked in our pool this week.

Kudos to Blond Dog for almost nailing the average race speed. The average speed was 152.672mph, Blond Dog missed it by 0.372. Ryan and Byron were also right there within 0.6mph.

Next race is in California. It's a fast track, and drafting may play a small role with the new cars. Rousch and Hendrick have been successful there, will Toyota be a factor?

California qualifying is about 6:30 Eastern on Friday. So get your picks to be before then.