Race #3: Shelby American
Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV
When: Sunday, February 28th, 3:16 EST
TV: FOX
How Long: 401 miles, 267 laps
Last Year at Las Vegas....a pretty tight race ensued at Las Vegas with a hometown boy, Kyle Busch, taking the checkered flag for the first time at his home track. He managed to edge out to Childress drivers, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton, Burton leading the most laps in the race. Two surpirse cars, David Reutimann's 00 and Bobby Labonte's 96 rounded out the top 5. Roush cars suffered from some engine problems as Matt Kenseth and David Ragan finsihed in the 42 and 43 spots due to blown engines.
Last Week on the Circuit....all anyone saw last week was how Fontana is the worst Sprint Cup Series track. A half empty track attendance fell asleep as cars played follow the leader at the horrific Auto Club Speedway. Jimmie Johnson was the leader most of the day and benefitted from a well-time caution to cruise to a win, reminding people of his dominance. Chilress cars did well also, as Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton were 2nd and 3rd. The old and young were 4th and 5th, as Mark Martin and Joey Logano rounded out the top 5.
This Week's Starting Lineup
| Position | Car# | Driver | Manufactuer/Sponsor | Qualifying Speed (mph) | Qualifying Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Miller Lite Dodge | 188.719 | 28.614 |
| 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | DuPont / Pepsi Max Chevy | 188.646 | 28.625 |
| 3 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Tornados Chevy | 188.180 | 28.696 |
| 4 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | National Guard / AMP Energy Chevy | 188.173 | 28.697 |
| 5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M's Toyota | 188.153 | 28.700 |
| 6 | 20 | Joey Logano | Home Depot Toyota | 187.611 | 28.783 |
| 7 | 16 | Greg Biffle | 3M Ford | 187.598 | 28.785 |
| 8 | 5 | Mark Martin | GoDaddy.com Chevy | 187.500 | 28.800 |
| 9 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Old Spice / Office Depot Chevy | 186.942 | 28.886 |
| 10 | 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Target Chevy | 186.793 | 28.909 |
| 11 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Crown Royal Ford | 186.748 | 28.916 |
| 12 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Aflac / Kelloggs Ford | 186.554 | 28.946 |
| 13 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevy | 186.548 | 28.947 |
| 14 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Mobil 1 Dodge | 186.445 | 28.963 |
| 15 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | FrontRowJoe.com Toyota | 186.355 | 28.977 |
| 16 | 12 | Brad Keselowski | Penske Dodge | 186.245 | 28.994 |
| 17 | 00 | David Reutimann | TUMS Toyota | 186.233 | 28.996 |
| 18 | 6 | David Ragan | UPS Ford | 186.188 | 29.003 |
| 19 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Budweiser Ford | 185.995 | 29.033 |
| 20 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Lowe's / KOBALT Tools Chevy | 185.963 | 29.038 |
| 21 | 13 | Max Papis | GEICO Toyota | 185.497 | 29.111 |
| 22 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Caterpillar Chevy | 185.395 | 29.127 |
| 23 | 82 | Scott Speed | Red Bull Toyota | 185.236 | 29.152 |
| 24 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | McDonald's Chevy | 185.109 | 29.172 |
| 25 | 34 | Travis Kvapil | Long John Silver's Ford | 185.058 | 29.180 |
| 26 | 98 | Paul Menard | Moen / Menards Ford | 184.773 | 29.225 |
| 27 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Ground Toyota | 184.615 | 29.250 |
| 28 | 78 | Regan Smith | Furniture Row Racing Chevy | 184.590 | 29.254 |
| 29 | 71 | Bobby Labonte | TaxSlayer.com Chevy | 184.552 | 29.260 |
| 30 | 36 | Mike Bliss | Kim Kardashian Fragrance Chevy | 184.540 | 29.262 |
| 31 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Red Bull Toyota | 184.458 | 29.275 |
| 32 | 47 | Marcos Ambrose | Kingsford / Scott Branded Products Toyota | 184.445 | 29.277 |
| 33 | 55 | Michael McDowell | PRISM Motorsports Toyota | 184.439 | 29.278 |
| 34 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Pennzoil Ultra Chevy | 184.080 | 29.335 |
| 35 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | NAPA Gold Filters Toyota | 183.961 | 29.354 |
| 36 | 66 | Dave Blaney | PRISM Motorsports Toyota | 183.955 | 29.355 |
| 37 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Stanley Ford | 183.468 | 29.433 |
| 38 | 38 | David Gilliland | Taco Bell Ford | 181.965 | 29.676 |
| 39 | 37 | Kevin Conway # | Extenze Ford | 181.843 | 29.696 |
| 40 | 43 | A J Allmendinger | Valvoline Ford | 181.038 | 29.828 |
| 41-OP | 26 | Boris Said | Southern Pride Trucking Ford | 176.586 | 30.580 |
| 42-OP | 7 | Robby Gordon | Monster Energy Toyota | 0.000 | no lap |
| 43 | 09 | Aric Almirola | Phoenix Racing Chevy | 183.038 | 29.502 |
DNQ: 90- Casey Mears, 46- Terry Cook
My Predicted Finish This Week
Last Week...
Number of Top Ten Cars Correct: 5 of 10
Number of Top Five Cars Correct: 1 of 5
Correct Winner: Yes
Exact Position Correct: 2 of 10 (Jimmie Johnson 1st, Tony Stewart 9th)
This Season
Number of Top Ten Cars Correct: 8 of 20 (40%)
Number of Top Five Cars Correct: 2 of 20 (20%)
Correct Winner: 1 of 20 (50%)
Exact Position Correct: 3 of 20 (15%)
I improved with my Fontana predictions, getting half of the top ten correct last week as well as correctly predicting that Jimmi Johnson would win the race (not hard to do though). I also got Tony Stewart in 9th correct, and my sleeper pick of Joey Logano finished fifth.
This week, we go to Las Vegas. A common trend at this track seems to be repeat winners an with a certain driver looking to get the ball rolling this week, I won't be surprised to see him win. Let's go with hometown boy Kyle Busch with the victory. I'll put Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton, both hot drivers going into the week, at 2nd and 3rd. We'll put a pair of Hendrick drivers, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin 4th and 5th. Kevin Harvick will continue his solid season in 6th, followed by Matt Kenseth. Juan Pablo Montoya will get the ball rolling with an 8th place finish this week. Let's say Tony Stewart goes ninth again and finally another driver in nee of a good finish, Kasey Kahne, in tenth.
My Top Ten Picks
1. Kyle Busch
2. Greg Biffle
3. Jeff Burton
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Mark Martin
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Matt Kenseth
8. Juan Pablo Montoya
9. Tony Stewart
10. Kasey Kahne
No comments:
Post a Comment