NASCAR Coast-to-Coast Weekend: Week #10 Richmond

From super speedway racing to the short track, we're doing it night time style at Richmond International.

Race #10: Crown Royal presents the Heath Calhoun 400
Where: Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, VA
When: Saturday, Mat 1st, 7:55 p.m.
TV: FOX
How Long: 300 miles, 400 laps

Last Week on the Circuit Studs and Duds

Three Studs

1. Kevin Harvick- Yeah, 29 different drivers led and I'm sure I could put any of them on here for something they did well, but Harvick did his job when it counted, on the final couple thousand feet of the race, makking the slingshot move around Jamie Mac. Hats off to Harvick for the move. 

2. Jamie McMurray- And likewise, McMurray's skill on superspeedways in beginning to truly show through, win at Daytona and now a secodn place at Talladega. Wel ldone McMurray, btu now it's time to do well somehwere else. 

3. Kyle Busch- These types of tracks would be a place that rowdy Kyle would cause huge wrecks in the past. But he drove smart and ended up with a top ten on Sunday. Busch has definitely matured in the last couple years. 

Three Duds

1. Regan Smith- A guy that usually runs wel at Talladega lost his engine and was kncoked out of the race early. I had him in the top ten this week and Regan instead makes me look stupid. Nothing you can do about bad luck though. 

2. Jeff Gordon- I expected a little more out of Gordon in Talladega this week. Yeah, he's had a ton of bad luck and all, but you still have to persevere through all of that. 

3. Jimmie Johnson- Hahaha, he went right into the wall. I've been waiting to make him a dud all year long and I finally get the chance. 

It's Happy Time!!!

Happy 25th Birthday Kyle Busch- Rowady Kyle will turn 25 tomorrow. It's incredible how many wins Busch has grabbed before his 25th birthday. 16 wins in Sprint Cup, 33 in Nationwide, and another 17 in the Truck Series. Busch is going to be a Hall of Fame contender by the tim is career coems to a close, which won't be for MANY, MANY years. 

Happy 55th Anniversary Buck Baker- On this day WAY back in 1955, Baker won his first NASCAR race at the dirt track Charlotte Speedway. Baker would drive through 1976 and won 46 races in his career. A very happy anniversary to the late Buck Baker.

Happy Trails Hendrick Feud- So apparently Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have talked over things and inroned out their differences from the past two weeks. This is tentative for now. At the short track Richmond, anything goes and it will remain to be seen if their differences were really put aside. 

My Predicted Finish This Week

At Talladega....

Number of  Top Ten Cars Correct: 4 of 10
Number of Top Five Cars Correct: 2 of 5
Correct winner: No
Number of Exact Position Correct: 0 of 10

This Season....
Number of Top Ten Cars Correct: 36 of 80 (45%)
Number of Top Five Cars Correct: 16 of 40 (40%)
Correct Winner: 1 of 8 (12.5%)
Number of Exact Position Correct: 5 of 80 (6.3%)

This week, the Series is at the short track of Richmond, where we'll see a lot of bumping and really anything goes. It has been a Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin haven so far, so we'll go with them one-two. Busch wins it, Hamlin takes second. Ryan Newman will go in third place, and the top five will be roundedu p by Hendrcik drivers Jimmi Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Clint Bowyer finishes sixth, followed by Jeff Burton in seventh. Tony Stwart takes eighth. We round out the top 10 with last week's one-two punch, Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray. 

My Top Ten Picks

1. Kyle Busch

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Ryan NEwman

4. Jimmie johnson

5. Jeff Gordon

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Jeff Burton

8. Tony Stewart

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Jamie McMurray