Fantasy Nascar

Bank of America 500 Preview

            Talladega went pretty much like I expected. There were only 2 Ford’s and 1 Toyota in the top 20 after the race. The Dodge teams were the only ones that seemed to really step up after the testing sessions that were run at Talladega and the Hendrick teams had the edge. The RCR/DEI engine woes continued and they have to figure something out for next year because this year it is already too late.

            This week we head to Charlotte and another 500-mile race. Jeff Gordon leads Jimmie Johnson by 9 points, while Clint Bowyer started to slip out of contention and now sits 63 points back. This is not insurmountable and all Clint has to do is continue with his hot streak to get back in the thick of things. After that, Tony Stewart sits 4^th a whopping 154 points out of the lead. The only way that he gets back in is if Jeff and Jimmie have a major problem during one of the next few races.

            My pick to win at Charlotte this week is the master of Charlotte, Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie has 5 wins, two 2^nd place finishes a 3^rd place finish and 11 top 10 finishes in his 12 races at Charlotte. There is no one better at Charlotte right now and this is pretty much a no-brainer.

            Carl Edwards has finished in the top 10 of all 4 races he has run at Charlotte where his best finish has been 3^rd twice. Carl seems to have a good handle on these mile and a half tracks and could be the guy fighting Jimmie at the end of the race.

            Points leader, Jeff Gordon, has really struggled at Lowe’s lately. He hasn’t won here since 1999 and has a best finish of 24^th in his last 5 races at Charlotte. This could be Jeff’s big test in all of the races that are left on the schedule this season. The team has been running better at the intermediate tracks this season and this is one he really needs to run well on to keep pace with Jimmie.

            Tony Stewart is one of the better drivers at Charlotte of all the Chasers. Tony finished 6^th this spring and was the highest finishing driver of all those that made the Chase this season. This was also at a point of the year that this team was struggling a little bit trying to get a win.

            Matt Kenseth has always been good at Charlotte too. This team has struggled a bit lately and they are not running like they were earlier in the year. However the Roush/Fenway teams have been getting better lately with Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle winning races recently.

            Denny Hamlin has run well at Charlotte during his short career. Denny has 3 top 10’s in 4 races run at Lowe’s and would like nothing better than to move up a little bit in the standings. He is 262 points out of the lead and that is too much to overcome but he would still like to end up in the top 5 and that is achievable.

            I would like to tell all of you Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans that things are looking up but with all of the engine failures last week at Talladega I think you are going to have to wait until next year before you see Dale win another race. I don’t have any confidence in any of the RCR/DEI cars with the engine package that they have right now. That includes all of the Chase drivers using these engines. Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. are in dire straits right now.

            Qualifying is Thursday night in Charlotte. All Yahoo picks must be made before Thursday morning!

            Yahoo Picks for Charlotte

            Group A

            Jimmie Johnson (starter)

            Jeff Gordon

            Group B

            Casey Mears (starter)

            Jamie McMurray (starter)

            Denny Hamlin

            Kurt Busch

            Group C

            J.J. Yeley (starter)

            Reed Sorenson

            Dark Horse: Bobby Labonte

            Stay Away From: DEI/RCR Drivers because of the engines.

            As always you can Email me with any questions, comments or suggestions at gutsamaniac@hotmail.com. Good luck once again this weekend!