Fantasy Nascar

Subway 500 Preview

            Clint Bowyer has been putting up a valiant effort to stay in touch with Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson during the Chase this season. This weekend at Martinsville that could all change. Both Gordon and Johnson are virtually unstoppable at Martinsville. Over the last 10 races at Martinsville the duo has recorded 7 wins, 14 top 5’s and 19 top 10’s between them. Clint on the other hand has finished 22^nd, 23^rd and 22^nd in his 3 starts there.

            This spring Jeff Gordon won once again at Martinsville and he will sweep here this year while winning his 3^rd straight race and virtually lock up his 5^th championship. Jimmie Johnson will give his teammate everything he has to try and slow down his momentum without wrecking either one of them.

            Tony Stewart still feels he has a chance at catching these 3 drivers but I think it is just a pipe dream. Tony did finish 2^nd to Jeff this spring but has to go almost unblemished or hope for a lot of bad things to happen to all 3 of the drivers ahead of him.

            Denny Hamlin has been posting some gains since the beginning of the Chase when he had a terrible start. Denny is currently 9^th in the standings but could move all the way up to 5^th over the next 5 races. Denny has 3 top 10 finishes in 4 starts at Martinsville and this is one of his favorite tracks on the circuit.

            Dale Earnhardt Jr. is trying to hold onto 13^th place in the standings. After 5 straight top 5 finishes from 2002 to 2004 Dale has struggled a little bit at the track with only 1 top 10 finish since then. He needs to hold onto all of his engines for the rest of the year if he wants to stay in the top spot for the non-Chase contenders.

            Kyle Busch has been running very well over the last few races and like Denny Hamlin, Kyle excels at these short flat tracks. Kyle has 3 top 10 finishes in the 5 races he has run at Martinsville.

            Kevin Harvick runs pretty well at Martinsville but this team needs to find out why they are losing so many tires. The car is either cambered wrong or the air pressures are too low for the style of racing that Kevin does. It seems when the tires are fine the engines have been going south for this team. Lately.

            Matt Kenseth has really fallen off during the Chase once again this year. Every year at the beginning of the season they start out like the championship team they were only to have everything go away once everyone else gets in the swing of things.

            Yahoo Picks for Martinsville

            Group A

            Jeff Gordon (starter)

            Jimmie Johnson

            Group B

            Denny Hamlin (starter)

            Kyle Busch (starter)

            Bobby Labonte

            Ryan Newman

            Group C

            Reed Sorenson (starter)

            Dave Blaney

            Top 5 Overall at Martinsville

1.      Jeff Gordon

2.      Jimmie Johnson

3.      Tony Stewart

4.      Denny Hamlin

5.      Kyle Busch

Dark Horse: Bobby Labonte

Stay Away From: Martin Truex Jr.

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

Attention: There is a new game being run at http://www.onebadwheel.com/fantasy-race/index.php for the remaining 5 races of the season. They are giving away an Ipod Shuffle to the top performer and it is free to play. Go ahead and give it a try!