Our resident Nascar Capper is back for another season making free racing predictions! Becca Gladden is a freelance writer and race handicapper specializing in NASCAR.
Preview: There have been 30 Cup races held at Phoenix International Raceway, but it remains to be seen whether statistics from previous races will be an accurate predictor of this weekend’s outcome.
Preview: The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season may be winding down, but the Chase battle is firing up. After last week’s mayhem at Martinsville, race winner Tony Stewart moved up two spots in the championship standings, now just 8 points behind leader Carl Edwards with three races to go.
Race: AAA Texas 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
Date: Sunday, November 6, 2011
Time: 3:16 PM ET (scheduled Green Flag)
TV: 3:00 PM ET on ESPN
This week, the circuit heads to the very fast 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, where both Stewart and Edwards are previous winners. This track has been friendly to Roush-Fenway drivers through the years, with Matt Kenseth the most recent winner here in April. The race will be led to green by three Roush teammates: Greg Biffle (pole), David Ragan, and Matt Kenseth.
Carl Edwards (7/1): In 22 races overall at Texas Motor Speedway, Edwards has made 13 starts and has three wins, making him the winningest active driver here. He swept this track in 2008 and also won the November race in 2005. Edwards finished 3rd here in April after starting 2nd. He starts 7th on Sunday.
Kurt Busch (16/1): Kurt will start 14th on Sunday and is a previous Texas winner, having won the November race in 2009. Busch finished 10th here in the spring race and rolls off 14th on Sunday. Busch is currently 8th in championship point standings. [ad-8757089]
Greg Biffle (22/1): Biffle won at Texas in the spring of 2005 and has posted six straight top-10 finishes heading into Sunday’s race, where he will be starting on the pole. Biffle ran 4th here in the spring and is one of the non-Chase contenders who doesn’t have much to lose by going for a win before the season is out.
Notes: Matt Kenseth has the best average finish at Texas Motor Speedway, followed by Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson.
Kenseth won the spring race here after leading 169 laps. Edwards and Kenseth both go off at 7/1 odds, but Edwards may have the greater motivation as he tries to put gain some distance on Tony Stewart in the Chase standings.
Stewart’s previous Texas win came in this race in 2006.
Kyle Busch, who was tied with Jimmie Johnson as a favorite with 5/1 odds, was parked by NASCAR Saturday morning following a vicious hit on Ron Hornaday in Friday night’s truck race; Busch will not race in either the Nationwide or Cup race this weekend.
Preview: Weather has been an issue already this weekend, both in Martinsville, Virginia, and along the entire northeast coast of the U.S. Rain on Friday and early in the day Saturday forced a change to the Cup schedule, resulting in just one practice session, held Saturday morning, and the cancellation of Cup qualifying.
Preview: NASCAR races at Talladega Superspeedway have become synonymous with the word ‘crapshoot’ – making predicting a race winner rather challenging, particularly with this year’s unconventional two-car tandem-style racing.
Preview: Saturday night’s running of the Bank of America 500 will be the fifth of ten Chase races and the only one taking place on a Saturday night. Because of an unusual schedule this weekend, qualifying took place Thursday with Tony Stewart scoring the pole and Matt Kenseth in P2.
Preview: The Kansas Speedway hosts Chase race No. 4 on this 1.5-mile, flat tri-oval track. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last raced here in June. At that time, Brad Keselowski won, though teammate Kurt Busch led the most laps in a race that came down to fuel mileage.
Preview: Dover is the third race of the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, the first two having been won by Tony Stewart, who now leads the point standings. Although he’s won twice at Dover in 25 starts, Stewart’s two wins here came back-to-back in 2000, and Dover has not been a great track for him recently.
Preview: It’s race number two in the ten-week Chase for Sprint Cup and the first time that Loudon has been the second Chase race. Last week’s race at Chicago was won by Tony Stewart, posting his first win of the 2011 season and shaking up the early point standings.
Date: Sunday, September 18, 2011
Time: 2:16 PM ET (scheduled green flag)
TV: 2:00 PM ET on ESPN
Preview: At long last, the ten-race NASCAR Chase is here, starting with this Sunday’s “GEICO 400” at Chicagoland Speedway. This is the first time since the inception of the Chase in 2004 that it has started at the Chicago track, and only the 11th race at the speedway in Sprint Cup history. All seven previous Chase sessions started at Loudon, New Hampshire, and all ten previous Chicago races took place in July. In addition, the once-a-year Chicago race has been a Saturday night event since 2008. Seven of the ten races here have been won by Chevy teams, while Ford has never been to Victory Lane at Chicago in a Cup race. Six of the 12 Chase drivers are previous winners here.
Safe Bet: (odds of less than 10/1)
• Jeff Gordon (7/1): Gordon has the best average finish at Chicago (8.6) with a win here in 2006. He finished 2nd in 2009 and 3rd in 2010. Gordon was 6th-fastest in Happy Hour and also looked strong on longer runs. He won at Atlanta two weeks ago and finished 3rd last week at Richmond. Gordon is 3rd in points to start the Chase.
Mid Range: (odds between 10/1 – 20/1)
• Kevin Harvick (10/1): Harvick and Tony Stewart are the only drivers with more than one win at Chicagoland with two wins a piece. Harvick’s wins here came back in 2001-2002, but he’s finished 4th or better three of the last five Chicagoland outings. Kevin was in the top 3 in Happy Hour and will be riding the momentum of last weekend’s win at Richmond, where he led 202 laps. He starts the Chase tied with Kyle Busch for the points lead.
Long Shot: (odds of greater than 20/1)
• Kasey Kahne (22/1): Though he’s never won at Chicago, Kahne has finished as high as 3rd (2009) and ran 6th here last year. In Happy Hour practice on Friday, he was second-fastest on the speed chart, which could lead to a strong qualifying run and good pit stall selection Saturday.
Summary: There are lots of unknowns heading into Sunday’s race, since the Cup Series has never run here in September and hasn’t had a daytime race at Chicago since 2007. But, with half the current Chase field previous winners at Chicagoland, it won’t be surprising to see a Chase contender in Victory Lane again on Sunday.
Preview: As far as big races go, the second Richmond race on the Cup schedule is huge. It’s the last race of the “regular season,” making it the site where the Chase field is set.
Preview: For the first time since NASCAR began racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1960, the Sprint Cup circuit is making just one stop at AMS this year.
Preview: It’s time for short track beatin’ and bangin’, NASCAR style! This week, the Cup Series visits Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night for the “Irwin Tools Night Race.”
Preview: It’s getting to be that time of year when the Sprint Cup circuit starts circling back to tracks they’ve recently raced on. Such is the case with Michigan International Speedway, which just hosted a Cup race on June 19.
Preview: NASCAR’s annual trek to upstate New York and Watkins Glen International represents the second of just two road-course races on the 36-race Sprint Cup schedule.
Preview: If it seems like NASCAR was just at this track recently, you’re right. This is the Cup boys’ second visit to the “Tricky Triangle” this year, having just raced here in mid-June. That race was won by Jeff Gordon with Kurt Busch finishing second.
Preview: Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been the home of the Indy 500 for 100 years, but NASCAR has only been competing on the hallowed racing ground since 1994. IMS is a very flat 2.5-mile quad-oval which the Cup Series visits just once a year for the Brickyard 400.
