Congratulations to Brad Keselowski on winning the first race of the Chase and qualifying for the second round. Aric Almirola took the biggest hit after losing an engine while running in the top ten late in the race. Aric will have his work cut out for him now if he wants to make it to the next round. I think that he is going to have to win one of the next two races to move on.
The series will head back to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the running of the Sylvania 300. NHIS is a flat, slightly longer than one-mile oval speedway. Brad won the race here earlier this season and this team looks like they are on a roll right now with back-to-back wins. However, it is early in the Chase and there are still two more races in the first segment and then three more segments after that, so anything can happen yet.
SYLVANIA 300
Brad Keselowski: I have to pick Brad to win his third straight race this weekend and pad his point lead. Brad is always good on these short, flat tracks and like I said, this team is hitting on all cylinders right now. Brad has also finished in the top eleven in his last six starts at this track, which tells me he has something figured out here.
Matt Kenseth: Matt won this race last season and this team looks like it is getting close to visiting victory lane once again. Even though they haven’t won yet this season, this team still believes that they can start winning races during the Chase and win a championship. I think they will be in contention at the end of this race and if they have everything go their way they can make it to the winners circle.
Jimmie Johnson: This is another team that seems to be getting better every week and is ready to win another race. Jimmie has won three races at this track and has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts here. Jimmie and Chad Knaus communicate better than any other team in the series and Chad knows what changes to make to give Jimmie the car he wants to drive.
Jeff Gordon: Jeff had another outstanding run last week at Chicagoland and seems to run even better on the short tracks this year. Jeff will be in contention the whole race once again and would like to get a win to automatically qualify for the next round. I think they will make the next round without a win, but a win gives you the additional points, which will start playing a larger role the further we get into the Chase.
Kevin Harvick: Let’s not forget about Kevin. This team has been fast all season and has had a great handling car to go along with that speed. However, this team has struggled at this track over their last twelve races here. In that time they have only lead one lap and they won their only race here back in 2006. This might be a race where they don’t try to win if they don’t have a good car in practice, but instead they will just try and stay out of trouble and on the lead lap. They will advance with points if they can avoid an accident.
Denny Hamlin: Denny won this race two seasons ago and this team looks better and better every week. He has finished in the top ten in eleven of his seventeen career starts and seven of those finishes were top five’s including two wins. I think you are going to have to win at least one race during the Chase to win the championship and this is one of the tracks that this team has on their calendar to compete for the win at.
Joey Logano: Joey struggled for much of the race last weekend at Chicago ,but he fought all day long and came away with a top five finish as he finished fourth as he blew an engine just as he crossed the finish line. The main thing for the teams that are running the Doug Yates engines are figuring why Joey and Aric Almirola both lost their engines late in the race. Mechanical failures will take you out of championship contention in a hurry.
Ryan Newman: Ryan had a good car last week at Chicago until he blew a tire and then had to fight back the rest of the race. He did a great job of that and salvaged a fifteenth place finish. Now this team heads to one of their best tracks. Ryan has won three races at this track and has finished in the top ten an outstanding sixteen times in only twenty-five starts. This is a driver you definitely want on your team this weekend.
Kyle Busch: Kyle has finished second in the last three races at Loudon. This team needs to get back to their winning ways, which will go a long way towards making their driver happy once again. Kyle needs to learn to control his emotions a little better and fight through adversity, which is what a driver needs to do if he is going to win a championship in this new format.
Clint Bowyer: Clint has won two races at this track during his career and almost pulled off a win at Richmond two weeks ago on a similar track. Even though they are not in the Chase that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to try to win races the rest of the season. Clint is my dark horse this week.
YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Yahoo Driver Group A
- Kyle Busch
- Jimmie Johnson
Yahoo Driver Group B
- Brad Keselowski
- Ryan Newman
- Denny Hamlin
- Brian Vickers
Yahoo Driver Group C
- Austin Dillon
- Kyle Larson
MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
- Brad Keselowski
- Kyle Busch
- Denny Hamlin/li>
- Ryan Newman
- Jimmie Johnson
Dark Horse: Clint Bowyer
Stay Away From: Joey Logano