Congratulations to Matt Kenseth, who broke a fifty-one race winless streak by winning the rain delayed Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes on Sunday. I’m sure Matt is happy to qualify for the Chase early in the season this year and not have to worry about getting in on points. I also want to applaud NASCAR for completing the race in its entirety. they could very easily have called the race at the 500-lap mark when it started to rain once again, but they made sure they got to the checkered flag under green.
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
This week we go under the lights once again on a Saturday night in Richmond, VA. Richmond International Raceway is a three-quarter-mile D-shaped oval without a lot of banking in the corners. Once again drivers are going to have to qualify well so they can start up front and not have to worry about the leaders catching them in the first twenty laps of the race. At least with the race scheduled for Saturday night, if it rains they can run on Sunday and we won’t have to keep checking back to see if and when the race will be run.
Brad Keselowski: I am going to pick Brad to win this week. I picked him to win at Bristol and that didn’t pan out so well, but he did qualify well there and was fast in all of the practice sessions. Brad won the fall race here last year and finished fourth in the spring race. If he can stay out of trouble early in this week’s race, I think he can take the checkered flag.
Joey Logano: Joey won this race last year, finished third the previous year in the spring race, and finished sixth here last fall. That just tells me that the Penske teams have a good handle on this track and they should be the drivers to beat. Besides, both of these drivers want to make up for their disappointing showing at Bristol last weekend.
Kevin Harvick: Once again Kevin showed that he can be good every week on any type of track. If he doesn’t get caught up in a wreck with lapped traffic at Bristol he has a chance to win that race too. Kevin has won two of the past seven races at Richmond and I’m sure that he will come with another fast car capable of winning this week also. It is hard to stop this team right now.
Jeff Gordon: Jeff hasn’t won a race at Richmond since 2000, but he finished second in both of the races here last season. He has also qualified in the top ten in five of his last six races here and was close to winning at Bristol last week. This team needs to avoid costly mistakes in the pits so they don’t have to keep fighting their way back to the front during races.
Carl Edwards: Carl won the fall race here in 2013 and has finished in the top ten in eight of his last ten starts here. Carl was another driver looking for his first win of the season that came very close last weekend. These teams that are consistently coming to close to winning races are going to break through sooner rather than later.
Kurt Busch: Kurt is another driver who has been running consistently towards the front of the pack over the past month and is getting closer and closer to that elusive first win of the season. Kurt has finished in the top ten at Richmond in three of his last four starts, finishing second in the fall race of 2013.
Ryan Newman: Ryan hasn’t won a race here since 2003, but he has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts here. This team has fallen off a little bit over the past couple of races, but I think Ryan is capable of winning races almost every week. He said he didn’t have the best car at Bristol, but that the best car doesn’t always win at Bristol either.
Matt Kenseth: Matt is another driver who has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts at Richmond and has momentum on his side. With the monkey off his back now, Matt might go on a roll like he did two years ago when he lead the series in wins and almost won his second championship. I look for more wins from this team this year before the Chase starts.
Clint Bowyer: Clint hasn’t had the best cars in practice or qualifying this year. but he sure seems to figure it out during the race. Especially on these short flat tracks. Clint has finished in the top five in three of his last five starts here including a win back in the fall of 2012. This team wants to get a win really badly and make the Chase once again.
Jamie McMurray: Jamie has never won a race at Richmond, but he has finished fourth here in two of his past three starts. This team seems to be very good early in races and makes most of the right adjustments to their car during the race. It seems that something always happens to him on the track to take him out of contention. Those kinds of things have a way of ruining your confidence, but I don’t think that is the case with Jamie.
YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
Yahoo Driver Group A
- Brad Keselowski
- Jeff Gordon
Yahoo Driver Group B
- Kurt Busch
- Carl Edwards
- Clint Bowyer
- Jamie McMurray
Yahoo Driver Group C
- David Ragan
- Danica Patrick
MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
- Brad Keselowski
- Jeff Gordon
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Joey Logano
Dark Horse: AJ Allmendinger
Stay Away From: Paul Menard