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Step Right Up: Get Your NASCAR Texas Preview Video Right Here

Hey fantasy NASCAR players! Grab a little competitive intelligence from six of NASCAR’s best drivers. Watch as they talk about Texas Motor Speedway and this week’s Samsung 500 Sprint Cup Series race. Click here to watch the videos.

Then go make your pick in the One and Done free NASCAR fantasy game right here!

NASCAR Video from Bristol and a Martinsville Preview

We have some great NASCAR video snippets from the post race press conferences with Kyle Busch, Jimmy Johnson and Denny Hamlin for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway and several pre-race preview comments from Clint Bowyer, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton. Click here to watch them all.

These vids might just help you make your One and Done fantasy racing pick this week for the big paperclip.

If you are thinking of doing any actual NASCAR betting you may be better served by finding actual NASCAR odds at a service that is involved in online wagering or something. We, most assuredly, are not.

NASCAR Fans–Do You Believe in Miracles

Bobby Labonte holds the only win at Homestead-Miami Speedway in a Chevrolet, while Matt Kenseth is the defending race winner.

The only Dodge win in the short history of the south Florida track come from the unlikely source of Bill Elliott. Elliott only won four races for Evernham Racing after resurrecting the brand in NASCAR.  Tony Stewart picked off the first two wins ever at HMS in Pontiacs.

The majority of wins have come from the Blue Oval Boys.  Fords of Jack Roush have won five of the nine races.  Kurt Busch started the winning in 2002.  Greg Biffle “owns” Homestead with three consecutive wins in ‘04 through ‘06; while Matt Kenseth is the defending race winner.  While Roush drivers have been celebrating race wins over the last three years at the finale; they have had to watch Jimmy Johnson revel in his championships.

Jack Roush would like nothing better than to be able to celebrate a championship and a race win for Carl Edwards. It’s the long shot of all long shots to believe that JJ can’t pull off a 36th place finish.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Thank You Jamie. CC: Cousin Carl

We’ll start this week with a quote from another famous Champion by the name of The Nature Boy, “Wooooooooooo!”

I’d like to thank Jamie Mac for so graciously contributing to the bills in the infield, with one of the strongest runs in his tenure at Roush. He was there all… damn… day. Hammer down, and had some of them crazy Chasers not played the gas card he’d have laid the smack down in Texas. Bottoms up, to that one.

I’d also like to thank ol’ Cousin Carl, for his performance on Saturday. He too helped offset a little adventure of full speed adrenaline at 180mph for 4 laps around the track. Courtesy of Team Texas, of course. Wow.

I’d also like to thank Ron Hornaday. Not only will my laptop carry a high resale value for just being a kick ass Mac, but now the (soon to be, you betcha) back to back Truck Champion adorns it for all to see. As Terrible Terry Tate once said, “Nice play baby!”

Martin Truex held himself in the Top-10 by the end, 6 places behind his starting spot.

Rounding out the Top-10 was none other than Beak. Congrats Reut, ya earned it.

So now we’re moving from Texas Twisters to those Arizona Rattlers out on the hill. Well, actually last weekend it was earthquakes (no kidding, folks), but that’s beside the point.

Looking back, Mark Martin and Martin Truex both ran strong here last spring. They were the only two in the Top-10 who are not currently in the Chase. And since we’re covering the other 31 drivers out there, we’ll carry on.

Jamie McMurray wasn’t too far out of the Top-10, and considering his current momentum he could sneak it in. That team has been pulling it together, and the results are finally showing. It was an interesting read from Marty Smith on this one earlier, check it out if you get a chance.

There were a few other surprises out there last spring as well. Juan Pablo, Bobby Labonte, and David Gilliland were all in the Top-16, Reutimann was 18th as well.

If you want momentum, bring in David Ragan, Jamie Mac and David Reutimann. From there, who knows. It’s Phoenix. Even being a quarter mile longer than Richmond, for some reason it’s always reminded me of Richmond after being flipped around to make the front the back and the back the front. Although the comparisons end there. Not to mention it’s a 500, but measured in kilometers? Never made a lick of sense to me, but hey, whatever. Drop the flag, get it on, and let’s go racing.

Oh and one more thing, be sure to thank your Office Linebacker as the season draws to a close.

Texas Owes its Life to Two Fallen Heros

What do Texas Motor Speedway, North Wilksboro Speedway and North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham all have in common?

The former uses the Sprint Cup dates originally owned by the latter two.  Bruton Smith, who’s Speedway Motorsports Inc., owns Texas, acquired The Rock and North Wilkboro for the sole purpose of stealing their race dates to redistribute them to Texas.  The racing at the 1.5 mile quad-oval has been good and fast.  The title of fastest un-restricted track has bounced between Texas and its clone Atlanta.

Since the race track opened to the Cup Series in 1997, there have only been two repeat winners.  The #99 has won this race three times; twice with Carl Edwards behind the wheel and once; the inaugural event, driven by Jeff Burton.  Burton then won again in the Richard Childress Racing #31 in the Spring of 2007.

Brian Vickers holds the qualifying track record at 196.235mph set at the Dickies 500 in 2006.  Bobby Labonte and Ryan Newman each have two poles and Tony Stewart has led more laps than anyone with 453.

Texas Motor Speedway’s construction began in 1995. The original configuration called for an unusual dual banking system that had 24 degrees of banking for stock cars and 8 degrees for open-wheel cars.  In 1998, Turn 4 was reshaped to ease the transition from the turns to the front straight.  That April, a second renovation started and was completed in less than two months. The project eliminated the dual banking and gave the track its current configuration.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

The War Drums are Beating…

After the show last Sunday at Martinsville, the war drums have begun beating. Well, louder anyway. Can anyone stop Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus and the rest of the #48 team from streaking for a 3rd Championship in a row? Not to discount the effort, but it’s kind of like listening to the same song being played on the radio 100 times a day. Sure it was a treat in the beginning, but it gets old, and fast.

Apparently the television audience thought the same again this week, as the ratings were again lower than last year. Even though Jimmie Johnson pulled it out, with a mid to late stinking of the show, it was still a wail of a show. Bump bump… Coming through… and that was all day, including Saturday. But we’re not here to discuss that wacky Camping World Truck Series race. Not at all. What we’re here to discuss are the other 31 cars that were on the track at Martinsville, and will be out in full force at HotLanta this weekend.

Both Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray had their loans at the Luck Bank called due. Honestly, I have no idea what happened to Kurt. He was there at the start, then he wasn’t. Finally caught that he was in the garage, thanks to the ol’ 454.000Mhz, but I missed out on the what.

Then Jamie got bit by the busted rear axle bug while running very strong inside the Top-10, pushing the Top-5. But hey, I have good news, and it has absolutely nothing to do with car insurance. Looks like a reunion with your buddy Donnie Wingo is in the cards. Now go drive the wheel off that thing.

Then there was Casey Mears. Casey put the hammer down, slammed that chrome horn, and brought it home with a very solid 6th place finish. Not bad at all there, “New Pop”, even though 3 of the Top-5 went to your teammates it was still one impressive run.

So now we’re rolling a little further south, down for some hot, fast laps at Atlanta. Or as we sometimes lovingly refer to it in the depths of Thunder Lounge, the fall test session for Texas.

So who are we going to get into the Top-10 here, that isn’t trying to dethrone Johnsonpalooza?

Roush cars typically run well here, and Jamie McMurray is out for justice. Speaking of being out for justice, look for Brian Vickers to make a play and possibly be in the Top-10 at the end of the day. After getting a massive switch to the butt from NASCAR yesterday, that whole organization is out to prove they’re legit.

Finally, my third selection for the upcoming weekend. I’m going to throw a bone to none other than the 2000 Winston Cup Champion, Bobby Labonte. He knows what he needs at this track, and his resume here is quite impressive and includes 6 wins. For this type of track, he’s rolling with 17 wins, 78 Top-5’s, and 119 Top-10’s. Even the Petty slump can’t keep his bite out of Georgia.

Dark horse? Throw the love to Beak. David Reutimann was pretty good at Martinsville. Until late trouble bit him, he’d been in the Top-10 all day.

Speaking of things MWR and Martinsville. I caught Mikey coming out the back of the Toyota Fan Experience by chance. A little boy all decked out in Mikey gear (hat, jacket and all) that couldn’t have been more then 7 saw him too. He took off on a dead beat run towards the golf cart as they began to pull away. As pressed for time as these drivers are these days, Mikey made them stop the cart, and he took the time to sign the boys jacket and give him a quick squeeze. The way that kids face lit up was priceless. While it’s not just Michael, this is a true representation of our sport at heart. Good people, who just happen to be blessed with making a living doing something most of us can only dream of.

So now that the heartburn is clearing up from all those famous Martinsville hotdogs, just in time to hit the barbecue in Texas next week, we find ourselves in anxious wait to see whether or not Goodyear brings the right tire to Atlanta this time, and whether or not we’ll have a show. Just in case the tire is off a bit, bring something better to the Lone Star state, okay guys?

Chasers Rule at Atlanta: Someone has to Suck

The top ten drivers in NASCAR Loop Data stats for the past seven Atlanta Motor Speedway Sprint Cup races are all 2008 Chase to the Cup qualifiers.

The top five all have Driver Ratings above 100. 100 is very good.

Jimmy Johnson leads ‘em out - surprise! - with a score of 113.4. Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle take it down to 102.3. The next five, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch span 96.6 to 88.5. There are no Atlanta slouches in the whole group.

Denny Hamlin has the 15th best Driver Rating and it’s still pretty close at 83.5. Kevin Harvick though, looks like the relative red-headed step child of the bunch. Harvick’s DR is 74.5, with an Ave Finish of 22.9.

Harvick and Hamlin are the only chasers with negative Passing Differentials. Harvick has led only 11 laps and Hamlin but 19 (though Jeff Burton has the lowest total of the chasers with three.) The top five have led a total of 1387 - 60.8 percent of all laps in the last seven races.

Surprisingly, Bobby Labonte, who at one time not long ago owed Atlanta Motor Speedway, has a Dr of only 65.7 and an Ave Finish of 27.1. I used to pick Labonte every time the Cuppers went to AMS. Worked out pretty good for a number of seasons. Ryan Newman has a Series best Ave Start of 6.1 and finish of 22.7 during the Loop era. So much for qualifying. And for a driver with the reputation of being fast on fast tracks that Michael Waltrip has, Mikey looks bad at AMS - DR of 61.0, one Lap Led and Ave Finish at 18.7.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

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