Roush Fenway Fords Enjoy November Sun in Homestead

November 10, 2008

While only winning the championship in 2004, the Roush Fenway Fords are dominant at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Greg Biffle won this race three years running and Matt Kenseth capped off the season one year ago with a win. To add to the fun for the Cat in the Hat, Carl Edwards has a very good record here and David Ragan has a top 10 in his first start here last year. For Roush, those are good odds.

The championship is obviously the big story at Homestead, but every year the margin of victory is getting larger. From the incredible drama of Kurt Busch’s 2004 season to Tony Stewart’s and Jimmie Johnson’s solid if unspectacular runs in the years following, the championship chase is still must-watch television and the redesigned Homestead track deserves a lot of the credit. This year almost certainly promises to see Johnson do what only Cale Yarborough has done in NASCAR’s top series unless something freakish happens to the normally unflappable #48 team.

Paging David Gilliland, remember where your engines come from… anyway, lets get a look at the numbers.

The winners:
2007 – Matt Kenseth
2006 – Greg Biffle
2005 – Greg Biffle
2004 – Greg Biffle

Champs finish:
2007 – Jimmie Johnson – 7th
2006 – Jimmie Johnson – 9th
2005 – Tony Stewart – 15th
2004 – Kurt Busch – 5th

Let’s see, let me find a Roush Fenway driver that has had the best season this and won on similar 1.5 mile tracks… oh yeah, if you’re not anticipating Carl Edwards leading nearly every lap and winning this thing Sunday night, I’ll take whatever odds there are for the race. Aside from Edwards, Biffle does have a track record of winning here and could easily do it again.

The two sleepers I’ve pegged for this race are Ragan and Jamie McMurray. Both drivers have performed admirably in the final stretch of the year. The season finale always produces surprises, it should be interesting to see what happens this year. Among the one-off entrants are Brad Keselowski and Mark Martin, and the end of A.J. Allmendinger’s run in the #10.

Finally, it’s been a pleasure to write this weekly column for On Pit Row. I want to thank Steve and Charlie for all of their hard work and I look forward to continuing my contributions to the Bench Racing blog. Journey provides the season finale with the classic karaoke song Don’t Stop Believin’. YouTube is your friend. This won’t be like the Sopranos finale when the music just stops before the

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Written by Matt Mercer · Filed Under Bench Racing blog, Fantasy NASCAR, Ford Racing, Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR, Nascar Chase 2008, On Pit Row | 5 Comments

Martinsville Drivers Win in Many Brands

October 18, 2008

Nine of the last eleven races at the paperclip shaped track in Martinsville, Virginia have been won by drivers sporting the Chevrolet brand.

Chevy hasn’t always been the dominate nameplate. Martinsville started holding NASCAR Cup level races in 1949. In the 119 Cup races held there have been eleven different brands seeing victory circle. Even the Fabulous Hudson Hornet tasted victory there twice in 1952. Mercury also got a pair of wins; one in 1968 with Cale Yarborough and the other in 1973 with David Pearson.

Toyota picked up its lone win with Kyle Busch at the Spring race this year. Chrysler and Buick own three wins each. Chrysler’s came early on in the Fifties while the Eighties were kind to the Buicks. The General Motors brands of Pontiac and Oldsmobile were the cars to beat four and eight times respectively,

Dodge and Plymouth have combined for 26 wins over the years with twelve of those at the hands of Richard Petty. Petty had two wins in a Ford in 1969 while feuding with Chrysler. The Blue Oval boys have 24 other victories as well. The first coming with Fast Freddy Lorenzen behind the wheel in 1961 and the most recent by Kurt Busch in 2002.

Once again Chevrolet drivers have had the upper hand at a race track. Thirty-eight percent of all wins at the half miler have been with Chevy sheet metal. A total of forty-five wins greatly out numbers its nearest rival. Buck Baker was the first to taste victory and started a string of four consecutive wins beginning in 1957. Jimmy Johnson is the most recent winner, capping off seven straight Chevy wins that he began in the Fall of 2004.

So once again the numbers favor a win coming from Jimmy Johnson. This race and the championship seem to be his to lose. He has wins at the paperclip and he drives the right car.

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images

Written by Steve Wronkowicz · Filed Under Chevrolet Racing, Dodge Motorsports, Ford Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR, Nascar Chase 2008 | Leave a Comment