The Essentials
Where: Phoenix Int'l Raceway
Race: Time: Saturday 8:46 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio
Forecast: Clear, Lows in the 50s
Distance: 312 laps (312 miles, 500k)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson
The Storylines
Mark Martin has gotten awful good at starting Sprint Cup races from the front in 2009 in his new Hendrick Motorsports ride, but its the whole finishing part that hasn't gone as planned.
In now eight tries this season, Martin has started from the front row four times -- a stretch that has included three pole positions. The premium starting spots, though, haven't paid off as Martin's best 2009 finish to date include a pair of 6th-place results.
However, Martin fans might have reason to be positive about Saturday night's desert showdown because the No. 5 is coming three straight Top-10 finishes to return to PIR -- a track that as treated him well in the past. Martin's got a win and -- count 'em -- 9 Top-5 finishes at the 1-miler. A year ago? Martin led a bunch of laps until fuel strategy took him out of competition late at PIR.
The list of friends Carl Edwards keeps in the NASCAR garage area seems to be a thin one. And if Michael Waltrip was on that seemingly small list [Edwards acknowledged in a Sports Illustrated interview that he prefers to not get close with the whole NASCAR community], he probably isn't on it anymore.
During Friday night's Nationwide Series race at PIR, Waltrip opted against pitting during an early caution and gained the lead. On the restart, the cars that had taken tires were noticeably faster and began passing Waltrip on the inside. Edwards was in the high line behind Waltrip heading to turn 3 and had a momentary lapse of patience, bumped Waltrip's rear end and spun him to the outside wall.
It was a bad move and wasn't something a driver of Edwards' caliber should do. For the record, he did apologize after the race.
Consider the Kasey Kahne 2011 sweepstakes officially underway. Kahne, now in his 7th season with the newly-renamed Richard Petty Motorsports, is saying all the right things for a driver that can't wait to get out his situation and into a more competitive ride.
Kahne acknowledged this weekend that he is signed with RPM through 2010 and that he'd be more than happy to re-sign with the team -- if it gets to the competitive level of the Gibbs, Hendricks, and Roushes of the NASCAR world. In other words, Kahne will have to challenge for a Sprint Cup title this season for RPM to have any shot at keeping the talented driver and his sponsor Budweiser.
Why so quickly, you ask? Well, think about how driver contracts work these days. They don't wait until a season has ended to make a decision, meaning Kahne will be looking actively by this time a year from now without drastic improvement from his Dodge camp.
The Predictions
After riding the No. 88 train all week for Saturday night's race at Phoenix, I can't get off now [though his teammate Mark Martin has to be a big favorite]. Pick: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-18-2009 @ 3:22PM
dotlhs56 said...
I surely hope it is Dale Jr. He really needs to try driving like his dad even though I know they will not let him do a lot of things his dad did. I would like to see him get aggressive. They try to whine and say he is being aggressive when he is not. He doesn't have but one choice in most cases or he would be wrecked.
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4-18-2009 @ 4:14PM
illsell4u said...
I will be the first to come on and say congrats to Little E if he were to win tonight Geoffrey but for the life of me I cannot see why anyone would think he has a better chance than any of the top ten drivers of winning. Was it in the second practice run yesterday where he placed 21st? Or was it in qualifying when he placed 15th? He has shown little in the last few weeks of competing for a win this year. In the last 5 weeks he has a best finish of 8th and last week was 20th. Unless we have another fluke, a fuel milage race or something like that, it is highly unlikely to happen.
Now next week, if he were to NOT finish in the top 8 I would be surprised but since you have now said three times you expect him to win this week I will bodly repeat my belief that he will not finish higher than 12th. But if he does manage to win somehow, I will gladly come back and say good for you.
mbl
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4-18-2009 @ 7:07PM
Brad said...
No Mike, it was probably based on Jr. being in the top 10 in avg. speed over 20+ laps and the fact he's won there before. You can't judge what these drivers are going to do in the race based on qualifying or the fastest lap they posted in practice but you can get a better idea of what they might do based on avg. speed over a longer run. If you just want to base it on 1 lap, then why race at all?
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4-19-2009 @ 12:01AM
illsell4u said...
Thanks Brad. I wasn't trying to be a smart ass this time. As I stated, I have not seen anything from that team this year like they were last year.
They made a bold move, which I liked, by not pitting and passing 22 cars while the others did pit in the middle of the race. At the time the 88 was pretty much the best car on the track as he had gained 6 spots or so since the previous restart. Too bad for them it did not work out as they hoped. Next week should be much better.
Congrats to Mark Martin and Tony Stewart.
mike
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