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With the spots for the Sprint Cup Series’ chase all but locked up this weeks race at Atlanta figures to bring us back to the days were drivers drove their race car with the idea to win and we didn’t have to be reminded hundreds of times by someone announcing that they were attempting to make “the chase”.

Despite dropping to one race next season, Atlanta remains a track very high on everyone’s list. With no restrictor plates and no breaking it’s known as the fastest track on the circuit and there are plenty of guys in the garage looking to prove they are the fastest there.

Like so many other tracks the cars to beat likely are the #48 and #24 of Hendrick Motorsports. Combined Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have won 7 events at the track and amassed 23 top-5’s in 54 starts. Their teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr has been in a downward spiral of late but his career numbers at the track cannot be over looked should you be seeking to buy low.

Perhaps the driver with the best numbers to never win a race is Matt Kenseth. Kenseth ranks behind only the aforementioned and Tony Stewart when it comes to average finish at the 1.54 Quad Oval. Kenseth has 8 top-5’s in 21 starts.

Speaking of Stewart his average finish (12.) is only bested by that of Johnson. (10.8) However it’s worth noting that while Stewarts run with his own race team has netted him solid finishes of 8th, 11th, and 13th it’s a far cry from the run he had with Joe Gibbs motor-sports from 2001-2008 a time in which he had 12 top-10’s in 14 starts. I wouldn’t count Stewart out (as I am suggesting this week) but much like Kenseth it remains to be seen if he can be a winning car or just a contending car right now.

The first career win for Carl Edwards came at Atlatna in an amazing duel with Jimmie Johnson back in 2005. He went on to sweep the 2005 season at Atlanta and added another win in 2008 but any talk about Edwards and Atlanta unquestionably brings up the memory of him wrecking Brad Keselowski earlier this year. This very well could be the race in which Edwards moves from a contending car to a winning car this year as in addition to the 3 wins he had 8 top-10’s in 12 starts.

All this and I haven’t even talked about Kurt Busch who has won two of the last three events at the track. In addition to the wins Busch has posted top-10’s in four of his last six starts. The other finishes were an 11th and a 38th following a crash last fall.

While it’s never a good idea to count out Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick it’s worth noting they’ve had a mixed bag or results. Mark Martin and Jamie McMurray who is chasing Clint Bowyer for the final chase spot also falls into the category. For what it’s worth I’m picking Bowyer to best Martin and McMurray this weekend which will just about close out the season for the drivers of the #5 and the #1.

If you are looking to hit it big then Juan Pablo Montoya is a great gamble this weekend. Montoya has finished third in the last two races at Atlanta and for those playing fantasy or pick em leagues they will find him an inexpensive option.

Despite AJ Allmendinger’s high career average at Atlanta he’s a hard pick at best. ‘Dinger has mostly ran as a 15th-20th place car in his five starts but managed a 6th place finish this spring due to gambling on tires which in turn skews his data rather largely.

Two of the truly great Atlanta drivers are in also-rans this weekend. Bill Elliott has 5 career wins at his home track and fellow former champion Bobby Labonte has six.

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Picking Michigan this week may be one of the tougher assignments in a while.

Since it’s already Thursday and I’m in a hurry because the wife has scheduled a portrait session at 4 pm with our two sons I’ll make this short and to the point.

It looked like I would be attending this event but now… the wife isn’t wanting to go so much and apparently her family is trying to force me to be in some sort of cook out/baby shower this weekend… So needless to say the desire to write too much is also not really there.

Here are some guys you should pick and why.

Denny Hamlin – He won the earlier event at the track this year
Jeff Gordon – Much success
Kurt Busch – Always good, was good earlier this year
Carl Edwards – Average finish of 6th. Fords are looking better
Matt Kenseth – Two wins, average of 10th, looking to win for Jack in his possible return to the track?
Greg Biffle – Heck, why not?
Jimmie Johnson – Never bet against the 4 time champion
Tony Stewart – 15 top 10’s in 23 starts
Juan Montoya – Has had a great car last few weeks, trying to build on momentum
Kasey Kahne – was a top car earlier this year

For our super secret back pack special this week we go with.. Joey Logano.

Logano is entering his fourth try at the track. He finished 10th earlier this year and was 7th in last summers race.

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Four wins in nine starts at a track are numbers no one cay stay away from. Denny Hamlin has those numbers at Pocono making him the obvious favorite this coming weekend. Hamlin has won the last two Sprint Cup races at the triangle track in addition to a sweep in his rookie season of 2006. In addition to his four wins, Hamlin has claimed a total of seven top-10’s and twice has finished third.

Coming off a good run at Indianapolis Tony Stewart has some momentum. Aside from two wins at the “tricky triangle” the driver of the #14 Chevy has finished in the top-10 an impressive 17 times in 23 races.  In Stewart’s last four races at Pocono he’s finished second, first, tenth and third.

Jeff Gordon is still looking to break into the win column this year. Gordon who hasn’t won since Texas last year has won four previous events at Pocono. Gordon was involved in a crash at Pocono during the first event this year but had finished in the top-10 in the three events before that. Overall Gordon has 16 top-5’s and 24 top-10’s in 35 starts.

Even with the way Jimmie Johnson and crew performed at Indianapolis it’s impossible to write a race preview and not mention him. Johnson has made 17 starts at Pocono and has won twice. He’s also got 6top-5’s and 11 top-10’s.

After weeks of telling everyone to stay away from the Ford camp my suggestions of Edwards, Kenseth and Biffle last week weren’t too far off. Biffle ran second, Edwards was seventh and Kenseth was a disappointing twelfth after a good early showing.  With that being said I’m saying pick Carl Edwards. The Ford cars have been showing improvements in recent weeks and Edwards does a pretty good job of getting around Pocono with 2 career wins in 11 starts and a total of 4 top-10’s on his resume.

If you really like Fords then you could also go with Kasey Kahne who has a win and 2 poles at the track. Kahne has been up and down all season but has finished in the top-10 in four of the last six Sprint Cup events this year.

As with other tracks with long straightaways Kurt Busch is as good as they come. Busch has two career wins at Pocono and has led laps in the last two races resulting in finishes of ninth and sixth.

Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Burton are all solid bets for 15th or better this week but none have exactly wowed at Pocono. Nor has Dale Earnhardt Jr or Greg Biffle.

It will be interesting to see which Kyle Busch shows up in PA. Busch ran second earlier this year to his teammate Hamlin but in 11 starts has an average finish of 19.6 with a handful of mid 20 runs. Busch is a good gamble for those hoping to win big but you have to be accepting of the risk in picking him if he does poorly.

Last weeks winner Jamie McMurray has just 3 top-10’s in 15 starts while teammate Juan Pablo Montoya has finished in the top-10 in his last three starts. Perhaps this week he avenges a disappointing day at Indy?

Lastly we come to Sam Hornish. Hornish has five career starts at Pocono and has finished 42, 26, 10, 4, 11 in them. With the numbers on the right side being better then those on the left perhaps Hornish is the best of the buy low drivers.

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Stock Car racing invades the hallowed ground of Indy cars again this weekend. With the Sprint Cup series at Indianapolis Motors Speedway little is certain.

The biggest question coming to Indy is always concerns over tire-ware. Last years race avoided most of that but did follow the usual trend of follow the leader for 400 miles.

Much was made about Juan Pablo Montoya’s pit road speeding penalty but the truth of the matter was he was speeding so maybe there shouldn’t of been any discussion on the matter. Montoya is a good bet despite his struggles this year based purely on last year and his history with the track. There will be a bunch of eyes on Montonya who welcomed his third child earlier this week.

In additon to Montoya I’ve found myself conflicted on my picks this weekend but I do have three drivers I am quite comfortable picking.

Last year’s race was won by Jimmie Johnson which marked the third time driver 48 has taken the checkers. I believe the highlight of last years race was the end when the announcer stated to stick around to “watch Jimmie kiss the bricks.” To which the guy sitting next to me replied “He can kiss my bricks.”

His teammate Jeff Gordon is the only driver with more wins and while this may seem like a broken record… Gordon has a great chance to break his winless streak which is currently at a career long 48 races.

Local favorite Tony Stewart is also another rather easy pick. While Stewart hasn’t run as well as last year he has 2 wins, 5 top-5’s and 7 top-10’s in 11 career starts at the track. In addition he has finished in the top 10 in five of his last 6 races this season.

After that things get a bit mucky.

Kevin Harvick remains a very strong pick and there is always Kyle Busch.

Once you start getting off the beaten path things get a little tricky. One driver I am interested in watching this weekend is Joey Logano who ran a very strong 12th last year as a rookie. Logano has been all over the map this year in terms of finishes. He’s been a top-10 car at some tracks and a field filler at others but if you are looking for a dark horse or a buy low guy the 20-year old may be it.

The tide may be starting to turn for the Ford teams. Matt Kenseth is one driver who has had some success at Indy and even for the less then best car Kenseth usually gets the most out of it. He has 6 top-10’s in 10 career starts as well as 4 top-5’s. His teammate Carl Edwards will have the pressure on him this weekend and maybe it will be what ails the 99 car’s two year struggle. Edwards has a top-5 and a 9th place finish in five stops. It’s almost surprisingly to note that Kenseth, Edwards, and Greg Biffle have led a combined 43 laps at Indy in 22 starts. Ouch.

Mark Martin is also a driver of interest. Last year he ran second most of the race and finished there. If Martin is to show he has anything this year this is a big test. He has 6-top 5’s in his career at Indy but hasn’t had a top-10 this year since May 28th at Charlotte.

Hopefully this years race is more exciting then last years. To sum up last years race I turn it over to Ryan Newman.

“(Indianapolis Motor Speedway) is just flat and it’s fast. Our race cars aren’t made for that. Our race cars aren’t designed for that. They designed this race car to put it on a racetrack, and it works here, it just doesn’t put on a great race.”

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That Dale Earnhardt Jr would be racing the #3 Wrangler car in the Nationwide Series has been a talked about story for months. I mean it seems probably because it has been talked about since April.

Yea… Anyway everyone has their opinions and so do some NASCAR drivers. I found a quote from Matt Kenseth during the Q&A session for the Coke Zero 400 to be a bit numerous.

DO YOU HAVE ANY MEMORIES OF THE BLUE No. 3 CAR HERE? “I haven’t seen it yet, to be honest with you. I haven’t seen it yet or watched any of that. I guess I heard about it and saw the car sitting someone in a picture or something, but I think it’s pretty cool. I’m sure they’ll sell a lot of diecasts and t-shirts. I think it’s cool that he’s driving the 3. I think everybody thought someday he was gonna go drive the 3 again and, really, to be honest, it makes me remember more about running the Busch Series with Dale Jr., and always ran the 3 car and racing against each other for championships. We both started the same year and moved up to Cup together the same year, so that really brings up more of those memories, to be honest, than anything. It just reminds me of how much fun we had racing for those couple of years in the Busch Series, now the Nationwide Series.”

For those wanting to read the full transcript you can check it out here. http://www.catchfence.com/2010/sprintcup/07/01/2010-nscs-coke-zero-400-q-a-with-ford-racing-driver-matt-kenseth/

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Yesterday multiple outlets regurgitated a report from Dave Moody that said Robbie Reiser is likely to return as the crew chief for Matt Kenseth’s #17 next year. The story itself isn’t new as it’s been rumored and hoped for by Ford fans that Reiser would return after the removal of Drew Blickensderfer following Daytona.

Todd Parrott took over and after some early success, based mainly on pit strategy, the results began to taper off and team owner Jack Roush replaced him with Jimmy Fennig. That Fennig wasn’t named crew chief speaks enough about the move that anyone can tell a reuniting of Kenseth and Reiser is inevitable.

Below are some of the quotes that will keep people talking for the coming weeks.

“Robbie wants to come back,” said one source on condition of anonymity, “but he’s doing such a good job as GM that Jack can’t justify making a move right now. Next season, expect to see Reiser back on the pit box, with Robbie Loomis succeeding him as General Manager.”

Even Kenseth has weighed in on the situation and considering the driver had asked for Reiser to return following Blickensderfer’s departure it’s not much of a surprise.

“He probably would have filled in for the rest of the year (and tried) to do both, but there just are not enough hours in a day.”

Kenseth and Reiser will be back together in 2011. It’s a no-brainer as far as decisions go at Roush-Fenway.

The reasons are simple. The most obvious is that the two had success while together winning 16 races and the 2003 Championship. The two never asked to be separated and the decision was not results related but more of a hope by Jack Roush that by putting Reiser in a GM role that he could have even more success across the organization.

Equally as important is that both Reiser and Kenseth, who has a large amount of pull around Roush-Fenway Racing, want to be joined together again.

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Matt Kenseth found himself off pit sequence for much of Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motorspeedway but with some luck from a caution managed a fifth place finish.

Problems began for Kenseth as he was running near the front of the field with a tire vibration. Kenseth was forced to make an unscheuled pit stop but managed to stay on the lead lap as the yellow did not wave until later in the race.

With new crew chief Todd Parrott the #17 car has moved up to fourth in the standings while starting the year off with three straight top ten finishes.

Kenseth is hoping that the success carries over to Atlanta where he has had good runs in the past and where the Roush Ford’s have been up at the front.

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Drew Blickensderfer will again be a crew chief taking over for Mike Kelley as the man on the top of the pit box for the #60 car driven by Carl Edwards in the Nationwide Series.

Blickensderfer had been the crew chief for Matt Kenseth for the 2009 season when the 17 car won the first two races of the season. Following an eighth place finish at Daytona this year the driver of the 17 car asked for a change.

Blickensderfer was then replaced by Todd Parrot and put in limbo until it was announced earlier today that he would return to the Nationwide Series as the crew chief for the 60 car. The same role he held in 2008 when Carl Edwards finished second to Clint Bowyer in the point standings.

Mike Kelley will take over the role of competition driector for the Roush Fenway Nationwide efforts while Mike Beam who held that role will be elecated to sppedway specialist in the research and development department.

In other words a bunch of domino’s have been slid around the board to keep everyone happy and put them in some sort of role in which Jack Roush believes they can have success.

Blickensderfer has a lot to prove now, as anything less then the 60 car being the best of the field will lead to questions about his managing ability. Obviously the competition on the Nationwide side isn’t as tough as it is on the Sprint Cup side so Blickensderfer will need to do more then just be a top 5-10 car.

As for Matt Kenseth he will have to make the chase on the Spring Cup side and find victory lane to avoid people suspecting the problem with the team at the end of the year was the driver. Finding victory lane, making the chase and then avoiding a late season collapse are the three key ingredients in his 2010 run.

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Following wins in their first two races together Matt Kenseth and Drew Blickensderfer appeared to be on the top of the sport. Roughly a year later the two have parted ways after Kenseth said that Blickensderfer and the team didn’t have good chemistry.

Todd Parrott will take over the top spot on the pit box this weekend in California. Parrott has guided drivers to 29 wins including Dale Jarrett’s 1999 Cup Championship.

Under Blickensderfer, Kenseth missed the “Chase” last year for the time time in his career. The two went to Daytona this year still together but following an eighth place finish in the event a change was made.

“The timing of the change is probably 100 percent my fault,” Kenseth said. “I know that I’ve been asked by Jack several times if there’s anything we needed to change on the team. … Jack talked to me in November and asked if I thought we were OK with everything we had going on, and I really did.

“I really felt like we needed to give Drew a full year and a full offseason. He was working on some things, trying to make it better. It’s really hard to explain the timing of the change. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not any good for anybody, really. It’s just kind of the way it went down.”

After the 2008 season, Blickensderfer was promoted from Nationwide Series crew chief to replace Chad Bolin, who remained with the No. 17 car as the team engineer. Bolin had replaced Robbie Reiser, the only Cup crew chief Kenseth had ever had and who is the organization’s competition director. According to insiders the two considered returning Reiser to the pit box but were afraid to take him out of his current managerial position.

Jack Roush has termed Parrott’s role as crew chief as “interim” because Parrott did such a good job overseeing the building of the organization’s restrictor-plate cars. He said Parrott’s experience as a championship crew chief with Robert Yates Racing and Dale Jarrett in 1999 was one of the reasons he is taking over the No. 17 team.

“I hope that I can just continue on, get the 17 car back to where it belongs in victory lane,” Parrott said.

Parrott was crew chief last year for part of the season with Bobby Labonte, whose car was operated by Yates Racing.

It’s been interesting. Knowing that Blickensderfer was removed from his spot created the why now factor. Ha

d he been removed at the end of last year everyone would have understood but you have to give kudos to Kenseth and Roush for stepping up and saying that the decisions was the drivers and that it was because the team seemed to be going through the motions.

It’s weird in a way. Kenseth entered this year with a pretty good chance to make the Chase if you asked me but now I feel he’s pretty much guaranteed himself a spot in it. It’s weird because “the Blick” wasn’t a bad crew chief, it’s just that the two seemed so alike that there weren’t many options for different ideas to get the car running better.

Without doubt Kenseth fans would have preferred to see Robbie Reiser back, but Todd Parrott is a pretty darn good pick too.

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