Earlier this May we saw JR Hildebrand play the fuel strategy perfect. He had the Indianapolis 500 pretty much won and 2005 winner Dan Wheldon was well behind, but going into Turn 4 there was a lapped car and Hildebrand came into the turn way too fast and not to mention way too high and probably purposefully because this is the Indy 500 after all, you have to look sexy coming out of that last turn.
[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”240″]
[/media-credit]Unfortunately, the only thing sexy and probably painful about Hildebrand’s choice was his date with the wall. He almost won the race on two wheels, but he gave the win to Dan Wheldon, who had finished second two years in a row prior to this epic disaster.
In six days, NASCAR heads to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jamie McMurray is the defending winner of this race, but he has been struggling mightily as of late and as careful as he is, he continues to be finding the wall or someone else. His teammate Juan “Flamboya” Montoya either runs well and wrecks, wrecks altogether, wrecks someone else, or barely squeezing in a Top-10 here and there. Both the Earnhardt-Ganassi cars sit 17th and 29th in the points respectively. The only way I see Montoya making the Chase is if he repeats at the Glen, but if that doesn’t happen, he’ll have to wait until 2012.
With that being said, there will not be a repeat winner at the Brickyard this season. The biggest shock we saw last year was how badly the 24 and the 48 finished. Those two finished 22nd and 23rd. It came as a bigger shock to Jeff Gordon, who had never finished outside the Top-10 at the Brickyard since his rocky 2000 season.
For my pick this weekend, I will have to go with Jeff Gordon to become the first man to ever win 5 races at the Brickyard. I know last year didn’t go as planned for the 24 team, but just look at how well they have been performing lately. Without the battery issues that plagued him at Loudon, I believe he would have at least finished in the Top 3.
For dark horses, you have to take a good look at the RCR cars. These guys came to Indy last year on a mission and it definitely showed with two of their three cars finishing inside the Top 5. Harvick finished 2nd and Bowyer 4th. Burton topped off a great weekend by finishing 6th. If a Hendrick car does not win this weekend, I bet someone from RCR will be hoisting the Brickyard 400 trophy.
I believe this race will come down to some last lap antics and it’s going to be hella exciting to watch. I hope I’m not disappointed.
What do you guys think? Email me at rosharppromotions@gmail.com to send me your thoughts or leave your comments here. Thank you.
Jeff Gordon