For the second time in Kentucky Speedway’s brief 12-year history, the big guns of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will set their sights on the 1.5-mile, D-shaped demon. My forecast for the weekend, ‘it’s going to be HOT!’ Temperatures are slated to reach triple-digits all weekend in the Bluegrass State, and the heat will only add to the slickness of the racing surface in Sparta.
It was a year ago that I had the privilege (or punishment) of covering the Inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, and amidst the traffic issues, inclement weather and irritated race fans, I managed to have a good time. Jerry Carroll and now Bruton Smith have erected an absolutely magnificent facility in Northern Kentucky, and should be extremely proud to have been mentioned atop the list of sold-out races in 2011.
Sonoma Recap
I had a decent weekend last week in wine country, but did not have as good of a weekend as I would have liked. I’m supposedly a ‘Road Course Specialist’ so one would assume I could come up with some a decent finish in Sonoma.
My Winner Pick last week was the guy that 95% of the entire NASCAR community had pegged to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350, but fell short in his effort to win from his second Coors Light Pole in as many weeks. Marcos Ambrose was the guy to beat going into last week’s 110 lap stanza, but Ambrose battled an ill-handling chariot early in his quest to make it two road course victories in a row for the Stanley team. Ambrose shuffled his way back to a race-low 16th position and rallied to start 13th before the green-white-checkered finish.
Ambrose’s work with just two laps to work with showed me why I made the call to go with him last week. The Aussie was able to rebound from the ill handling racecar he had early on to finish 8th last week, earning me a much-needed top 10 in Sonoma.
My Dark Horse was another driver with a roller-coaster of a day last week in wine country…
Jeff Gordon started his day on the outside of the front row and quickly took advantage of Ambrose’s misfortune early on. Gordon snagged the lead on lap 12, and amidst his tenure leading the 2012 Toyota/Save Mart 350, managed to surpass 23,000 career laps led, the most among active drivers and ranking seventh on the all-time list. The No. 24 Chevrolet remained in the top 5 until lap 71 when his Impala sputtered on-track, a telling sign of an empty fuel cell. He was able to limp his car to pit road where he received a full tank of fuel and four tires, arming him for a run for the checkered. As the race shook out, drivers came to pit road, gained positions and following the green-white-checkered, the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet was shown 6th on the final leaderboard, giving me a double top-10 week last Sunday.
Kentucky Picks
With just one year of history to pull from in the Bluegrass State, it is tough to identify a guy who is ‘Good at Kentucky’. I’m going to do my best this week and pray for a win…
Winner Pick
Kyle Busch is where my money is going this week. He absolutely dominated the weekend last year in Sparta (winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ race after starting dead last, finishing second in the Nationwide race after finishing dead last, and by dominating the Inaugural Quaker State 400 from the pole) and is hungry to solidify his spot in The Chase for the Sprint Cup with a win on Saturday night. As I glance at current practice speeds from Kentucky, he had been shown third fastest in the first hour, but has slipped to 9th currently.
Here’s what Busch had to say about returning to Kentucky as the Inaugural Race Winner:
“I think it’s cool. You look at some of the new venues we’ve been to over the years and Jeff Gordon got to win a number of inaugural races, like the Brickyard, Fontana, and Kansas. He was always the guy who was known to figure out places the fastest, but we were able to be the ones to do that last year at Kentucky. There aren’t many opportunities these days to go to a new venue, so for us being able to win the first race there was extra special and, to put that M&M’s car in victory lane. We’d love to be able to come back there with our Red, White, and Blue M&M’s car and still keep us as the only winners there thus far in Sprint Cup.”
Dark Horse Pick
Why not make it an all Busch weekend this week and pick the No. 51 Finch Racing Chevy to win or bring home a top-5 this week? His Phoenix Construction Services Impala held together last week to finish 3rd in Sonoma, and barring suspension from NASCAR this week, I think Kurt Busch has a decent shot at a strong finish this week. As a glance at the practice speeds, its looking like KuBu has a decent car and is working on primarily race-trim, with the go-or-go homers soaking up a good portion of positions 10-20 on the practice leader board. He finished 9th last year in the inaugural race at Kentucky Speedway, driving for Penske Racing.
That’s all for this week, so until we throw the restrictor plates on once again this year…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!
