Matty’s Picks – Vol. 3 – Coca Cola 600 – May 29, 2011
Matty’s Picks
Vol. 3 – Coca Cola 600 – May 29, 2011
I am extremely excited for this week’s edition of Matty’s Picks, not only because I get to brag about my spot on pick in last week’s Sprint All-Star race, but because this Sunday is one of my favorite days out of the entire year.
I get the pleasure of waking up to the sounds of the Oswegatchie River flowing past my parents’ lake house each Memorial Day Sunday. This is a sound that is quickly drowned out by the high pitch whine of the Honda engines at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the 800-HP Stock Cars soon after dusk at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Yes, Memorial Day Sunday is a day that I look forward to each year. It truly marks the start of the summer racing season.
Let’s start with my picks from last week:
I had the duty of making five picks in total last week, two of which happened to be spot on. After having a bit of a shaky start to my week in the Sprint Showdown, I quickly rebounded with solid picks in the Sprint All-Star Race.
My Dark Horse pick for the Sprint Showdown was Brian Vickers. Vickers was running well until about 3/4th through the race when, contact with following a restart forced him to pit for new tires. Vickers finished right were he started in 10th place, giving me a Top-10 that won’t count for my ongoing competition with myself.
As for my winner pick in the Showdown, I thought I had made a solid pick in Martin Truex Jr, running in the Top-5 the entire first thirty laps. Contact with Paul Menard on lap 29 would put Truex outside of the Top-10, finishing his night in 13th.
I don’t think there was any question as to IF Dale Earnhardt Jr would make the All-Star Race, it was just a matter of HOW he would wind up with the start. My pick was that he would not race his way into the All-Star (Jr finished 5th in the Showdown), and would be voted into the All-Star Race via over 2.4 Million votes in the Sprint All-Star Fan Vote. Kudos to me.
For the Grand Finale of the night – the 2011 Sprint All-Star Race, I picked Mark Martin as my Dark Horse pick simply because he was (and still is) due for a win. Martin never really challenged for the win last week, and was finally put to the garage after contact with his teammate Jimmie Johnson on lap 94.
I did state in my column last week that fans would see a ‘Million Dollar Back Flip’ on Sunday night. I however did not state that fans would see absolute domination of the All Star race, followed by a failed pirouette on the infield grass, leading up to the Back Flip. Carl Edwards won three out of four segments bagging himself over 1.1 million dollars in the meantime. Kudos to me again.
Coke 600 Picks
After absolute domination last week on All-Star weekend, I will be going with the flow and picking two Roush Fenway Racing drivers this week.
Dark Horse Pick
David Ragan has been on the brink of winning his first real NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race all season. He will start his #6 Ford in the 8th spot Sunday Evening after a fantastic qualifying run last night. Ragan will carry momentum from his win in the Sprint Showdown last week into Sunday’s Coke 600. I think that Ragan will take advantage of the dominance that Roush Fenway has shown at Charlotte this year and run towards the front all night.
Winner Pick
It’s a very good thing that there is no limit as to how many times I can pick the same driver in this column. I really do not know how anyone could bet against Carl Edwards this week. His dominance last week in the All-Star Race has convinced me to stay on his bandwagon and pick him again this week. Carl Edwards will join and elite club of drivers including; Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison, and Kasey Kahne, who have swept both races at Charlotte in the month of May. Edwards will have his chance to redeem himself after the failed burnout following the All-Star on Sunday.
BONUS PICK
100th Indianapolis 500
I get to dabble this week in the world of open wheel racing. I think that this year’s field for the Indy 500 may be the most competitive that fans have seen in years. This year, the race is wide open for any of the 33 drivers to take. I will pick a Ganassi Driver for this year’s race in Dario Franchitti. He won last year’s Indy 500, and has locked up a solid starting spot for Sunday in 9th and I think Dario will sip the milk once again on Sunday.
As always, you can send me you comments or help me make my picks for next week by email – riotwvu@yahoo.com
Until next time….You Stay Classy NASCAR & INDY NATION!
Bryan Clauson Wins Firestone Freedom 100 Pole as Qualifying is Rained Out
2010 USAC National Drivers Championship title holder Bryan Clauson may be making his first ever Firestone Indy Lights start, but the pressure will be on as he will start pole.
Clauson won the Sonoco Pole Award and its $5,000 prize for tomorrow’s Firestone Freedom 100 as a result of qualifying being rained out and the starting grid being set by points. The 21-year old from Noblesville, Indiana won the pole as the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy car sat first in points, thanks to Conor Daly, who drove the first three events of the year.
“We didn’t get to qualify and get the pole but that’s part of being a part of a great team and having great teammates like Conor Daly to put us up front,” Clauson said. “Starting from the front kind of heightens your expectations a little bit. Now you don’t have to work traffic. I’ve got a couple teammates in the lead pack. We watched a lot of race tape with Wade (Cunningham) and saw how teammates can make things happen. Obviously, I want to win but the big key is being there at the end. The first few laps are going to be key.”
Clauson has only been able to turn eight laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to the rain-shortened practice this weekend, though did test on May 13th to prepare for the event.
“We felt a lot better after practice today than we did after our test earlier,” Clauson said. “We worked really hard on the test day and never quite got it right. The guys brought back a great race car for us. We didn’t get to qualify and get the pole, but that’s part of being a part of a great team and having great teammates like Conor Daly to put us up front. Starting from the front kind of heightens your expectations a little bit. Now you don’t have to work traffic. I’ve got a couple teammates in the lead pack. We watched a lot of race tape with Wade (Cunningham) and saw how teammates can make things happen. Obviously, I want to win, but the big key is being there at the end. The first few laps are going to be key.”
While competiting in the Firestone Freedom 100 during the afternoon, Clauson will also be running the Hoosier Hundred that night.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “They are both prestigious races in the state of Indiana. I look at the Hoosier Hundred as the second most prestigious race in Indiana after the Indy 500. It’s a race that has a lot of history, and a lot of dirt track heroes ran that race and were winners there. Doing both the Freedom 100 and the Hoosier Hundred in the same night is going to be cool. I think it’s great that the Speedway and the Fairgrounds have built a ‘BC’s Bandwagon’ ticket package around it. It’s an added bonus for an already-special day in my career.”
His Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate Josef Newgarden will line up on the front row beside him as this continues a successful couple of weeks at Indianapolis for Sam Schmidst as he won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 last weekend with driver Alex Tagliani.
“I think we’re going to be in a strong position tomorrow, but we really wanted to qualify,” Newgarden said. “I think everyone wanted a shot at the pole and we didn’t get that opportunity. We proved in testing that we had a strong car. Sam Schmidt Motorsports is a good Indy Lights team and they have a lot of history in the series and a lot of experience and knowledge to draw from. The (IZOD) IndyCar Series side did a phenomenal job last weekend, and I’m confident that we can handle the job on our end.”
Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ success reins no surprise as they’ve enlisted driver coaching help from former Indy Lights champion Alex Lloyd and Wade Cunningham to serve as driver coaches to help their young drivers.
“Now that I’m racing ovals (for Dale Coyne), I can’t spend as much time with him as I’d like, but today is a good day since we have no track activity (for IZOD IndyCar Series.)” Loyd said. “I’m here to give them tips and tricks of the trade of racing at Indianapolis, how the race goes down, how to deal with traffic, things like that. The guys all know how to drive a race car. You don’t have to teach them how to drive. It’s more about remembering the experiences you had and trying to relate it to the nuances they are experiencing on the track.”
Andretti Autorsport’s Stefan Wilson and Team Moore Racing’s Victor Garcia will start third and fourth. Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ Esteban Guerrieri and O2 Racing Technology’s Peter Demsey wil make up the third row.
The race is set to be 40-laps in length tomorrow and will be shown on VERSUS at 12:30pm EST. It can also be listened to through the IMS Radio Network broadcast on indycar.com, Sirius 212 and XM 94.
Going into the event, teams only got 10 minutes of practice before the rains fell. Wilson led the brief practice sesson, turning a lap at more than 189mph.
“Kind of mixed feelings about how today went,” Wilson said. “Happy to be starting P3, but we were pretty quick on the test day, and I felt we had a decent chance to start on the front row and a shot at battling for the pole. But at the same time, I am happy to be starting at the sharp end of the grid.”
Wilson was followed in practice by Duarte Ferreira, Newgarden, Clauson and James Winslow.
Before the event begins tomorrow, teams will be given a 30-minute practice at 9 a.m.
