Coca-Cola 600 - I'm Jimmy Johnson... BOOM! Confetti!

Top Picks: 

JJ was top dog this week.  This ends a three race streak where no teams get into the win column... but only one lucky team chose the #48 car.  Empty gets their 1st win of the season and jumps up 3 spots into 7th place.  A very nice race.  Well done Empty!!!

Ideal chose Harvick who logs his second 2nd place finish in a row.  Ideal jumps up 3 spots to 12 and is now only 25 points away from 7th.

Penguin and Rasta got a 9th place finish from Kyle Busch.  Penguin stays in 4th while Rasta actually loses a spot as he gets jumped by Ideal.

10th Place Keselowski was chosen by Chase contenders Piston and Kiss.  Kiss rebounding nicely from last week's DOOTW.

Eh:

Kahne (14th) was this week's most popular pick.  Skid (Stays in 2nd), Graz (Stays in 3rd), Dust (Drops out of the 7th place spot to 8th), Pursuit (Drops to 9th), Asleep (Drops to 9th), Rusty (Stays in 11th), and Beef (Drops 2 spots to 15th).   

Shepard chose the impressive rookie Kyle Larsen (18th).  A disappointing finish for this fine young man, but it can always be worse.

Biffle (21st) was chosen by NASCAR Fantassy God Chonk.... This would normally qualify as a DOOTW, except for the fact that it's Chonk who is leading in points and has 4 wins.

DOOTW:

Almendinger (23rd) was chosen by Chase qualifier Rowdy.  I think I am seeing a little strategy by our 16th place team... I can't wait to see how it will play out.

BSOTW:

Danica (39th) was chosen by A-Game.  I personally think this was an attractive pick this week... she qualified awesome and practiced awesome, but it all didn't come together for her during the race.  A-Game has Zero wins and is in 17th at the moment... 14 races till the Chase and 111 points out of 7th at the moment.  I think I know the strategy he will need to execute from here on.  To Quote Snoop Dogg who is quoting All Davis... "Al Davis said it best, "Just win baby, win!""

Snoop comes on around 2:35 and starts out blowing a little smoke... funny sh*t.  His Al Davis lyric starts around 3:10 if you're not a fan of this song.

It's funny, the stuff you find when you Google something...

   

Other Ramblings:

The Monster Mile in Dover this week on Sunday.   

No movement in the top 6 spots this week... points but not places.  

We are 1 race away from the halfway mark to the Chase and there are only 3 teams locked in.  2 of those teams are also in qualifying spots... this leaves only 5 available qualifying spots for the rest of us poor bastards.  5 spots for 14 teams.  Kiss, Rusty and Beef have 2 wins... Kiss is also currently in a qualifying spot.  Another win for Kiss and there would be only 4 spots for 13 teams.  

Which leads me to the question that I will ask rhetorically most likely... At this point in the season, would you rather be sitting in 5th with no wins or in 11th with 2 wins... or better yet 16th with 3 wins?  Sure the 6 bonus points would be nice, but with 14 races left can you hang on to your spot?  

I'm sure each week we pick the driver we think will win, but this week... I knew the pick was JJ.  As much as you can know in this league... that is.  But I didn't pick him... I have no f*cking clue what my strategy is at the moment.  I like 4th and the nice gap between me and Piston, but a 2 in the win column by picking the driver I "knew" was going to win this week would be nicer.  I think I'll make my myself feel better by saying that Johnson hasn't been great all year, so it couldn't have been the LOCK that was in my mind.  Hindsight is 20/20, but since my memory is fading I hope it will let me forget the mistakes I make... and then just hope for luck to guide me through the League this year.  

Cheers!

Charlotte KahneFest...

Kansass Results - Harvick Dominates, but Gordon Wins

Top Picks:

Rusty came about 1/4 of a lap from getting his 3rd win and being locked into the Chase... His driver Harvick (2nd) was the class of the field, but in the end Gordon took the checkered flag.  His 2nd place finish jumps him up 2 places, but he would have loved to have grabbed that 3rd win.  A very nice bounce back from last week's BSOTW honors.

Logano finished 4th.  Skidmarks is back into the 2nd place spot and also bounces back from last week's BSOTW and Penguin remains in the 4th spot.  

Asleep picked 6th place Edwards.  He moves up to a tie for 8th, but only 4 points out of that 7th place Chase qualifying spot.  Check out the new column.

Eh:

Rookie Kyle Larsen (12th) was this week's most popular pick.  He didn't get yet another top 10 finish, but he did not sh*t the bed.  He continues to impress and I am hoping he gets a win this season and is a part of this thing at the end.  Leader Chonk "This is Why I'm Hot" Motorsports, 5th Place Piston, 7th Place Dust, Chase Qualifier Rowdy (Bounces back from the dirtiest bed from last week), and Empty (Crawls out of the Dutch Oven) all took the impressive rookie. 

13th place Keselowski was the 2nd most popular pick this week.  The #2 car looked strong and was definitely a pre-race favorite, but I think that late pit stop was a killer for him and kept him out of a top finish.

Pursuit (also is only 4 points out of that 7th place Chase spot), Shepard, Rasta (Also crawls out of the oven from the Netherlands), Ideal (Rebounds from last week's BSOTW as well).

Graziano and A-Game chose 16th place Biffle.  Graziano drops back to 3rd while A-Game remains in the basement, but it's still early.

DOOTW:

Kiss chose 23rd place finisher Bowyer.  Kiss drops a spot to 6th, but remains in a Chase spot, but a BSOTW and DOOTW in back to back weeks may be a cause for concern for his team.... except for the fact that he has 2 wins.

BSOTW:

Beef took 29th place finisher Kurt Busch.  His two wins and him continue a free fall that started 3 weeks ago when he was sitting comfortably in 5th.  BSOTW, DOOTW, BSOTW and he is now tied for 13th.  But he has two wins... so I think he'll be just fine.

Other Ramblings:

We get a weekend off due to the All Star Weekend.  Charlotte will be here before you know it!

Hopefully the new standings formatting will be helpful to see who would be in and who would be out if the Chase started today.  Plus the points out of the Bonus Qualifying spots column should hopefully be helpful information... Thanks for the suggestions Chonk.

Bonus Stat:

Finishes posted this week from teams that participated in a manly 4 dude midnight hot tub session in Myrtle Beach -

Chonk 12th

Dust 12th

Beef 29th

Redneck Racing - Needs to rejoin the League.

   

I think we know the moral to that story...

Cheers!

Kansass Drivers

Harvick Looks strong... how will it end???

Talla - Mutha F*cking - Dega - Chonk Widens the Gap...

Top Picks:

No one  picked the Aaron's 499 winner Hamlin this week.  But Asleep had a nice finish taking 2nd place Greg Biffle.  Biffle led the most laps and was right there at the end, but a wreck at the start finish line on the last lap caused the race to end in a caution.  Could he have caught Hamlin???   We will never know... Asleep jumps up 5 huge spots and is now only 11 points out of the 7th place Chase spot.  

Pursuit chose Vickers who came in 4th.  Vickers #55 was one of many cars that looked very strong late in the race, but in the end it was Hamlin's day.  Pursuit jumps 3 spots and is only 4 points out of the 7th place Chase spot.  

A sweet 6th place Menard pick by Piston and Shepard!  Piston logs his 4th top 10 in a row and moves up to 6th place in the League.  While Shepard rebounds from last week's DOOTW and moves up 3 spots to 12th.  

Graz took 7th place Harvick and moves into 2nd place.  Graz gets back to back 7th place finishes and looks to be settling in at the front of the pack... a familiar position for Graziano.  He spent a lot of time in the lead pack last year before falling out of contention late in the season.  Let's see what strategy he employs this year.

Penguin chose 9th place Kyle Larson... the rookie has been real impressive this year, and I'll take a 9th place finish by him all f-ing daaayyy!  He's been chosen twice this year (Graziano in Texas), and has resulted in 1 Top 5 and 2 Top 10's.  Let's see how he does when others pick him... Penguin moves up to 4th.  Larry hates talking about his team in the third person, but it is for the blog and the League.  

Chonk and A-Game chose Stenhouse Jr. (10th).  A-game stays in the basement, but he needs more finishes like this to crawl out of the hole... or wins.  As for red hottt Chonk... I'm looking for theme songs to alert me when he submits his pick each week.  This is the front runner thus far:  Enjoy.

DOOTW:

Dale Jr. and Carl Edwards get this week's Dutch Oven Award.  Beef, Dust and Empty chose 26th place Jr, who looked to be the back of the pack car that would rise up and take over the race at the end.  Jr. led early and dropped back, but it was a case of too little too late and he never made his charge towards the front at the end.  Dust clings to the 7th place spot, while Beef and Empty drop to 10th. 

Edwards was also a strong car, but spun out while making his run towards to the front... I think it was a blown tire.  Rasta is having a tough year so far, but I do not think we have seen the last the reigning Champ.

BSOTW's:

Johnson spun out setting off a chain reaction that took 33rd place Kurt Busch (Kiss and Ideal) and 35th place David Ragan (Skid and Rusty) out of the race.  Kiss remains in the Chase running (5th), while Ideal will need to start thinking about a strategy to get back towards the front.  Skid drops out of 2nd to 3rd, and Rusty and his 2 wins continue to free fall towards the back of the pack.  

Kenseth (37th) gives Rowdy the dirtiest bed.  He was wrecked by Keselowski who was trying to get back one of his laps the old fashioned way... but she has 3 wins and is locked in the Chase as I have said before.  She'll be just fine.

Other Ramblings:

Kansas next Saturday... Don't forget your picks!

It has only been 10 races, but it seems like so much has happened this year.  It would be nice to be in the lead with multiple wins and a 41 point lead, but don't forget the new rules this year.  

If the Chase began this week: Chonk would have 1014+12 = 1026 Points.. the rest of the contenders would have between 1000 and 1019 points.  In years past we would have to erase all point deficits to overtake the leader... meaning come back from 41 points for example.  But it will be different this year and if the Chase is anywhere near as exciting as the foreplay leading up to it, I cannot wait to see how it will all unfold.    

Cheers!

Dega Crap Shoot - Drivers

I hope I picked the right Rookie...

Richmond Results... No one adds to their win column...

Top Picks:

No one was able to predict this week's winner Logano, but lots of things changed this week.  The top 4 spots remain the same, but the Chonk car keeps getting smaller for most of us.  Except for Skid and Ideal that is... This week they had the top pick of 3rd Place Kyle Busch.  Skid stays in 2nd place, but moves to only 18 points back.  Ideal  recovers from last week's BSOTW and jumps up the most spots (+4) this week to 11th.  Nice job fellas!

Dale Jr. came in 7th (Graz, Piston, Rasta).  Graz keeps his lock in the top 4, Piston moves into a coveted Chase position... Rasta also recovers from last week's BSOTW.  

Front-runner Chonk, chose 9th place Carl Edwards... the last I saw he was one lap down in 20 something place... the next thing I know he gets 9th.  I still don't know how this happened, but when you've got it going on, it seems like all of your choices work out... and Chonk definitely has got it going on.   

Eh...

Harvick (11th) was tied with  for the most popular pick in the league this week... we'll get to Bowyer in a second.  Kiss, Empty, Pursuit, and Asleep chose Harvick.  Kiss keeps his lock on 3rd, but the lead pack is starting to break away.  Empty, Pursuit, and Asleep all gain valuable spots... Empty also bounces back from last week's BSOTW.

Kahne finished 14th after running strong all race...  Penguin jumps up 3 spots, but mostly due to the difficulties of the teams in front rather than having a stellar points day.

DOOTW:

Dust chose the wrong bush... reminds me of my college days... 23rd place Kurt Busch.  Dust keeps his 6th place position though.  Funny story... Dust changed his pick from Hamlin to Busch before the green flag.  Hamlin finished 22nd, so it basically didn't matter.  I personally have done this a few times over the years and my initial pick has always kicked ass while my changed pick DOOTW'd or BSOTW'd.  Both of his options DOOTW'd, but trust me... it would have been worse had Hamlin finished top 5.  

Shepard took 25th place Stewart dropping him 3 spots to a tie for 15th.  

BSOTW:

Freaking Bowyer!!!  Tied for the most popular pick, Beef, Rusty, Rowdy and A-Game all must have known that Karma would be a bitch when Bowyer spun Larson out on the first lap.  I personally love Bowyer, but man he has had a rough time in Richmond lately.  The problem I have is that I can never remember driver difficulties at a track when I'm choosing my driver that week.  Forty Mother Fng Third... damnit Bowyer!!!

Other Ramblings... 

So Chonk has led this league now for the last 5 weeks in a row... It's a very nice run, but Skid is definitely not applying the brakes... as mentioned previously he's now only 18 points behind.  

Three of the only 4 leaders of the league thus far are running 1,2,3... Rusty (T1 in week 1) is in 10th.  

Only 3 teams are locked into the Chase thus far... two are running 1 and 2.  Rowdy dropped down to T15th this week, but I know she isn't playing it conservatively.  

It is just the way this damn league is... I know Rusty was on the verge of sending me his cut and paste text/email: "I hate this fucking league!", but he's got two wins.  To be honest, I would rather be in 10th with 2 wins, than be in 7th with no wins.  No offense Piston... the bonus points would be nice, but being closer to locking myself in the Chase would feel nicer at this point.   

The problem for me is that I have been trying to get my second win for the last 7 weeks, and the best I have done was my 6th place Biffle pick in Texas... It is just the way this damn league is... and that's why I/We love it I think.

Talladega this week on Sunday... Good luck to all!!!

Cheers!