*no offense
TOP PICK:
If you chose Truex Jr. you are basking in the glory for the next 2 weeks. I always like it when I have a great pick during an off weekend... but does it kill the momentum? Who knows... All I know is Lets Go moves up 2 spots to 4th, Dust (8th) moves up 1 spot and into the Elite 8, Ideal moves up 2 spots to 11th, and Beef jumps up 3 spots to 12th! Lets Go and Ideal grab their 2nd wins while Dust and Beef get their 1st win of the season. 57 points as well as Truex finished 2nd and 3rd in the stages. Congratulations guys!
STAGE WINNERS:
Blaney also had a strong day with 51 points and was our most popular pick. He came in 4th, finished 3rd in stage 1 and won stage 2 picking up a nice Bonus Point for Shepard (+2 to 3rd), Rusty (stays in 7th), Skidmarks (stays in 10th), Rudd (+2 to 12th) and Graziano (+1 to 15th).
Kyle Busch had a strong car and won stage 1 and finished 5th in the race and stage 2 for Chonk who remains in 17th. Chonk grabs 48 points this week and needs to continue to perform like this in order to get back in this thing.
Booyah!!!!
EH...:
If you chose Harvick, you finished 3rd in the race, 7th in stage 1, and 14th in stage 2 and grabbed 38 points. But that gives you an 11th place finish in our League and you were 19 points behind the Truex pickers... crazy. This was a strong Eh... pick though and Kiss drops 1 spot to 5th and Pursuit stays in 8th.
Penguin took Stenhouse for the 2nd race in a row with 2 very different results. 26 points is okay but it is 31 points away from the top pick. Stenhouse rallied for a decent finish, but did nothing in the stages. Penguin stays in 2nd but a lot more teams are within reach than there were last week.
Fast had a similar experience with their Hamlin pick except that Hamlin finished poorly, but had decent stage finishes... still 35 points less than the top pick allows for more teams to be in striking distance. Fast stays in 1st place for the 4th week in a row and has owned the top spot now for 7 out of 11 races. Their Dad Rusty had a similar experience in 2016 and brought it home in 3rd... but he wasn't a rookie so I think this is more impressive.
Sexy Chicken got a 19 point effort from Kurt Busch and drops 3 spots down to 14th. Sexy's bounce back from the DQ in Texas is delayed a bit, but he is only 53 points away from the Elite 8. ...and we have seen some huge point swings under the new system.
DOOTW:
Spinning took Elliott who had early trouble in a pit road accident during stage 1 that basically ruined his and her day. Spinning only earned 8 points for the race and drops 3 spots to 6th. She is still solidly in the Elite 8 and can still see the leaders. I expect a nice rebound in Charlotte for Spinning.
BSOTW:
Given Logano's winning history in Kansas, I was surprised more of us didn't pick him last week. Unfortunately, Piston did and that nasty wreck also caused the Piston boys to soil their sheets in Kansas. Logano earned 2 points and loses 55... 55?!?! 55 points to this week's leaders. holy moly... Piston drops 4 places down to 16th. They have no wins and are 79 points out of the Elite 8. Nobody is out of this thing yet, but these guys will need to right the ship very soon to have a chance to get back in the mix.
OTHER RAMBLINGS:
Charlotte next Saturday so enjoy your week off and the All-Star Race.
We now have 5 teams with 2 wins... will we see more teams locked into the Chase after the checkered flag waves next week?
Those Stage and Race Win Bonus Points are starting to pile up for some of you... I think it will be a huge advantage to help get through Round 1 of the Chase this year... and they may be significant enough to propel you through the other rounds as well. How far will they take you? 1st you have to finish the regular season in the Elite 8. This will be yet another interesting thing to watch this year as the story unfolds.
Cheers everyone!
Fat Penguin
