Expect the lead to change hands many times on Talladega today

Jimmie Johnson started on the pole for this race, due to qualifying for the Amp Energy 500 being rained out on Saturday morning and his closest rival for the Sprint Cup Series Championship, Mark Martin, will start next to him. In fact, due to the rules in place to set the positions for races when qualifying is rained out, the top twelve racers in the Chase started in the top twelve positions on the grid.

This will certainly make for an interesting race since this will give the top drivers in the Chase the opportunity to do a little maneuvering for points and position in the Chase. At present Jimmie Johnson leads Mark Martin by 118 points and Talladega is a tough track to win on, so I wouldn’t be surprised if both Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin finished out of the top twelve.

Keep an eye out for Brad Keselowski and Juan Montoya, who is my dark horse for this race and for the Sprint Cup Series Championship. He does have along way to come all the way back and into the lead for the Chase, but he’s been pushing hard lately and I like his attitude. Jimmie Johnson will probably be in the back of the pack once we get down to the final fifty laps or so and he’ll have to come back in order to finish good. He can still do it, anything is possible on a NASCAR track, especially Talladega, and it’s never over until the winner crosses the line. Expect Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon to also be contenders at the end of the Amp Energy 500, along with Montoya and a late charging Jimmie Johnson.

The race will probably come down to the start off the last restart as it does many times on a NASCAR track, but with the way Talladega is as a track, I expect over thirty drivers to be on the lead lap with twenty laps to go. Lots of lead changes should occur near the end of the race and this will make for some entertaining racing and this is what we all show up for.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

Amp Energy 500 Runs Today

Ahh, yes, it’s another Friday, and Spring is in the air (though it’s starting to feel a bit like Summer!). But, it’s the end of the week, nonetheless, and we all know what that means. I’m joined here by Bruce Simmons from Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces, and the infamous Charlie Turner from On Pit Row for our weekly rendition of “Loose in Turn Three”.

This week here at Do You NASCAR, we’re going to take a look at the Toyota lineup and determine if anyone other than Joe Gibbs Racing is going to win them some races this year. We’re also going to play Jury on Denny Hamlin’s involvement in the huge accident this past weekend at Dover over at Bruce’s website, and we’re going to reveal some of the most underrated drivers in NASCAR over at On Pit Row.

So, sit back and buckle up tight. Three questions, three voices, and three different answer … we’re about to get Loose in Turn Three!

Q: Joe Gibbs Racing has won four times in the Sprint Cup Series this season, but in two years, they are the only Toyota team to win a race in Cup racing. Will a non-JGR driver reach Victory Lane in 2008?

TZ: Ya know, with the way that Kyle Busch and the rest of the Gibbs cars have been running, sometimes I wonder if another team at all will win again this year! In all seriousness, though, I think the dominance of the JGR cars has really overshadowed just how much the rest of these guys have really improved as organizations. After failing to qualify for all of those races in 2007, now they’ve got a bunch of drivers up in the top-35 in owner points, and they’ve run strong at a bunch of tracks. There’s one guy that’s really caught my eye, though, and that of course is Brian Vickers. I do in fact think he’ll win this year, and I think it will happen at either Lowe’s or Talladega in the Fall.

Charlie: Probably not.  JGR is Toyota’s “A” Team in Cup. Only Chevy has more than one “A” Team. Ford has only one. Dodge may not have even one. I think that Brian Vickers is capable of a win.  Dave Blaney is fast enough if all the stars line up somewhere like Pocono or Michigan. But the odds are long. Waltrips teams are more worried about top 30 finishes than wins.

Bruce:  I think JGR has the Toyota win column locked up.  I like Vickers also for a win, but reasonably, I only think he’ll get there via a lucky stroke of the fuel mileage window or weather god.  Toyota made a good deal, no matter what it was or how expensive it was to get their nameplate in the circle of winners..  Not to mention big name drivers associated with them now.

Follow the rest of this discussion:
- What happened with Denny Hamlin in the Dover wreck?

- Who is the most under-rated driver in NASCAR and how is he over-looked relative to his talent/value?

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Loose in Turn Three: Is Anyone Else Driving These Toyotas?