Patience and consistency allowed Jimmie Johnson to stay close enough to the front runners to have a chance to win, but a great car and excellent driving skills allowed him to finally get his second win of the 2009 Sprint Cup season in the Autism Speaks 400 held at Dover International Speedway on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson achieves 42nd career win in Autism Speaks 400

Jimmie Johnson started eighth after the tenth caution of the race due to a difficult crash by David Stemme but was able to overcome a slow pit stop and race to the front of the of the pack. On the way he was able to pass Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart, who started ahead of Johnson, but weren’t able to stay in front of the hard-charging racer. This win was Jimmie Johnson’s fourth victory at Dover International Speedway and the 42^nd victory-lap of his NASCAR career.

The majority of the laps belonged to Johnson, he led an amazing 298 laps of the Autism Speaks 400, and therefore it’s not a surprise that he won the race. Still you have to cross the finish line first and the driver who leads the majority of the laps doesn’t always win. Johnson scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.00 during the race, with the best score in Average Running Position (2.0), Fastest Laps Run (127), and he spent all but five laps of the race in the top 15.

Johnson was able to get in front of Tony Stewart through Turns 3 and 4 of Lap 398 and then slowly pull away from him to beat him to the line by .861 seconds. Stewart knew he lacked rubber; he had only taken two tires to Johnson’s four during the pit stop, so he made sure to stay near the top of the track to block Johnson’s line through the corners and so stayed in front of him. Johnson was able to finally pass Stewart on the outside of the final two corners and stay in front to take the win.

This win vaults Jimmie Johnson, who led 298 laps of the scheduled 400, into third on the Sprint Cup series driver points’ standings.

Greg Biffle finished third, Matt Kenseth took fourth place, Kurt Busch finished in fifth, and Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears, and Mark Martin rounded out the top ten places.

“Image: Newscom”

Many people think that a NASCAR Sprint Cup race is about longevity, that the driver that’s able to just drive around comfortably and save his car has a better chance of making it to the finish line first. This certainly is just not the case, while managing your car and its resources is ultimately a major factor in determining the final standings in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup event certainly requires considerable more than just surviving the carnage that often takes place on a NASCAR track. In fact I would argue that with the advances in technology in all phases of car performance and durability that short of running into an immovable object and taking a chunk out of your car, trying to save your car is something that definitely isn’t as prevalent in today’s NASCAR.

This subject has been on my mind today because the 50^th edition of the longest race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series is taking place on Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Coca Cola 600 is considered one of the hardest races to win on the NASCAR Sprint Cup calendar and certainly distinguishes itself due to its singularity as the longest Sprint Cup event of the year. The Coca Cola 600 also illustrates beautifully how the most important element to a good finish in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race is actually a good pole position, a consistently fast and reliable car and maybe a slight brush by Lady Luck.

Ryan Newman - Image: Zuma Press

Ryan Newman sits in the pole position of Sunday’s Coca Cola 600, his eighth pole position in Sprint Cup competitions in a race he has never won, and one he knows that he’ll need more than the pole position to have a chance to win. This said he’s certainly won’t be giving up the pole position either, it still’s an advantage, but is only one parameter in the equation of winning in NASCAR. He will still have to contend with the weather, the other racers, who want to win as much as him and maybe more in some cases, and possibly Lady Luck frowning on him.

NASCAR is a different animal then it was fifteen years ago when the a driver like Jeff Burton first ran his first 600 mile race and is actually more of a sprint then you might think. The speed, intensity and physical endurance required to win a race like the Coca Cola 600 means winning requires greater mental and physical endurance from the drivers than it use too. The need to concentrate constantly to drive on the edge of disaster that the speeds of today’s NASCAR race cars achieve and the split second timing required to avoid disaster makes a NASCAR Sprint Cup race a drive along the edge of a tilted cliff at times.

Note: The Coca Cola 600 was postponed on Sunday due to rain and will run Monday at noon instead.

50-year-old Mark Martin did it again Saturday night, taking his second victors cup in the last four races of the Sprint Cup Series Championship by outlasting Jimmie Johnson in a crash-heavy race at Darlington Raceway. Only his second win at Darlington in the last sixteen years, he last won at Darlington in 1993 in the Southern 500, if he keeps up his winning pace he might even start thinking the Sprint Car Championship is within his reach.

Mark Martin wins at Darlington to take two of four last Sprint Cup Series races of season

Pretty good showing for a driver who contemplated hanging up his driving gloves a few years ago, before signing up for the 2010 Sprint Cup season with Hendrick Motorsports this week. The day before the race he had told interested people that he had signed up for the extra year because of the joy he still feels when he steps on the gas and not because for the chance to win a title. This might possibly be part of the reason for his success, no pressure, just the joy of action and doing what you love and he’s racing as good as he ever did.

Mark Martin ended a 97-race streak of frustration last month in Phoenix by leading for the last 46 laps to take his 37^th career Sprint Cup victory and seems to have rejuvenated his race-vitality and pure thrill of racing. In addition, he’s thrown a wrench into the idea that age is a barrier to winning in NASCAR and maybe shown that patience is definitely a benefit on the race track as he had to work his way through 17 cautions on Darlington’s two year old pavement.

The 17 wrecks surpassed the previous Darlington record for crashes in a race of 15 that was set in Darlington’s 14 years ago and more then doubled last years 8 crashes during the race at Darlington, which was after Darlington had just been paved the year before.

Clint Bowyer had an unfortunate day, as he ended an 83 race streak of finishing the race when he and A.J. Allmendinger collided and ended his day, which leaves him one race short of tying Herman Beam for the record for consecutive races finished.

Jimmie Johnson finished second at Darlington, Tony Stewart took third in a long and arduous affair, Ryan Newman fourth, with Jeff Gordon fifth.

Image: Newscom

The Cup Series moves its vans to the one-mile tri-oval of Phoenix International Raceway this weekend after a much needed weeks rest over Easter to recharge batteries and prepare mentally for the grind to come during the rest of the Cup Series season. It’s time to tune the engines and get the cars set up for a track that is unique as far as tracks go on the circuit. The Phoenix International Raceway is in disguise, it’s actually a short track dressed up as an intermediate oval.

The track designers have produced a track that has an irregular D shape and moderately flat banking in the corners while retained that short track feel in a one mile form. The statistical history of the Phoenix race can tell you quite a bit about the possible rankings at the end of the Phoenix race, but then you always have to figure in the driving history of teams and racers into the equations. These two variables have helped me in my calculated guesses for the final standings at Phoenix. The following is our race rankings for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway which you can catch on Fox at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Kyle Busch will win again

•1. Kyle Busch

Kyle has consistency shown to have the fastest car, even though he hasn’t always driven as well as he can.

•2. Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie would probably like to race at this Arizona oval every week, considering he’s won the last three races at this venue, and he’s already won on a short track this season.

•3. Jeff Gordon

Expect Gordon to run fast and provide competition to Kyle through out the race, he’s always run pretty good here over the years and I think he’s ready to let his little devil loose.

•4. Mark Martin

Mark started pretty slow early in the season, but he got his race in order on the short tracks of Bristol and Martinsville, so expect him to be ready to rock and roll at Phoenix.

•5. Denny Hamlin

Hamlin has raced hard and fast on the circuit’s short tracks so far in 2009 and he’s finished in the top five four times before at Phoenix.

•6. Jeff Burton

•7. Kevin Harvick

•8. Tony Stewart

•9. Ryan Newman

•10. Clint Bowyer

“Images: Newscom.com”

Fort Worth, Texas was just the remedy Jeff Gordon needed to put him back in the winners circle as he finally won another race after being off the top of the podium for 47 straight races by beating team mate Jimmie Johnson to the checkered flag by a .378 second gap in Sunday’s Samsung 500.

Jeff Gordon finally celebrates after 47 losses in a row

The win allowed Gordon to increase his points gap in the Sprint Cup to 162 points over the second place driver, who just happens to be Johnson, and gave him his 82^nd career victory in Sprint Cup, which puts him in sixth place on the list for career victories in the popular series.

Gordon will probably be buying his crew a drink or two after the race, it was their efficiency and skill that allowed him to get out of the pit first under caution on lap 305 to take the lead. The race restarted on lap 309 of 334 with Gordon pulling away from the field, but around lap 319 Johnson started to pull Gordon back in by about two seconds, but he was only able to get as close as three or four car lengths by the time Gordon crossed the line.

The pit stop turned out to be the achilles heel for Carl Edwards, who was in the lead when he pitted, but restarted 11^th on lap 309 after spending an unusual amount of time in the pit and eventually finished 10^th. Edward’s teammate, Greg Biffle, also fell to pit problems, despite having one of the faster cars, when he had problems with lug nuts on his tires during his pit stop, but managed to finish third. The third Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth, also had a slow pit stop due to lug nut problems, and ended up in fifth place.

Tony Stewart once again had a strong race driving for Stewart-Haas, running fast for the majority of the race, without any real pit problems and finished fourth in the grid. The sixth through tenth places were taken by Mark Martin, Juan Montoya, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, and the before mentioned Carl Edwards.

Image: Newscom

Marcos Ambrose took the lead with just three laps to go in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen to secure his first career Nationwide Series victory in 59 starts. He received the lead by virtue of Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson running out of fuel in the closing laps in an episode of bitter-sweet redemption after all the tough luck he’s suffered in NASCAR road course racing in 2008. He came close, but eventually took a back seat to Kyle Busch in Mexico City … mechanical issues ended his day in Sonoma when he made his Sprint Cup debut … and, a pit road speeding penalty robbed him in Montreal. But, none of that mattered on Saturday when Ambrose finally stood in a NASCAR victory lane for the first time in his life.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I literally could not believe it. I was just praying the car was gonna hold together and I wasn’t gonna get a late caution. But, we got the job done. I feel really good about it, and it’s just a big lift for our team and it feels like everything’s worth it today.”

Marcos didn’t have much time for celebration, though, because the following day served an even much taller task for the Australian native. He was to return once again to Watkins Glen and step behind the wheel of the Wood Brothers Racing no. 21 Ford to make his third Cup Series start, but after qualifying was washed out on Friday, Ambrose would have to start all the way in the back of the field in 43rd at a track where no driver had ever come from deeper than a 16th starting position to win.

Ambrose quickly made people forget that the team he was driving for on Sunday was a team on the verge of obscurity as he climbed his way into the top-15 by the halfway point. Then, with one of the fastest cars on the track, he dashed up inside the top-5 and was sitting in 3rd after Ryan Newman spun with just 13 laps to go. Even with two restarts to try and get it done, though, Ambrose was never able to get around the 2nd place car of Tony Stewart to try and press Kyle Busch for the lead, but if you ask Marcos, he’ll take his top-five Cup finish anyday of the week.

“It’s a big, bad world out here in NASCAR world, and I’m just pleased that I’m able to have a weekend like this to remember,” said Ambrose. “When it’s all said and done, I’ll be able to go home back to Tasmania and tell them how good I was at Watkins Glen on one year.”

It was certainly a well deserved weekend for Ambrose and his team(s). Ambrose has 5 more races remaining on his schedule driving the no. 21 Wood Bros. car before he competes full-time in the Cup Series next year with JTG Dougherty Racing.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the no. 88 team on Sunday as Earnhardt was in search of his first Cup victory at Watkins Glen International, and his first win at the track since winning the 1999 Nationwide Series race there. He started the day with the outside pole position after rain canceled out qualifying on Friday, and then he went onto lead 28 of the first 29 laps in the race.

Earnhardt gave up the lead during the first round of green flag stops after being one of the last cars to make their stop. Running several laps on the older tires while the rest of the field came in for some fresh rubber immediately proved to work against the team as he came out of the pits in 6th place, so one can’t help but wonder why they would choose to replay this strategy later in the race.

Junior once again found himself with the lead on lap 58 after the rest of the leaders came in to make their final stops of the day. His lead opened up to more than 25 seconds over second place as he became the only driver in the field that had yet to come down pit road, but he was giving more than a second per lap. Aside from the time that they were losing on the track, it became quite evident that a caution anytime before Earnhardt made his stop would flat out ruin his day, so it’s a bit peculiar as to why crew chief, Tony Eury Jr, would elect to keep his driver out on the track.

On lap 64, the worst did in fact happen. NASCAR was forced to waive the yellow for loose gravel that Travis Kvapil had kicked up onto the track, and as if it weren’t bad enough that Earnhardt had to surrender the lead to pit, he was one of only a small handful of cars that made that loenely drive down pit road with about 25 laps to go. He restarted back in 37th and was able to climb his way back up to 22nd by the end of the race, but Earnhardt fans everywhere now can’t help but wonder what might have been … and, what was Tony Eury Jr. thinking? To make matters worse, this also isn’t the first time that Junior fans have felt that Tony Eury Jr. may have cost Dale a shot at victory.

The disappointing finish also dropped Earnhardt from 2nd to 4th in the points standings, getting passed by Carl Edwards and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Junior Nation has had plenty to cheer about this season, though, as his first season with Hendrick has been far and away better than his final season with DEI in 2007 as he snapped his winless streak with a win earlier in the year at Michigan and he’s been up inside the top-5 in points for most of the year.

Kyle Busch made perfect on his efforts to sweep the road course races in the Sprint Cup Series this season as he nabbed his first career victory at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. He led four times for a race high 52 laps, giving him his 8th win of the season and making him the first driver to win the races at both Infineon and Watkins Glen in the same year since his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, did it back in 2005. He also won the Nationwide Series race in Mexico City earlier in the year, making him the only driver in NASCAR history to win three road course races in the same season.

After rain canceled Friday’s qualifying session, the field lined up based on their order in the car owner’s points standings, setting Kyle Busch out on the pole position for the start of the race. Kyle led the first lap before handing it over to Dale Earnhardt Jr, who started on the outside of the front row. As Busch dropped back to third in the running order, Earnhardt gradually expanded his lead through the next 28 laps, but found himself in 6th after the field completed their first round of green flag pit stops.

Kyle Busch once again took the race lead on lap 30, and was still in charge when the first caution of the day came out on lap 47. NASCAR made the decision to waive the yellow due to debris on the track that was a result of some loose gravel that had been kicked up on the track. The caution was a huge break for Jimmie Johnson who had just pitted a few laps earlier when he had a rear left tire going down, but because he was running up in the top-five at the time, he was able to make his stop without losing a lap. Once pit road opened up, 14 cars remained on the track, including Johnson. Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart - running 1st and 2nd at the time - also elected to stay out.

Kyle Busch was still the race leader when the field went back to green, but the most impressive story to this point was Marcos Ambrose, who was driving the no. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. He was forced to start dead last due to the car’s position in owner points, but had worked his way all the way up inside the top-15 for the restart.

Kyle Busch moved to the side to allow his teammate, Tony Stewart, to lead a lap and pickup the 5 extra bonus points on lap 53, but Tony returned the favor and let Kyle go back by the following lap, and that was the only movement up front until the leaders again came into pit on lap 56. Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson each led a lap during the exchange of green flag stops. Johnson came into pit on lap 58, which handed the lead back over to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With more than a 25 second lead, Earnhardt was the only car still out on the track that had not yet made his final pit stop. Despite continuing to lose a second per lap to the 2nd and 3rd place cars, Tony Eury Jr. - crew chief for the no. 88 team - elected to keep Earnhardt out on the track, but the call completely backfired when NASCAR waived the second caution flag on lap 64. The caution was again for loose gravel that Travis Kvapil kicked onto the track when he ran off the track. Earnhardt was forced to pit while the other race leaders remained out on the track, and with just 25 laps remaining, he lined up 37th for the restart.

Kyle Busch was once again deemed the race leader by virtue of Earnhardt’s misfortunes with Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman chasing him. With the laps dwindling down, it almost looked as though we might have another caution when Sam Hornish Jr. spun PJ Jones on lap 70, but both cars were able to get going again, and NASCAR saw no reason to bring out the yellow.

The complexity of the race changed on lap 77 when Ryan Newman got into the corner too hard, resulting in a single car spin in Turn 9. Unable to get his car restarted, he had several close cars as the rest of the field tried to avoid the stalled car as it rolled back out onto the track. NASCAR eventually brought out the third caution, and luckily, the entire field was able to get around Newman without hitting him.

The fourth and final caution came with just 8 laps to go when Michael McDowell spun David Gilliland, setting off a huge multi-car crash that involved 9 cars right near the pit road entrance. Michael Waltrip, Bobby LaBonte, Sam Hornish Jr, Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, Dave Blaney, and Joe Nemechek all got caught up in the mess, and LaBonte appeared to be mildly injured as he was seen limping back to the infield care center.

After NASCAR stopped the race under red flag conditions for more than 40 minutes, they finally got the race restarted with Kyle Busch still in the lead, and behind him were Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr, and Kevin Harvick. Busch took the green flag with just five laps to go with Stewart keeping within a couple car lengths for the first few laps. With about 2 to go, though, Busch started to pull away, and Stewart’s new task became keeping the no. 21 of Ambrose in his rearview mirror. Busch went onto take the checkers, and Stewart was able to fend off Ambrose to give Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish.

Marcos Ambrose fought off Juan Pablo Montoya to hang onto third, and JPM finished 4th. Martin Truex Jr. held onto 5th to earn his first-ever top-five finish at Watkins Glen. He was followed by the 2006 winner of this event, Kevin Harvick, in 6th. 7th place went to Denny Hamlin, who capped off a solid run inside the top-ten for most of the day. Jimmie Johnson rebounded from his cut tire earlier in the race to finish in 8th. AJ Allmendinger walked away with the best NSCS finish of his career in 9th, also giving him his second top-ten in the last 3 races. Carl Edwards completed the top-ten.

Other Notables:
Matt Kenseth had a pretty quiet day, but finished 12th ….. Kasey Kahne matched his best Watkins Glen finish with a 14th place run ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up 22nd after his team’s race strategy put him in the back of the field with just over 20 laps to go ….. Jeff Gordon had an eventful day. His team had to have NASCAR black flag him to get him into the pits for the first round of stops after the team’s radio became disconnected. Gordon’s car, unfortunately, handled much like the radio, as his struggles throughout the day led to a 25th place finish ….. Robby Gordon started near the back of the pack and never was able to find his way to the front, finishing with a very disappointing 27th place finish ….. Ryan Newman’s spin on lap 77 led to a 28th place effort, as that team continues to watch their Chase hopes keep slipping away.

Kyle Busch now holds a 242 point lead on 1st in the standings, while Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both moved past Earnhardt Jr. to take over the 2nd and 3rd spots. Tony Stewart’s back-to-back 2nd place efforts have also moved him up to 7th overall, and he now has a 138 point cushion in the Chase standings. Matt Kenseth also moved up a spot to take over the 12th and final spot in the Chase, moving Clint Bowyer back down to 13th. He’s now 22 points out of the Chase.

Grades:
the Race: 75%
Drama: 74%
Coverage: 90%
Pre-Race: 81%

Overall Grade: 78.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Some would say that it’s been a trying season for Goodyear in 2008 as they continue to work on developing new tires to coincide with NASCAR’s latest project, the Car of Tomorrow. Things got heated early in the season between Goodyear’s racing group and some of the drivers in the garage area, particularly after Atlanta when several of the drivers bashed the tire in public forums. You might recall one man inparticular’s rants regarding the tires as they made headlines for several weeks. Yes, I’m referring of course to Tony Stewart.

It seemed as though things had finally cooled off between all parties involved until just a couple of weeks ago at Indianapolis. It was the first time NASCAR had ever taken the COT to Indy, and the tires that Goodyear brought to the track were inadequate to say the least. The end result was NASCAR waiving a competition caution about every 10 laps and the reviews for the event were terrible.

After a week long of apologies from both NASCAR and Goodyear, both parties were presented with a golden opportunity to redeem themselves during the Nationwide race in Montreal. With bad weather on the horizon, NASCAR decided to break out their inventory of “grooved” Goodyear tires, marking the first time grooved tires had ever been run in a NASCAR points race. The experiment was a tremendous success, and talk about the Indy tire fiasco has been slim to none ever since.

This week, the “Loose in Turn 3″ trio will take a look at the situation and decide the overwhelming success of the rain tires and a solid week at Pocono does in fact take Goodyear off the hook, or if they feel that there are still too many unanswered questions to make that call just yet.

Q: Did Goodyear finally clear their name in NASCAR with the success of their rain tires in Montreal?

TZ: They’re not completely out of the woods just yet, but for the most part, I would say yes. I was pretty upset with the fiasco that took place at Indy, and there’ve been a few other times this season I wasn’t thrilled with their output, but running in the rain at Motreal without any tire issues was a huge plus, and then they were able to follow it up with a successful day in Pocono as well. There are obviously a few tracks that they still need to get some things figured out, but all in all, they’ve rebounded quite nicely.

Bruce:  I’d expect more from a division of a tire company that is supposed to be making racing tires and not rubber confetti at Indianapolis.  Indy was a phenomenal waste of time and they should have tried something else rather than let NASCAR dole out a series of 10-lap trophy dashes, but without the trophy.  I don’t see this weekend as a rebound as much as it is, a “It’s about time they got it back on track.  Now let’s keep it there!”

Charlie:  Goodyear didn’t need to “clear their name”. In fact, NASCAR once
again put Goodyear’s good name at risk by using six year old rubber in a
featured race. They lucked out that the tires didn’t fail. NASCAR flipped
a coin again, just as they did at Indy. Goodyear makes tens of thousands
of race tires that are used at hundreds of races every week. A couple of
high profile failures should be expected when the company is trying to
make a NASCAR work in progress - the vaunted CoT - look better than it is.

the Rest of the Discussion:
There’s still plenty more to read this week from the “Loose in Turn 3″ guys. Make sure you take a trip over to On Pit Row where Charlie asks the question, “Who is the Best Crew Chief in the Sprint Cup Garage Right Now?“, and then head over to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits ‘n’ Pieces where we debate the motive behind Martin Truex Jr.’s Decision to Remain at DEI.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

This week NASCAR heads to Waktins Glen International for one of their two road course races of the season on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. The race comes just one week after NASCAR made history for itself when they raced in the rain last Saturday in the Nationwide Series in Montreal, which most critics feel came off as a huge success. As of right now there are no plans to break out the rain tires on Sunday, but there’s still plenty to look forward to with just five races remaining until the cutoff for the Chase.

Recent Winners:
2007 - Tony Stewart
2006 - Kevin Harvick
2005 - Tony Stewart

Recent Polesitters:
2007 - Jeff Gordon
2006 - Kurt Busch
2005 - “Rained Out”

the Usual Suspects:
Tony Stewart is in the midst of the longest winless streak in his Sprint Cup career, but that should be of little concern to the no. 20 team this weekend. ‘Smoke’ built up a bit of momentum for himself after a 2nd place finish last week at Pocono, and now he heads to Watkins Glen where he holds the best driver rating over the past 3 years and has the second best average finish amongst active drivers. He’s one three of the last four races at the Glen, along with a 2nd place finish in 2006.

The only driver to breakup Stewart’s winning streak at the Glen in the past four years was Kevin Harvick, the winner of this event in ‘06. In his seven career races at Watkins Glen, last year’s 36th place finish is his only run outside of the top-15. He also has four top-10’s in that span ….. Jeff Gordon is considered a threat to win at most tracks, but perhaps even moreso at road courses. Once dubbed “King of the Road”, Jeff has had a rough go of it with only one top-10 finish here since 2002, but he did win 3 of the 4 events prior to that stretch ….. The series points leader, Kyle Busch, was never thought of much as a road course racer heading into this season, but already in 2008 he’s managed to win the Nationwide Series race in Mexcio and then went onto win the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Infineon. After a 33rd place run at Watkins Glen in his rookie season, Kyle has since rebounded with back-to-back top-10’s ….. Denny Hamlin has run here only twice, finishing 10th and 2nd in those races.

the Unusual Suspects:
Robby Gordon has been in dire need of some good runs for the sake of his own race team, Robby Gordon Motorsports, and many fans have long expected that success to come at one of NASCAR’s two road course events. Robby has six top-5 finishes in eight races run here, and even won the event while racing for RCR back in 2003. He currently has a string of three consecutive top-5 finishes at Watkins Glen.

Marcos Ambrose competed in his first Sprint Cup event earlier in the season at Infineon. Known for his road course specialties, Marcos didn’t disappoint, as he had a great top-five effort going until issues late in the race put an end to his day. This will be his first visit to Watkins Glen with the Cup Series as he once again fields the no. 21 Wood Bros. Racing entry, but there’s no reason to think he won’t rise to the occasion once again ….. Juan Pablo Montoya is always a favorite to keep an eye on at road course races as well. An incident with Kevin Harvick here last year put an early end to his day and he finished 39th, but that should be considered a one-off deal. He does have an Infineon win to his credit at the Cup level.

Road Course Ringers are sure to be a factor in any NASCAR road course race, regardless of the series. Though they don’t typically win these things at the Cup level, many of the drivers leave their mark with exceptional runs. Amongst the ringers included in this weekend’s entry list are: Ron Fellows (DEI) - two top-5’s in the last 4 years; Boris Said- finished 3rd in 2005; PJ Jones - finished 4th in 2002; and Brian Simo and Max Papis are on the list as well.

the Unusual Slackers:
Greg Biffle picked up his first ever top-10 Watkins Glen finish last year when he crossed the line in 10th, but each of his four starts previous to that were 30th or worse. His overall average here is 30.2 ….. When you think of road course racing, Kurt Busch isn’t a name that immediately jumps out at you as someone you need to avoid carrying on your fantasy roster, but like Biffle, he also has only one career top-10 at Watkins Glen. Four of his seven races here he has finished outside of the top-15 ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to put together a string of solid runs here at one point, finishing 3rd, 5th, and 10th from 2003 to 2005, but in 8 years of racing here, he’s finished 35th or worse three times, holding an average finish of just 20.6.

Best Driver Ratings:
1. Tony Stewart - 137.9
2. Denny Hamlin - 112.1
3. Jeff Gordon - 108.2
4. Robby Gordon - 106.3
5. Jimmie Johnson - 104.5

Best Driver Averages:
1. Scott Pruett - 5.8
2. Denny Hamlin - 6.0
3. Tony Stewart - 6.1
4. Mark Martin - 8.8
5. Robby Gordon - 9.4

Watkins Glen Facts:
- 8 of the 25 races at Watkins Glen have been won from the pole position. The last driver to do so was Tony Stewart in 2005, but before that it hadn’t happened since Jeff Gordon did it in 1998.
- 16 of the 25 races have been won from a top-five starting position.
- The deepest starting position a driver has ever come from to win at Watkins Glen is 18th. Steve Park did it in 2000.
- Jeff Gordon holds the track record for most wins with 4.
- Mark Martin holds the track record for most poles (3), top-five’s (12), and top-ten’s (16).
- The most different leaders ever during a race at the Glen was 12 - back in 1995.
- Chevrolet leads the manufacturer race at Watkins Glen with 14 wins.
- 5 drivers currently in the top-12 in points have never led a lap at Watkins Glen: Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, and Clint Bowyer.
- In the midst of a 35 race winless streak, Tony Stewart’s last victory came here at Watkins Glen in 2007.

Video of the last 7 laps of the 2007 Centurion Boats at the Glen race:

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Tony Stewart
2nd Place - Robby Gordon
3rd Place - Marcos Ambrose
4th Place - Kyle Busch
5th Place - Carl Edwards
6th Place - Kevin Harvick

Lock of the Week - Tony Stewart
Sleeper Pick - Marcos Ambrose
Steer Clear of - Greg Biffle