Just a couple of days ago, I opined that Carl Edwards must have entered the witness protection program because he’d become invisible. Since Daytona, people have been pretty much been saying the same thing about Dale Jr. Jeff Burton’s been a little off too, and so has his old stable mate Mark Martin. Roush- Fenway racers Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle also join their back-flipping teammates as guys who are glad to have the “shorts” (the tracks that is) out of their system.
What do you suppose these boys all have in common- besides some early runs of bas luck in ‘09? Give up?
They’ve all won at Texas Motor Speedway in Cup competition.
This Sunday will provide a golden opportunity to set things right for the drivers of faltering fortunes. Edwards will gunning for his third win in a row and fourth overall on the playground of Eddie Gossage.
Dale Jr. got his first Busch win here, his first cup win and he also earned a pole last spring. Earnhardt has been trending in the right direction of late and he knows better than anyone else a win or a top 10 at the very least would go a long ways towards getting the critics off of his back.
Martin’s looked good in practice, the top of the chart Friday. Kenseth- not know for his qualifying prowess- ran a good qualifying lap. Biffle clocked 4th best in Friday morning practice.
Elsewhere- Jeff Gordon only has two tracks he’s never won at, and Texas is one of them. He’ll be motivated and he looks like he’ll be good. Tony Stewart is another guy you have to like in terms of what he’s shown off the truck. You know he’d just love to put Stewart- Haas Racing on the map with a victory.
I guess if I had to pick a dark horse though, it’d be David Reutimann. 1st on the starting grid and 2nd in practice, “The Franchise” has been consistent since the car unpacked. Of course, it’s what happens during the race that matters- but if you take in consideration that Reutimann’s misstep at Martinsville was somebody else’s doing, then you know the double-knot has been one of the Cinderella stories of 2009. It doesn’t hurt he’ll get to start out in front of the pack. A key will be for his team to keep his car good during the race.
I’m telling you it’d be real tempting to pick Reutimann as a race winner. However- if I’m pressed- I think Carl Edwards will get his first 2009 victory Sunday in the Samsung 500. What gives him the edge, in my opinion, is the success they’ve already had here. If on top of that you throw in the hunger that Edwards no doubt has, I expect big things from the “99″ team.
Oh yeah- you know Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth will all be serious contenders. Joining Reutimann as other possible contenders would be Kasey Kahne (who has won here by the way) and Greg Biffle. and don’t forget that Jimmie Johnson guy. Regardless of what his car’s been like so far, the combination of the champ and his crew cheif adjusts in mid-race unlike any other.
We didn’t get a lot of passing here last year, in fact I thought Texas produced some of the most boring racing we had last year. The big highlight here in ‘08 was when Michael Mc Dowell had that that violent wreck that he walk away from.
The drivers sure like it here though. Kevin Harvick says there’s nothing he doesn’t like about racing in Texas, and you also hear drivers talking about multiple grooves, side-by-side action and Smoke also talked about sharp entries going into the turns as well as the apron designed with the Indy cars in mind.
Here’s hoping it’s a good race. There will be a lot of contenders here and Edwards is the closest driver we’ve had to come close to saying he owns this track.
They say the cream always rises to the top. People complain about the intermediate tracks, but you’ve got to say this Texas Motor Speedway is one of those places where the driver AND the car have to be good.
Aside from a couple of up and comers, look for a lot of the guys we’re used to seeing up front….up front.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It seems like almost yearly there is someone who shows up at Daytona and then kind of falls off and does nothing for part of the season, if not the entire season.
I think this weekend is going to belong to one of the Roush boys. The Roush cars almost always do really well here and I wouldn’t be surprised to see two or three of them ending up in the top 10. I’m going to go out on a little bit of a limb here and guess that Biffle will win this weekend with Edwards in a close second or third. Biffle has had some bad luck so far this year and like you said, he has won at Texas before and seems to like the track.
One thing I have to admire about TMS, is that they got it right. When the track first opened they had all kinds of problems. Their first reaction was to hunker down, & get defensive. Remember the “Shut up & Race” T-shirts? They quickly decided that the problems were real, & the complaints, valid, opened the check book, & fixed them. If this had been a ISC track. The T-shirts would have been the end of it, & the track would have gotten a few band aids at best. Sorta’ like the closed door meeting to address the drivers complaints about this thing they have to try to race now.