Upcoming events in the world of NASCAR
Next week, the NASCAR Nextel Cup teams head west, or Midwest to be more exact, to the 1 1/2-mile trioval at Michigan International Speedway. Initially, MIS was inspired by the other great 1 1/2 mile race track, Lowe’s Motor Speedway. But after almost 30 years of racing, it has developed a personality of its own that no driver has been able to master. Unlike other race tracks, since the 2000 season there has never been a single driver to win back-to-back races at Michigan.
Do not run to the store or sit on the toilet for a long time next Sunday. Races in Michigan tend to go by so fast!!! Of the three oval tracks currently on the Nextel Cup circuit, Michigan has the fastest average race speed at just over 174 mph. Only Daytona and Talladega have faster average speeds.
Next week at MIS, expect Carl Edwards to continue making his move to qualify for the Chase for the Championship. In three starts at Michigan, Carl has 2 top-5 finishes and 1 top-10 finish.
Also expect the following drivers to do well next week:
Other drivers to consider:
Matt Kenseth - Average Finish 8th
Jeff Gordon - Average Finish 10th
Greg Biffle - Average Finish 11th
Mark Martin - Average Finish 12thNext Week's Schedule:
Nextel Cup: @ Michigan International Raceway
6/17/06 - 10:35pm NASCAR Nextel Cup 3M Performance 400 Practice
6/16/06 - 03:10pm NASCAR Nextel Cup 3M Performance 400 Qualifying
6/18/06 - 01:40pm NASCAR Nextel Cup 3M Performance 400
Who shot?
Denny Hamlin is sitting at the top of a class of outstanding rookies. This year’s rookie class has been compared to the same rookie class that produced Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman. Is Denny Hamlin on the same level as Jimmie & Ryan? Only time will tell, but what we do know is that he is a serious competitor.
Denny started his season with a bang by winning the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. Since then, Hamlin has posted a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in the Samsung/Radioshack 500, a second-place finish at Richmond International Raceway in the Crown Royal 400, and a victory in last weekend’s Pocono 500 at the Pocono International. Raceway. Along the way, his average finish of 16th has been enough to catapult him into the top 10 in driver points.
The rest of the NASCAR world is starting to see what Joe Gibbs & Co. have known all along, Denny Hamlin is the real deal! Denny can not only make a burger and a funny commercial, but he can also drive a race car!
Who does not?
God, Jeff Gordon, where have you gone? I was expecting last week’s section of Who’s Not? it would serve to motivate Jeff and the rest of the Rainbow Warriors to turn their season around. From the results at Pocono, it appears that neither Jeff nor the brake tech at Hendrick Motorsports bothered to read my article.
Oh good. If they had, maybe they wouldn’t be in the dreaded 11th place heading to Michigan next week. Jeff currently sits 25 points
from tenth behind his ever-charming teammate Kyle Busch. Fortunately for the 24 team, of the last few tracks raced before the Nextel Cup championship race cutoff, Jeff has always put in solid results (an average top-12 finish). For Jeff’s sake, and the sake of his young crew chief (Steve Letarte), let’s hope the #24 team can turn their season around.
headlines from last week
Pocono’s “Tro-Val” offers fans and drivers an exciting taste of racing not seen anywhere else on the speedway. Long straights and low banked tight turns combine to deliver the exhilarating speeds of super speed racing along with the handling finesse required for track courses.
The track, as always, challenged both veteran and rookie drivers in yesterday’s Pocono 500. Just ask race winner and rookie Denny Hamlin and former Pocono winner Jeff Gordon. Both drivers suffered setbacks in the race. Hamlin was able to recover after a fall on the infield grass to win the Pocono 500, while Gordon’s broken brake rotor caused a late-race crash.
It’s safe to say that Joe Gibbs’ racing teams dominated Pocono. Not only did rookie Denny Hamlin win the race, he did it with teammate Tony Stewart breathing down the back of his neck. In the end, Tony, broken shoulder and all, finished third while Joe Gibbs’ remaining driver JJ Yeley finished 15th.
Former Gibbs driver Bobby Labonte continued his quest to bring Petty Enterprises back to prominence with a 12th-place finish.
Probably one of the most disappointing finishes of the day came from Carl Edwards. Edwards came to Pocono with high expectations, a fresh taste of victory in his mouth and a blazing-fast car. After starting 40 degrees, Edwards quickly moved his car to the front. However, a pit stop gone horribly wrong left Carl one lap down and a desperate chance to get back to the front. Carl finished the race in 25th place and remains in 13th position (122 points out of 10).
View Complete 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Race Schedule
