Thursday, April 30, 2009

Crown Royal 400 Preview

Well, that was wild. Talladega brought us the most exciting race we've seen all year. In fact, maybe even in our lifetime(unless you were around to see Bobby Allison's 1987 crash). But now, onto the track that brought us the best finish of 2008.

If you will recall, a year ago, the Crown Royal 400 was Denny Hamlin's to lose. He started on Pole, and lead 381 of the first 382 laps(the only other lap leader was AJ Allmendinger), only to blow out a right front tire with 18 laps remaining.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. inherited the lead. But, with 3 laps to go, Kyle Busch got into Junior's left rear and turned him racing for the win. In the meantime, Clint Bowyer, the unsuspecting 3rd place runner, snuck past the incident, and took home the checkers in one of the most thrilling finishes I thought I'd see in a hundered lifetimes... until Sunday.

On Sunday, of course, Brad Keselowski got together with Carl Edwards with 1,000 feet to go, sending Edwards on the ride of his life. Keselowski earned his first career Cup win after not even competing in Cup the previous week. This week, Hopper looks to earn his first career win after not nailing one top 5er at Talladega, and I plan to do it by picking the man who should've won last year. And no, it was not Dale Earnhardt Jr.

5.Tony Stewart
4.Ryan Newman
3.Clint Bowyer
2.Kyle Busch
1.Denny Hamlin

Denny will win his first at the track he wants to win at more than any other on the circuit, and he'll make it that much sweeter by beating his teammate to do it. As for Junior, well, seeing as it's Busch's turn to hit him(if you'll recall, Junior got his revenge in the fall race), I believe he won't hesitate to wreck NASCAR's most popular driver again. Folks, that's all for this week. Have a happy Sunday!

No comments: