Food City 500
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee | Sunday, April 17, 2016
1 PM EST | FOX
Another week is behind us, Kyle Busch is on fire. There has been 4 races the past 2 weeks and KB has been on top of the heap for every one of those 4 races. As for me, I finally dug myself out of the hole and finished 2nd this week. I took a look at my competitors teams and the team that beat me had 1 different driver then I did. I was going to flip flop Carl Edwards for Greg Biffle, but decided against that before race time. My lineup of Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex and Chase Elliot was good enough for 2nd place, if I would have made the change of Biffle for Edwards I would have had the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th place finishers. So I rebounded nicely, which is good because its tough to get back into the race for the title. My concentration was a little off this week as my University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks played for the 2016 NCAA Frozen Four National Championship. We got the 'W' for the first time in 16 years, what a party that ensued after. I didn't watch much of the race but I recorded it, I'm hoping my wife will let me watch it tonight (instead of Angry house wives of .... or whatever you call it) after I finish up with this. Anyways on to my picks.
Group A- Kyle 'Rowdy' Busch
The man is the hottest driver in NASCAR right now. We saw this last year after he came back from his injury, rattling off 4 in a row off is nothing new to Mr. Rowdy. The JGR cars (Truex included) are just hard not to pick every week. With only 9 starts you really have to portion them out. Anyone of those drivers will get hot at any point of the season. Oh, by the way he is really good here, 5 wins, 8 top 5s and 13 top 10s. Last year he was unable to race in the spring due to surgery on his leg and ankle, came to Bristol last August and recorded an 8th place finish.
Matt Kenseth
Unlike his teammate Kyle Busch, Kenseth still needs a win to get into the chase. The 2015 winner of this event comes into Bristol this weekend having yet to record a top 5 finish. He is coming to one of his best tracks where has 4 wins in 26 starts. Look for Matt Kenseth to knock his teammate off the heap this week to get into the Victory Lane.
Group B- Greg Biffle
STICK WITH THE BIFF! Things were looking up for Biffle till Kasey Kahne dive bombed him and sent Biffle into the wall. Drivers feed of good finishes, and things were looking good last week in Texas. Biffle runs surprisingly decent here, 6 top 5s and 13 top 10s. Looking for Biff to drive a clean race and get a finish he deserves.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
I'm really stretching on this pick here. Like last week, I'm going with a driver not to many people will think about going with. Stenhouse is one of those guys today (guess you could say the same of Biffle). In 6 starts Stenhouse has recorded 2 top 5s (1 of which came in this race last year) and 3 top 10s. In his last 3 starts at Bristol he has finished 4th, 6th and 2nd.
Ryan Newman
Not a guy on to many peoples radar this week, except mine. He consistently finishes well, which means he stays out of the trouble. By staying out of trouble I mean he qualifies well here, he averages a 10th place starting position. In his last 4 races here, he has a 10th, 5th, 13th and 16th place finish. Another thing that pops out to me is that he completes all the laps, not going a lap down is huge here.
Kasey Kahne
Last week I said that I was going with Greg Biffle because he was coming of a good finish. Same with Kasey this weekend, coming off an 8th place I'm hoping Kasey feeds off that and gets a good one here. The main thing is, he needs to run well here on out. I feel his job is on the line at the end of the year with Mr. Hendrick.
WHO ELSE TO WATCH 4- McMurray, Edwards, Austin Dillon
Group C- Ty Dillon
Ty is making his return to Tony Stewart's #14 this weekend. Out of the replacement drivers running this car, Ty is running better than Brian Vickers. I believe the key here is that Ty is running the Xfinity Race on Saturday and its really showing for those Cup guys that are racing in that series are really getting the seat time needed to figure out this new downforce package. He runs pretty well here to in the Xfinity series, 3 top 5s, 4 top 10s in 4 races. He will be making his first attempt at the Cup race here at Bristol.
Chase Elliot
Also making he first career start at Bristol this weekend, Chase is running well as of late. In the Xfinity series he averages a 6th place finish, in that run he has recorded 4 top 10s. Chase is also running the Xfinity race on Saturday. Seat time helps, but the big thing is to qualify up front and stay outta trouble (in the pits and on track.
There we have it. Another week of picks, I really hope this helped some one out like it did me. Please leave comments about how you did or ways you think I can improve this blog. Thank You to those that are supporting me in this journey of blogging. Now off to talk my wife into turning off Teen Mom for NASCAR.
GOD SPEED
BOOGER
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