TOP FIVE DRIVERS

Xfinity 500 from MARTINSVILLE

My #5 driver to watch was the ruuner up here earlier in the year, #12 Ryan Blaney. Ryan has nine starts, no wins and four Top 5’s, 44%. Ryan has really turned the corner on this track. His four Top 5’s have all come in the last five races. Ryan is #3 hottest over the last six races. Keep this in mind, Ryan finished 5^th here last year in this Playoff race.

My #4 pick is the #1 ranked short Track driver, #18 Kyle Busch. Kyle is also the most recent winner on the circuit getting a win last Wednesday in Texas. Kyle has 30 starts, two win’s, one in early 2016 and another in this race in 2017, and 16 Top 5’s, 53%. Kyle is #8 hottest over the last six weeks. He may not be in the Playoffs but he wants to end this season on the highest notrposiible and remember he is the #1 rated short driver.

My #3 driver has horrible stats here, #19 Martin Truex Jr. Martin has 29 starts, two wins and seven Top 5’s, 24%. BUT, he did win the last two races here. He is #5 hottest over the last six weeks and #5 ranked short track driver. He almost has to win to lock in a spot in Phoenix. Will he win? Many say he will, if he doesn’t he’ll be close.

My #2 driver is a recent winner here, #2 Brad Keselowski. Brad won here back in March of last year. He has 21 starts, two wins, and ten Top 5’s, 48%. Brad has really, just gotten better here, he has nine straight Top 10’s here and eight of those Nine were Top 5! Playoff driver Brad could use a win to advance. Short of a win 2^nd place should secure him that spot in Phoenix.

My #1 pick is a five time winner here, #11 Denny Hamlin. Here at Martinsville Denny has five wins in 29 starts, he also has 15 Top 5’s—54%.  He finished 4th here last year and 24^th to secure a spot in Phoenix  he needs more performance like the former and not the latter. 

Monday look for our preview of Phoenix Raceway 500 from Phoenix.

TOP 30 DRIVERS

XFINITY 500:MARTINSVILLE

1. DENNY HAMLIN #11
2. BRAD KESELOWSKI #2
3. MARTIN TRUEX #19
4. KYLE BUSCH #18
5. RYAN BLANEY #12
6. KEVIN HARVICK #4
7. JOEY LOGANO #22
8. CHASE ELLIOTT #9
9. KURT BUSCH #1
10. ALEX BOWMAN #88
11. CLINT BOWYER #13
12. TYLER REDDICK #8
13. WILLIAM BYRON #24
14. RYAN NEWMAN #6
15. JIMMIE JOHNSON #48
16. CHRIS BUESCHER #17
17. ARIC ALMIROLA #10
18. ERIK JONES #20
19. MATT KENSETH #42
20. AUSTIN DILLON #3
21. RYAN PREECE #37
22. MATT DIBENNEDETTO #21
23. TY DILLON #13
24. RICKY STENHOUSE #47
25. CHRISTOPHER BELL #95
26. DANIEL SUAREZ #96
27. BUBBA WALLACE #43
28. MICHAEL MCDOWELL #34
29. COLE CUSTER #41
30. JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK #38

Friday we’ll break down the Top 5 drivers.

Top Ten Teams

TOP TEN TEAMS

1. TEAM PENSKE (LW #1)
2. JOE GIBBS RACING (LW #2)
3. HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS (LW #3)
4. STEWART HAAS RACING (LW #4)
5. WOOD BROTHERS RACING (LW #6)
6. RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING (LW #5)
7. CHIP GANASSI RACING (LW #7)
8. LEAVINE FAMILY RACING (LW #9)
9. ROUSH FENWAY RACING (LW #8)
10. GERNAIN RACING (LW #10)

After the eighth race of the Playoffs we see a little more movement in the Top 10 but. #18 Kyle Busch gets the win and that is not enough to take Team Penske out of the top spot. That keeps Joe Gibbs Racing in the #2 place. Hendrick Motorsports stay at #3. Stewart Haas stays at #4. #21 Matt DiBennedetto moves Wood Brothers Racing into the #5 spot, that sends Richard Childress Racing into the #6 position. Chip Ganassi Racing stays at #7 position. Leavine Family Racing move up a spot to #8 and that sends Roush Fenway Racing to #9. Germain Racing stay at #10.

Thursday at 3PM look for our Top 30 drivers for Xfinity 500 and Friday morning we break down the Top 5 driver’s.

TOP TEN TEAMS

TOP 10: SHORT TRACK

1. KYLE BUSCH #18
2. KEVIN HARVICK #4
3. JOEY LOGANO #22
4. DENNY HAMLIN #11
5. MARTIN TRUEX JR. #19
6. CHASE ELLIOTT #9
7. KURT BUSCH #1
8. BRAD KESELOWSKI #2
9. CLINT BOWYER #14
10. JIMMIE JOHNSON #48

Top 10 drivers on Short tracks, Thursday at 10AM ET look for our Top 10 teams, later Thursday look for our Top 30 rankings for Sunday’s XFINITY 500 from Martinsville Speedway.

RACE PREVIEW

XFINITY 500

Martinsville Speedway

November 1st, 3:00 PM ET, NBCSN TV

.526 Mile, 12 Degrees of Banking

Playoff Race #9

Stages end after laps: 130/260/500

We are eight races through the ten race Playoff for the Cup. Driver #22 Joey Logano is locked into the Championship race in Phoenix. #4 Kevin Harvick is +47 points, #11 Denny Hamlin +27 points, and #2 Brad Keselowski is +25 points ahead of 5^th place #88 Alex Bowman. #9 Chase Elliott, #19 Martin Truex, and #1 Kurt Busch  need a win or a great deal of bad luck to get one of the four Playoff spots.  This is the last of the season’s six short track races. We know that short tracks bring on short tempers and with just two races to go in the season, the drivers are doing what they must to gather enough points to claim a successful season. We probably won’t see a lot of patience on the track – bump and run could be the phrase of the day, or worse yet, dump and run. Chevy has won 50% of the races here in the last 10 years. In those 20 races over the last ten years Hendrick Motorsports accounts for 30% of those wins and their engine shop 40%. Jimmie Johnson is the winning-est current driver here with nine trips to Victory Lane. #19 Martin Truex Jr. is the defending Champion of this race and he won here earlier in the year in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. JGR are tied with Hendrick Motorsports in number of wins (6) in the last ten years. Will Hendrick Motorsports and Chevy return to Victory Lane? Or will we see Ford or Toyota chip away at team Hendrick’s and Chevy’s dominance. We’ll find out on Sunday.

Later tonight look for our Top 10 short track drivers.

TOP FIVE DRIVERS

AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 from TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

My #5 driver has kind of struggled here, #12 Ryan Blaney. He has 11 starts, no wins and two Top 5’s- 18%. The two Top 5’s came in the last five races. He comes into the Lone Star state rated #12 mile and a half tracks like Texas and #8 hottest over the last six weeks. He is out of the Playoffs aand bothing to lose and everyting to gain with Top 5 finish. 

My #4 pick is a recent winner here, #11 Denny Hamlin.Denny won here in the pring last year. Denny has 29 starts here, three wins, and seven Top 5’s- 26%. He is #5 hottest over the last six weeks and # 2 in points, a Top 5 here and in Martinsville should get him a slot for the Championship in Phoenix.

My #3 driver is another three time winner here, #18 Kyle Busch. Kyle comes into Texas with 29 starts, three wins and 13 Top 5’s. 45% Top 5! He is #3 rated on track likes this but he is also #9 hottest over the last six weeks and is also out of the playoff hunt.

The #2 driver got his third win of the year and has had his ticket punched to Phoenix, #22 Joey Logano. Joey has 24 starts, one win, and 11 Top 5’s, 46%. He is #3 hottest and rated #5 on trackslike this.

My #1 pick is the defending champion of this race, #4 Kevin Harvick. Kevin is the defending champion of this race three times in a row.  He has 35 starts, three wins and 12 Top 5’s, 34%. Kevin sits #1 in points and can lock in a slot in Phoenix or at least move into the Fast Four. Kevin is #1 rated on tracks like this and #2 hottest over the last six weeks. Kevin has 12 straight Top 10’s, nine of those were Top 5’s.

Monday look for our preview of theMartinsville 500 from Martinsville.

TOP 30 DRIVERS

AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 from TEXAS

1. KEVIN HARVICK #4
2. JOEY LOGANO #22
3. KYLE BUSCH #18
4. DENNY HAMLIN #11
5. RYAN BLANEY #12
6. ERIK JONES #20
7. KURT BUSCH #1
8. MARTIN TRUEX #19
9. ALEX BOWMAN #88
10. AUSTIN DILLON #3
11. BRAD KESELOWSKI #2
12. CHASE ELLIOTT #9
13. CLINT BOWYER #14
14. WILLIAM BYRON #24
15. TYLER REDDICK #8
16. ARIC ALMIROLA #10
17. MATT KENSETH #42
18. RYAN NEWMAN #6
19. CHRIS BUESCHER #17
20. MATT DIBENEDETTO #21
21. CHRISTOPHER BELL #95
22. COLE CUSTER #41
23. JIMMIE JOHNSON #48
24. BUBBA WALLACE #43
25. DANIEL SUAREZ #96
26. MICHAEL MCDOWELL #34
27. TY DILLON #13
28. JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK #38
29. RICKY STENHOUSE #47
30. RYAN PREECE #37

Friday we break down the Top 5 drives to watch.

TOP TEN TEAMS

TOP TEN TEAMS

1. TEAM PENSKE (LW #2)
2. JOE GIBBS RACING (LW #1)
3. HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS (LW #3)
4. STEWART HAAS RACING (LW #4)
5. RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING (LW #5)
6. WOOD BROTHERS RACING (LW #7)
7. CHIP GANASSI RACING (LW #6)
8. ROUSH FENWAY RACING (LW #8)
9. LEAVINE FAMILY RACING (LW #9)
10. GERNAIN RACING (LW OFF)

After the seventh race of the Playoffs we don’t find much movement in the Top 10 but we did see some. #22 Joey Logano gets the win and that helps take Team Penske back into the top spot. That sends Joe Gibbs Racing into the #2 place. #21 Matt DiBennedetto moves Wood Brothers Racing into the #6 spot, that sends Chip Ganassi Racing back into the #7 position. JTG Daugherty Racing drop out of the Top Ten and we see Germain Racing return to the Top 10 at #10.

Thursday morning look for our Top 30 drivers for AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 and Friday morning we break down the Top 5 driver’s.

TOP TEN DRIVERS BY TRACK TYPE

TOP 10: INTERMEDIATE TRACKS

1. KEVIN HARVICK #4
2. MARTIN TRUEX #19
3. KYLE BUSCH #18
4. KURT BUSCH #1
5. JOEY LOGANO #22
6. BRAD KESELOWSKI #2
7. ERIK JONES #20
8. DENNY HAMLIN #11
9. ARIC ALMIROLA #10
10. CHASE ELLIOTT #9

Top 10 on Intermediate tracks, Wednesday look for our Top 10 teams and Thursday look for our Top 30 driver rankings for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 from Texas.

RACE PREVIEW

AutoTrader EchoPark 500

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

OCTOBER 25th, 3:30PM EST NBC-SN TV

1.5 Miles, 24 Degrees of Banking

Stages end after laps 105/210/334

Playoff Race #8

Seven races into the Playoffs and there are a lot of simmering tensions in the garage. Each race seems to bring more to the surface. There are just three races left for these drivers to settle this. #22 Joey Logano is locked into the final Championship race with his win at Kansas. This track is another that used to hang a sign that says “House of Roush”. In the 39 Cup races that have been run here, ten of them have been won by the Roush Fenway team of drivers; the first in the inaugural race in 1997 (Jeff Burton) and the last in April of 2012 (Greg Biffle).  But now Hendrick Motorsports is tied with Roush in total wins, they also have ten wins since 1997. But in the last ten years Roush has two wins and Hendrick has six. Advantage HMS. Also in the last ten years we have seen Joe Gibbs Racing get wins, six in the last ten years and eight in total. HMS and JGR are tied in the last ten years and not behind we see Srewart Haas Racing with four wins including the #4 Kevin Harvick win in this race last year.Those are the three dominate teams. Who will dominate this year?  We’ll see on Sunday.

Tuesday look for our Top 10 drivers on Intermediate tracks in advance of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive from Texas Motor Speedway.