Pre Race Picks and Predictions: Chicagoland, Silverstone,Bruno, DANICA!!!

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup, Chicagoland: 

Winner:   Kurt Busch; Kurt has been very strong on the cookie cutters, and is having success as the only successful Dodge in NASCAR at the moment.  Between him and Power, there is a very strong chance that Penske will get both the Indycar and NASCAR championships.  Another win by Busch would remind everyone why he’s in contention for the Cup.

Likely: Denny Hamlin; Hamlin’s been slumping, but Gibbs is a strong team, and Hamlin’s having a great year.  What better way to remind everyone you’re back than with a win or two???  Ask Jimmie about that.

Darkhorse: Juan Montoya; Juan has been strong in practice all weekend.  He’s had fast cars at many of the races this year, but has had no luck.  Recently he’s not had a ton of speed either.  If the speeds back, since he’s pretty far from Chase contention, he’s going to be going all out for wins. 

Predictions: 

  Do you like the races at the “cookie cutters”?  Have you been anticipating this race for months???  If so, that’s very good, because next year there will be even more of them added to the schedule, unless something happens that changes this.

   Jimmie Johnson’s baby was born on Wednesday.  Will this affect his racing? Don’t know.  It could hurt come Chase time. 

  Dale Junior is going into a race with momentum for the first time in a while, and is actually in the Chase in 11^th place at the moment.  Can he continue to perform well? 

  Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton are both winless, despite many, many good runs this year.

  The discussion of changes to the Chase continues.  I still say, go back to a regular season and use either points only to the top 15-25, or go to an Indycar style point’s system, either way, put a LOT more emphasis on winning, because right now, it doesn’t really matter. 

 NASCAR Nationwide (AKA Danica 300), Chicagoland:

Winner:  Kyle Busch; Kyle Busch +Gibbs Toyota + Nationwide= Win

Likely: Brad Keselowski; He’s struggling in the Cup series, but leading in the Nationwide, he’s going to start second, and has a great shot at victory. 

Darkhorse: Trevor Bayne; A Nationwide series regular, so his chance of winning isn’t that good.  But he qualified 3^rd so there is some hope, at least. 

Predictions:

  Rushing to try and get this post out before the Nationwide race!!!! 

  The Danica experiment continues, and continues to struggle.  She was 39^th in the first practice and 19^th in the second one, and qualified 28^th.  This is on a cookie cutter track that is flat out or nearly flat out, with one of the five best cars on the field, and she couldn’t out qualify Eric McClure…  My real issue here is that she’s in equipment that almost any driver could get top 20’s and top 10’s in, in a series that’s not that completive, especially in the middle and back of the pack.  Teams that are underfunded and don’t have huge crews are way above her, despite a very large crew and team, which is a Hendrick satellite, and its representative in Nationwide.  And this is a cookie cutter, not Darlington, not Bristol, not Martinsville; this is a track that’s not that tough, comparatively.  Worse, she’s also started to struggle in Indycar.  I don’t know if that’s related, but with the exception of Texas, she’s not been good at all.  I understand she’s new to stock cars, but other drivers who were brand new did better, and again, this isn’t Cup level, and while other drivers, such as Allmindigner and Franchitti came in on very poor teams, Danica’s in almost top equipment, and except for the Cup guys, and Allgier, not going against anyone that great, she should be able to get a little more out of qualifying than 28^th. 

WSBK, Bruno:  Note that WSBK has a two race format, but I’ll only do one prediction, they carry over to both races. 

Winner: Max Biaggi; He’s the points leader, and has been on a tear sweeping Miller and Misano.  The Aprillia has been a great bike this year; look for him to be a major contender for the wins.

Likely: Nori Hagga; Hagga came in a close second to Ben Spies last season, but this season he’s struggled to remain competitive.  However, he won the pole for race one, and that confidence boost might be just what he and his Ducati team needed.  If it is, look out, it could be the Battle of the Italian’s Bikes up front.

Darkhorse: James Toseland; The Yamaha rider was leading the points until Biaggi took the lead.  He has been struggling recently, and didn’t have a great first round qualifying run, but still, he’s got the potential to be a factor for the win, and needs to be, especially if Biaggi finish’s up front.

Predictions:

  Bruno is a pretty cool track, lots of wide turns and elevation changes.  It should be an interesting race.  WSBK has SIX different and completive manufactures, with Kawasaki as the 7^th, and definitely not competitive.  It means that predictions are somewhat difficult, because there are so many people to pick, unless they’re on a Kawasaki, then they’re fighting for last.  Also of note, Valentino Rossi tested the Yamaha WSBK to see how close he was to being ready to return to MotoGP, as WSBK doesn’t have the same testing rules. Unsurprisingly, he put down respectable times.

Editors Note, Forgot F1, here it is: 

Winner: Lewis Hamilton;  McLaren is going into the weekend with a new update on the car, and is hoping to have closed the gap with Red Bull.  If this happens, Hamilton shoudl be right up front contending for the win.

Likely: Sebastion Vettel;  Red Bull has been incredibly quick, but between mechanical failures and driver errors, are not having as much success as they should have had.  Vettel should be strong, though, and as long as McLaren doesn’t get too much better, has a good chance of being the winner.

Darkhorse:  Fernando Alonso;  Alonso has been running well, and is in a good posistion in the championship, all things considred.  His issue is lack of speed, and that could be a problem here.  But, Alonso is good, and the Ferrari is getting stronger.

Also playing, Miller Motorsports Park with the ALMS. 

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