Fast Forward ~ The Sylvania 300 At Loudon Fantasy Race Picks And Preview
“The future is like a corridor into which we can see only by the light coming from behind.”
–Edward Weyer, Jr.
The Track: New
Hampshire Motor Speedway
Location: Loudon, New
Hampshire
Length: 1.058 Mile
oval
Banking: Turn 1-4, 12
degrees
Frontstretch,
2 degrees
Backstretch, 2 degrees
Pit Road Speed: 35 MPH
The Race: The Sylvania
300
300 Laps, 317.4 Miles
Defending Champion: Matt
Kenseth, 107.573MPH
Most recent winner: Brad
Keselowski, 108.741 MPH
Track Record: Jeff
Burton, 117.134 MPH, July 1997
Race Record: Jeff
Burton, 117.134 MPH, July 1997
Qualifying record: Kyle
Busch, 138.130, July 2014
2013 Purse: $5,367,865
TV: ESPN, 2:00PM
EST 9/21/2014
Radio: Performance
Racing Network (PRN, www.goprn.com) Sirius XM 90
The History:
August 13, 1989-
Ground breaking. The track was
originally called New Hampshire International Speedway.
July 11, 1993- First
Sprint Cup Series race was run, won by Rusty Wallace.
July 1, 2007-Closest
Margin Of Victory: Denny Hamlin over Jeff Gordon by
0.068 seconds.
January 11th, 2008-Bob
and Gary Bahre, original track owners, agreed to sell
it to Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
June 28th, 2009-Joey
Logano becomes the youngest winner at 19 years, 1 month, 4 days.
September 20, 2009-
Mark Martin becomes the oldest winner at 50 years, 8 months, 10 days
The Contenders:
Top 10 Driver Rating at New Hampshire
Tony
Stewart............................. 110.0
Jeff
Gordon.............................. 107.7
Denny
Hamlin............................ 103.6
Jimmie
Johnson........................ 102.1
Kyle
Larson................................ 99.1
Dale Earnhardt
Jr........................ 97.3
Clint Bowyer...............................
95.9
Kyle
Busch................................. 94.7
Brad
Keselowski......................... 93.8
Kasey
Kahne.............................. 92.6
Note: Driver Ratings
compiled from 2005-2014 races (19 total) among active
drivers at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The Picks!
Before we get into
this week’s picks, here’s how we all did at Chicago…
Player |
Selection |
Race Pts |
Previous Pts |
Total Pts |
Behind |
Wins |
DNFs |
Mr. Pole |
18 |
38 |
2018 |
2056 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
Vivian |
24 |
43 |
2012 |
2055 |
-1 |
4 |
2 |
Darrell |
24 |
43 |
2009 |
2052 |
-4 |
3 |
2 |
Jim Fitzgerald |
2 |
47 |
2003 |
2050 |
-6 |
2 |
2 |
Brian Marchetti |
24 |
43 |
2003 |
2046 |
-10 |
1 |
3 |
PattyKay Lilley |
4 |
41 |
2003 |
2044 |
-12 |
1 |
1 |
Alabama Fitz |
48 |
32 |
2006 |
2038 |
-18 |
2 |
6 |
Kevin Abraham |
48 |
32 |
2006 |
2038 |
-18 |
2 |
4 |
Mr. Winner |
20 |
34 |
2003 |
2037 |
-19 |
1 |
3 |
Nate |
48 |
32 |
2003 |
2035 |
-21 |
1 |
3 |
Barbara |
99 |
24 |
2003 |
2027 |
-29 |
1 |
3 |
Mr. Seven |
18 |
38 |
1046 |
1084 |
-972 |
0 |
0 |
JIM FITZGERALD: Well, I lucked into a win by picking the
right guy at the wrong track, but I’ll take it, along with my ticket to advance
to the next round. Anyone
ready to go?
ALABAMA FITZ: I'm
going to ride to Victory lane with Matt Kenseth this week. Meet me in the motor home for a partay extraordinaire after you clear inspection.
JIM FITZGERALD: Wow…first
shot fired by ALABAMA FITZ! The
defending Champion should always be a smart, safe bet.
PATTYKAY LILLEY: And
while you guys are partying in Fitz motor coach, I'll be in Victory Lane with
the Loudon winner, Brad Keselowski. This guy is on a roll, and I don't mean
cinnamon. I hate this track... no, really... I do hate this track. Reasons for
that are legion, and not at all germane to this conversation. Jim,
put me down as a passenger in the Blue Deuce on Sunday. Time to get out of this slump and find a win or three.
JIM FITZGERALD: Why don’t
you like North Wilkes---oh…that’s right…that’s where we SHOULD be this week. Well,
I know I tipped my hand last week by telling you all that Brad Keselowski was
going to win Loudon, when in fact we were at Chicago. It's a good thing I'm allowed to change my
mind. I'm not saying Brad and the No. 2
team are going to slack off at this point, but honestly, if it were me, I'd be
focusing on making bulletproof cars for the next segment of races, and whatever
happens at Loudon and Dover happens. So,
I'm pushing Brad K to the back burner for now.
Now I'm looking towards another driver with a yellow number on the roof
(isn't that horrible?) to win this week, and he's the driver of the No. 4. I'm taking Kevin Harvick to win at Loudon.
ALABAMA FITZ: After
what Brad said after the race on Sunday, I'm thinking he's not going to be as
aggressive as he was on Sunday, so I'm looking for him to run high, but he may
not win it.
KEVIN ABRAHAM: Loudon. The track that is one of the most polarizing tracks here on RFF. Some really dislike this track due to the
history of the track with how it got its second date, along with wishing the
track would go away completely, while others like myself look forward to the
trek into New England, as it was the closest track to me for many years (Dover
now owns that honor over Richmond and Pocono by one hour). To me this race has come to symbolize the
start of fall, even thought I know for decades this
trip would have been to North Wilkesboro for that gem of a track that should
still be on the schedule as Jim said, but I digress. I was looking at Keselowski,
Bowyer, Logano, and Denny Hamlin to run well at this track, but when I checked
the entry list, I did not see Morgan Shepherd on the entrance list for this
weekend. That means that I
am going to pick Joey Logano to come into Loudon and win the race, sending
him and myself to Round 2 of the Chase.
JIM FITZGERALD: Kev, I have to tell you. ..I don't think picking the Penske
cats are a bad choice at any track right now.
They are strong all around.
Brian?
BRIAN MARCHETTI: I
looked at 4 drivers today, because my original plan was to just stick with Gordon,
and see what happens. But Jeff hasn't been
too impressive at Loudon over the last few races, so I had to expand my
search. I looked at Johnson, Kenseth,
Shrub, and Brad. Brad is the favorite,
my guess, and his numbers warrant that.
If JJ was having a typical JJ season, I think I'd run with him this
week....but he's not having that season, despite being in the Chase. Kenseth, who I've been pulling for all
season, his numbers just don't make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Kyle Busch, three straight 2nd Place
finishes.....we can't ignore that. But
we all know that Shrub can be hot or cold, and is always a time bomb just
waiting to go off. So I took another
look at where these guys fall in the points, and tried to think about how
aggressive will they be. Is it Brad or Kyle this week? I'll
ride the Blue Deuce, even though I want me some Peanut M&Ms.
JIM FITZGERALD: Now let’s
see what our fans think about a winner for this week?
Vivian: This is a tough
one so I am picking the first name that came to mind this week. I think Joey
Logano is going to cross that finish line first at NHMS in Loudon.
Nate: I think I'm going
with #24 at New Hampshire
Darrell: I am going
with Kyle Larson for the win this week. See y'all in Victory Lane!
Barbara: At this point
I would say AJ and the Roush Boys aren’t going into the next round any more
than I am. The next two races are going to be cutthroat! Think I’ll go with
Happy #4, Kevin Harvick. (Perhaps I shouldn’t choose him since I expect him to
be Champion, even though many are picking Brad to go all the way.)
JIM FITZGERALD: And
there they are…everyone’s picks for the second race of this Chase, location:
New Hampshire. Who wins it all, and who
takes the fall? Hard to say right now,
so we’ll have to wait until Sunday. We’ll
be back here next week to review what happens, so until then, keep the shiny
side up!
Our Picks For This Week!
Kevin Abraham |
Alabama Fitz |
Jim Fitzgerald |
PattyKay Lilley |
Brian Marchetti |
Darrell |
Nate |
Who is YOUR pick to win this week?
Correctly choose the winner before the green flag drops on Sunday, and you'll be entered into a drawing to win some racing stuff!