Final Rankings: Phoenix II, 2011
Posted by Jed Henson
Here are my final driver rankings for this weekend's race at Phoenix. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data from Phoenix Friday and Saturday, and then melding it with the historical data:
- Carl Edwards
- Kasey Kahne
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kevin Harvick
- Matt Kenseth
- Tony Stewart
- Paul Menard
- Mark Martin
- Regan Smith
- Jamie McMurray Read the rest of this entry »
Mid-Week Rankings: Phoenix II, 2011
Posted by Jed Henson
Here are my mid-week driver rankings for this week's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix. I compiled them by crunching the loop, practice and qualifying data for the 2011 races at Phoenix, Richmond, New Hampshire and Martinsville:
- Kyle Busch
- Ryan Newman
- Jeff Gordon
- Kevin Harvick
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kasey Kahne
- Greg Biffle
- Tony Stewart
- Kurt Busch
- Mark Martin Read the rest of this entry »
Final Rankings: Phoenix I, 2011
Posted by Jed Henson
Here are my final driver rankings for this week's race at Phoenix. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data from Phoenix yesterday and today, and then melding it with the historical data:
- Carl Edwards
- Greg Biffle
- Kyle Busch
- Joey Logano
- Jamie McMurray
- Ryan Newman
- David Ragan
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Mark Martin Read the rest of this entry »
Mid-Week Rankings: Phoenix I, 2011
Posted by Jed Henson
Here are my mid-week driver rankings for this week's race at Phoenix. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data for the fall 2010 races at Phoenix, Martinsville, New Hampshire and Richmond, and the loop data for those same races.
- Carl Edwards
- Joey Logano
- Kevin Harvick
- Jeff Gordon
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Ryan Newman
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jamie McMurray
- Greg Biffle Read the rest of this entry »
Race Preview Update: Phoenix II
Posted by Jed Henson
Edwards talks to crew chief Bob Osborne following Friday's practice. Edwards later went out and claimed the pole. (Photo Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR)
The NASCAR Sprint Cup teams got in all three practice sessions and qualifying at Phoenix Friday and Saturday. To handicap the race, I crunched the numbers from those prelim sessions to produce initial rankings, and then I merged those rankings with the historical rankings I produced earlier this week (weighting the results heavily toward the initial rankings). Finally, I tweaked the results per the 10-lap averages in practices 2 and 3.
I came up with this top six:
- Carl Edwards
- Jeff Gordon
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kevin Harvick
- Joey Logano
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Edwards is the clear favorite to win. Read the rest of this entry »
Race Recap: Phoenix
Posted by Jed Henson
Ryan Newman powered by Gordon on the final restart.
I rated Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., and Jimmie Johnson 1,2,3, and they finished 2, 12, 3, respectively. Johnson had the top car until late in the race when Kyle Busch edged past him. Gordon had a good car and benefited from a late caution. Junior had a decent car but developed a problem with his splitter, which caused him to fall back in the field and eventually come in for pit-road repairs. The fact he climbed back to finish 12th suggests his car was strong at the end, too.
I figured Ryan Newman would be strong, and he had a top-10 car most of the day. And he then capitalized on that late caution to power past Gordon for the win on the restart. Read the rest of this entry »
Race Preview Update: Phoenix
Posted by Jed Henson
Kyle Petty leads the field under the sun in last spring's race. PHOTO PIR/GETTY IMAGES
What the... ? Phoenix is supposed to be a relatively predictable race, but the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams have finished with practice and qualifying for tonight's race in Phoenix, and the results were, shall I say, fairly wacky. A.J. Allmendinger, Scott Speed and Sam Hornish Jr. qualified first, second and third, respectively, while favorite Mark Martin was way off the pace all day.
The cooling track undoubtedly contributed at least a little to the unexpected qualifying results—the drivers who ran late in the afternoon/evening (e.g., Allmendinger, Speed and Hornish), tended to run faster than the guys went out early. Practice and qualifying were run in sunny, hot-track conditions but the race will finish under the lights in the cool desert evening, and that adds to the uncertainty for us NASCAR fantasy players and handicappers. Finally, maybe the spoiler is shaking things up? Read the rest of this entry »
Phoenix Update: Denny Hamlin
Posted by Jed Henson
Hamlin's Twitter page.
In my Race Preview: Phoenix post, I rated Denny Hamlin really high but hedged by noting my concern for his surgically repaired knee. I've been keeping an eye out for any news I can get on his recovery/rehab, and what I've found so far isn't promising.
First, here's an article written today by Kenny Bruce on SceneDaily.com on Hamlin's knee. In the second paragraph, the physician's assistant who reportedly is overseeing Hamlin's rehab is quoted as saying he's optimistic Hamlin will be able to run a least some laps and that it's just a matter of seeing how many laps he can run. In addition, Hamlin's last two Twitter posts say "regardless of what you may read my plan is to start on saturday night. Beyond that i just don't know," and then "i would not wish this on anyone.. its one the hardest things ive ever had to do." Read the rest of this entry »
Race Preview: Phoenix
Posted by Jed Henson
Mark Martin leads the field to the start of last April's race. PHOTO PIR/GETTY IMAGES
After two weeks of short tracks, we head to Phoenix in the Valley of the Sun. I still consider Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) a short-flat track, but at 1 mile in length, it's twice as big as Martinsville and Bristol. That in itself increases the predictability of this race compared to the Bristol and Martinsville races simply because there is more room on this track, and more room on pit road. More room means fewer fender benders and cooler tempers. We also have a good amount of historical data for Phoenix because the weather wasn't a factor there last year and apparently won't be this year, either (according to Weather.com at press time). Read the rest of this entry »
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