By: Toby Christie

Jimmie Johnson comes into this race on a two race winning streak, and has won more times at Atlanta in the past six races there than anyone, but he is not my pick to win.

Johnson will however be strong, that is a given, but there are two drivers I really see contending for a win Sunday.

Carl Edwards, who won nine races in 2008, comes into this weekend riding a 39-race winless streak. All that can change very quickly this weekend. Edwards has three wins at this track in his career, including a sweep at the track in his rookie season.

I fully expect Carl Edwards to be strong this weekend, and the whole Roush team as a whole has gotten a lot stronger from last season. If the team doesn’t make any mistakes Carl Edwards could be taking his retro paint scheme into victory lane at Atlanta again, and personally I have him down to win. He is just too good, and this team can only go so long without a win.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the other driver who I believe has a real shot at victory Sunday. Earnhardt, who starts on the pole, is still considered a long shot considering the fact that he comes into this event with a 60-race losing streak.

Atlanta however is one of Earnhardt’s best tracks in his career. His career average finish here is 11.9, which is actually second highest only to Jimmie Johnson among active drivers. Earnhardt has one career victory which came back in his six-win season in 2004. Look for Earnhardt to not relinquish the lead without a fight on Sunday, and don’t be surprised if he doesn’t find victory lane for the 19th time in his career.

Who else can we expect to contend?

All of the Richard Childress Racing cars are on fire, and I expect that trend to continue this week. All three teams missed the chase in 2009, but they sit first, second and seventh in the standings after three events. Kevin Harvick got his first career victory here back in 2001.

Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin will also be very strong, but that goes without saying as Hendrick Motorsports has had a stranglehold on the entire Series in the past few seasons. Just for those who are new, Jeff Gordon has four career victories at Atlanta to go along with 23 top-tens in his 35 starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Mark Martin has also tallied two wins here and 23 more top-tens. So watch out for these two cagey veterans.

Now an intriguing dark horse pick for the weekend is Bobby Labonte. Labonte, the 2000 Sprint Cup Series Champion, leads all active drivers with six wins at Atlanta, so he obviously knows his way around the track. The no. 71 team has given Labonte some decent cars in his little time there… if they hit things just right a top-10 definitely wouldn’t be out of the question.

If you have Joey Logano on your fantasy roster, I personally would sit him this week. In his two starts at Atlanta Logano has not finished on the lead lap yet… and based off of his speeds in practice and qualifying thus far, I don’t see that changing this weekend. I know he has drove incredibly thus far in 2010, but I just don’t have too much confidence in Joey at this racetrack yet.

By: Toby Christie

Those who were in doubt that the No. 88 Amp Energy team had made improvements this season, have to at least admit that they have qualifying figured out. Earnhardt Jr., who has not been known as a strong qualifier in his career, qualified fourth last week in Vegas, and he topped that Friday by capturing the pole for Sunday at Atlanta.

This is Earnhardt’s first pole since he topped the speed charts at Texas in 2008, some 68-races ago.

Earnhardt will lead the field to the green in the Kobalt Tools 500 after a blistering lap of 192.761 mph… much faster than I personally anticipated anyone to go with the aging track surface at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch will start second with a lap of 192.280 mph. Juan Pablo Montoya was a late qualifying scare, but he would come home third in the qualifying session. Montoya was the last of the cars to break 192 miles-per-hour.

Earnhardt’s Hendrick teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon will roll off the grid from fourth and fifth.

Jimmie Johnson who has won the last two Sprint Cup Series races of the season was only able to muster the 16th fastest time of the session, but expect him near the front Sunday.

The three cars that will be going home this week are Aric Almirola, Terry Cook, and Casey Mears. Mears still has not made a cup race yet this season.

By: Toby Christie

I know it is nothing spectacular. I know it isn’t anything amazing. However what we have seen for the no. 88 Chevrolet this season is progress. Now I know what you are saying… Am I nuts? Earnhardt sits 15th in the driver points standings after three events this season, and in a car he is expected to compete for championships no less.

So how is this progress?

Simple, last season at this time Earnhardt was hanging out 29th in the point standings… Have we somehow forgotten that? How have we completely erased how abysmal last season was for Earnhardt?

At no point last season did it look like Dale Jr. was competitive. You could even see it in his eyes when he would be interviewed. Earnhardt was visibly shaken emotionally and physically by the struggles that came his way in 2009.

Let me put this in perspective. The highest Earnhardt got up to in the point standings last season at any point was 15th… that means after the Daytona 500 this year he had reached a ranking higher in the points than he had been in all of last season. Not only that, but after three races this year he still has matched his best ranking spot from all of last season.

Oh and Earnhardt finished second in dramatic fashion in the Daytona 500, which equals his season best finish of second in last years Aaron’s 499 at Talladega. If not for a broken axle at California, we’d most likely be looking at that no. 88 in the top-12 in the point standings right now. You can’t argue that what we are seeing is not “actual” progress. Sure I know he hasn’t won in 60 races, and he hasn’t set the world on fire with incredible consistency, but the fact of the matter is that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2010 season is already much better than 2009 was… and we are only three races in.

By: Toby Christie

Jimmie Johnson took his second straight victory of 2010 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The winning move for Johnson was a pass on Jeff Gordon with 16 laps to go. The pass was setup by a call from Chad Knaus. Knaus decided to take four tires, while Jeff Gordon and Steve Letarte took two tires on the final pit stop… this gave Johnson just enough of an advantage to do what he has done best over the past four seasons.

Johnson continues his climb to the top of the standings again in his quest for a fifth consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship. This win marks Johnson’s 49th career victory.

“Jeff and I were racing so hard all day. I wasn’t sure if I would get away from him there.” Johnson said in victory lane.

Kevin Harvick quietly continued his great start to the season, by sneaking by Jeff Gordon late to take home a second-place finish.

Jeff Gordon didn’t win, but he was the driver that actually laid a whooping down on the entire field. Gordon, age 38, drove today like he did back in the late 1990’s when he was on top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but just couldn’t seal the deal.

At one point Gordon had lapped so many cars that only nine cars remained on the lead lap.

Gordon easily led the most laps in the race by leading 218 of the 267 laps today. It’s got to be frustrating for Gordon as he would fade to a third place finish down the stretch, but this finish does come at a great time for Gordon, as he was sitting all the way back in the 23rd position in the points standings before this race.

Mark Martin would give Hendrick motorsports their third top-five car of the race with a fourth-place finish.

Matt Kenseth would round out the top-five as he just held off Joey Logano for the fifth position in a photo finish.

Not everyone had a great day including Juan Montoya, who made the chase last season. Montoya has now had two straight races of finishing outside the top-30. Montoya was crashed by his teammate Jamie McMurray on lap 93 which resulted in a 37th-place finish, and Montoya vented in the garage area.

“He (McMurray) runs straight into my (Expletive). He nearly ran me into the fence in (Turn) 2 as well. I don’t know. He’s not doing himself any favors. I’m sure (McMurray) is going to say ‘Oh, I didn’t mean that.’” Montoya said.

So the Earnhardt-Ganassi team that was looking like a well oiled machine after Daytona, and even after California, now has some issues to resolve between their two drivers.

By: Toby Christie

Well we knew it was gonna have to happen eventually, but the skies held off rain for approximately 50-minutes of Sprint Cup Series happy hour.

Clint Bowyer was the fastest in this session turning a lap of 183.530 mph. Bowyer was followed by Juan Montoya, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top-five fastest in happy hour.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a scare in the practice. He spun, over corrected almost went into the outside wall, but he was able to save the race car. This is extremely important because Earnhardt will be rolling off fourth on Sunday, and if he had to start in the back of the field that wouldn’t be a good start at all.

The question now is about the Nationwide Race. Will we get it in or will mother nature scratch it for today? We will find out shortly.

By: Toby Christie

Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway we saw a track record fall. Kurt Busch at his home track put down a blistering lap of 188.719 mph. Busch has never won a race at his hometrack, but he now will be in a great spot to do so… on the pole.

Jeff Gordon turned a lap of 188.646 mph. He knocked teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. from the pole at the time.

The “Rocket Man” Ryan Newman was able to put his no. 39 tornadoes Chevrolet in the third starting spot in Sunday’s race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start fourth after a lap of 188.173 mph. After qualifying Earnhardt said his team had actually worked on their qualifying setup in practice, despite many working only on their race setups with possible showers tomorrow.

Earnhardt did say his car is good, and he thanked his crew for preparing such a great car.

Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five with a lap of 188.153 mph.

It was a very fast qualifying at Las Vegas, with 23 cars breaking the previous track record which was held by Kyle Busch. There are two cars that will be going home early. Casey Mears and Terry Cook each failed to make the race on speed.

By: Toby Christie

We are coming off of a uncharacteristically exciting race at California, and the “real” season is now underway. So that being said what can we expect to see at Las Vegas?

Jimmie Johnson will be in the running for the win… No surprise I know, but in a town where it is better to be lucky than good, Jimmie Johnson is both and should perform very well. Kevin Harvick was even quoted after last weeks race saying “The 48 has a golden horseshoe up their (expletive)”. Much to Harvick’s dismay, Johnson’s luck will continue this week.

Jeff Burton will continue Richard Childress Racing’s great start. Burton has the best average finish at Las Vegas in the entire Sprint Cup Series at 9.8. Burton has won at Las Vegas twice in his career, and is one to watch this weekend as the Childress cars have looked very strong early this season.

Other drivers that are locks for a great performance at Vegas are: Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, and Kyle Busch. Between them they have four wins at this track. Kyle Busch always has a bit of swagger in his step at this track because this is his hometrack.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had some good runs at this track in the past, but he has also had some less than stellar runs as well. It really is a toss up as to whether he will perform or not, but I believe he will get a top-10 this weekend.

Jeff Gordon has been snakebitten as far as luck goes in the first two events of 2010, but he does have the second highest driver rating of anyone at Las Vegas… If he can stay out of trouble and avoid any mechanical issues, he will be at the front, but I wouldn’t go all-in on him just yet.

I also do not expect amazing runs for David Reutimann (8th in points), Kurt Busch (11th in points), or Jamie McMurray (4th in points). I know I shouldn’t bet against McMurray as he came up big as an underdog at Daytona, but I just don’t think he has much of a chance at a track where his average finish is 16.9 in his career. Reutimann and Kurt Busch have career average finishes at Vegas outside of the top-20… 20.5 and 20.4 respectively.

My underdog for the weekend is Brad Keselowski. Some have him at 100:1 odds for this weekend, but he has had a great car in the first two races. If he can strike some good luck this weekend, and stay away from the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers he may just make someone a lot of money this weekend.

There you have it those are my predictions for the Shelby American GT 350 at Las Vegas. Enjoy the race.

The Daytona 500 is in the books, Jamie McMurray has made his late-night talk show rounds, and everyone is still buzzing about the last lap surge by Dale Earnhardt Jr., but what do we have to look forward to at California?

Don’t Expect Jimmie Johnson’s slow start to spill over this weekend. Johnson may be sitting 35th in points after Daytona, but the four-time Sprint Cup Series champion has an average finish of 5.8 in his career at Auto Club Speedway. In all he has four wins at the 2-mile oval, and he has 10 top-10’s in 14 starts there in his career.

Expect to see the Roush-Fenway Racing teams near the front. The “Roush Brigade” has been among the best in the sport at California over the last few seasons. I expect to see more of the same this week. Carl Edwards is my pick to win, but Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, and David Ragan each have equal opportunity to visit victory lane Sunday.

Will Michael Waltrip Racing continue it’s great start to 2010? Martin Truex Jr. looked as though he had a car that could win the Daytona 500 and finished sixth in the no. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, while his teammate David Reutimann came home fifth. Last season Reutimann and team owner Michael Waltrip piloted MWR cars to 14th and 15th place finishes respectively. If this team can show even a little improvement at this track from last season, I think Michael Waltrip Racing will be right in the thick of things.

Can Dale Earnhardt Jr. get a string of good finishes going this weekend? He finished second in the Great American Race at Daytona (a track he is very good at), but he hasn’t been nearly as stellar at California through his career. He did finish second in April 2001, but his career average finish at California is 22.1. Earnhardt obviously knows that Daytona success does not mean anything this week,

“You know, I look forward to seeing how we are as a team.” Earnhardt Said, “But the 500 is just one race. We got a lot more racing to do. Daytona is not your typical style track that we run on all year. If we can go to Fontana, Vegas, be competitive at any point during those races, it would be a little more validation.”

If he can finish well at California expect to see Earnhardt rocket towards a chase berth later in the season.

Really if anyone finishes well in the Shelby American 350 this weekend, you can expect them to be a player in the race to the championship. Of the drivers who finished in the top-12 of this race last season, just two of them failed to make the chase (Matt Kenseth, and Kyle Busch).

These are just a few of the things we have to keep an eye on this weekend, and don’t forget last season we had our first nail-biting finish at this track. It was an epic shootout between Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon with Kenseth taking the victory.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked like one of the cars to beat early on in the 2010 Daytona 500. He would lead four laps during the early running of the race, and would hang inside the top-five to top-ten for most of the first half of the race.

Then something happened that has plagued Junior for the past year. They lost the handle on the car, and he was mired back in traffic.

However in an exciting finish, that took two green-white-checkered finishes, Earnhardt shook off the demons of his disastrous 2009 season. He restarted 10th with two laps to go. Along the way Earnhardt made all the right moves, and looked like a man possessed on his way to a second place finish in the Great American Race.

Earnhardt had fans on their feet, and I’m sure NASCAR executives were on their feet as well.

NASCAR was looking pretty bad during its “Super Bowl” event. They had to stop the race twice due to a deteriorating track surface, and it appeared the race would go down in history as a failure… that is until Dale Earnhardt Jr. saved the day. His exciting finish to this race wiped everyone’s memory clear of the “pot-hole fiasco”.

Now the question is, is Dale Earnhardt Jr. back?

Only time will tell for sure, but I believe this will be a breakout year for Dale Earnhardt Jr. One thing is for sure… His swagger is back, his confidence has to be riding high, and a few more finishes like this and maybe he will wipe our memories clear of his horrific 2009 campaign as well.

Jamie McMurray was the odd man out at Roush-Fenway Racing at the end of last season, well now he is the Daytona 500 champion. This marks the fourth time a Dale Earnhardt Incorporated car has won the Daytona 500 since 2001.

McMurray survived two green-white-checkered attempts (technically three if you count the original restart with three to go before overdrive was needed) and held off a fast charging Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the ultimate prize.

Speaking of Dale Earnhardt Jr. he restarted 10th on the final green-white-checker, and somehow weaved and worked his way to a 2nd-place finish… 2009 is officially behind Earnhardt.

Greg Biffle finished third followed by Clint Bowyer, and the Michael Waltrip Racing duo of David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr. finished fifth and sixth.

The importance of this victory was immediately felt by a very emotional Jamie McMurray in victory lane following the Great American Race.

It was an exciting finish to a Daytona 500 that appeared to be doomed after two lengthy red flags for a hole in the track. 2010 is off to an exciting start.