Stewart still close to victory

Tony Stewart finished second in the Crown Royal 400 to earn his fourth top-five in the last five races. He remains poised on the cusp of his first victory as an owner/driver. Notably, Ryan Newman finished fourth to join him in the top five.

Our View: This was also Stewart's fourth second-place finish at Richmond in the last six races. You will want to make a note to yourself to have him on your roster there in the fall.

Hornish posts career best finish

Sam Hornish Jr. earned a career-best finish of sixth in the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond. His previous best was notched only two weeks ago at Phoenix.

Our View: It wasn't a clean run, but NASCAR pays points for finishes and not style. Along the way, Hornish crashed Kevin Harvick and Marcos Ambrose while both of those drivers were running in the top 15.

Kyle Busch sweeps weekend

Kyle Busch was perfect this weekend. He won Friday night's Nationwide race and the Crown Royal 400 on Saturday.

Our View: Busch is a perfect example of putting your personal feelings aside when setting your fantasy lineup. Love him or hate him, Busch is earning a ton of points.

Kahne on the cusp

Kasey Kahne is on the cusp of the top 12, but he needs more consistency to maintain a spot in the Chase, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: The next few races are not only pivotal for the sixth-year driver, this season is key. Richard Petty Motorsports seems to be making a lot of positive moves, and marquee rides are hard to come by, but Kahne's long term reputation is on the line. Like all NASCAR drivers, he wants to achieve double digit wins in a season, and that is not going to happen at RPM anytime soon.

Kenseth frustrated

Matt Kenseth is frustrated with his performance so far in 2009, according to SceneDaily.com. He says that his victories in the first two weeks of this season are a long way in the past.

Our View: To put his season in perspective, however, Kenseth is ahead of where he was at this stage last year. In the first nine races of 2008, he earned one top-five with an average finish of 21.8. This year, he has three top-fives and an average finish of 18.0. Still, his inconsistency has made him a difficult pick on most tracks.

It's raining in Richmond

Rain threatens to delay Saturday's race at Richmond, and it will give the drivers a green track on which to compete.

Our View: Whenever the unexpected occurs, it is generally easier to concentrate on veteran drivers.

IRL: Vision Racing flies high

Vision Racing's next top-five could be their biggest. In 140 combined starts in the IRL Series with Ed Carpenter, Ryan Hunter-Reay and seven more drivers, they have amassed 11 such finishes, but one more at Indy would be incredibly special. Car owner Tony George also owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Our View: They are headed in the right direction. The current high-water mark for Vision Racing came in the April 5th season opener at St Petersburg. For more on this story, check out IndyCar.com.

Pit stall selections

Jayski has posted the pit stall selections on his site. As expected, pole sitter Brian Vickers has the first stall before leaving pit road.

Our View: Races are won and lost in the pits, so if you have a close choice to make, Vickers, Jeff Gordon, and Mike Bliss have the best slots with an opening in front of them.

IRL: Indianapolis Avg. Finishes

Want to dominate your IndyCar league? It never hurts to plan ahead and here is a list of the average finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the IRL during the last five years. Dario Franchitti, with an average of 7.0 and Scott Dixon at 8.2, but Vitor Meira cannot be counted out of posting his first top-five of the season. He tops this list with an average finish of 6.0 in his last five starts and he came up one position short last year behind Dixon.

Indianapolis Average Finish
Last Five Years

Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg Start	Attempts
Vitor Meira	6.00	9.40	5
Dario Franchitti	7.00	7.25	4
Michael Andretti	8.00	12.00	2
Scott Dixon	8.20	7.00	5
Dan Wheldon	8.40	5.80	5
Scott Sharp	8.75	10.75	4
Bryan Herta	9.00	19.00	3
Marco Andretti	9.67	14.00	3
Helio Castroneves	10.00	4.00	5
Danica Patrick	10.50	6.75	4
Adrian Fernandez	10.50	10.00	2
Tony Kanaan	11.20	3.80	5
Davey Hamilton	11.50	19.00	2
Ryan Briscoe	12.67	11.33	3
Alex Barron	13.33	24.00	3
Sam Hornish Jr	13.50	4.75	4
Kosuke Matsuura	14.75	10.25	4
Buddy Rice	15.00	12.00	4
Ed Carpenter	15.00	15.60	5
Buddy Lazier	15.20	23.20	5
Townsend Bell	16.00	13.50	2
Roger Yasukawa	16.25	20.00	4
Felipe Giaffone	17.00	26.33	3
Anthony Foyt IV	17.50	24.50	2
Bruno Junqueira	18.33	10.33	3
Tomas Scheckter	19.20	10.60	5
Jeff Simmons	19.50	23.00	4
Jaques Lazier	20.00	26.33	3
Darren Manning	20.75	15.75	4
Al Unser Jr	22.33	23.00	3
Richie Hearn	22.67	27.33	3
Sarah Fisher	23.00	20.67	3
John Andretti	23.00	22.50	2
P J Jones	23.50	31.50	2
Milka Duno	25.00	28.00	2
Jeff Bucknam	27.00	21.50	2
Marty Roth	28.75	31.00	4
A J Foyt IV	30.50	24.50	2
Larry Foyt	31.67	25.00	3