June 26, 2009

IRL: Richmond lineup with avg. start/finish

Dario Franchitti continues to prove his prowess on the short tracks of the Indy Racing League. After sweeping both events last year at Iowa and Richmond, he got off to another fast start on Rusty Wallace's track near Des Moines.

Teammate Scott Dixon is to his outside, while Helio Castroneves lines up behind him. Notably, Castroneves' teammate Ryan Briscoe is on the outside of tow two, so all of these drivers should feel comfortable in their surroundings.

Lineup with avg. start/finish

StartDriverAvg. FinAvg. StartAttempts
1Dario Franchitti4.507.004
2Scott Dixon7.837.506
3Helio Castroneves6.575.717
4Ryan Briscoe18.007.002
5Graham Rahal18.003.001
6Raphael Matos


7E J Viso10.0019.001
8Hideki Mutoh13.007.001
9Tomas Scheckter9.5012.836
10Danica Patrick9.2514.254
11Mike Conway


12Robert Doornbos


13Dan Wheldon5.008.676
14Ed Carpenter11.4014.205
15Justin Wilson7.0023.001
16Marco Andretti8.337.003
17Tony Kanaan8.677.676
18Ryan Hunter-Reay16.0025.001
19Mario Moraes17.0020.001
20Jaques Lazier17.5010.002

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IRL: Franchitti on Richmond pole

Dario Franchitti won the pole for Saturday night's SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond with a speed of 167.315 mph.

Our View: Franchitti will be gunning for his fourth consecutive IRL short track win—and in his last five attempts at Iowa and Richmond, he's not finished worse than third.

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N'Wide: Double file restarts coming

NASCAR has announce that double-file restarts are coming to the Nationwide Series, beginning next week at Daytona International Speedway, according to a twee from @NASCAR_NNS.

Our View: That won't have any impact next week, since cars are two abreast moments after the green falls anyway, but it will add excitement to the rest of the season.

Yahoo! Qualification Story – New Hampshire

Mother Nature won time trials for the third time this year, but history suggest that is not a bad thing. check out our predictions in this weeks Yahoo! qualification story (.pdf).

Qualification canceled

Qualification has been cancelled at New Hampshire. The grid will be set by the NASCAR rule book, which puts Tony Stewart on the pole.

Our View: The last time this happened was at Pocono. Stewart wrecked a car there and had to race his backup. That sent him to the back of the pack, but since he wrecked early this week, he will be able to start his backup on the pole. (Unless, of course, he wrecks again and has to roll out another car.)

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Ku Busch wins first practice

Kurt Busch posted the fastest single lap in the first practice session for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 with a speed of 130.667 mph. This practice session is typically focused on qualification setup, but with rain in the area, teams also worked on trace trim much of the day.

Our View: Busch is the defending winner of this race, but that victory came as the result of stretching his fuel mileage and catching the right shower in a rain-shortened afternoon. This week, he's strong enough to earn the win outright.

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Stewart crashes in NH practice 1

Tony Stewart preceded Mark Martin into the wall early in the first practice session at New Hampshire, but he did much more damage. The No. 14 team will roll out a backup.

Our View: So long as they change the engine before qualification, they should be able to hang onto their grid position from qualification. Fantasy owners will also remember how well he did in his backup at Pocono – he won.

The backup is reportedly the same one that finished second at Richmond—another relatively flat track.

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Martin spins in NH practice 1

Mark Martin drifted high in turn four, lightly slapped the wall and spun in the first practice session.

Our View: There appeared to be very little damage to his Chevrolet, however, so he should be fine for qualification and practice.

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