Night Race Favorites Emerging as NASCAR Schedule Approaches Atlanta

Small Group of Drivers Performing Exceptionally Well in 2010 Night Races


From: Atlanta PR

HAMPTON, Ga. (July 15, 2010) – Breaking down the numbers from 2010 NASCAR night races reveals a clear class of contenders for Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Labor Day NASCAR night racing weekend.

Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and David Reutimann have outperformed the field in 2010 night races based on their average finishes. And while the trio has just one combined win in night races – Reutimann’s victory in the most-recent evening race at Chicago – their consistently strong night race finishes may make them instant favorites entering Atlanta’s Sept. 5 race date.

Despite failing to win an event thus far in 2010, Gordon has been near unmatched in the year’s night races, posting an average finish of 3.3 and finishing no worse than sixth in the six evening affairs. With four top-three finishes in 2010 night events and four-career wins in Atlanta, Gordon should enter Atlanta Motor Speedway with high expectations for a race he finished eighth in a year ago.

Like Gordon, Edwards has been held winless in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, yet has been exceptional in races held at night. Edwards has an average finish at night of 8.5 and has twice finished in the top-five positions, with his best showing a second-place in last weekend’s night contest in Chicago. Also like Gordon, Edwards has a history of success at Atlanta Motor Speedway, further making the Missouri native more likeable on Labor Day Weekend; Edwards has three Sprint Cup Series wins in Atlanta, included his first ever.

Having just claimed his first victory of 2010 in last week’s night race, David Reutimann has had tremendous success in 2010’s evening events. With three top-10 finishes and an average night-time finish of 10.3, Reutimann will likely be among the preferred drivers entering Atlanta on Labor Day weekend, an event he finished fourth in a year ago.

Furthermore for Reutimann, if you remove his worst night-race finish – a 20th-place showing in the year’s first evening event - his average finish increases to 8.4.

When showing similar statistical courtesy to other drivers, an additional pair of contenders emerges for Atlanta’s Labor Day weekend of night racing. By removing Kevin Harvick’s most-recent finish at Chicago, a 34th-place showing, the points leader’s average night race finish jumps to 6.8 from 11.16, besting Edwards and Reutimann. After finishing second at Atlanta last summer and performing well in this year’s night races, Harvick should be a contender again in 2010.

Kyle Busch, statistically hampered by a 40th-place finish in Daytona’s evening event, also has a tremendous average night race finish when removing this outlier; withholding Daytona, Busch has an average result of 7.2 in 2010 night races. With his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory coming at Atlanta and with four additional Camping World Truck Series wins at the track, Busch should also enter Atlanta with high hopes.

While these drivers – Gordon, Edwards, Reutimann, Harvick and Busch – aren’t guaranteed success entering Atlanta on Labor Day weekend, their results in 2010 night races warrant consideration for favor entering Atlanta Motor Speedway’s weekend of NASCAR night racing.

The biggest Labor Day party in the USA is at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend, as the NASCAR Sprint Cup stars head to the high banks for night racing on Sept. 4 and 5. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (770) 946-4211, (877) 9-AMS-TIX, or visit www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.

Atlanta Motor Speedway: A Weekend at the Track



Atlanta Motor Speedway - 1992 Hooters 500 Commemorative Collector's Edition Nov. 15, 1992 Petty Farewell & PATCH!

Bowyer triggers three-car incident

At the one hour mark of the first practice session for the Gatorade 150s, Clint Bowyer apparently cut a tire and slammed the wall. In the slowdown, he collected David Reutimann and a late entering Derrike Cope.

Our View All three drivers sustained significant damage, but there is no word yet on who will roll out a backup car. Bowyer and Reutimann are locked into the Daytona 500, but this could effectively end Cope's chances of making the show.

Update: Bowyer will have to roll out a backup car.
Update: Reutimann will also roll out a backup car.

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Reutimann fastest in Texas Sat. a.m. practice

David Reutimann posted the fastest single lap in the Saturday morning session for the Dickies 500 with a speed of 186.812 and his average speed was fifth-best with a 181.520 during 22 laps.

Our View The team spent part of this practice changing an oil cooler when a rock pinged off the bottom. If they successfully made the change and he is fast in Happy Hour, look for him to be a great dark horse.

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Official tweets from the track

Auto Club Pit Stalls

Jayski has posted the pit stall selections, and as expected pole sitter Denny Hamlin has the first piece of real estate leaving pit road.

Our View Greg Biffle and Juan Montoya are the only other drivers with an opening in front of them, but the pits at Auto Club are wide enough so that there should not be any issues.

Notably, immediately in front of Biffle is Joey Logano. Those two drivers exchanged paint during the Nationwide race in a move that appeared to be a deliberate attempt to cripple Logano's car. The teenage sensation came back to win the race, while Biffle ultimately suffered more damage in a second tangle with Logano's teammate Denny Hamlin.

In addition to Logano, other drivers with openings behind them are Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon.

Since David Reutimann's speed was disallowed in qualification for illegal shocks, he lost the right to pick a stall early and finds himself in one of the center pits.

Complete Pit Stall Selection

Reutimann's time disallowed

David Reutimann's second-place run was disallowed because he had too much gas in his rear shocks, according to NASCAR PR. As a result, he will have to drop from second to 42nd to start the Pepsi 500.

Our View Reutimann was considered a strong dark horse in pre-race coverage and his qualification speed underscored that. We suspect he can still claw his way into the top 10 before the end of the day.

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Official tweets from the track

Hamlin wins Auto Club pole

Denny Hamlin posted a lap of 183.870 mph and will lead the field to green in the Pepsi 500. David Reutimann was the only other driver to break the 183 mark with a lap of 183.108.

Our View Hamlin is a flat track master and while this course is steeper than Pocono, New Hampshire and Phoenix, it fits well into his portfolio.

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Official tweets from the track

Dover pit stall selections

Jayski.com has posted the pit stall selections and as expected, Jimmie Johnson took the final stall leaving pit road.

Our View Juan Montoya and Ryan Newman are the only two other drivers with openings in front of them and this pit is extremely tight, so those are the only truly good stalls.

Greg Biffle, David Reutimann and Kasey Kahne each have an opening at the back.

Pit stall selection can often be the final piece of the puzzle for fantasy owners.

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Autism Speaks 400 newsbreakers
Official tweets from the track

Yahoo! Qualification Story – Dover

Jimmie Johnson, Juan Montoya, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, David Reutimann and Kasey Kahne provide you with a diverse list of marquee drivers and sleepers on the first three rows, which makes the game interesting this week. Check out the Dover edition of the Yahoo! qualification story .pdf story.

Martin wins another pole at Bristol

With a scary fast lap, Mark Martin earned his fifth pole of the season and will lead the field to green on Saturday night. Martin also won pole this spring at Bristol en route to a sixth-place finish.

Our View Martin and Brian Vickers have become the rocketmen of 2009. Martin's five poles is surpassed only by Vickers' six and no other driver has more than two. David Reutimann won poles at Texas and Dover.

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It's official: Truex will race for MWR in 2010

One of the worst kept secrets of the silly season was made official on Tuesday. Martin Truex Jr. will join Michael Waltrip Racing in 2010 and race the No. 56 with sponsorship from NAPA, according to a tweet from the press conference by @DustinLong.

Our View: MWR has been steadily improving all year with Marcos Ambrose and David Reutimann in the second and third cars, but Michael Waltrip himself has struggled. This move will only enhance their value to fantasy owners next year, as Waltrip will run a limited schedule in a fourth car.

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Reutimann fastest in Happy Hour

David Reutimann posted the fastest lap in Happy Hour, with a speed of 192.135.

Our View: Reutimann should have the horsepower and the setup to run up front, but so far he's been unsuccessful on the plate tracks. In 10 previous attempts, he's failed to crack the top 10 a single time.

171 winners

With his rain-aided victory, Joey Logano became the 171st driver to win a NASCAR Cup race. He joins a long list of active drivers with one win that includes David Reutimann, Juan Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, Casey Mears and Brad Keselowski.

Our View: Most of these victories were earned on specialty tracks such as the restrictor-plate superspeedways and road courses, or through pit strategy like the one employed by Logano, which shows just how difficult it is to handicap a NASCAR race.

However several highly productive drivers such as Jeff Gordon (tire) and Ryan Newman (rain-aided) were given their first victory by strategy.

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Mears scrapes Michigan wall in mirror incident

Casey Mears scraped the wall in an incident that was almost identical to David Reutimann's. His accident happened on his first lap of practice as well.

Our View: The drivers are on full kill from the time they leave the garage. They may want to scale back to 95%.

See also: Reutimann scrapes wall at Michigan

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Reutimann scrapes wall at Michigan

David Reutimann scraped the wall early in Michigan's first practice session before he even made his first lap. The splitter drug the ground and caused the incident before he even started the timing clock.

Our View: That's not a very good start for a driver looking for his first top-10 on this track.

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Ragan, et. al. test at Infineon

David Ragan, Max Papis, David Reutimann and Joey Logano tested late models (not Cup cars) at Infineon Raceway on Wednesday, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: The testing ban does not apply because these are not Cup or Nationwide cars and they are considerably different in terms of handling. So why do it? According to Ragan, “Even if we drove a rental car out here it would help. I just needed to get back into the rhythm of turning left and right.”

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Carpentier to drive for Waltrip at Infineon

Patrick Carpentier will drive the No. 55 for Michael Waltrip at Infineon Raceway next week, according to a Tweet from @mw55.

Our View: Michael Waltrip Racing's cars are powerful as evidenced by the strong runs of David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose. Carpentier could be one of the best road ringers at Infineon.

Dover pit stall selections

The pit stall selections have been published at Jayski.com.

Our View: As expected, David Reutimann has the first stall at the turn one end of pit road. Jimmie Johnson took the last stall in turn four and it will be interesting to see if this provides a benefit.

Reutimann wins Dover practice 2

David Reutimann continues to hold the hot hand in NASCAR. He posted the quickest average speed of 149.618 during 27 laps.

Our View: His fastest single lap wasn't bad either. With a speed of 152.983 mph, he was third best behind Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne.

Yahoo! Qualification Story

Starting up front is important on a rhythm track. Check out this five-page summary (.pdf) of who's hot at Dover after qualification for the Autism Speaks 400.

Reutimann on Dover Cup pole

David Reutimann picked up where he left off last week—at the head of the field. The No. 00 won the pole with a speed of 156.794 mph.

Our View: No one can say that he backed into this result. Starting up front is crucial at Dover, so this gives him good odds to finish in the top 10.