Friday is finally here in a few, hopefully short, hours AP3 and I will be hitting the road headed for Charlotte. We will be hitting the Hall of Fame, Speed Street Festival, and amongst other things the Coke 600. Should take us about 13 hours so follow us on Twitter for some updates AP3 and MLZ.

If you watched last week you should know at least to some extent what kind of race we should see, some of the best pure racing there is. There certainly will be long green flag runs, 600 miles is a long way. In those long runs these guys will get stretched out but as the laps tic off and the cars/track change it creates drama in which someone is reeling in the next guy a little at a time, adjusting his line as he needs, before making his big move.

The cliche is true here, cautions breed cautions. With the possibility of a long green flag run beginning drivers are incredibly aggressive trying to gain all the ground they can. Expect to see a lot of quick yellows followed by a lot of green, but great racing the whole time.

Best Bets:

Jimmie Johnson +450

Before I said that rule of thumb was to bet Jimmie when he isn’t the favorite or over 6-1. New rule ALWAYS bet Jimmie and the #48. Jimmie has the second best average finish at Charlotte amongst active drivers and the most with ten or more races here. He is a six time winner with eleven top 5’s and 1,439 laps led, also the most among active drivers. The #48 team seems to have found something last week especially on the bottom of the track. He rolls off 12th expect to see him inside the top 5 all day. And for that I have to pick him to win this week.

Matt Kenseth +600

He has already won three times this year, most on the circuit. He is starting 3rd and is a two time winner here. Also he in general is great on these tracks so there isn’t much to be skeptical about. He should be running up front all day.

Kevin Harvick +1500

This feels like it might just be a 599 miles before Harvick, The Closer, takes the lead for the first time. He looked good in practice, rolls out 15th and has the second best average finish here in the past four races with a 7.75. Only behind Hamlin with a 5.75, whom I am not picking his odds (7-1) don’t feel great for a guy still getting used being back in the car. I think next week may be his time if not he will win at Pocono in two weeks time 100%.

Jamie McMurray +7500

He always seems to be fast in the biggest races. He won’t lead to many laps but at some point he will be out front. That time could be the right time and at 75-1 I like like those odds. Especially with him starting 9th. He will know what it takes to run up front.

PS. Bruton taking the Chase race away from Charlotte and giving it to Vegas is a travesty. Vegas isn’t even BYOB. How can the hub of NASCAR have just one race?

mlz

Friday, May 24, 2013