Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Gas and Go--Kansas

This week's Gas and Go comes from the Heartland. I will give some insights and brief takes surrounding the race.
  1. Last year's finish was one of the most exciting and heart stopping in recent memory. Carl Edwards tried to use the Turn 4 wall as a slingshot to propel him past Jimmie Johnson, but it actually slowed him down. Johnson ended up winning.
  2. Jeff Gordon won the first two Kansas races, in 2001 and 2002.
  3. Guess who is the only driver to sweep the Busch (now Nationwide) Series AND Cup Series on the same weekend? HINT: He's now a start and parker. Another hint: it happened in the mid-2000's.
  4. Clint Bowyer is itching to visit Victory Lane in his home state. Only a few short years ago, he was a fabricator at a local body shop in Emporia, KS, and going to the track to watch the Cup race. When you stop and think about it, Bowyer has had a rapid and meteoric climb into the Cup ranks.
  5. The first race at Kansas Speedway took place in June, 2001, with the NASCAR Winston West Series Kansas 150 and the ARCA RE/MAX Series BPU 200.
  6. Since Gordon's last win in 2002, no driver has won in consecutive years, nor has more than one win.
  7. Look for the usual suspects to run well: Gordon, Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin. One dark horse to run well: AJ Allmendinger.

Predicted Race Winner: Jimmie Johnson. He joins Gordon and makes it two in a row at Kansas.

Many thanks to www.kansasspeedway.com for the information cited in Gas and Go.

4 comments:

Brent said...

Nice GAG as always.

I'll go with Joe Nemecheck as the answer to your trivia question. That was back when he used to live up to his nickname. Now, he should be called Back Row Joe.

Can't disagree with your Jimmie Johnson pick. Mark Martin also could very well end up in victory lane.

klvalus said...

Thinking of you....Toto.

Nice G&G Jon - I think Gonger might be right on the trivia.

Gene Haddock said...

Good insights again Jon.

I look for Hamlin to run top-5. And this could be the race where Vickers leads the most laps. It's his kind of track...a cookie cutter.

jon_464 said...

All of you are right re the trivia question. Nemechek swept Kansas in 2004. I've gotten to calling him Field Filler Joe.

Gonger, thanks. I thought about putting Martin there, but I couldn't go against the defending race champ.

Kristen, thanks, and thanks for the suggestion of Toto in the Thinking of You. Had I thought of it, I'd have gone with Dorothy.

Gene, thanks. Hamlin's itching to run well, especially after the Dover fiasco. Vickers should run strong as well.