The Pit Stop is the essential guide to setting your Fantasy Racing lineup for the upcoming week. We provide you with pertinent news and roster management advice during every race week. Kasey Kahne is riding a momentum right now almost as good as Kyle Busch did for most of the season to this point.
Kahne dominated the race at Pocono last Sunday for his third win in the past four weeks, including the non-points All-Star event at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Kahne started from the pole, recovered from a pit road penalty that pushed him back to 38th and led a race-high 69 laps for his ninth career win.
Kyle Busch was the first driver to compete in all three NASCAR series at three different tracks on the same weekend, but fell short of getting the desired results. That was capped by a last-place finish in the Sprint Cup race at Pocono after using a backup Toyota and also running into Jamie McMurray. Kyle was forced to use a backup car in the race after crashing his primary car during practice on Saturday.
Kyle finished second in the Truck Series race in Texas on Friday and was 20th in the Nationwide Series race at Nashville on Saturday night.
This week it's off to Michigan International Speedway, the hotbed of American car manufacturers for the NASCAR series. Ford and Dodge have dominated throughout the years at Michigan, winning the last 13 straight races. Chevrolet won only twice with Jeff Gordon since 1996. It will be interesting to see how the Toyota cars will do this time around. Toyota had average showings in its first year in the series.
With an average finish of seventh, Carl Edwards can be considered one of the top favorites at Michigan. Edwards also won at California Speedway on Feb. 24. California Speedway is a track with a similar layout like Michigan Speedway. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson placed second and third in California, therefore, they also should have the right setups for this race again.
This track has had 66 Sprint Cup races over the years. With the exception of 1973, which had just one race, there have been two races each season since 1969.
Driver Stockwatch
Here's a list of drivers expected to produce better or worse than their salaries indicate on the coming track. Prices are derived from the
CBS Sports.com Fantasy Racing Challenge:Best value
Carl Edwards, $274,285: He has finished on the lead lap in all seven Michigan races entered. The lowest result was a 22nd in 2006. All other finishes have been in the top 10, including the win in this race last season. It's hard not to at least consider Edwards for a lineup even though he is fairly high priced.
Matt Kenseth, $207,142: A crash prevented him from a good result last year, but Kenseth does average a 9.7 finish in his career at Michigan. He has won the race twice, has seven top five finishes and 11 top 10s. With the exception of last year's 42nd finish, Kenseth has not placed lower than 17th in any other start at Michigan and there have been 17 of them.
Jeff Gordon, $240,535: Good results over the years at this track where he averages a 12.5 finish. Gordon took the checkered flag twice and has recorded 15 top fives. Last year he was ninth in this race.
Martin Truex Jr., $203,214: After mediocre runs of 16th and 30th in his first year at Michigan, Truex Jr. showed tremendous improvement in both races last season. He finished second in both and there should be no reason why he cannot put together another fine run this time.
Brian Vickers, $193,214: While his average finish in eight starts is 20th, Vickers has shown sparks of good results with three top 10s at Michigan. Vickers also has had some good runs this season. He might be worth a look this week.
Kasey Kahne, $231,964: He's rolling right now and it might be a good idea to ride his momentum while it lasts. Kahne won this race in 2006, also finished second, fourth and fifth. He also had less positive results like 29th, 31st and 32nd.
Dave Blaney, $146,153: Here's a long shot, but at a pretty decent price for this week. Blaney finished 18th and sixth in the two races at Michigan last year and also has two other top 10s from past years. Blaney also has been able to put together three top 10 results in the last five races.
Overpriced value
Kurt Busch, $181,607: It's almost a crapshoot for Kurt at Michigan. While he has won twice, including the second stop at the track last year, he also has results like 25th, 39th, 40th and 43rd twice. His average finish here is about 19th in his career, so we'll consdier him a bit too highly priced for taking a chance like this.
Clint Bowyer, $224,821: Even though he improved his runs at Michigan last year to finishes of 16th and 17th from 39th and 33rd the previous season, Bowyer still averages a finish of 26th and should be considered a little too much to invest in for this week.
Jamie McMurray, $169,285: With five finishes of 20th or lower, McMurray averages a finish of about 20th at Michigan in his career. His best result at the track was fourth, but that was back in 2004.
David Gilliland, $168,035: Just like with McMurray, it's a price range where one may be able to maneuver lineups around them for this race. Gilliland averages a finish of 28th with results like 17th, 28th and 38th in his three starts.
Ryan Newman, $215,892: He was a winner at Michigan in 2003-04, but has not been able to break into a top 10 finish in seven races since. He placed 37th in this race last season and averages a 16.6 finish at the track.
David Ragan, $211,964: He averages a 19.5 finish in his first two at Michigan from last year (21st, 18th). But this is a bit too much to spend. There are some other options available for this price range.
| T H E P I T S T O P S T A R T I N G F I V E |
| Beat the Expert! Staying within the $1,000,000 parameters set in the 2008 CBS Sports.com Fantasy Racing Challenge, here are the picks for this week's best lineup for the money: |
| Driver | 2007 Michigan finish | Salary |
| Carl Edwards (No. 99, Ford) | 1st | $274,285 |
| Kasey Kahne (No. 9, Dodge) | 32nd | $231,964 |
| Matt Kenseth (No. 17, Ford) | 42nd | $207,142 |
| Brian Vickers (No. 83, Toyota) | 41st | $193,214 |
| Dario Franchitti (No. 40, Dodge) | N/A | $ 88,437 |
| Total salaries | $995,042 |
Next race: Toyota/Save Mart 350 -- Infineon Raceway -- June 22
