It's no secret that I hate Loudon, let's just get that out of the way right now. However, it is the site of today's Sprint Cup Series race, now with one extra lap, oh boy! Last year they didn't see 301 laps here, and they might not see that much this year either. It looks like a miserable day at NHMS, and the forecast is for showers off and on throughout the day. If and (hopefully) when they do go racing, Tony Stewart will start on the pole based on owner points because qualifying was once again rained out on Friday.NHMS is hosting the Sprint Cup Series for the 17th year. Rusty Wallace won this inaugural race in 1993, and the September date, which now leads off the Chase, was added in 1997, much to my dismay. Clint Bowyer won his first career Cup Series race here in September of 2007. Jeff Burton won the September race back in 2000, the first (and last) time NASCAR ran restrictor plates at Loudon. He started on the outside pole and led all 300 laps, the last driver to lead from wire to wire. The idea was proposed after the deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin earlier that year. However, NASCAR quickly did away with the restrictor plates here after seeing how uncompetitive that race was, and the kill switch was added to the steering wheel to combat a sticking throttle.
Tony Stewart will try to win as an owner/driver here, something Ricky Rudd also did back in 1994. Kurt Busch is the defending winner of this race, winning last year by staying in the lead when the rains came out a final time in the closing laps. We could very well see a similar situation today with someone catching a break like that. So who's winning this thing, whether it goes the full distance or not?
My Pick: Denny Hamlin - Hamlin won this race 2 years ago, barely hanging on over Jeff Gordon. He runs quite well here, and is coming off an excellent finish last week at Sonoma.
Dark Horse: Greg Biffle - The Biff won here back in September, possibly toying with Jimmie Johnson in the closing stages of the race and finally blowing past him with ease with just a handful of laps remaining.
This is youf official open race thread to discuss the happenings before, during, and after the race.
Now quit throwing the R word around..LOL.
Not that I dont like the all man thing goin on in here, but I need some female backup..LOL
