Announcer: And now…what you’ve surely all been waiting for…the heralded return of Schafe’s B-list “Hail Mary” Sleeper of the Week!
*crickets*
Thanks all! After a hiatus of several weeks, my blog column is FINALLY back! For those of you new FNPers, you may have seen me on the forums posting under the alias “Schafendinger.” Now that the re-introductions are out of the way…let’s get right back into it!
But first, I just want to say that I was tempted to write this particular article immediately after perusing the forums, where some members wanted to find alternatives to the mainstay B-list Pocono drivers of Hamlin, Kahne, Busch, and Vickers. Well, lucky for y’all, this was what my “Hail Mary pick” article was…and still is…all about. Onto the picks…
Every week, I often start out by selecting twice as many drivers as are allowed on a Yahoo! team (4 A drivers, 8 B drivers, and 4 C drivers) and narrowing my selections from there. Thus, these four drivers that I will be listing are those who were left in the garage:
8. David Stremme
I’ll start out with a bit of a long shot for you gamblers out there: the driver of the #12 Penske Dodge, David Stremme. Ever since Jeremy Mayfield spun out the late Dale Earnhardt en route to a 2000 Pocono 500 victory, Penske Racing’s #12 has seen some decent success at this track. The success continued when Ryan Newman hopped aboard, capturing the first Pocono pole for a COT race. Newman amassed the 5th most Pocono COT points during his tenure driving this car, as well. Enter David Stremme, who has been a favorite of this column since I’ve begun writing it this season. I have a feeling that Stremme may turn a few heads this weekend by taking a team with good track history and turning that team’s know-how and his driving ability into a solid finish on Sunday.
7. Martin Truex, Jr.
Next, there’s my fellow New Jerseyan, Martin Truex, Jr. Although it is now common knowledge throughout the garage that Truex is more than likely leaving Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing at the conclusion of the 2009 season, Pocono has been fairly kind to him. In the four COT races run at the Pocono Raceway, Truex has led in three of them. In addition, he has three top 15 finishes with a rain-shortened third-place effort on record, as well. He’s not as strong an option as he theoretically should be, but he could be good for a nice top 15 effort come Sunday.
6. Casey Mears
Coming off of a surprising top 10 finish last week at Dover, Casey Mears looks to make another step in the right direction by breaking into the top 20 in points with a solid finish this Sunday. Casey’s average COT Pocono finish of 15.5 isn’t all that flashy, but it’s about the best one can find outside of the “fantastic four.” Mears also has two top 10s to his credit, both coming in 2007. Now, I’m a big fan of Casey, so this may be a little biased…but I believe that he’ll leave Pocono on Sunday with a solid 8th-15th place effort.
5. Joey Logano
Yes…“Sliced Bread” himself, a rookie with ZERO experience at Pocono…almost made my B-list for this weekend. Those who think this is crazy must have a short memory, because the last rookie for Joe Gibbs Racing to show up to Pocono was Denny Hamlin in 2006…who ended up taking his yellow-striped bumper straight to victory lane. Now, I’m not guaranteeing a Logano victory by any means, but crew chief Greg Zipadelli will most definitely have his young driver’s chassis dialed in at the tricky Pennsylvania triangle. Logano has also built a ton of momentum in his past five races, posting three 9th place finishes along the way. It is because of these factors that Joey may very well be primed for a career run on Sunday.
Finally, I’ll end with a note to those who are considering granting Juan Pablo Montoya a spot on their preliminary rosters: don’t. On paper, it looks like a nice sleeper pick: Juan’s an adept road racer, and Pocono “drives” like a road course, so he may get me a solid finish. While that may indeed happen, it seems unlikely to me, as JPM sports a measly 28.5 average finish at this “roval.” His aggressive driving style does not fit well with this racetrack, as factors such as engine wear and fuel mileage tend to weigh heavily into the final running order at Pocono. Montoya’s negligence at this venue is more clearly seen in 2008, where he failed to finish both Pocono events…one by accident, and the other by engine failure. Juan is best left in the garage until the Cup boys head to Sonoma valley in two weeks.
So…that’s all, folks! Hope you enjoyed and enjoy the race Sunday!
Schafe, out…
