Week 3 is in the books and it looks like the Roush teams are ahead of the curve at this point of the season. Carl Edwards won his 2^nd straight race but could possibly face a penalty from NASCAR after failing post-race inspection. A penalty could be assessed on Tuesday but it might be a little later in the week depending on how long it takes NASCAR to investigate.

            The next 2 races will determine who is in the top 35 starting at Martinsville for this year. The teams use last years point standings for the first 5 races of this season before going to this years points. Right now Dave Blaney is in 35^th right ahead of Dario Franchitti, Robby Gordon and Sam Hornish Jr. The next 2 weeks will be huge for these teams.

            So far this year we have been seeing drivers enter the corners at near 200 mph. And this week should only get faster. Atlanta and Texas are the 2 fastest tracks in NASCAR. This week’s 500-mile race will put a real test on the engines, which have seemed to hold up fairly well this year with the COT. 

            Carl Edwards is on a roll this season and should continue that pace this weekend at Atlanta going for his 3^rd straight win. I think he can do it and I like to stick with who’s hot when setting my fantasy lineup. Carl has 6 top 10 finishes here including back-to-back wins in 2005.

            Jimmie Johnson has a record that is even better than Carl’s. Jimmie has 9 top 6 finishes in his last 10 races here including 3 wins and 2 runner-up finishes. Jimmie looked good at California before looking horrid last weekend at Las Vegas. Look for Chad Knaus to figure out what went wrong and get Jimmie back on track this weekend.

            Jeff Gordon has been very good every week so far but has had a little bad luck. Jeff hasn’t won at Atlanta since 2003 but he but has top 10 finishes in 12 of his last 16 races at Atlanta. He has been in a position to win late in the race almost every week this year and could break through at any time.

            Dale Earnhardt Jr. loves Atlanta and now he’s in a Hendrick car, which also loves Atlanta. Dale came close last week to getting his first points win for Rick Hendrick and finds himself in 10^th place in the standings. This team will get better as the year goes on and I predict that Junior won’t be battling to get back in the top 12 as we near the Chase.

            Kyle Busch has been having a great year in all of the series so far. However his best finish at Atlanta has been 12^th and that was with a Hendrick car. The Toyota’s seem to have a lot of power so Kyle just needs to find himself the right line to conquer the fast track in Atlanta.

            Once again Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton quietly had great finishes last weekend at Las Vegas. Is it just me or is there not being much said about the RCR teams this season. Keep an eye on them. You are going to hear more from these guys before the season gets too far along.

            Tony Stewart took a hard hit in both the Nationwide race and the Sprint race last weekend. He should be all right this week at Atlanta if he was only bruised up a bit. If he hurt his shoulder once again he could be in for a painful season.

            Kurt Busch had an accident late in the race last week after battling back from a pit road penalty early in the race. Both Kurt and Ryan Newman look to have made great strides with the COT this season and I’m sure we will see Kurt in victory lane multiple times this season.

            Yahoo Picks for Atlanta

            Group A

            Carl Edwards (starter)

            Jimmie Johnson

            Group B

            Dale Earnhardt Jr. (starter)

            Greg Biffle (starter)

            Kyle Busch

            Kasey Kahne

            Group C

            Scott Riggs (starter)

            Brian Vickers

            Top 5 Overall at Atlanta

1.      Carl Edwards

2.      Jimmie Johnson

3.      Jeff Gordon

4.      Dale Earnhardt Jr.

5.      Greg Biffle

Dark Horse: Reed Sorenson

Stay Away From: Kevin Harvick

As always you can reach me with any questions, comments or suggestions at gutsamaniac@hotmail.com. Good luck once again this week!