I'm not sure why my article didn't get posted right away last week and I'm sorry for that. Hopefully everyone who wants to read it gets to this week.

          We are now half way to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth are on the outside looking in right now but they are all within 100 points of the top 12. Any one of these drivers could make up 100 points in any given week on a driver in the top 12 who has some issues. So, the field isn’t set in stone because we have a lot of racing left before the start of the Chase.

            This week we head to the Pocono Mountains for the first of 2 Cup races scheduled in a 7-week stretch. I said that Dover would be one of the best races of the year and now I’m going to say that Pocono will be one of the yawners of the season. Pocono is not built for passing and is hard on engines with the 500-mile length.

            Denny Hamlin is my pick to win this weekend. Denny won the first 2 races he ran here in the Cup series and followed that up with 6^th and 3^rd place finishes last season. He has been one of the most consistent drivers on all of the flatter tracks since joining the circuit 3 years ago.

            Tony Stewart has a string of 5 straight top 10 finishes at Pocono, which is the longest current streak among active drivers. Tony also has a win here back in the 2003 season and had a streak of top 10 finishes going when he got that win too.

            Kurt Busch has been very good at Pocono over the past 3 seasons with a couple of wins during that time. However, Kurt has really been struggling this year and I don’t have a lot of confidence in him at the moment. This team needs to get things turned around now. Kurt is only 80 points ahead of Mark Martin in the standings and Mark has sat out 3 races.

            Jeff Gordon has 3 straight top 5 finishes at Pocono including a win in this race last season. This is another team that isn’t on the top of their game right now. Yes, Jeff is sitting 6^th in points right now but he has no wins yet and he would be the first to tell you that they are working very hard to come away with the finishes that they are getting every week.

            Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 2^nd to Kurt Busch the last time he raced here but really struggled in the 6 races before that. Now that Junior is on a different team this year he should learn something from Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson that will make him more consistent here.

            Jimmie Johnson won back-to-back races at Pocono during the 2004 season. He has done fairly well since that time also with 4 top 10 finishes in 6 races. Just like Jeff Gordon’s team, these guys aren’t hitting on all cylinders just yet. I think every team is still learning a lot about the new car this season and they will all get better with time.

            Mark Martin is probably the best driver at Pocono without a win. Mark has 19 top 5 and 29 top 10 finishes at Pocono. It just doesn’t seem to matter whose car he is driving here he ends up towards the front. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Mark get a win here this season.

            Yahoo Picks for Pocono

            Group A

            Denny Hamlin (starter)

            Jimmie Johnson

            Group B

            Mark Martin (starter)

            Ryan Newman (starter)

            Dale Earnhardt Jr.

            Martin Truex Jr.

            Group C

            Brian Vickers (starter)

            Travis Kvapil

            Top 5 Overall at Pocono

1.      Denny Hamlin

2.      Jimmie Johnson

3.      Tony Stewart

4.      Mark Martin

5.      Jeff Gordon

Dark Horse: Brian Vickers

Stay Away From: David Ragan

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