Lead Draft Friday: Wow One Year All Ready

Happy anniversary to me! You know it is hard to believe that I’ve been doing this little ol’column for a year now. When I origianlly started this column it was only to be for 3 months, so I feel pretty good that I’m still here writing for you about a sport that I love. Thanks for reading and to the powers that be at The Spec.

Speaking of great things, how about last week’s 10 lap shoot-out at the end of the All-Star race? Man that was classic. Maybe not the best in history but certainly in the top 10 anyway. I hope they continue to keep the 10-lap shoot-out for future All-Star events, it sure is a crowd pleaser.

I really wasn’t figuring on Tony Stewart to pull off a win, but once Jeff Gordon crashed the door was opened for anyone to take over which Stewart did. Personally I thought Kyle Busch would be there at the end but I think he used his car up trying to get up to the front and if you watched the race then you'd know what I talking about.

One thing remains certain for me about Kyle Busch though is that there is no one in NASCAR right now that can re-start a race like he can. I don’t know if he has an uncanny ability to start better than others or if there is some sort of horsepower or torque advantage to the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that he drives, but no one can keep up with him when that green flag flies taht's for sure.

Even though Sunday’s race is at the same track (Lowes Motor Speedway) as the All-Star race don’t expect to see the same kind of racing there as this race is going to be a 600 mile marathon.

The Coca Cola 600 is the longest race on the NASCAR circuit and drivers will have to battle changing track conditions as day turns into night as well as the potential for mechanical failure due to the length of the race.

One thing that drivers shouldn’t have to worry about this year is tires. Based on the performance of the tires last week in both the All-Star race as well as in the Camping World Truck Series race it would appear that Goodyear seems to have a grip on the tire issues that plague the series last year.

Potential victors this week include last week’s winner Tony Stewart (14), five time Lowes winners Jimmie Johnson (48), and Jeff Gordon (24), as well as perenial favourite Mark Martin (5).

Speaking of Jeff Gordon it should be noted that Jeff has been suffering from chronic back pain and just this week had a facet block procedure (an injection of lidocaine or another type of anti-inflammatory medication) done on his lower back to help control the pain he’s been experiencing.

I wouldn’t be too worry about Jeff’s performance though as he stated in an official press release on nascar.com that he was looking forward to this weekend’s race and challenging for the win.

Other drivers who have a good shot at winning the Coca Cola 600 include Denny Hamilin (11), Kyle Busch (18), and Greg Biffle (16). And in the ‘where did he come from’ category I would be looking for Casey Mears (07), Kasey Kahne (9), or maybe even Kurt Busch (2).

Since it is such a long race I just hope I am able to stay up long enough to see who the winner is.