DEI VS Penske - I'm Lovin' It - The Fight For The Chase Is On

I have to say. I am lovin all this talk about DEI VS Penske. Don't get me wrong. Besides being a Ryan Newman Fan, I am also a huge Dale Earnhardt JR fan. Martin Truex JR is also towards the top of my list. Newman's teammate Kurt Busch.....not so close to the top of my list.

But how exciting is this? For me it is exciting....and nail biting. I realize that Newman has to have some real good finishes with a splash of Busch, JR or both not doing so good. Am I torn.....no. I want Newman in the chase. After that, I want JR in the chase. After that....I could care less.

This week could definetly have an impact on Newman's points standing.

LEt's take a look at these 4 drivers and Watkins Glen.

Martin Truex JR has only raced here 1 time in the Nextel Cup Series. He started 35th and finished 28th. That is all there is to really say about Truex on this track. He only has 3 Nextel Cup Series road races under his belt with no poles, wins, top 5's or top 10's. He has an average finish of 22.3 on road courses.

Kurt Busch has raced at Watkins Glen 6 times with 1 pole, no wins, no top 5's and 1 top 10 finish. His average finish here is 25. At road courses Busch has 13 starts, no wins, 3 top 5's, and 4 top 10's. His average finish on road courses is 20.8.

Dale Earnhardt JR has raced at Watkins Glen 7 times. JR has no poles, no wins, 2 top 5 finishes and 3 top 10 finishes. His average finish here is 17.6. On road courses JR has 15 races with no poles, no wins, 2 top 5 finishes and 3 top 10 finishes with an average finish of 19.9.

Ryan Newman has raced at Watckins Glen 5 times with no poles, no wins, 1 top 5 and 3 top 10 finishes. His average finish here is 15. On road courses Newman has 11 races with no wins, 3 top 5 and 7 top 10 finishes. His average finish on road courses is 12.2.

Now that all of that is typed out, lets look at it in simple form.

DRIVER	Starts	Wins	TOP 5	TOP 10	AVG FIN
Ryan Newman	5	0	1	3	15.0
Dale Earnhardt JR	7	0	3	10	17.6
Kurt Busch	6	0	0	1	25.0
Martin Truex JR	1	0	0	0	28.0

The order that you see them above in the table is the order that I am picking them for the race on Sunday. I think by far it is obvious that Newman and Dale Earnhardt JR are better here then the other 2 here. Looking at these numbers JR is better than Newman, but Newman really needs to step up his game and I think he is going to.

And while Marin Truex JR was stepping up his game for a while, he has been slightly falling back off. But by no means is he doing bad.

I do believe that the real battle here will be between Newman and JR. (Maybe not actually battling on the track, but battling for the best finish).

Oh yeah, and here is a snap shot of the point spreads between the racers. Truex is in 11th position with 2437. Busch is in 12th, -38 points behind 11th. JR is in 13th only -7 points behind busch. Newman is in 14th -83 points behind JR.

This means that there is only a 45 point difference between Truex, Busch and JR. Ad Newman to the mix and there is a 138 point difference.

Close behind Newman is a tie between Mark Martin and Greg Biffle. They are 126 points behind Newman. So they could still be in the game as well.

Ahead of Truex JR is Clint Boyer in 10th. He is 127 points ahead of Truex JR.

So, there is about the same "cushion" both ahead and behind of these 4 drivers.

GOOD LUCK TO RYAN NEWMAN AND THE #12 KODAK DODGE TEAM THIS WEEKEND!!!