Contender Or Pretender: Darlington
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Jeff Gordon (Contender) – Jeff Gordon’s getting closer and closer to victory lane and this might be the week where he finds it. Darlington has always been a good track for Gordon. He’s visited victory lane at Darlington nearly a quarter of the races he’s been in. His most recent victory was back in 2007 in the first COT race. In 29 Darlington races Gordon has 7 wins, 17 top fives, and 20 top tens. In the COT era Gordon is three for three in finishing in the top five at Darlington.
Brian Vickers (Pretender) – Last years Chase participant is starting to really slip out of Chase contention for 2010. Vickers is now 24th in points and Darlington won’t do him any favors. In Vickers Sprint Cup career he’s raced at Darlington seven times and not once has he even finished in the top fifteen. In only one of those races has Vickers even cracked the top twenty.
Jimmie Johnson (Contender) – The Champ is always good at Darlington. In eight of his eleven career races he’s finished in the top seven. Last year he started in the back of the pack and still finished second. No team is better in the series at overcoming problems, and at Darlington you can probably expect it for your fantasy team. Johnson has the best average finish in the series at Darlington (6.9).
Kasey Kahne (Pretender) – In the last four years all of Kahne’s finishes have been in the low twenties. At the start of his career he was excellent at Darlington but after four consecutive finishes in the twenties I would pass this week.
Ryan Newman (Contender) – Darlington is easily one of Ryan Newman’s best tracks. He’s been close to winning this race on numerous occasions. In one of the races Greg Biffle won Ryan Newman had the car to beat that race but a late caution while leading on old tires was Ryan Newman’s despise. On another occasion Ryan Newman had the dominant car but his day was ruined on pit row when he hit the kill switch and didn’t realize it. In eleven Darlington races Newman has finished in the top 5 seven times.
Kurt Busch (Pretender) – The Kurt Busch / Ricky Craven Darlington image is probably engraved into your mind when you think about this track. It should be, it was a great finish. At Darlington Kurt Busch’s career started off badly, then he found his groove for five races, and since then he’s been trapped in mediocrity and hasn’t had a top ten since 2004.
