Rolling 5 at the Monster Mile

Team Nationwide for Harry is back rolling five drivers after rain washed out qualifying at the monster mile. That, my friends, is why you do your homework.

Here is who we have this week:

no. 48 -- Jimmie Johnson -- On the pole and expected to have a top finish. JJ has kicked ass here lately and will again Sunday.
no. 18 -- Kyle Busch -- Starts 7th and another one I expect to see a Top 5 finish from. The Rowdy vs. Harvick show will be interesting to watch as well. That said, this is a good track for his style.
no. 16 -- Greg Biffle -- Two weeks in a row on our squad and I believe Biffle (starting 12th) scores a Top 10 or higher again at a track he's seen lots of success at.
no. 17 -- Matt Kenseth -- Starts 24th but don't worry, this cat has owned this track and is a strong bet to stay with the lead pack all day.
no. 30 -- David Stremme -- Starts 40th. Plain and simple. We rolled the dice on this $2K driver. He's in and anything higher than 35 will be a bonus.

I ended up leaving $3K on the table preferring to take Stremme over higher priced 'cheap' drivers like Michael McDowell, Mike Skinner and Andy Lally. With the rain though, it didn't matter. Stremme is in.

I'll update this post after the race with what hopefully is a big week for Team Nationwide for Harry.

Post-race Update

Another win for Matt Kenseth at Dover and three Top 10 drivers made for a good day for Team Nationwide for Harry at the Monster Mile.

Kyle Busch finished 4th while Jimmie Johnson earned a 9th-place finish while leading the most laps.

Our cheap driver, David Stremme went out early, but he still got us points and Greg Biffle overcame an early issue to finish a respectable 19th.

For the week, Team Nationwide for Harry finished 5th overall and moved up 3 spots and into the Top 15 at no. 15.

The all-star race next week is not a part of GFR racing so we'll be back in action on May 29th in Charlotte from the always entertaining Coca-Cola 600.

Friends in Town, Darlington Recap

Busy week this week so I'll just offer a brief recap of how Team Nationwide for Harry fared at Darlington. For the first time since I took over, we only had four drivers as no. 71 Andy Lally failed to get in the show.

Here is how our remaining drivers finished up:

no. 16 -- Greg Biffle -- 8th
no. 18 -- Kyle Busch -- 11th
no. 24 -- Jeff Gordon -- 12th
no. 48 -- Jimmie Johnson -- 15th

A late wreck cost us a chance at three in the Top 10, but we finished with four in the Top 15 which would normally be good but not this week. Just getting that fifth car in the lineup would have had us in the Top 10 but we finished tied for 17th. Overall, we fell two spots to 18th but it's early and two good weeks puts us easily in the Top 10, the standings are that tight. We'll be ready for the monster mile at Dover next week.

NOTE: I had the pleasure of touring Julynn and Kennedy Stiff and Kelly Lee around Chicago on Saturday morning/afternoon. We enjoyed breakfast and took in Millenium and Grant Parks, Buckingham Fountain, the Lincoln statue and some shopping. Kennedy enjoyed riding the subway and buses. Thanks for the fun day ladies, look forward to seeing you soon! (The picture of Kennedy Stiff and Kelly Lee was taken at the Nike store in front of a giant Adrian Petersen mural, obviously in honor of Harry.)