Kevin Harvick owns a
huge 308 point lead coming into the event, but Carl Edwards was able to chop down on that lead by 15 points in New Hampshire. Neither Harvick nor Edwards have won a race in Martinsville,
but Harvick has been a shade more successful here than Edwards has. To
tell you the truth, that’s not saying a lot. Considering Harvick has finished
no better than seventh and Edwards 16th in a Cup car at Martinsville, one has
to think that both will look at salvaging a top ten and head to the next race.
Meanwhile, the Nextel
Cup regulars have dominated the Busch Series this year. Just two times in 2006,
a Busch Series regular has won a Busch Series race. What’s bad is that
20 races have already been run. David Gilliland and Paul Menard are the two Busch
only drivers to win this year in the series and the chances of one of those two winning this weekend doesn‘t look good
either.
So, who is left to win
the Goody’s 250? Well, John Andretti won here in 1999 and his teammate
Kenny Wallace has three Busch Series wins at Martinsville. Jon Wood won a Craftsman Truck Series event in 2003 and Kyle Busch has been very competitive in a Nextel
Cup car at Martinsville. Ricky Craven,
who is a late entry into the show could make a nice run as well. However, the
winner of this event is going to be somebody that has a lot of experience on this tight 0.526-mile track. The person I predict to win the Goody’s 250 on Saturday is the driver of the No. 20 Rockwell Automations
Chevrolet and that man would be Denny Hamlin.
Questions, Comments;
Email Kevin
The views and opinions in this article are that of the writer and not necessarily that
of SCR
2006 StockCar Review.
