Since I fancy myself a bit of a fantasy racing guru thanks to a few weekly top ten finishes in Wind Tunnel’s Super 7 Sweep and a top fifty in their Chase for the Championship, I thought I would share my insights and luck with you folks here. Since my primary fantasy series is the Wind Tunnel Super 7 Sweep, I’ll be gearing my advice to that game. That may change if you tell me what some of the more popular games are. Then I can gear my advice to help you out.

For now, here’s my pick for this weekend’s action in motorsports.

For each race from the seven Super 7 Sweep eligible series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World Trucks, F1, IndyCar, Grand-Am and ALMS), I’ll pick three cars/drivers. They’re ranked as follows:
Favourite: A consistent driver at this track. Bad luck is just about the only thing that will derail him from a solid finish.
Dark Horse: Not as good as the favourite but usually finishes well at this track or is on a hot streak and could surprise you.
Taking A Chance: The enigma of the group. He’s not the first person you would think of to pick but definitely has the potential to pull off the upset. As few other people would pick them, it’s a case of risk big, win big.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Las Vegas

Favourite: Jimmie Johnson
Dark Horse: Jeff Gordon
Taking A Chance: Matt Kenseth

Five-time is a four-time winner at Vegas. That’s the most all-time at LVMS. All four of his wins have come in the last six races and he looked strong last week. Four-time Jeff Gordon (AKA Big Daddy) only has one win but has a record six top fives at LVMS. He has four top fives in the last five races at LVMS he’s finished (one DNF over the last six years for full disclosure). History likes Matt Kenseth at Vegas. He has the third best average finish among active drivers and two wins to go with that. Three top fives in the last five races is a pretty good track record.

NASCAR Nationwide Series: Las Vegas

Favourite: Carl Edwards
Dark Horse: Kevin Harvick
Taking A Chance: Kyle Busch

Carl Edwards is always a safe bet for a good result at 1.5-mile race tracks. Some guys just have certain types of tracks that they have a knack for and Carl’s is high-banked intermediate-length tracks. Happy Harvick won this race last year. Anytime that he’s in the field, there’s a chance that he’ll come out on top. The fact that he’s in the race is probably a sign that he’s in contention for a top-five at the very least. You’d think that Kyle Busch would run well at his home track but his best finish was a 2nd in 2007. He’s made seven Nationwide Series starts at Vegas and has only one top ten finish to show for it. I think avoiding him would be best. But he’s Kyle Busch so you never know.

Grand-Am Rolex Series: Homestead

Favourite: #01 Ganassi DP
Dark Horse: #99 GAINSCO DP
Taking A Chance: #60 Michael Shank Racing DP

Grand-Am can be very unpredictable at times. There is so much parity in the series that picking somebody besides the Pruett/Rojas #01 Ganassi DP is almost a shot in the dark. Hell, weren’t there four cars on the lead lap at the end of the Daytona 24? But there are a couple of consistent contenders that you can go with. I always like the #10 and the #99 Daytona Prototypes as upset specials… Well, upsets when compared to Ganassi. The #99 always seems to run good at Homestead so they get the Dark Horse spot. The #60 MSR DP has two third places and an 8th over the last three races at Homestead. With some luck, a podium spot is easily within reach. The #59 Brumos DP was a good bet here but they’re in GT now so don’t pick them.

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