[bigboydan]

Location: Texas Motor Speedway
Time: 1:30PM EST / 12:30PM CST / 10:30AM PST
2005 Pole Winner: Ryan Newman #12
2005 Winner: Greg Biffle #16

Everything is bigger in Texas and this week the one thing that definitely is bigger is the pool of candidates to win. We’ve got the entire stable from Hendrick Motor Sports, Roush Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, DEI, and now the new old school sentimental favorite, Petty Enterprises? Yes, that’s right, I did say Petty. They have elevated their talent inside the car and outside in the pits beginning with the famed No. 43 Carolina Blue Dodge driven by Bobby Labonte.

When looking for odds to win, there should be a bunch of top flight drivers within the 10 to 14/1 range. Bobby Labonte will be closer to 40 to 1, but he must be considered a candidate because of the way he ran at his favorite track of Atlanta a few weeks ago. We bring up Atlanta because the tracks are very similar in size, distance, banking, and width.

Kasey Kahne won that race in Atlanta and chances are he’ll be one of the drivers to beat again this week. He finished second to Elliott Sadler during his rookie season but then ran into some foul luck last year with a 35th and 42nd.

Mark Martin has finished second in the last Texas race and also this year in Atlanta. Wonder how he’ll do this week? Wouldn’t be a stretch at all to say fifth or better would it? Martin also comes from that stable of drivers in the Roush organization that has lapped every other team in Texas. In 10 Texas Cup race, Roush has won five of those with Martin winning the second ever race there back in ’98.

The other Roush drivers to conquer in Texas are Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, and Carl Edwards. Each and every one of those drivers has a good shot of winning this week. Burton should run well too and has some value in matchups.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third in Atlanta three weeks ago, but the DEI entry that may have surprised everyone that day wasn’t really “officially” a DEI entry. Robby Gordon was set to challenge for the top 2 spots late in the race using a DEI engine at odds of 125 to 1 or higher. You can forget about odds like that again, but 75 to 1 shouldn’t be hard to find.

While Roush has pegged all the Texas wins, Jeff Gordon is still looking for that first elusive Texas victory. It is one of the few tracks Gordon hasn’t won on in his great career. His teammate, Jimmie Johnson, hasn’t won there either, which is shocking because of all his success at Charlotte and Atlanta. Johnson has done very well at Texas without winning. He’s never finished worse than ninth with a best of third in five career starts.

A driver you may want to pick on but then have to double and triple think about it because of his name is Tony Stewart. In eight career races, Stewart's best finish is a fifth and it's his only top 5. He has done well in Atlanta and Charlotte over his career so beware, but if you can get a Roush driver like Kenseth, Biffle, or Martin against him, the value looks to be there. Maybe a fourth look is needed, still! Stewart is like playing with fire when betting against him....the Oakland Raiders of NASCAR.

We'll update this weekend on the top candidates chassis selection and also some surprises during practice.

[onlòóker]

The starting grid for the race on sunday:

1	9	Kasey Kahne	    Dodge
2	18	J.J. Yeley*	    Chevrolet
3	6	Mark Martin	    Ford	
4	66	Jeff Green	    Chevrolet	
5	16	Greg Biffle	    Ford	
6	17	Matt Kenseth	    Ford	
7	2	Kurt Busch	    Dodge
8	11	Denny Hamlin*	    Chevrolet
9	1	Martin Truex Jr.*   Chevrolet	
10	43	Bobby Labonte	    Dodge	
11	24	Jeff Gordon	    Chevrolet	
12	07	Clint Bowyer*	    Chevrolet	
13	41	Reed Sorenson*	    Dodge	
14	12	Ryan Newman	    Dodge	
15	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet
16	48	Jimmie Johnson	    Chevrolet	
17	01	Joe Nemechek	    Chevrolet	
18	14	Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet	
19	45	Kyle Petty	    Dodge	
20	42	Casey Mears	    Dodge	
21	31	Jeff Burton	    Chevrolet
22	10	Scott Riggs	    Dodge	
23	151	Mike Garvey	    Chevrolet
24	29	Kevin Harvick	    Chevrolet	
25	38	Elliott Sadler	    Ford	 
26	5	Kyle Busch	    Chevrolet
27	88	Dale Jarrett	    Ford		
28	40	David Stremme*	    Dodge	
29	7	Robby Gordon	    Chevrolet	
30	44	Terry Labonte	    Chevrolet	
31	22	Dave Blaney	    Dodge	
32	21	Ken Schrader	    Ford	
33	25	Brian Vickers	    Chevrolet	
34	19	Jeremy Mayfield     Dodge
35	61	Kevin Lepage	    Ford	
36	96	Tony Raines	    Chevrolet
37	99	Carl Edwards	    Ford	
38	74	Derrike Cope	    Dodge
39	32	Travis Kvapil	    Chevrolet	
40	20	Tony Stewart	    Chevrolet	
41	26	Jamie McMurray	    Ford	
42	55	Michael Waltrip     Dodge
43	4	Scott Wimmer	    Chevrolet

[onlòóker]

Here are the current odds on the race.

Pinnacle:

Samsung-Radio Shack 500: Odds To Win 
Sun 4/9 11:10 AM 	

101 Carl Edwards 	+903
102 Greg Biffle 	+816
103 Jimmie Johnson 	+1353
104 Matt Kenseth 	+764
105 Kasey Kahne 	+773
106 Jeff Gordon 	+1559
107 Tony Stewart 	+954
108 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 	+1291
109 Kurt Busch 	        +1129
110 Mark Martin 	+673
111 Jamie McMurray 	+6500
112 Kyle Busch 	        +2206
113 Casey Mears 	+3579
114 Ryan Newman 	+5000
115 Elliott Sadler 	+1885
116 Bobby Labonte 	+5000
117 Jeff Burton 	+5000
118 Kevin Harvick 	+5000
119 Brian Vickers 	+8500
120 Denny Hamlin 	+5000
121 Joe Nemechek 	+12500
122 J.J. Yeley 	        +5000
123 Dale Jarrett 	+5000
124 Jeremy Mayfield 	+12500
125 The Field 	        +2884

[onlòóker]

Here is my starting 5 fantasy drivers.

Jimmie Johnson      #48
Jeff Gordon         #24
Jamie McMurray      #26
Dale Earnhardt Jr.  #8
Martin Truex Jr.    #1