Aaron’s 312 Notes

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the action in Talladega to get underway. It’s been a while since we have had a good race, and I think we are in for a treat this weekend, and I’m ready. The only thing that may interfere is the weather, which has already affected the Nationwide qualifying. Maybe the Racing God, wherever he might reside, will cooperate.

Tomorrow’s Nationwide  broadcast starts at 3;00PM Eastern Time on ABC, with Elliot Sadler leading the Aaron’s 312  field to the Green Flag in his Turner Motorsport Chevrolet, at about 3:15PM. Sadler will be on the pole due to the cancellation of qualifying, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the outside. Drivers line up in order of their standing in the points.

I am looking for good things tomorrow from Joey Logano. Joey has shown in the past that he can run well at the big tracks in the Nationwide Series. Talladega has been good to him, he has 3 starts and 3 top 5’s, Finishing second last year behind winner Kyle Busch.

The other Nationwide stars to keep an eye on in this race are James Buscher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Buscher won the Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona in February, and has shown that he can compete on the super speedways. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is 2nd in points, and is a force to be reconed with. He has 2 wins and has been in the top 10 in 6 of 7 races this season. Look for him to have his Rousch Fenway Ford near the front when this thing is over.

Trevor Bane is always a threat at the big tracks, and maybe you should keep an eye out for him. He has proven his drafting and super speedway skills in the past with a win at the Daytona 500 last year and knows how to compete with the Cup guys that will be in this race.

Cup drivers you should keep track of during this race who have shown in the past they can compete here are Kasey Kahne, Jammie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and of course Nationwide points leader, and former Cup star Elliott Sadler.

Last but not least, I am very interested in Danica Patricks performance in this race. With some good luck, she won’t get bump drafting support from her teammate in the corners like she did at Daytona, and will get more valuable seat time on a track that requires drivers to draft if they want a chance to win. She needs this time to perfect this technique if she wants to compete at the next level. I’m looking for her to finish somewhere in the top 15 in this race. I think that would be a realistic goal.

For all fans that like to see wrecks, the Aaron’s 300 usually has multiple versions of the Big One. This race has quite a few Sprint Cup stars running at 200 miles per hour, door to door with a lot of young drivers with limited experience, who are trying to prove themselves. This typically causes multiple wrecks. Some of these youngsters are still in training with drafting and bump drafting at these speeds. So buckle up in your Laz-E-Boy and let’s go racing at Talladega.