Following Justin Allgaier’s first career win March 20 at Bristol – which was supplemented by teammate Brad Keselowski’s second-place finish (and pole) – the young Penske Racing duo is squarely staring down standings leader Carl Edwards (No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford).
All Edwards has done so far in 2010 is finish in the top five in each of the first four races. But his standings advantage is just 26 points over second-place Keselowski and 31 over Allgaier, who’s in third. Not much of a comfort zone for the 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion.
Saturday’s race at Nashville normally would be one that fills Edwards with confidence. He’s the all-time series wins leader with three — all in succession from 2006-07. He also has eight topfive finishes in nine starts.
But Keselowski, 25, is nearly as good and has a more recent win (2008) to go along with four top fives in six starts.
Allgaier, 23, started his first two series races at Nashville last year but didn’t meet with much success. He has some work to do with an average finish of 21.0.
The Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Joey Logano and Kyle Busch (No. 18 Z-Lines Designs Toyota), who won last year in April and June, respectively, is back while Kevin Harvick, who hasn’t competed at Nashville since 2006 — and since winning the second of his two series titles — brings his track resume of one pole, one win, two top fives and three top 10s in three series races with him.
Another driver bears watching — veteran Mike Wallace (No. 01 Monster Diesel Chevrolet). He’s ninth in the standings, the first time a J-D Motorsports driver has ranked in the top 10.
Wallace is chasing his nephew, Steve (No.66 5-Hour Energy Toyota), who’s eighth, just 14 points in front of his uncle. Steve had a string of five consecutive top-10 finishes snapped at Bristol when he was caught up in an accident with Colin Braun. Nashville may be the track where Braun rights himself, however. In two NASCAR Camping World races at the 1.33-mile track, Braun has an average starting position of 3.0 and an average finish of 4.5. Auto Racing Daily
CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR 1 James Buescher* Chevrolet Phoenix Racing 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet Monster Diesel 5 Willie Allen Chevrolet 31-W Insulation 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.* Ford CitiFinancial 7 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Lifetime Television's "Army Wives" 9 Scott Riggs Ford "Sponsor Scott" Fan Car 10 Mikey Kile Toyota AccuDoc Solutions 11 Brian Scott* Toyota Dollar General 12 Justin Allgaier Dodge Verizon Wireless 15 Michael Annett Toyota Pilot Travel Centers 16 Colin Braun* Ford Con-way Freight 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Z-Line Designs 20 Joey Logano Toyota GameStop 21 John Wes Townley Chevrolet Zaxby's 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge Discount Tire 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet R3 Motorsports 24 Eric McClure Ford Hefty 26 Brian Keselowski Dodge K-Automotive Motorsports 27 Johnny Sauter Ford Red Man Moist Snuff 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Bear-Hunting.com 32 Reed Sorenson Toyota Dollar General 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Armour Meats 34 Tony Raines Chevrolet Long John Silver's 35 Jason Keller Chevrolet TriStar Motorsports 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 40 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Key Motorsports 43 Scott Lagasse Jr. Ford Baker Curb Racing 49 Mark Green Chevrolet Jay Robinson Inc. 60 Carl Edwards Ford Valvoline 61 Josh Wise Ford Specialty Racing 62 Brendan Gaughan Toyota South Point Hotel & Casino 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 5-Hour Energy 70 Shelby Howard Chevrolet Foretravel Motorcoach 73 Derrike Cope Dodge AssetProtect / Charter 81 Michael McDowell Dodge Mobile-Shop 87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet FrontRowJoe.com 88 Kelly Bires Chevrolet Suave 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet Fans for Faith 90 Danny O'Quinn Jr. Chevrolet D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports 91 Chase Miller Chevrolet D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports 92 Johnny Chapman Dodge K-Automotive Motorsports 98 Paul Menard Ford Richmond Water Heaters / Menards 99 Trevor Bayne Toyota Diamond Waltrip Racing 102 Andy Ponstein Chevrolet Corrie Stott Racing.com 104 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 156 Kevin Lepage Toyota Mac Hill Motorsports 175 Brett Rowe Chevrolet DuVita
| 
|