Fatherhood, bucket list, having best car completes great week for Johnson

It truly is a mystery how Jimmie Johnson has never won a NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Chicagoland Speedway based on how he has dominated just about every 1.5-mile track on the circuit. The Joliet (Ill) track is one of only four tracks on tour that Johnson has yet to conquer. Coming into the 2010 campaign, the list of tracks that remained on his bucket list was six, but he scratched two off right away with first time wins at Bristol and Sonoma.
 
This will be his fourth attempt at crossing tracks off the list with his only failure thus far coming at Michigan where he finished sixth. Michigan is the only track on the schedule he hasn’t won at that races twice a year, but not winning at Chicagoland is the track that is puzzling just because of how dominating he has been throughout his career on the cookie-cutter type of tracks.
 
There have been four races run on the 1.5-mile tracks. While Las Vegas, Atlanta, Texas, and Charlotte all run much faster because of the banking being steeper, they all still require similar set-ups. For Johnson, there has been no better type of tracks over his career than these and they’re almost entirely responsible for his reign as defending four-time Cup champion.
 
The bar has been set so high by Johnson that wins are expected from him, and not just quality finishes, which is the case for Johnson at Chicago. In fact, no driver in the nine year history of the track has a better career average finish than Johnson’s 8.1. In eight career races, Johnson has only finished outside the top-six twice which includes two runner-up finishes.
 
Following Friday’s practice sessions where Johnson looked the strongest, he’s looks like the driver to beat Saturday night. The Lowe’s team brought a brand new chassis and crew chief Chad Knaus had this car dialed in for race conditions right off the hauler. Johnson had the fifth fastest lap during the first -- and most important -- session, but what was most impressive is that he had the top average speeds among all drivers that ran at least 50 laps. Johnson also led the day with the best consecutive 10-lap average time.
 
Johnson is definitely looking like the driver to beat this week and if crossing off races on his bucket list isn’t enough motivation to race such a great car into victory lane, then making the moment last forever by winning his first race as a father should be.
 
Johnson’s wife Chandra gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Wednesday, a day Johnson called “the absolute best day of my life.” Johnson flew home following Friday’s qualifying to be home with his family and will return in time for the start of Saturday’s race.
 
It may seen like too much of fairy tale type of scenario for Johnson to win a race at such a monumental point in his life, but the reality is that Johnson has done so many amazing things in his career that have never been seen -- such as winning four straight titles -- that winning at Chicagoland for the first time ever, in a stout car, on the type of tracks he loves, that happens immediately after he becomes a father, wouldn’t be that tall of a tale to believe will happen.
 
The top contenders to spoil Johnson’s weekend on the track look to be Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, and Jamie McMurray. All four had terrific practices, and with the exception of McMurray, all have had some success in Chicago.
 
Tony Stewart is a two-time winner at Chicago and has brought a chassis that performed the best on 1.5-mile tracks this season. Stewart’s only top-10 finish on the four tracks was at Las Vegas with a seventh-place finish in February. Stewart was second behind Johnson is best 10-lap average speeds during the first practice session.
 
The first session on Friday should be looked at in the same way we normally view happy hour. Because the race is being run Saturday night, the teams had to cram everything into Friday’s schedule which began with two practices and culminatied with qualifying. The first practice session was used exclusively in race trim by the drivers that plan on racing the entire race. The second session was geared more towards qualifying set-up which nearly make it irrelevant when dissecting all the data for this race.
 
The last 1.5-mile race was held at Charlotte in late May and is a good recent reference to assist in handicapping Saturday’s race. Of the four races run on these type of tracks, Las Vegas may be the best read of them all just because the banking is less than Charlotte, Atlanta, and Texas.
 
Jeff Gordon had the fourth single fastest lap during the first practice -- tops among non-start and park drivers -- and comes in with a 2006 win under his belt, a year after being booed at Wrigley Field when he butchered “take me out to the ball game” and then committed an even worse sin by calling it Wrigley “Stadium” instead of “Park.” No one remembers that though, right? Anyway, over the last two seasons, not many have been better than Gordon on these type of tracks. He finished runner-up in this race last season.
 
Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick are the only two drivers to have finished within the top-12 of all four 1.5-mile tracks. Neither gained a win in the four races, but it shows just how consistent they have been throughout and gives an indication that they’ll be just as good this week. Harvick won the first two races ever raced at Chicago while Kahne was fast overall in average speeds during the first practice Friday. Kahne also finished third in this race last year.
 
If winning is everything in NASCAR, then Kurt Busch might be the driver to watch Saturday. He sandwiched wins at Charlotte and Atlanta with a fourth-place finish at Texas. His only poor outing on these type of tracks this year came at his home town of Las Vegas where his day ended as an innocent bystander when getting involved in Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya’s wreck.
 
McMurray has been a hard one to figure out this season. He‘s either been really good or terribly cursed. This week, he’s brought the same chassis that was runner-up at Darlington starting fro the pole. He starts from the pole again this week and in his last start on a 1.5-mile track -- at Charlotte -- he was runner-up as well.
 
 
Roberts' Weekly Driver Ratings
Each week I will provide an analysis of my top rated drivers on how well they will do in the race based on the following criteria:
• Practice sessions leading up to the weekend’s Sprint Cup race
• Chassis information on what was brought to each track by each team, good or bad
• Driver tendencies at certain tracks
• Recent and overall histories for each driver at each track
• Decipher poor past results with what really happened, good car -- or bad luck?
These final ratings should help assist in final betting strategies with the Las Vegas books or match-up and prop plays, as well as help in NASCAR fantasy leagues.
 
Micah Roberts' Top 10 Driver Ratings
Lifelock.com 400
Chicagoland Speedway
Saturday, July 10, 2010 - 4:49 pm (PDT)
 
Rating    Driver     Odds       Practice 1  Practice 2  Qualifying   Coca-Cola 600*        
 
 1. Jimmie Johnson 7/2           5th               4th              2nd               37th
One of four tracks he’s never won at, but holds track record of 8.1 average finish.
 2. Jeff Gordon 8/1                  4th               8th              6th                 6th
Won 2006 Chicago race; 9.2 career average finish, runner-up in 2009
 3. Kasey Kahne 15/1             13th             15th            12th               12th
Top-12 finish on all four 1.5-mile tracks this year. Third-place at Chicago in 2009.
 4. Jamie McMurray 30/1        21st             2nd              1st                 2nd
Using chassis that finished runner-up from the pole at Darlington. Best finish of eighth in 2003.
 5. Tony Stewart 20/1             22nd             12th            3rd                 15th
Two-time Chicago winner; 9.6 career average finish. Strong average speeds in practice.
 6. Kevin Harvick 12/1            15th              27th            27th               11th
Won the first two Chicago races; 8.7 career average finish. Top-12 finish on all four 1.5-mile tracks.
 7. Mark Martin 30/1               16th              16th            21st                4th
Won at Chicago last year; using chassis that finished fourth at Charlotte. Finished fourth at Las Vegas.
 8. Kurt Busch 10/1                10th              18th            22nd               1st
Using chassis that finished third at Michigan. Career best of sixth in 2007. Two 1.5-mile track wins in 2010.
 9. Kyle Busch 7/1                  31st              29th            33rd                3rd
Using chassis that he won with at Dover and finished third at Charlotte. Won 2008 Chicago race.
10. Denny Hamlin 6/1             32nd             35th            17th               18th
Career best finish of fifth last year. Using Chassis that he won with at Texas.                               
                        
Note: Only two scheduled practice sessions run, followed by qualifying. First practice was the most telling and relative to how the teams will run in race conditions. 
 
* Coca-Cola 600 results from Charlotte; the last 1.5-mile track raced on.
 
Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.
 
Micah Roberts, a former race and sports Director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. He currently writes for multiple publications covering all sports. He can be reached at MM.Roberts7Gmail.com.
 
For more Roberts insight on the Chicago race, log onto LVRJ.com/Motorsports.
 
 
DRIVER QUOTES
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA ON HOW HIS CAR WILL BE AFTER QUALIFYING 10TH: "We’re pretty good in qualifying trim. We went very early. This Target Chevy has been pretty good. In race trim we were decent, in qualifying trim, we were really really good. I think if had drawn a little bit later, it would have helped."
 
JEFF GORDON ON HOW SPECIAL HIS 600TH CAREER START IS: "It is. Six hundred consecutive starts on top of that. It is something that I am very proud of. Great race cars, great team and I’ve been healthy all these years to be able to do that. It is something that has contributed greatly to the wins and championships. I never thought I would get to 600. It seems like an awful big number. I don’t know where they all came from. Still here, still doing it and having fun. Six hundred races later, that is a great thing."
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON ON THE BIRTH OF HIS DAUGHTER: "Was an exciting day for us on Wednesday. Our little girl is here and she is beautiful and my wife is doing great. I can hardly wait to get back home to them tonight to the hospital and see them."
 
JOHNSON'S THOUGHTS ON HIS CAR FOR THE RACE AFTER QUALIFYING 2ND: "We are real happy with race trim and thought we would have a good shot at the pole and came close, just a few hundredths off the time that the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray) ran. Left a little on the table in turn one, the car was a little uncomfortable down there but nailed three and four and had a good lap with this Lowe’s Impala."
 
TONY STEWART ON QUALIFYING THIRD, COMFORT AND SPEED OF HIS CAR: "Well, it isn’t about comfort for a lap, you are supposed to hold your breath for a lap. Glad I don’t have to do that lap again. It was better. We had two hours and 45 minutes of practice and made one qualifying run. Pretty happy with our race car. Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and the guys did an awesome job on this Office Depot Back to School car. It has some pretty cool stuff on it this week. If you go over the edge out there so you just get everything you can get. You run on the ragged edge where tomorrow you aren’t going to run on the ragged edge every lap because you have to make the tires not mad for a 50 lap run or however long we’ve got to go. So you can run it hard for one lap and make the tires mad and it’s not a big penalty. But if you tried to race it that way and race it that hard and slide it around like that, 15 laps into the run, you would be sliding backwards through the field. It is a little different deal on Friday versus Saturday."
 
CHICAGOLAND ODDS & ENDS: LIFELOCK.COM 400
compiled by Mike Forde
NASCAR Media Services
 
History
·         Construction of the Chicagoland Speedway began in August 1999.
·         The first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicago was July 14, 2001.
·         The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was held on July 15, 2001.
 
Notebook
·         There have been nine NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Chicagoland Speedway.
·         14 drivers have competed in all nine races.
·         Todd Bodine won the first pole.
·         There has been a different pole winner after every qualifying session (qualifying was canceled in 2008).
·         Kevin Harvick won the first two races.
·         Six different drivers have won races, led by Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, each with two.
·         Kyle Busch won the 2008 race from the pole, the first time a driver won from the pole. It was also the only time a driver had won from a top-five starting position.
·         Kevin Harvick won the 2002 race from the 32nd starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner ever started at Chicago.
·         Only one starting position has multiple wins: 14th. Mark Martin won from the 14th starting position last year, as did Ryan Newman in 2003.
·         Jeff Gordon (9.2), Kevin Harvick (8.7), Jimmie Johnson (8.1), Tony Stewart (9.6) and Brian Vickers (8.8) are active drivers who average a top-10 finish.
·         Four of the last five races have ended with a margin of victory under one second.
·         Two active drivers got their first start at Chicago: David Stremme and Johnny Sauter.
 
NASCAR in Illinois
·         There have been 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Illinois.
·         71 drivers all-time in NASCAR three national series have their home state recorded as Illinois.
·         There have been four race winners from Illinois in NASCAR’s three national series:

 
Chicagoland Speedway Data
Race #: 19 of 36 (7-10-10)
Track Size: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 400 miles (267 laps)
Banking/Corners: 18 degrees
Banking/Backstretch: 5 degrees
Banking/Tri-Oval: 11 degrees
Driver Rating at Chicagoland
Jimmie Johnson            112.8
Tony Stewart                 112.1
Matt Kenseth                107.8
Brian Vickers                107.3
Kevin Harvick                106.8
Kyle Busch                   104.6
Jeff Gordon                    96.3
Dale Earnhardt Jr.          94.0
Mark Martin                   93.0
Greg Biffle                     89.8
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2009 races (5 total) at Chicagoland.
 
 
Qualifying/Race Data
2009 pole winner: Brian Vickers, (182.164 mph)
2009 race winner: Mark Martin, (133.810 mph, 7-11-09)
Track qualifying record: Jimmie Johnson (188.147 mph, 28.701 secs., 7-8-05)
Track race record: Kevin Harvick (136.832 mph, 7-14-02)
 
Estimated Pit Window: Every 50-55 laps, based on fuel mileage.
 
 
ODDS TO WIN FROM THE LAS VEGAS HILTON SUPER BOOK
LIFELOCK.COM 400
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
SATURDAY, JULY 10, 2010

JIMMIE JOHNSON 7-2
KYLE BUSCH 7
JEFF GORDON 8
DENNY HAMLIN 6
JEFF BURTON 12
KEVIN HARVICK 12
MATT KENSETH 25
CARL EDWARDS 25
GREG BIFFLE 25
KURT BUSCH 10
MARK MARTIN 30
TONY STEWART 20
CLINT BOWYER 20
JUAN MONTOYA 25
KASEY KAHNE 15
JOEY LOGANO 30
RYAN NEWMAN 40
MARTIN TRUEX JR 40
JAMIE McMURRAY 30
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
BRAD KESELOWSKI 75
DAVID REUTIMANN 40
REED SORENSON 100
DAVID RAGAN 100
AJ ALLMENDINGER 60
MARCOS AMBROSE 200
SAM HORNISH JR 100
ELLIOTT SADLER 300
REGAN SMITH 500
PAUL MENARD 500
SCOTT SPEED 300
BOBBY LABONTE 500
TRAVIS KVAPIL 2000
FIELD 100