| |  | | | | Fantasy picks for the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Reid Spencer, Bill Marx and Roger Kuznia of the Sporting News are matching wits in the Pit box in 2008. The rules are different this year.
They can pick a driver only once during the season. But for good measure, each also will pick his favorite to win the race.
Reid’s pick: Jeff Burton. As Roger so aptly pointed out, Burton is one of two top-15 drivers I have left -- precisely because I’ve been saving him for this race. The winner of the spring race at Bristol may not double up on Saturday night, but I think I can count on Burton for a solid top-10 finish.
Who Reid really thinks will win: Carl Edwards. He’s on fire, and he’s motivated to trim Kyle Busch’s lead in Chase bonus points to a manageable level.
Roger’s pick: Kyle Busch. I’m looking at this race as a possible watershed moment in my quest to catch Reid. Since the only drivers in the top 15 he hasn’t chosen yet are Burton and Ryan Newman, I’m going to put the squeeze on and pick the series’ points leader who has virtually nothing to lose. Busch is solid at short tracks and has won here before.
Who Roger really thinks will win: Denny Hamlin. Fuel pickup problems have hurt him before, including the last race run here. I have a feeling he’ll be determined to show that he should have won in March.
Bill’s pick: Kurt Busch. Edwards is going to win this race, so it came down to two choices: Take a driver that will keep pace with Reid or take Kyle Busch and negate Roger’s pick. I went with Kurt Busch because I didn’t want to waste Kyle in a race I expect Edwards to win. And with any luck, Kurt will finish ahead of Burton.
Who Bill really thinks will win: Even though Reid took Edwards, I’m sticking with Carl for the second week in a row.
Last week
Huge move by Bill, who picked up his second win of the year when Edwards won at Michigan. Roger also did well with Elliott Sadler finishing ninth. Meanwhile, Sam Hornish Jr. finished 22nd for Reid. Reid won’t lose his lead, but there’s a good chance it’ll be even smaller after Bristol. In the real picks, Bill stuck with Edwards and increased his lead as Jimmie Johnson finished 17th for Reid and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 23rd for Roger.
Points standings
One and done: Reid, 2,863; Bill, 2,680; Roger, 2,679.
Real picks: Bill, 3,454; Reid, 3,332; Roger, 3,104.
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