Originally Posted by Pitdad
A most excellent exercise indeed. As my Bowl Mania College Bowl picks flounder and I'm months away from failing at March Madness, this will be a welcome diversion.
Monday - Cannon McIntosh, Gavan Boschele. McIntosh seems like the favorite, but Keith needs a big splash and the rules were changed so Boschele (and a few others) could compete this year. Running Gavan on Monday helps take pressure off the youngster by getting out there and getting the prelim over. He didn't have a great Shootout, so he may have been looking ahead to his first Chili Bowl. I'm also watching for Tanner Carrick and the wily veteran Jerry Coons Jr.
Tuesday - Big night. Lots of name drivers. And it means that some names are going to be pushed down to the Bs and Cs on Saturday, which is exciting for us spectators. Despite all that, it's Kyle Larson. Almost no point in naming a second, but I'll say Sunshine. Beason, T Mez, Bright, Daum, Kofoid, Windom, all could jump up in there, but some of those guys are going to have to race their way into Saturday's main event.
Wednesday - Another challenging night. I'm going to step out on a limb and say that hometown boy Blake Hahn picks up the win. He had a tough Shootout where he LITERALLY drove the wheels off his car. He's got his own deal this year, no pressure to be anything to anyone else but himself. He wins it for his grandmother. I'm going to make my backup pick KTJ. I'm tempted to pick Rico, but I just don't know where he is mentally. With Christopher back with Keith this year, the pressure of being the team veteran is off, which may free him up to run loose and fast like the Rico of old. Or he may show up focused on selling t-shirts and mullet ball caps... I also think Brad Sweet and J Mac could play a factor, but I'll stick with Hahn and KTJ.
Thursday - Bell. Not much more to say here. He's back with Keith. He hasn't forgotten how to run dirt or the Chili Bowl. Gonna go with Thorson as the backup pick. Axsom, Bacon and Bayston will keep them honest.
Friday - JG Justin Grant (always annoys me that announcers have to explain to me what "JG" would stand for...) has been the class of the field on Friday night. 4 of the last 5 Fridays have seen him on the top of the podium. Not sure what would change that. Klaasmeyer, Shuman, and Seavey are vying for my backup pick. I'll go with Seavey.
Underdogs that will do well on Saturday? I'm going to define "underdog" as a car/driver that doesn't hail from a "super team", even if the driver is a veteran, and he or she "drives" their way into the feature, not someone who comes straight from their qualifier. I'll say Jonathan Beason, J Mac and Trey Marcham. All hard chargers that will potentially find themselves in the back of a B (or worse) and they WILL drive to the front. Who's Trey Marcham? He's the hardest charging privateer you'll see. He's got a Spike with a Speedway Toyota and he knows how to use it.
Who runs the alphabet? Marcham would be a good candidate for that as well, but he runs Monday and I think that's the most "winnable" night, so I'm counting on him to start his Saturday after the opening ceremonies, not before. T Mez running a loaded Tuesday night makes me think he may put himself in a difficult situation for Saturday. A late spin, a cut tire, who knows, but I feel like it's a year for Thomas to put on a show that only Thomas can.
10 picks to win the Driller? There aren't 10. It's between Larson, Bell, Grant, Abreu, and Courtney. I'll add Daum, Bright, Hahn, Beason, and Thorson to make it 10.
43 hours to go...
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