Pick 'em: Richmond

By NASCAR.COM
May 3, 2008
12:27 AM EDT

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Each week the staff at NASCAR.COM will pick a race winner, a dark horse for the checkers and the ain't-got-a-chance driver (no scrubs; someone with a Q score).

Our scoring system: Experts receive as many points as the "winner" pick gets in the race.

Crown Royal 400

Writer	Winner	Here's why ...	Dark Horse	No Chance	Points

Bill Kimm	Kyle Busch	In six events at Richmond he has five top-fives; the only thing missing is a victory. The Gibbs cars are the best on the track right now and Busch follows up his 'Dega win with a trip to Victory Lane at RIR.	David Ragan	Jamie McMurray	1,383
Joe Menzer	Denny Hamlin	It's his home track and other than his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate (not the one named Tony), he's one of the hottest drivers on the Cup circuit.	Juan Montoya	Ryan Newman	1,341
Duane Cross	Denny Hamlin	Entering May, JGR is the team to beat. And Hambone is the driver to beat at RIR; Kevin Harvick finishes an oh-so-close second.	J.J. Yeley	Juan Montoya	1,294
Raygan Swan	Jimmie Johnson	The two-time champ is on the upswing and swept Richmond last season, he will pull his second victory this season at RIR.	David Ragan	Carl Edwards	1,281
Josh Pate	Kyle Busch	He's never won at Richmond, but he has the best average finish (6.2) and five of his six starts resulted in top-five finishes. Twice he's been a runner-up at RIR.	Mark Martin	Juan Montoya	1,258
Dave Rodman	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	He has to win somewhere; he won his second career race here, he won his last race here -- not to mention he kicked butt in practice.	Kasey Kahne	Tony Stewart	1,186
Mark Aumann	Kyle Busch	He's never won in six starts, but that's not from lack of trying. He's had five top-fives -- and he led 27 laps in this event last year before settling for second behind Jimmie Johnson.	David Ragan	Kurt Busch	1,106
Jarrod Breeze	Kevin Harvick	Happy has six consecutive top-10s at RIR including a victory in 2006. Where better to break his current four-race streak of non-top-10s (his last top-10 was a second-place finish at Bristol)?	Matt Kenseth	Elliott Sadler	1,099
David Caraviello	Denny Hamlin	The surging Gibbs diver finally gets the win on his hometown track that he so richly deserves.	Matt Kenseth	Ryan Newman	1,093