Jeff Gordon Could Be a Favorite at Las Vegas

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series continues it's west coast run this weekend as it rolls into Sin City, Las Vegas and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Annual Dale Earnhardt Memorial Celebrity Poker event opens the weekend for poker fans and stars of NASCAR, but then everyone will get down to business on Thursday March 3rd and continue in the business of making cars go fast.

The Busch Brothers enter Vegas leading the points. This is the first time since the checkered flag fell on the 1988 Daytona 500 that family members have led the point standings when Bobby Allison led son Davey Allison after becoming the oldest winner of the Great American Race at 50 years old.

This is also the first time since 1987 that the famed 43 of Richard Petty Motorsports has been in the top ten the point standings. Richard Petty drove the car then and A.J. Allmendinger pilots the 43 Ford now.

Some experts are looking for a resurgence of Jimmie Johnson and the 48 Chevy, but there are other drivers to look out for this weekend at Las Vegas. Jeff Gordon, who broke a 66 race winless streak last week, leads the stats for best average place and coming off that win brings the momentum that may return him to championship form. Greg Biffle, who has had some less than good luck to the start of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, has the best average finish with 8.3. Check the list and see if your driver made the top ten.

Rank Car ___Driver _______Avg Finish ____Avg Place

1___ 24 ___Jeff Gordon____ __9.2 _________6.389
2 ___18 ___Kyle Busch ______6.8 __________7.634
3 ___48 ___Jimmie Johnson __9.5 _________9.574
4 ___16 ___Greg Biffle _______8.3 _________9.785
5 ___31 ___Jeff Burton _______9.7 _________10.126
6 ___29 ___Kevin Harvick ____10.2 _________12.623
7 ___14 ___Tony Stewart _____19.0 ________12.968
8 ___99 ___Carl Edwards ____12.7 _________13.416
9 ___20 ___Joey Logano _____9.5 _________13.603
10 ___5 ___Mark Martin ______15.8 _________13.957