Feud of the Week: Could G. Rahal be the big sleeper at the Indianapolis 500?
CBSSports.com's Brian De Los Santos and Pete Pistone provide analysis on three weekly racing topics.
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| Pete Pistone | Brian De Los Santos |
| 1. Who are your drivers to watch at Indianapolis? Who’s a potential sleeper? | |
 For sure it's the deepest field we've had at Indy since the split but the IRL "super teams" will still dominate. Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske and Andretti Green Racing have the field covered with the CGR duo of pole sitter Scott Dixon and teammate Dan Wheldon the favorites in my book. I'd put Helio Castroneves in the favorite group, who has an excellent opportunity to dance his way to Victory Lane for the third time. And scoff if you will, but Danica Patrick is a legitimate contender to win this year with a combination of great equipment from AGR and a little bit of confidence from her first win still in place. My two sleepers both come from Champ Car import Newman-Haas Racing -- Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson. |  I'd say don't look past the first three rows for your probable winner. If a Chip Ganassi, Team Penske or Andretti Green driver doesn't win I'd be shocked. I actually think this is the year Marco Andretti breaks the Indy family curse. He came so close in 2006 and appears pretty confident about this season's race package. He was the only driver to skip Sunday's practice session. For a sleeper, look no further than another driver with a famous last name -- Graham Rahal. His oval experience is limited, but he has a great team backing him in Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. I could see him coming through with a top five finish -- or he'll wreck trying. |
| 2. How will the Coca-Cola 600 play out? Could we see another first timer like Casey Mears last year? | |
 Funny how Mears didn't get half as much grief last year for winning his first Cup race in a fuel-mileage game as Danica did in her first IRL win in Japan. But I digress. Yes, we could see another "surprise" winner in the 600 this year, which unfortunately is shaping up to be a long Memorial Day weekend parade, and not the good kind with the local fire department, mayor and a weenie roast to follow. I'm afraid the new Cup car still won't let these guys race side-by-side and what we saw in last week's dull All-Star race will be the same formula for the 600: Follow-the leader. If Kyle Busch doesn't run away and hide, how about David Ragan as this year's upset special? |  Unfortunately I'm with Pete in that we could be in store for a four-hour long, 600-mile parade -- with the Joe Gibbs Racing trio in control. I see no reason to turn away from the roll Kyle Busch is on. JGR was doing some engine experimentation in the All-Star race, which led to some issues, but it's going back to the norm for the 600. I don't foresee a first timer winning Sunday, but I'd pick David Ragan as the one to do it if it were to happen. Roush Racing has been strong on the intermediate tracks -- especially Carl Edwards with three wins -- which could bode well for Ragan, who I have the feeling is on the cusp of a breakthrough victory. |
| 3. Better qualifying format: Indy and Bump Day, Daytona and the Duels or All-Star and pit stops? | |
| All-Star and pit stops is by far the worst. I think the whole All-Star format should be changed dramatically or just plain go away, especially in light of the snoozefest we saw last weekend in Charlotte. Daytona and the Duels used to be great, until the goofy top 35 rule was incorporated and now you need a slide rule and a calculator to figure out who really gets into the 500 from the twins, rather than the way it used to be when guys would just race their way in. Indy and Bump Day is the best and as the sport continues to grow, so will the drama that was part of that final day of qualifying. We saw some of it this year, it will improve in coming years and in terms of setting the field, Indy has the best format in place. Now if we could just cut down the amount of needless time spent there in May, things would even be better. | Bump Day is interesting because -- when there are enough teams/drivers competing for spots -- there is a bit of strategy involved. I like that aspect of it, but it makes for such a long, long day with a lot of waiting around for somebody to make an attempt. And I think it's kind of cool to get the pit crews involved for the All-Star race. But I couldn't see it as an every week thing. But qualifying races? How cool would that be to see every week? Yeah, it has been kind of mucked up by the top 35 owner rule, but I still find it to be the most exciting way to set the field. To an extent it has a Bump Day and All-Star quality to it because there is some fallback to speeds from qualifying day for the final couple of spots and pit stops are incorporated because a driver can't make it to the finish on one tank of fuel. |
| Previous Feud of the Weeks: May 13 | May 6 | April 29 | April 23 | April 15 | April 8 | April 1 | |
