Four Races to Decide the 2011 Championship: The Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage Preview & Open Race Thread

Charlotte Motor Speedway.  It's fast, it's heavily copied making it rather generic, and it hosts both Sprint Cup and Nationwide Races this week.  That of course means that we will have a comical amount of Sprint Cup drivers racing this weekend.  Looks like my review is going to start with a one sentence winner again.

A full 50 teams are entered this week.  That means that a few start and park teams will make it and a few teams that would have attempted to run the entire race will go home.  Yay Nascar!  Here's some teams to watch out for:

• #7- Josh Wise is back with JR Motorsports this week.  Wise is simply helping get the team ready for Danicamania to run wild in 2012.
• #09-Kenny Wallace, who raced the majority of the year without getting paid, will run a Thank You scheme this week for his fans.  Wallace has been one of the more classy drivers, when he isn't insulting young guys like Brian Scott for having sponsorship dollars.
• #12- Sam Hornish is coming off of three straight top 10s.  If Hornish could get some sponsorship dollars, he could be a threat for the 2012 Championship.
• #18- We've been Kyle Busch free for a few races now.  Look for Kyle in victory lane Friday Night.  King Nationwide is working on leaving former Win leader Mark Martin in the dust.
• #30- Will this be the last four races that we see Jason Leffler with Turner Motorsports?  There is a good chance this happens at the end of the year.  Leffler has been his typical dependable yet unspectacular all year.  Leffler is a guy you get if you are a new team looking to improve, but he is not who you get to try to win a championship.
• #31- A guy you do get to try to win a Championship is Justin Allgaier.  Allgaier was long considered to be a Sprint Cup future star, but he's taken a slight step back this year with Turner.  Allgaier was supposed to be the front runner for the Championship this year, but he's still trailing in the standings and will probably be eliminated in the next two weeks.
• #38- Kasey Kahne returns to Turner, and it may be his last race for the team.  Hendrick will probably want Kahne to stay with JR Motorsports if he wants to run in the Nationwide Series.  Kahne hasn't done much to help Turner Motorsports this year.
• #82- Reed Sorenson needs help, and a new team. We had all hoped that Joe Gibbs would have put Sorenson in the #18 ride two weeks ago and really given him an opportunity to win the Championship.  That did not happen.  There is no way that a small time second teir team like MacDonald Motorsports can compete with Roush Fenway and Richard Childress backed Kevin Harvick Inc.  Sorenson, if he can find a top level team next year, could be a threat in 2012.
• #87- Any takers on how many laps down Kevin Conway will be when this race is over?  Anyone?
• #99- Ryan Truex is back with Pastrana Waltrip this week as the team prepares to go part time next year with Travis Pastrana.  Truex really needs a full time ride with a top level team.  You hearing me Joe Gibbs?

Join us this Friday Night!  It's the live running of the Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage from Charlotte, NC!  ESPN2 will air the broadcast starting at 7pm eastern.  Enjoy!