Month: September 2017

Kyle Busch wins the second race of the playoffs and keeps pace with Martin Truex Jr. in the points race. Kurt Busch was the biggest loser on the day when he got caught up in a wreck that happened when Kevin Harvick spun in front of him and he couldn’t stop in time to avoid running into him. Now he will almost have to win the race next weekend to move into the second round of the playoffs as he finds himself in fifteenth place.

APACHE WARRIOR 400

This week for the first elimination race of the playoffs the series heads back to ‘The Monster Mile’, Dover International Speedway, for the running of the Apache Warrior 400. Dover is a one-mile high-banked oval speedway that will show speed and multiple grooves for passing. This being an elimination race I think we could see some great racing all through the race as those drivers on the bubble try to do everything in their power to pass every car they can.

Martin Truex Jr.: Once again last week, Martin had the car to beat until he got caught up in the same wreck that took out Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick. He still came back to record another top five finish in that race. Martin has two wins at this track and has finished in the top ten in six of his last seven starts here. I think I am going to stick with him and Kyle Busch as my two favorites for the near future.

Kyle Busch: Kyle also has two wins here and has also finished second here four times in his twenty-five starts here. The way these two are running now they are going to fight for this championship right to the end of the season. Kyle has sat on the pole for both of the playoff races and has started in the top three at Dover in five of his last seven starts there. Look for him to have another good qualifying effort again this weekend.

Kyle Larson: Kyle is the other driver in the field that has really run well all season long and continues that in the playoffs. Kyle has only run seven races at this track and is still looking for his first win here, but he has finished second here in two of his last three races. Look for him to have another great run this weekend at Dover and try to pick up some playoff points by winning this weekend.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie says he believes this team can win their eighth championship this year despite how they ran in the second half of the season. If he is going to do just that, this weekend will give us a good tell. He has won eleven races at this track during his thirty-one race career at this track. Anyone who can win one out of every three races at any track has to be considered one of the favorites no matter how they have been running recently.

Chase Elliott: Chase has been pretty quiet all year just because he hasn’t won a race yet. That can all change this weekend. In his three starts at this track, Chase has never finished outside of the top five. This is the type of track this team has excelled at the last couple of season and is the type of track where he has his best chance of picking up his first career win. What better time that during the playoffs to do that?

Kasey Kahne: After having some mechanical issues at New Hampshire last weekend, Kasey finds himself in a precarious position. He will have to win this race to continue his run for a possible championship. The good news for him is that he has run really well here in the recent pass. He has finished in the top five twice and the top ten three times in his last five starts here. If he wins this week it will be his first career win at this track.

Matt Kenseth: Matt has another great run last weekend at New Hampshire. He should be able to move on to the second round on points unless something really bad happens to him this weekend. However, he does run really well at this track and he could get his first win of the season here. He has three wins here in his career with one of those wins coming in the spring race last season. Matt is cool under pressure and should run well once again this weekend.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin had enough of a points lead that the accident he was in that knocked him out of last week’s race didn’t really affect him too much. He just needs to avoid another early exit this weekend and he will move on to the next round. Kevin won this race two years ago for his only career win at this track. I think this team makes the second round, but they need to step up their game a little bit if they want to contend for the championship.

Denny Hamlin: Denny is also sitting comfortable in the points heading into this elimination race and is still looking for his first career win at this track. However he has finished in the top ten in three of his last five starts here. I think they need to stop making mistakes on pit road to have a legitimate shot at winning a championship this season. They have shown they have the speed they need, but keep taking themselves out of races.

Brad Keselowski: In fifteen career races at Dover, Brad has one win and two second place finishes. This is another team that hasn’t been at the top of their game as we have moved into the playoffs. All of these teams can still turn it around, but they need to do it now. If they can get better they can go on a roll and make some noise yet this season.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kyle Busch

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Chase Elliott
• Jamie McMurray
• Kasey Kahne

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Erik Jones
• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kyle Larson
5. Chase Elliott

Dark Horse: Kasey Kahne

Stay Away From: Kurt Busch

Big 18: Jamie McMurray

The playoffs are underway and Martin Truex Jr. has picked up right where he left off in the regular season and won the race at Chicagoland Speedway this past weekend to propel him into the second round of the Chase with another 5 playoff points to add to his already impressive total. He has now won four of the seven mile-and-a-half races run this year with more to come, which gives him an advantage on the rest of the field. Chase Elliott finished second which will give this team a lot of confidence as the playoffs progress.

ISM CONNECT 300

For the second race of the playoffs the series heads back to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This is a slightly longer than one-mile oval track with very little banking in the corners or on the straightaways. Denny Hamlin won the race here in July and has been pretty good on the flatter tracks once again this season. There are nine drivers who are currently running in the Cup series that have multiple wins at this track and that should give us some good options for our teams this week.

Denny Hamlin: I will go with Denny to win the race this week and sweep the season here. Denny has been really good on the flatter tracks all season and will have a great setup under his car when they unload it from the truck this week. I look for him to practice well, qualify well and run well. The only concern I have for him this week is speeding penalties on pit road. He has gotten more speeding penalties this year than any other driver in the series and those penalties could spell doom at this track where it is tough to pass. Track position will be very important this weekend.

Jimmie Johnson: After a disappointing race at Chicagoland for this team they will look forward to being a contender this week at New Hampshire. Jimmie has three wins, ten top five and twenty-one top ten finishes in his thirty-one career starts at this track. I look for this team to rebound this week and have a shot at winning this race and moving into the second round of the playoffs.

Matt Kenseth: Matt is another driver with three wins at this track to go along with eleven top five and twenty top ten finishes in his thirty-five starts here. This team has been consistent lately and just needs to get a little better to actually contend for a win at the end of a race. I think they will have a shot to do just that this weekend just because of how consistent Matt has been here throughout his career. He could pick up his first win of the season here which would be huge for him.

Brad Keselowski: Brad knows that their cars aren’t as fast as those of the drivers who are beating them every week. He knows he is going to have to do something different if he wants to have a chance to win another race this year and this team is very good at doing just that. Brad has won here before and has finished in the top five six times and the top ten ten times in his sixteen starts. This is the type of track where speed isn’t necessarily what you need to win. With it being so flat, handling is much more important than speed. It is all about how you roll through the corners and get off them that matters in this race.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has only run seven races here and is still looking for his first win here. However, he has finished in the top five three times in those seven races and has been very consistent all season. They have run well on all types of tracks this year and should be able to do so again this weekend. They have a nice cushion in the point standings and really need to just stay out of trouble to move to the second round, but Kyle isn’t one to lay back. He will do everything he can to win every race he is in.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has two wins, ten top five and eighteen top ten finishes in his thirty-three starts at New Hampshire. He looked good last week at Chicago and showed a lot of speed once again. This is something I was watching for in the playoffs due to the fact that this team wasn’t performing as well as most of us were expecting them to in the second half of the regular season. We know now good Kevin has been at Phoenix and this track is kind of the same.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has two wins, nine top five and thirteen top ten finishes in his twenty-five starts at this track. Once again last weekend he had a fast car and was dominating the race early when they had trouble on a pit stop when they didn’t get all of the lugs tight and had a loose wheel forcing Kyle to pit again. On that stop he got caught speeding and just never recovered. If they can eliminate the mistakes on pit road this team is a threat every weekend no matter what type of track they run on.

Kurt Busch: After having some issues with a vibration last weekend, this team finds themselves down towards the cut-off line to move to the second round. The good news is that Kurt has won three races at Loudon and has been running very well on this type of track lately. I look for him to rebound this week and come away with another top ten finish and maybe be in contention for the win late in this race.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is looking for his first win at this track. He has never really been great here, he has really only been average. He finished in the top twenty in his last fourteen starts at this track. Now for the good news. Martin has run really well here in his last three starts, leading over one-hundred laps in each of those races. It will be interesting to see how this team approaches this race. Will they use pit strategy to win some stages or will they just continue to try and dominate the whole race and pick up yet another win?

Clint Bowyer: Clint has won two races here and finished seventh in his first race here with Stewart-Haas Racing back in July. I think they will have another good run once again this weekend and will have an even better handling car that they did back in July. Clint is my dark horse this week as I think he has a great chance to come away with at least a top ten finish if not even better. He might surprise a lot of people and win this race.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Denny Hamlin
• Martin Truex Jr.

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Clint Bowyer
• Kurt Busch
• Ryan Newman

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Daniel Suarez
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Matt Kenseth

Dark Horse: Clint Bowyer

Stay Away From: Trevor Bayne

Big 18: Ryan Newman

The field is set for the playoffs with nothing real exciting happening in the race other than an ambulance parked at the entrance to pit road when it was open and Matt Kenseth getting knocked out of the race because of it. The late caution kind of reminded me of wrestling when nothing really happened, but it looked like NASCAR was trying to do anything they could to prevent Martin Truex Jr. from winning another race and gaining another 5 playoff points. As it stands now he is going to be hard to knock out of the playoffs with his 52 playoff points.

TALES OF THE TURTLES 400

The playoffs start at the Chicagoland Speedway. This is the first of the intermediate tracks that make of much of the playoff season for NASCAR. Chicagoland is a mile-and-a-half tri-oval that is very similar to places like Kansas and Charlotte which are also both on the schedule yet this year. If a driver can dominate at these tracks they will find themselves in the hunt for the championship this November at Homestead-Miami.

Martin Truex Jr.: Truex has to be the odds on favorite to win his first championship with the way he has consistently run on all types of tracks this season. If it weren’t for an ill timed caution last week at Richmond he would have won his fifth race of the season. The way it stands now, he has a twenty point lead on his closest challenger, Kyle Larson and a fifty point lead on sixteenth place Jamie McMurray. He has at least a forty point lead on ten of the other fifteen drivers who made the playoffs. That is going to be tough for them to make up unless Martin has some real bad trouble. Three of his wins this season came on similar tracks to Chicagoland, so I am picking him to win the first race of the playoffs and put even more pressure on the rest of the field. Besides, he won this race last year too.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has only run three races at this track, but he finished in the top ten in his first two and led laps in each of those races. He has also won four times this season like Truex. The difference between them is all of the stages Martin won during the year. Besides his win at the 3/4-mile track at Richmond last weekend, Kyle won his other three races on two-mile tracks. That isn’t much different than the mile-and-a-half tracks, so he should be a contender once again this weekend.

Kyle Busch: Besides the aforementioned two drivers, Kyle has been just as good as if not better than them for most of the season. He had quit a few races where he could have and should have won this season only for an ill-timed caution or strategy that has cost him numerous chances to win races. I think this team along with the other two above are going to be the cream of the crop for the playoffs because of how consistent they have been all season. Kyle has one win at Chicagoland and seven top ten finishes in his twelve starts at this track.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin won the first two races ever run at this track in the Cup series and has finished in the top five in half of his sixteen starts here. This team hasn’t performed as consistently this year as they have the past two seasons, but he has a good car every week and if they can stay away from incidents on the track and pit road they will have a chance to win every race they have left this season.

Jimmie Johnson: The seven time champion can’t be counted out in any season no matter how well they have performed up to the start of the playoffs. Jimmie has won three races this year and although he is still looking for his first Chicagoland win we know this team is going to show up with their A-game this weekend. In his fifteen starts at this track, Jimmie has come away with seven top five and ten top ten finishes.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has two wins on the season and he has also won twice at the Chicagoland Speedway. That is in only eight starts. In those eight starts, besides the two wins he has finished in the top ten in six races. This team didn’t come away with the wins they thought they should have this season, but no matter how bad their car was early in the race they always seem to get it right by the end and be in contention to win. They also aren’t afraid to do something different than the rest of the field to dig themselves out of a hole if they need to.

Chase Elliott: I am very surprised that this team hasn’t won a race yet. I still think they will get one before the end of the season and it will come on one of the intermediate tracks left on the schedule. Chase has only run at this track once and he finished third in that race while leading seventy-five laps. Chase is another driver who hasn’t performed as well lately as he did earlier in the year, but maybe the Hendrick teams are hiding something they are going to bring out in the next ten weeks.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan made the playoffs by winning at Pocono in June. This team has had a fast car all season long and Ryan is at his best at this type of track. If he wins another race on one of the intermediate tracks it will come as no surprise to anyone on the circuit and shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us either. In his only start at this track, Ryan came away with a fourth place finish and led a few laps too. I look for this team to come out aggressive this week and try to move through the first round.

Erik Jones: Erik didn’t make the Chase in his rookie season, but he came very close and contended for a few wins. Right now he is on a roll finishing in the top ten in his last six starts. He is another driver who could very well pick up his first Cup win before the end of the year. Even though he has never run here in this series he finished sixth in his only truck start and he won two of his three Xfinity series starts here. This is going to be another good week for him.

Kurt Busch: Even though Kurt hasn’t won a race since the opening week of the season and hasn’t won a race at this track in his career yet, this team is starting to run much better and more consistent at the right time of the year. Kurt finished in the top five in his last two starts even while struggling early on in those races with his cars handling. This team could really surprise some people by going on a roll during the playoffs. Kurt has nine top ten finishes in his sixteen starts here too.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kevin Harvick

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Chase Elliott
• Kyle Larson
• Ryan Blaney
• Kurt Busch

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Erik Jones
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Erik Jones
3. Kyle Larson
4. Chase Elliott
5. Kevin Harvick

Dark Horse: Erik Jones

Stay Away From: Jamie McMurray

Big 18: Erik Jones

Congratulations to Denny Hamlin who picked up his second win of the season on Sunday night and to Martin Truex Jr. who won the first two stages of the race and clinched the regular season championship and will now have at least 52 playoff points once the playoffs begin. That is a lot of points for the other drivers to make up once the playoffs start, so Martin will be the odds on favorite to win this year’s championship.

FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400

This week the series heads to the Richmond Raceway for the regular season finale to lock in the playoff field. However, the playoff field is virtually set unless someone outside the top sixteen can win the race Saturday night at Richmond. No one can overtake those who are in the top sixteen by points in the final race of the regular season the way the points are right now, but a driver can still knock out one of the three trying to get in on points by winning this race.

Richmond is a three-quarter mile D-shaped oval fairly flat race track in Virginia that has hosted the final race before the playoffs for a number of years. I really don’t see a lot of excitement in this race unless one of the drivers who have not won a race this season and is outside the top sixteen can be a contender which could knock someone out of the playoffs. There are a couple of drivers who could win their first race of the season, but that is a tall order.

Denny Hamlin: I am going to pick Denny to win his second straight race heading into the playoffs. This team seems to be hitting their stride at the right time of the season, but Denny really needs to stop making mistakes when pitting. He missed the entrance to pit road in the race on Sunday which could have cost him the win. He also has more pit road speeding penalties than any other driver in the series and that can’t happen during the playoff stretch. He has three wins at this track and thirteen top ten finishes in twenty-two career starts here.

Kyle Busch: Kyle is perhaps the driver who has been the most consistent lately. He leads all active drivers with four wins at this track and he also has finished runner-up six times in his twenty-four starts at Richmond. He is going to do whatever he can to win this week and gain some valuable playoff points to try and cut into Truex’s lead. He is going to give Denny all he can handle this weekend when it comes to the end of the race.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has won three times at this track and is on a bit of a run here himself. Although he hasn’t won here in the past six races he has finished in the top five in five of those six races. Kevin is another driver you want to keep on your radar this weekend as he tries to pick up some more playoff points. He ran well at Darlington last week, leading more laps in that race than any other driver, but faded at the end to finish ninth.

Joey Logano: This is Joey’s final shot at making the playoffs this season. He won the race here in the April race, but was found to have a violation on his rear suspension and NASCAR decided the violation was severe enough that they considered his win ‘encumbered’ and that it wouldn’t count towards getting him into the playoffs. However, he has won twice and finished in the top ten in his last seven starts at this track. I don’t know if he will be able to do it again because this team hasn’t run well since that violation was found, but he might be worth taking a chance on if you are looking to take a chance to get back in the running in your league.

Kurt Busch: Kurt had his best finish of the year since winning the Daytona 500 in February this past weekend in Darlington where he finished third. Kurt has a nice streak of finishes at Richmond where he has finished in the top ten in five of his last six starts here including one of his two wins. Getting a win here this weekend would go a long ways by giving this team a lot of confidence heading into the playoffs.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is still looking for his first win at this track and would love to add even more playoff points to his resume. As it stands right now, Martin has a thirty-two more playoff points than his nearest competitor. It is going to be hard for the rest of the field to knock him out of each round of the playoffs. Martin has also finished in the top ten at Richmond in four of his last five starts here.

Ryan Newman: Ryan’s lone win here came way back in the 2003 season. However, he has been running very well this year and picked up a win at Phoenix earlier in the season on a track that is somewhat similar to Richmond. He knows he needs to run even better if he wants to have a shot at winning a championship this season. In his career, Ryan has finished in the top ten in seventeen of his thirty-one starts at this track.

Kyle Larson: Kyle finished second in this race last year and has been running well the entire year. Although his runner-up finish last year is his only top ten finish in seven starts at Richmond this team is still a threat to win every week. This team is going to be a contender once the playoffs start due to the fact that they have run well on all types of tracks this year.

Jimmie Johnson: It’s the time of the year to start talking seriously about Jimmie again. Jimmie has three wins and twelve top ten finishes in his career at Richmond. The reining champion will be stepping up his game in the coming weeks as he looks to add another championship to his resume. This could be another type of test week for this team as they might try some things that could work for them in Phoenix during the playoffs.

Brad Keselowski: Brad will be looking to step up his program this week also. They haven’t run as well as they would like lately. Brad finished second in the race here in April and has finished in the top ten in five of his last seven starts at this track. I think this team will break out of their mini slump during the playoffs and win at least one more race this season.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR RICHMOND RACEWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Denny Hamlin
• Kyle Busch

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kurt Busch
• Ryan Newman
• Kasey Kahne
• Jamie McMurray

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Daniel Suarez
• Erik Jones

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT RICHMOND RACEWAY

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Busch
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kurt Busch
5. Brad Keselowski

Dark Horse: Ryan Newman

Stay Away From: Ryan Blaney

Big 18: Kurt Busch