Month: October 2017

Kyle Busch is the first driver to guarantee himself a shot at the championship this season after winning a hard fought race in Martinsville this past weekend. Once again, Chase Elliott had a great chance to win his first ever race in this series, but was caught up in a late race accident and denied that coveted first win and more importantly a free pass to Homestead. Now he finds himself in a position where he almost has to win one of the next two races to make the championship.

AAA TEXAS 500

This week the series heads to the Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the AAA Texas 500. This is another of the mile-and-a-half tracks that make up the majority of the playoffs. This is one of the fastest tracks on the circuit and the 500-mile race could have motor implications although we haven’t seen a lot of that this year from any of the teams. You will definitely see the intensity pick up in these next two races as seven drivers compete for the final three spots in the championship race at Homestead.

Martin Truex Jr.: I have to stick with Martin on these intermediate tracks. This team even came away with a second place finish at Martinsville last week and they are going to be tough to knock out of the final race because of their huge point lead they accumulated with all of the playoff points they won during the last thirty-three races. Martin has finished in the top ten in his last five Texas races and has to be the odds on favorite to win here once again.

Jimmie Johnson: Once again Jimmie struggled at Martinsville last weekend at a track where he has already won nine times. He spun out during qualifying and had to start at the rear of the field after changing tires after qualifying. He then made his way to the front on pit strategy, but couldn’t stay there for long and had what he would say was a terrible finish. However, Jimmie has won three of the past five races at this track which should give this team something to look back on and give them some confidence going into this race.

Chase Elliott: I will say it once again. Chase will win a race yet this season and this might be the weekend he does it. He has only run three Cup races here, but he has two top five and three top ten finishes in those races. This team has come too close too many times to not believe they are capable of winning races in this series and he has been very good on the mile-and-a-half tracks this season, especially during the playoffs.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has nothing to gain in the next two races, but that won’t keep him from trying to win them all. He has battled Truex in almost every one of the races on these tracks throughout the season and now he can even take more chances on the track and with pit strategy to see if he can beat him. Kyle is one of the best drivers in this series and will not let anything keep him from trying to win the race this weekend.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin hasn’t shown the speed this season that he has in the past, but he has been very good at Texas the past few seasons. In his last five starts he has come away with three top five finishes, with two of those being runner-up finishes and five top ten finishes. This team knows they need another good finish here and hopefully a win even with Phoenix coming up where they have dominated the past few seasons. Still they don’t want to rely on getting in on points.

Brad Keselowski: Brad thought his best chance at getting a win in this round was at Martinsville last weekend. He almost did just that as he ran towards the front of the pack most of the race. This team doesn’t think they have the speed it will take to win this week at Texas, but I wouldn’t count them out. Brad has two top five and three top ten finishes in his last five starts here and has led more laps than any other driver in those five races. That tells me they might know something they don’t want the competition to know.

Ryan Blaney: This team has been impressive all year and definitely on the intermediate tracks. Ryan led 148 laps here in the spring race before coming away with a twelfth place finish in that race. This team knows they have the speed to get the job done here and just has to make sure to keep up with the changing track conditions and not make any mistakes on pit road to put themselves in position to come away with another win this season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: We haven’t talked about Dale much this season as he never really lived up to expectations. However, he has been running much better since the playoffs started and this is one of the tracks he has been very good on lately. He has finished in the top six in each of his last five starts at this track including a fifth place finish this spring. He could surprise a lot of people who have written him off as he finishes up his full-time career in the next three races.

Joey Logano: Joey is another driver most people have written off this season. He might be someone you might want to take a look at if you are trying to come from behind in your league and are ready to take drivers no one at the top of your league is looking at. Joey has finished in the top four here in four of his last five races. I don’t care how bad a driver has looked, when he has stats like this you have to consider having him on your team, especially if you are behind in your league.

Matt Kenseth: Matt is another driver who hasn’t won a race yet this season and is not on a lot of peoples radar right now. Matt has always run well on the mile-and-a-half tracks and should have a decent car once again. If caution flags fall right for this team they could be another dark horse this week for those of you wanting to take some chances at this stage of the season.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Jimmie Johnson

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Chase Elliott
• Ryan Blaney
• Jamie McMurray
• Kasey Kahne

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Erik Jones
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Joey Logano

Stay Away From: Clint Bowyer

Big 18: Erik Jones

There are now eight drivers and four races left this season to determine a champion. Martin Truex Jr. won yet another race on a mile-and-a-half track and added five more playoff points to his resume for the third round. This round will feature three different track types. The first race of this round will be run at Martinsville Speedway, which is the shortest track on the Cup circuit at just over a half-mile. Follow this up with another mile-and-a-half track and the final race of this round will be on a one-mile track.

My predictions for the contenders for the championship after this round will be Truex, Busch, Hamlin, and Kevin Harvick. However, Johnson could knock out Hamlin by winning the race this week at Martinsville. These are the two most consistent drivers at this track and I will have both of them on my roster. I just think Hamlin has been a little bit better in the playoffs where Johnson has struggled a bit yet. I just don’t think Blaney and Elliott are good enough on the short tracks at this point in their careers to make it through this round and Keselowski is another driver who has been struggling through the playoffs so far.

FIRST DATA 500

As I mentioned earlier, Martinsville Speedway is a .526 mile speedway in Martinsville, VA. It has very low banking and is a place where it is difficult to pass without using the bumper. If a driver gets out of the bottom groove, they will probably lose multiple spots on the track before they can find a way back to the preferred lane. Qualifying spots are also going to be huge this week because it is just too easy to get lapped if you start towards the back on the pack because of all the traffic and how hard it is to pass here.

Denny Hamlin: I am picking Denny to win the race this week at Martinsville. Denny has five wins and has led almost 1,400 laps here. He has been more consistent in the playoffs than some of the other driver who also run well at this track on a consistent basis and that is why I am picking him to win this race. He has also finished in the top five in twelve of his twenty-three starts here and anyone who can do that in more than half of his starts at any track needs to be on your roster.

Jimmie Johnson: Not to be outdone by Denny, Jimmie has nine wins, nineteen top five, and twenty-four top ten finishes in only thirty-one starts. He has also led more than 2,800 laps here. He won this race last season, but it was his only top five finish in his last six starts. This is the time of the year that this championship team seems to put everything together and another win here would mean getting a shot at his eighth championship.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has finished in the top five at Martinsville in each of his last four starts. This is the team that is still in the playoffs that has been the closest to Truex most of the time this year. All of these teams know that a win gets them into the championship race and they can’t wait to try and get in on points after the Phoenix race. There just isn’t enough leeway with eight drivers fighting for four spots and with the point cushion Truex has.

Brad Keselowski: I think Brad might have to win this week or at Phoenix to make it to the championship race. Brad won the spring race here and has finished in the top five in four of his last five starts. If they have any trouble here or at Phoenix I think they are out because they haven’t run very well at the intermediate tracks in the second half of the season. He can win one of the two races I mentioned and really needs to if he wants to advance.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin added another five playoff points last weekend at Kansas and by winning the pole there he got to pick his pit stall for this race. That is another huge thing at this track because the pit stalls go all the way around the track. It is a very difficult place to have a clean pit stop and being at the end of the row gives the driver the advantage of not having to worry about getting around another car when leaving their pit. Martn has also run pretty well here lately finishing in the top ten in three of his last five starts.

Ryan Newman: Ryan has one win, eight top five and fifteen top ten finishes in his thirty-one starts at Martinsville. Ryan hasn’t been the most consistent driver on the track this season, but he did pick up his win at Phoenix which is another of the shorter flatter tracks on the circuit. I think he is a good driver to have on your team, especially in the Yahoo league where premium drivers are getting scarce.

Kevin Harvick: Now that we are talking about shorter flatter tracks we can’t forget Kevin. He has been so dominant at Phoenix that he should be able to run well at Martisville too. However, this hasn’t really been the case. Kevin’s lone win here came back in the spring of 2011. He has only finished in the top five in three of his thirty-two starts, but in the top ten in fourteen of those races. I think he is looking ahead to Texas and especially Phoenix to get his win in this round.

Matt Kenseth: Matt got knocked out of the playoffs when the team had too many men over the wall trying to fix the damage he sustained late in the race at Kansas. Otherwise he and Jimmie Johnson were fighting for that final spot. Matt is still looking for his first win at this track and is still looking for a job for next season. What better way to audition than winning a race at the end of this year? Matt has fourteen top ten finishes in his thirty-five starts here.

Jamie McMurray: Jamie is another driver looking for his first win at this track and would like to get a win this year too. He has been pretty consistent here coming away with fifteen top ten finishes in his twenty-nine career starts. This team has been running pretty well lately and might have made the third round if they hadn’t gotten caught up in a couple of huge wrecks that took them right out of the playoff chase. He is a good dark horse to have on your team this week.

Clint Bowyer: Clint was hoping to have a much better season that he turned out to have. I think Clint is at his best on this type of track though and they have shown they have the speed in their car to compete. He just seems to have a lot of bad luck in races where he is getting caught up in somebody else’s mistakes on the track and it takes him out of contention. He has run very well here on a consistent basis, finishing in the top ten in thirteen of his twenty-three starts.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Denny Hamlin
• Jimmie Johnson

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Ryan Newman
• Jamie McMurray
• Clint Bowyer
• Kyle Larson

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Ty Dillon
• Daniel Suarez

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Ryan Newman

Stay Away From: Kurt Busch

Big 18: AJ Allmendinger

Once again a restrictor plate race has a major impact on the playoffs. In my opinion, if NASCAR really wants to crown the best driver of the playoffs as the champion they have to get rid of these races during the playoffs. Most of the playoff contenders were eliminated from the race in the “Big One” that they had no control over. It’s true that every driver has the same chance to get in the wreck here, but is it really keeping the best drivers in the hunt.

HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400

Anyway, the series heads to the Kansas Speedway for the running of the Hollywood Casino 400 this week. This is the second elimination race of the playoffs and after the checkered flag waves there will only be eight cars and drivers who will be eligible to win this year’s championship. This is another of the mile-and-a-half tracks on the playoff schedule and we all know who has dominated these races this season. Can Martin Truex Jr. win another of these races and add five more playoff points to his resume?

Kyle Busch: I am going to pick Kyle to stop Martin’s dominance this week at Kansas and move himself into the third round with the win, so he doesn’t have to worry about getting in on points after two terrible finishes in the first two races of this round. Kyle has a win and five straight top five finishes at this track and I believe he will do it once again this week.

Kevin Harvick: In his last six starts at this track, Kevin has two wins, three runner-up finishes and a third place finish. This team hasn’t been showing the speed in the second half of the season that they have shown over the past few years. However, when he needs to win a race he usually has a good chance of doing just that. As this race plays out, Kevin will be able to determine just how hard he has to drive to make the third round of the playoffs.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin won the race here in May and has dominated these races all season. Even though I think Kyle will win here this weekend and Kevin will be right there with him, I still have to have Martin as my starter because of how consistent he has been. Doesn’t make much sense, does it? I will be going with Kyle and Martin as my drivers and see how they qualify and practice and then decide who I need to take a chance on by my position in my leagues to see if I need to take a chance to move up or go with the consistency to hold my position.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan is another driver who will have to maximize his finishing position in this race to continue on. He has run well here in only five starts at this track coming away with two top five and three top ten finishes in those five starts. He has run well and shown a lot of speed on the intermediate tracks. His only downfall might be his inexperience in these situations and he seems to take some chances that he might not have to take when he does.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie leads all active drivers with three wins at Kansas and this is the time of year this team turns it on. I just think that every driver who doesn’t have a win in this round almost needs to try and win this race and do as well as they can in each stage as points are going to be really big this week. With Chad Knaus on the pit box this team seems to make the right calls and keep each others emotions in check.

Matt Kenseth: Matt might be the only driver still in the playoff without a win in this round who probably will not be worried about getting a win this weekend. He is always so calm in the car and takes what the track and other drivers give him and stays out of trouble by letting faster cars go early in the race. He will be informed of where he sits in the standings and will know exactly who he needs to beat and how many positions he needs to make up. He has two wins here in his career and has finished in the top ten in more than half of his twenty-three starts.

Brad Keselowski: After a great race at Talladega once again for Brad the pressure is off of him in this race. However, this is one driver who doesn’t want to worry about points he just wants to go out and win races. He will do everything he can to pick up as many playoff points as he can in this race and might be able to take a few chances with pit strategy if he needs to so that he can position himself for the win and the five playoff points that go with it.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has been fast all year and at all types of tracks. He has only run seven races at this track in his young career coming away with a second place finish in his second start here. He finished sixth in the race here earlier this year and will most likely make it into the third round on points. All he needs to do is stay out of trouble early in the race and then he can go for the win at the end if he has the car that is capable of doing that.

Chase Elliott: Once again Chase came very close to winning a race for the first time in this series this past weekend at Talladega. This team has run very well every week of the playoffs and that is very encouraging for them and makes them believe they can win this championship. He has only run three races here with his best finish being a ninth place finish in his first start. No matter what he has done in those three races, this team is at the top of their game right now and they are showing they have the speed to compete with the best right now.

Daniel Suarez: Daniel has been running great over the past six races finishing in the top twelve in each of those races. He was out front at Talladega late in the race last week before wrecking and taking himself out of contention. Even though they aren’t in the playoffs they are running hard looking for their first win. In his only start here in May, he finished seventh and will use that to boost his confidence as he tries to improve on that finish.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR KANSAS SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Kyle Busch
• Martin Truex Jr.

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Ryan Blaney
• Chase Elliott
• Kyle Larson
• Kasey Kahne

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Ty Dillon
• Erik Jones

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Ryan Blaney

Stay Away From: Joey Logano

Big 18: Ryan Blaney

Martin Truex Jr. starts the second round the same way he started the first round, by winning his fifth race of the season on a mile-and-a-half track. With the win, Martin propels himself into the third round and picks up another five playoff points. It is going to be very difficult to deny him a spot in the championship race at Homestead-Miami. On the other side of the coin, Kyle Busch had multiple incidents on the track and lost a lot of his cushion in the point standings.

ALABAMA 500

This week the series heads to the Talladega Superspeedway and the wildcard race of the playoffs. The restrictor plate races are known for their potential to have a wreck at anytime that could take out fifteen to twenty cars at one time. If one of the playoff contenders gets caught up in one of those wrecks it is going to be very difficult for them to continue on to the next round. It will be interesting to see if any of the playoff contenders run towards the back of the pack to stay out of trouble or if they think the stage points are too valuable and they need to try to finish in the top ten in the stages to maximize their points.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Ricky has won the last two restrictor plate races, so I am going to take him and start him on my team this weekend. The Ford drivers have all looked stronger on these tracks than the other makes this season with Kurt Busch winning the Daytona 500 in a Ford too. Ricky should be able to qualify well and run well in the draft once again this week. Don’t use up any of your good drivers this week because of the potential for that big wreck.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has looked a lot better in the playoffs and is also driving a Ford. He has run well at the restrictor plate tracks this season and usually seems to be able to make it through accidents with close calls or minimal damage. If he qualifies well he will be able to stay up front and not have to worry about the big wreck.

Kurt Busch: Although Kurt has been knocked out of the playoffs and has yet to win a race at Talladega in his career, he usually runs very well at this track. He is also the only driver to finish in the top ten here in each of the last four races. Once again this is another Ford driver. I believe these drivers have a little bit of an advantage over the drivers who are running other makes.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has four wins at this track in his seventeen career starts. He hasn’t been running as well as he would like lately and this might be the race where he can breakout once again. Brad really knows how to choose his drafting partners by finding someone who can push him to the front from anywhere in the field. I think this is going to be a good points week for Brad.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale leads all active drivers with six wins at Talladega in his career. He would like nothing better than to get win number seven in his final full season of racing. This is probably his last best shot at winning a race before the end of the season and he is going to do everything in his power to visit victory lane this weekend. The question is, will he take too many chances to move to the front and end up in an accident again.

Clint Bowyer: Clint has two career wins at Talladega. He also has finished in the top ten in twelve of his twenty-three starts. Even though he didn’t run as well as he would have liked to in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, but this is a race where anyone can win. You can even have a slow pit stop here that won’t really cost you anything on the track. I think Clint will be in a position to win this race at the end.

Paul Menard: This is a race where we can use drivers who haven’t really shown a lot this year. We have seen David Ragan and Trevor Bayne win restrictor plate races on teams that really don’t compete on other tracks. Paul has finished in the top ten in three of his last five starts here and seems to be able to find and work with someone in the draft to get himself in a position to have a shot at winning these races.

Aric Almirola: Aric is another one of those drivers who hasn’t had a very good season. Yet, he is one of those who seems to find some way to get to the front of the pack at Talladega. I think some of these drivers who seem to under perform on a team with good equipment have a little more patience in these races and they let the race come to them. They aren’t making questionable moves that can get them into trouble, so they have a good shot at the end of these races.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie has been quietly running a bit better lately. He still isn’t to the point where he is in contention every week, but he doesn’t have to be there yet. I think he is another driver who will take his time at this track as he knows he can go from the back to the front in just a few laps if necessary. I also think that Chad Knaus is a crew chief who really knows which strategy is going to play out in these races.

Denny Hamlin: Denny always seems to run well at the restrictor plate tracks. He might not run up front all day He might just hang out towards the back of the pack, but when it comes down to go time, he can find someone to work with to get back towards the front of the pack. The big thing is to not get wrecked early in the race and lose a bunch of points in the standings that can cost you the third round.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Brad Keselowski
• Kevin Harvick

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Paul Menard
• Aric Almirola
• Trevor Bayne

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Michael McDowell
• David Ragan

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kurt Busch
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dark Horse: Jamie McMurray

Stay Away From: Kyle Larson

Big 18: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Congratulations to Kyle Busch who won his second straight playoff race and gained some more valuable playoff points on leader Martin Truex Jr. Chase Elliott held the lead for most of the final segment of the race, but Busch closed from over four-seconds back by running a higher line and taking advantage of Chase being held up by traffic and passed Chase with just over one-lap left in the race.

The drivers eliminated from the playoffs are Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Austin Dillon, and Ryan Newman. The rest of the drivers will have their playoff points reset and start all over to determine the eight drivers who will move to the third round after the next three races. This round also features a restrictor plate track which is anybodies guess as to what happens then. So, everyone will be fighting for every position they can this coming week to try and pick up a win so they don’t have to worry about the unknown at Talladega.

BANK OF AMERICA 500

The series heads back to the Charlotte Motor Speedway this week for the running of the Bank of America 500. Charlotte is another of the mile-and-a-half tracks that dominate the playoffs. Next year they will be using the road course in this race to add even more drama to the playoffs, but for this season they will run on the quad-oval track just like they have in the past.

Martin Truex Jr.: You have to stick with Martin this week at Charlotte. He has finished in the top five here in four of his last five starts including a win in a dominating performance in last years Coca-Cola 600. He has also led over 500 laps more than any other driver in the series over those past five races. I look for him to come out strong, get to the lead if he doesn’t win the pole and stay out in front throughout the race once again this weekend and win the opening race of the second round.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie leads all active drivers with eight wins at this track. He looked pretty good at Dover last weekend coming home with a third place finish and building a little momentum heading into the second round. This team knows they need to find some more speed to compete with the likes of Martin and Kyle, but we have seen them do just this time and time again as they were winning all of their championships. I think they are improved, but I don’t think they are quite good enough just yet.

Kyle Busch: Kyle is still looking for his first career win at Charlotte after running twenty-seven races here in the Cup series. He has led just under one-thousand laps here though and come away with eleven top five and sixteen top ten finishes including a runner-up finish in the Coca-Cola 600 this season. I think the playoffs and the battle for the championship are going to come down to Kyle, Martin, and Kyle Larson as they seem to be the three most consistent drivers this season.

Chase Elliott: So close once again for this team could do two things. It could really disappoint them, or it could make them even hungrier. I think they are just going to use the race at Dover as a momentum builder and be even hungrier now than they were before. I said it before and I will say it again. I think this team gets their first win before the end of the season. Wouldn’t it be something if it came at Homestead and brought them a championship?

Matt Kenseth: Matt is a two time winner at Charlotte over his career and he knows he is going to have to win some races during the playoffs is he is going to win a championship because he just doesn’t have enough playoff points to compete and move along on just points as we keep advancing. This is a good track for Matt and the Joe Gibbs teams have shown a bit more speed in the second half of the season. This should be one of his better tracks to try and pick up a win at in this round.

Kyle Larson: Although he has only run eight races at this track in his young career and only has one top five and two top ten finishes here, we can throw all of that out the door. Kyle has shown that he has a car that can compete most every week and he has run better at every track this year than he has earlier in his career. His two victories at Michigan this year tell us that they should be good on this intermediate track and I look for him to qualify well and run towards the front of the track all day again.

Denny Hamlin: Denny is another driver we might not think much about at this track, but his record tells us otherwise. In his last fourteen starts here, Denny has only finished outside the top ten twice and seven of those finishes were top five’s. After having a mechanical issue late in the race at Dover last week this team will be chomping at the bit to get back on the track and see what they can do in the second round of the playoffs.

Kurt Busch: Even though he got knocked out of the playoffs, there is no reason not to look at how Kurt runs here. He is the only driver to finish in the top ten at Charlotte in the last five races. His lone win came back in 2010 in the Coca-Cola 600, but his consistency here is something to look at. Kurt is still auditioning for a ride for next season and a win here in the playoffs could go a long way towards getting him a job, maybe even resigning with Stewart-Haas, but probably unlikely.

Kevin Harvick: Let’s not forget about Kevin yet. Even though they haven’t been running as well as they think they should, this team still has the tools to get the job done and win another championship. Kevin already has three wins at this track, including five finishes in the top two in his last nine starts. He has also sat on the pole for the last two races here. I think this team could break out at any time and go on a roll for the rest of the season.

Brad Keselowski: Despite having a win and six top ten finishes in his last eight races at Charlotte, this team doesn’t seem to have the speed they had earlier in the season when the Ford’s were dominating most of the races on the longer tracks. It seems that after Joey Logano got his encumbered win at the spring Richmond race all of the Ford teams have taken a hit on speed. I don’t think it has anything to do with the penalty. More than likely the other teams found more speed themselves and leveled the playing field a little bit.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Jimmie Johnson

Yahoo Driver Group B

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

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Erik Jones
• Daniel Suarez

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Kyle Busch
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Matt Kenseth

Dark Horse: Erik Jones

Stay Away From: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Big 18: Martin Truex Jr.