Categories
Driver Group Game Fantasy NASCAR

2019 Chicagoland Speedway, Camping World 400

The first road course race of the season is in the books and Martin Truex Jr. beat teammate Kyle Busch in a race that wasn’t really that exciting once again. Five leaders and six lead changes doesn’t make a very exciting race. Especially when some of those passes happened due to strategy. This race didn’t really have anything to do with the new aero package, but it was still boring.

CAMPING WORLD 400

This week the series heads to the Midwest and the Chicagoland Speedway for the running of the Camping World 400. Once again I’m a bit miffed and disappointed that this race isn’t run on a Saturday night when temperatures should be a little cooler. There is also the potential for thunderstorms at this time of the year and the extra day added in could be significant for not having to race on Monday during a short week as the teams will head to Daytona for a Saturday race the weekend of the fourth.

Martin Truex Jr.: I am going to pick Martin to win back to back races this week in a tough call on my end. Martin has won two of the last three races here and finished fourth last season. This team seems to be one of the most consistent on the track at this point of the season and Martin really knows how to get around the mile and a half tracks.

Kyle Busch: Now, Kyle won this race last year, sat on the pole in three of the last five race here, and lead a lot of laps in each of his last six starts at Chicago. I think this is going to be another week like last week where two teammates are fighting for the win. This should be a good battle because even though they are teammates they are fighting for playoff points during stages and at the end of the race.

Brad Keselowski: Brad his finished in the top ten at Chicagoland in each of his last eight starts there. He won two of those races and led laps in seven of those eight races. I have said this multiple times this year and I’ll say it again. The Penske teams are the best of the Ford’s right now and they are the ones who will be most competitive with the Gibbs drivers. I don’t see much changing this week.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin won the first two races ever run at this track and hasn’t won here since, but that doesn’t mean too much.He has finished in the top five in ten of his eighteen starts here including finishing third in the last two races. He has lead laps in five of his last six starts at this track and seems to have a fast car every week. Their biggest problem is mistakes in the pits and that really costs him chances to pick up wins.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has had a horrible year so far and I don’t know if they are going to be able to shake the bad luck and be competitive when it comes to the playoffs. He has only run five races at Chicagoland and has three top five and four top ten finishes here. I think it’s time for this team to forget about running on the bottom of the track and go back up where he always did his damage in the past. Maybe that will break him out of his slump.

Denny Hamlin: Denny won this race four years ago and is on a streak of five straight top seven finishes here. Another of the Gibbs drivers, it is no surprise he has been running really well this season. The dilemma with this team is when should we use him and what tracks should we save his starts for? I really like him on the short, flat tracks myself and there might be others I want on my roster to save some of Denny’s starts.

Joey Logano: The Michigan winner is still looking for his first win at this track, but he has come close and has run very well here over the past seven races at Chicagoland. He has six top ten finishes in those races and he could very well dominate this race after what we saw from him at Michigan earlier this season. He could be worth taking a chance on once again this weekend.

Chase Elliott: Chase has only run three races at this track and finished in the top three in two of those starts. He will be looking forward to getting back to racing this week after having mechanical issues at Sonoma last week late in the race when he was running in the top five. The Hendrick teams have shown significant improvement on this type of track lately and Chase could be a contender once again this weekend.

Clint Bowyer: I’m sure Clint was a bit disappointed with his results last weekend at Sonoma where he was one of the favorites entering the weekend. This team has shown a lot of speed on this type of track and Clint has finished in the top ten in eight of his thirteen starts. Those are great stats if you look at some of the teams he was on during his career. I think he bounces back this weekend and has another contending run.

Ryan Blaney: I have a feeling this team is going to have a pretty good weekend. We know they have had speed all season and have run up front early in races to either lose the handling or have something else happen to them in the second half of races. Something just tells me he is going to be one of the drivers to watch closely this weekend.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

  • Martin Truex Jr.
  • Kyle Busch

Driver Group Game Group B

  • Denny Hamlin
  • Clint Bowyer
  • William Byron
  • Ryan Blaney

Driver Group Game Group C

  • Chris Buescher
  • Matt DiBenedetto

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Kyle Busch
  3. Brad Keselowski
  4. Joey Logano
  5. Kevin Harvick

Dark Horse: William Byron

Stay Away From: Jimmie Johnson

Big 18: Chase Elliott

30 replies on “2019 Chicagoland Speedway, Camping World 400”

I dont really get why The #9 isnt in your top 5’s but you have him as your Big 18 pick, would think the driver u use would at least be one that is jn your top 5.Kind of misleading to most that are not to educated on there nascar!!!!!!!! Explain 4 them please wht your picking that way.

Ok thats all fine so why not in your top 5 if you are picking the #9 to have a good run,just dont seem legit or to confident about it.

In the Big 18 you can only use each driver twice. I haven’t used Chase in that league at all this year while I have used some of those top five drivers twice already and will use some of the others at tracks where I have more confidence in them, such as using Harvick at Phoenix. Hope that answers your question.

By Post Author

ANd who would your next 4be? Need stage points thanks Jeff I pick again at 10 thanks Jeff

I’m going with 2 22 12 10 42 G-14 all with 6-7 uses left on this group of drivers… I have the 2 winning…. thoughts on the 10? I notice he isn’t mentioned in your blog.

10 could do well here, seems he has fallen off a little bit lately though.

By Post Author

He has only run one decent race on an intermediate track all season. Why should this week be different? 10

By Post Author

After practice/qualifying which two drivers do you think will have the best finish out of
#88 – #11 – #24 – #12

Thanks

Hello Jeff, This is my first post, but I’ve been reading for a few years now. Thanks for all your info and insight!! My league is pick any four drivers each week all year no limitations. We’ve added stage points to our weekly total this year. The 19 looked iffy – 1st practice 23rd, in Happy hr 19th with a 10 lap avg of 17th, qualified 18th. Would you still go with the 19 as your #1 overall top 5 or even in the top 5? How about the 18? He looked so-so to??? Is Chicagoland regularly easier to come from a mid pack starting position?? I have till 2pm EST to set my lineup and have 2,4,11,18 but the 22,48,88, looked good through practice and qualifying. Of course I tend to over friggin think it every week and any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

I agree. The 19 hasn’t looked very good all weekend. I think what you have should be fine as Busch was pretty good on 10 lap averages in the last practice.

By Post Author

Comments are closed.