Month: May 2019

The longest race of the year is over with Martin Truex Jr. visiting victory lane for the third time this season. Thanks to multiple cautions that kept bunching up the drivers there were times of exciting racing, but once again once they ran under green for a while the field stretched out too much for my taste.

POCONO 400

This week the series heads to the Pocono Raceway for the running of the Pocono 400. This is one of the longest tracks on the circuit and speed will be essential to winning this week. However, that isn’t the only thing drivers will have to contend with here. There are also three different distinct corners they will have to get their cars to handle through, so they and their crew chiefs will have their hands full this week.

One of the main concerns at Pocono always seems to be the weather. I don’t know if you have seen next years schedule yet, but they have it set up to run back to back Saturday and then Sunday races here on the same weekend. I have no idea why NASCAR would want to do this, especially with the weather the way it can be in the mountains any time of the year. They very well could have to come back here on one of their off weekends anyway and that isn’t good for the fans.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has finished in the top ten in his last five starts at Pocono including two wins. He has lead laps in his last seven races at this track and he has finished in the top five in six of the eight stages he has run at this track. It looks like he should be the favorite this week and I am picking him to come through once again and add some more playoff points to his total.

Kevin Harvick: Now, Kevin has five straight top five finishes at Pocono and has finished in the top five in seven of the eight stages run here. They won’t be using the new aero package at Pocono this season, so this might be the place he picks up his first win of the season. He will still need to have more consistent pit stops, but he should challenge Kyle all the way to the end this weekend.

Brad Keselowski: The race last July broke a six race streak of top five finishes at this track for Brad. He has finished in the top ten in every stage he has ever run here and is looking for nothing other than stage wins and race wins seeing he is already qualified for the playoffs. You can never count this team out once they have a win as they will take chances to do something different than the rest of the field and this could be one of those fuel mileage races.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin won two of the last four June races at Pocono and is coming off his third win of the season. He still trails Kyle and Brad in playoff points and would like to make up some ground there. He knows how valuable those points are when it come to advancing once the playoffs start. I look for this team to ride its momentum to another good run this weekend.

Chase Elliott: Chase has finished in the top ten in five of the six races he has run at this track. He has also scored points in seven of the eight stages he has run here. The Hendrick teams are showing more speed now than they were earlier this year and that is something a driver needs at Pocono because of the long straightaway here. I think Chase runs up front for the majority of the race and has a shot at winning for the first time at Pocono.

Erik Jones: Erik has had a rough time this season mostly due to bad luck. This might be the place he can turn that luck around. He has finished in the top ten in three of his four races run at Pocono and lead laps in each of those three starts. The biggest thing for this team is going to be communication between Erik and his crew chief on what changes to make to the car to keep it performing well through all three corners.

Denny Hamlin: Denny won four of the first nine races he ran here, but hasn’t won since the last of those back in June of 2010. This team looks a little better this year and seems to be more consistent. The question is, are they going to try something that might take them out of contention by trying to win the race and pick up playoff points? That is where they might get caught speeding on pit road to try and gain an advantage.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan won this race two years ago while racing for the Wood Brothers. We know the Penske teams have the speed it will take to compete here and the confidence to get the job done. I think Ryan has a bounce back race this weekend and without the new aero package all of the teams will have a better idea of how the cars are going to handle right off the truck.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has three wins at Pocono and has shown that he is competitive week in and week out on his new team this season. Kurt has always run better on flat tracks and tracks that run somewhat similar to road courses. Pocono is that kind of track and if this team can make the right adjustments they could very easily put another trophy in Kurt’s collection this weekend.

Daniel Suarez: Daniel finished second here last July and seems to run better on the same tracks Kurt Busch does. It seems every time I think he is going to run well and put him on my team he falters and disappoints me. I feel this team will win a race this year because they have shown speed and competitiveness. I think it is only a matter of time before they put a whole race together and come away with an elusive win.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR POCONO RACEWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kyle Busch
• Kevin Harvick

Driver Group Game Group B

• Denny Hamlin
• Erik Jones
• Kurt Busch
• Daniel Suarez

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chris Buescher
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT POCONO RACEWAY

1. Kyle Busch
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Chase Elliott

Dark Horse: Chris Buescher

Stay Away From: Alex Bowman

Big 18: Brad Keselowski

We are now a third of the way through the season as we just took a break from points racing for the All-Star race this past weekend. We have had six different winners so far who have locked themselves into the playoffs and the next race will mark the halfway point of the regular season schedule. In my opinion the new aero package has made for some pretty boring racing to this point. There have been multiple races where there are only five or less drivers within ten seconds of the winner.

COCA-COLA 600

This week the series will remain in North Carolina at the Charlotte Motor Speedway where the All-Star race was held last weekend. This is the longest race of the year and there will be a lot of changes to the track as the race moves from the afternoon hours into the evening. The crew chiefs are going to have to be on top of their game the whole day to keep up with these changing track conditions. Cars that aren’t handling well early in the race might be the cars to beat at the end.

Kyle Busch: Kyle sat on the pole and won this race last year and I am predicting that he will do it again. Well, maybe he won’t win the pole, but he will win the race. He has lead more laps than any other driver over his last three starts at his track and has been really good all season with three wins in the book already. Patience will be the name of the game for Kyle this week.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin has been good on these tracks this season also. He seems to struggle a bit in qualifying and practice, but by the end of the race he usually has one of the fastest cars on the track. He has finished in the top five in six of his last seven starts at Charlotte and won twice in that span. I think he and Kyle could be the two battling for the win at the end of this one.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has six top three finishes in his last eleven starts at this track. Once again it isn’t the speed that has kept this team out of victory lane so far this season, but poor work in the pits. That is where they need to focus and it will be very important this week as there will be extra pit stops in this long race. With it being so hard to pass this season you can’t afford to lose spots in the pits.

Denny Hamlin: Denny has been very good here lately himself with five top five finishes in his last six starts and eight top five finishes in his last thirteen races at Charlotte. Denny always seems to be patient and that will really pay off for him in this long race as the crew will make multiple adjustments to his car as the track changes.

Kyle Larson: Kyle won the All-Star race last weekend. This team has run into some bad luck this season and Kyle will just need to be patient this weekend. I think the track will come to him as the race progresses and you will see Kyle using the high line to make gains on the rest of the field. Being mistake free in the pits will be important for this team too.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has six top ten finishes to his last seven starts at Charlotte and has been very good all year on his new team. This is going to be a telling race for this team to see if they can keep improving on Kurt’s car throughout the race and give Kurt a shot at the win in the late stages of this week’s race. I think this team will win at least one race this year.

Joey Logano: Although Joey hasn’t finished in the top twenty in his last four starts at this track, this team has been very good all year. He led 227 laps in winning the fall race here back in 2015, so we know he can get the job done at this track. In fact, if we throw out his last four starts here, Joey has finished in the top ten in nine of his fifteen starts from the beginning of his career. I think this team will be a contender this weekend.

Daniel Suarez: Daniel has finished in the top fifteen in each of his three starts at this track. He has been pretty impressive in his first year with Stewart-Haas Racing and he is a dark horse this week. This is the type of race where strategy can play a big part in who wins and who doesn’t.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has finished in the top ten in seven of his last ten starts at Charlotte. The Penske teams have all been fast the entire year and we know that Paul Wolfe isn’t afraid to make call on pit road to get Brad track position if he needs it. He really isn’t afraid to make some different calls now that they are already in the playoffs. Wins and stage wins are all that matter to this team now.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie used to be a no brainer when it came to this track, but times have really changed for this team. This season the only intermediate track where Jimmie ran well was at Texas. I just don’t have any confidence in this team right now and if fact, I am going to have Jimmie as my stay away from driver this week.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kyle Busch
• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Denny Hamlin
• Kurt Busch
• Daniel Suarez
• Alex Bowman

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chris Buescher
• Matt DiBenedetto

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Busch
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Brad Keselowski

Dark Horse: Daniel Suarez

Stay Away From: Jimmie Johnson

Big 18: Aric Almirola

Tough break with the race being postponed this Sunday at Dover. This week’s race will be the last race before the All-Star weekend at Charlotte. I think the week at Charlotte will afford the teams a lot of practice time to try and get better at the mile and a half tracks. It should also let NASCAR look at what they could do to make the racing a little more interesting for the fans.

DIGITAL ALLY 400

This week the series heads to the Kansas Speedway for the running of the Digital Ally 400. As mentioned above, this in another of the intermediate tracks with the new aero package that are prevalent on the circuit. We know the Ford and Toyota teams have had a big advantage over the Bow Tie Brigade so far this season, but those teams made some headway at Texas about a month ago. Now we will see if that was a fluke or if they really have something cooking.

Martin Truex Jr.: I am going to pick Martin to win once again this weekend. He swept the races here in 2017 and then followed that up with a second place finish in this race last season and then came back and finished fifth here in the fall. This team has looked very good on this type of track so far this season and that should continue this week.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan has been very good here the past two seasons. He has qualified in the top five in three of those four starts and finished in the top ten in three of them also. He has scored points in each of the stages in those races and won two of those stages. We have seen how fast the Penske teams have been all year and this could be the place for him to pick up his first win of the season.

Kyle Busch: Kyle is on a streak of eight straight top ten starting positions and finishes including his only win at this track. He has been the cream of the crop so far this season and has even come back from penalties to challenge for wins. We can’t use him every week in the DGG league or we would probably have him in our starting lineup every week.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has won two of the last five races at Kansas including this race last season. This team seems to be just slightly off with the new aero package, but they have been close. He has finished either first or second in six of his last eleven starts here too. It is going to be hard to decide which two of the Big Three to have on our roster this week.

Aric Almirola: Aric has finished in the top ten in each of his last three starts here and has been at his best all season. This team looks like they can contend for a championship this year if they keep improving. He is another driver where we have to pick and choose where we want to start him as we will use all of his starts by the end of the season.

Chase Elliott: Chase has run better here in the fall than they have in the spring race. Chase won the fall race last year and has scored points in each of the stages in the fall races. In his last two spring races, Chase hasn’t scored any points in the stages. At this point of the season I am going to keep him off my roster for now and see how this team progresses on this type of track.

Joey Logano: Joey has been very good here since the fall of 2013. Since that time he has won twice at this track and has seven top five finishes. That is in only eleven races. We have already talked about how fast the Penske drivers have been all season and they have an excellent shot at picking up another win for Team Penske.

Kyle Larson: Kyle finished in the top five in both of his starts here last year and won the second stage in this race. This team has struggled mightily so far this season with the new rules package and I’m not sure if I want to take a chance on him at this stage of the season. I think they will get better as the year progresses, so we will leave him off our roster this week.

Denny Hamlin: Denny is driver who has been up and down at this track in his career. With already having won this year this team might be working on a few things for the playoffs as this track and a bunch more like it come during those playoffs. I really think this team is dialed in on the short flat tracks and those are the places we should use him.

Erik Jones: Erik has been very good here during his short career and finished in the top ten in both races last season. He has also scored points here in six of the last eight stages that have been run. Opposite of Denny, Erik seems to be better on these intermediate tracks than he is on the short tracks. He could be a good option this week.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR KANSAS SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kevin Harvick

Driver Group Game Group B

• Ryan Blaney
• Aric Almirola
• Erik Jones
• Austin Dillon

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chris Buescher
• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kyle Busch
5. Joey Logano

Dark Horse: Alex Bowman

Stay Away From: Ryan Newman

Big 18: Ryan Blaney