2020 Phoenix Raceway, FanShield 500

Congratulations to Alex Bowman on winning his first race of the season in dominating fashion and showing us that the Hendrick teams are back to competing at a high level with the rest of the teams. The Penske teams seem to be second best right now followed by the Joe Gibbs and then the Stewart-Haas teams as far as speed goes. It will be interesting to see which teams improve as the season moves on.

FANSHIELD 500

This week the series stays out west as the drivers and teams head to Phoenix Raceway for the running of the FanShield 500. This is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval track so, speed won’t be as big of a factor as handling and pit stall selection. That means we need to decide on which teams and drivers we trust with making the right decisions all weekend to get the best stalls and make the right adjustments during the race.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin is a no brainer to have on your roster and will probably be my starter this week. In his last sixteen starts here he has won seven races, finished second twice and finished in the top five thirteen times. There hasn’t been anyone this dominant at this race track before and you need to have him on your roster. We can decide if we want to start him after practice and qualifying

Kyle Busch: So, here is our dilemma this week about who to start, but not about who to have on your roster in the A group. Kyle has finished first or second in each of his last four starts here. He has also finished in the top five in eight of his last nine starts at Phoenix. Once practice and qualifying is over we will have to set out rosters with one of these two drivers.

Denny Hamlin: Too bad all of these drivers are in the same group. Denny won the fall race here last year and is really good on the flatter tracks. I think this is a week we take a break from Denny as he hasn’t been quite as consistent as the two drivers mentioned above and there are a lot of tracks left on the schedule where we’ll be able to use his starts late on.

Ryan Blaney: After having a disappointing finish when he got a flat tire late in the race last week at Fontana, Ryan will be looking forward to getting back to racing. He finished third in both of the races run here last year and should have a really good car once again this weekend. If he can avoid the bad luck this week he could find himself battling for the win late in the race.

Kyle Larson: This is one of the tracks where Kyle seems to avoid the bad luck most of the time. In fact, he has finished in the top six in five of his last seven starts at Phoenix and after getting knocked into the wall early last week at Fontana he will be looking to make up ground in the standings and maybe even get a win to get himself qualified for the playoffs.

Joey Logano: Joey has one win at this track and lead ninety-three laps in the fall race last year. This team has been pretty stout so far this year and this is the type of track where if they hit their setup right away they will have a shot at winning. If they struggle in practice it could be a long day for them once again.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie hasn’t won a race here since the 2009 season. However, this team has had a resurgence this season showing a lot of speed on the intermediate tracks. This week we will see how they do on the short, flat tracks. They did run well on this type of track last year and I see them improving on that this year. I think he should be on our roster once again this week.

Kurt Busch: Another driver to possibly use in the B group this week, Kurt has nineteen top ten finishes in his thirty-four career starts at this track. If he has good practice sessions he will be worth using this week. He seems to be better on the short, flat tracks and more consistent than he is on the intermediate tracks.

Brad Keselowski: Brad is still looking for his first win at this track. He does run well here most of the time as we can see from his past stats where he has finished in the top twenty in seventeen of his last eighteen starts here. Ten of the last sixteen races he has run here he has finished in the top ten. Like I said earlier, Kevin and Kyle are the two most consistent drivers in the A group for Phoenix and we can hold off on the rest this week.

Aric Almirola: When I think of Aric I usually think of him on the intermediate tracks but, he has run very well at Phoenix lately. In fact, he has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts here and led twenty-six laps in the spring race last year. I think he might be worth having on your roster this week if you want to take that chance. I’m going to hold off on him myself.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR PHOENIX RACEWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kevin Harvick
• Kyle Busch

Driver Group Game Group B

• Ryan Blaney
• Jimmie Johnson
• Kyle Larson
• Kurt Busch

Driver Group Game Group C

• Ross Chastain
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT PHOENIX RACEWAY

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Kyle Busch
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Kyle Larson

Dark Horse: William Byron

Stay Away From: Alex Bowman

Big 18: Kevin Harvick