2021 Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dixie Vodka 400

We now head into the third race of the season and the third different type of track as the teams remain in Florida. That means this is the third set of totally differently build cars that the drivers will be using this week. That’s a lot of work for the teams to do in three short weeks although they probably had most of the work done in the off-season.

DIXIE VODKA 400

As mentioned above, the teams are once again in the state of Florida this week as they head to the Homestead-Miami Speedway for the running of the Dixie Vodka 400. This is one of those mile and a half tracks that are still prevalent on the circuit, though NASCAR has added some new tracks to the schedule.

Kevin Harvick: I have to go with one of the most consistent drivers from last year to win this race. We will be able to tell more after the first couple of races on the intermediate tracks about which teams and drivers have improved or fallen back on these tracks from where they were last year. Kevin was one of the drivers who was good each and every week last year on this type of track.

Chase Elliott: Last year’s champion got better and better as the year progressed last season. So far this year he is looking like a legitimate contender to retain that title. This race will tell us if the Hendrick cars have continued to improve after they all got better as the season went on last year. Once again he was very tough throughout the playoffs.

Denny Hamlin: Denny and Kevin fought it out week after week in the middle of the season last year. There’s no reason to think this team won’t be a contender most weeks again this year as they try to win their first championship together. They just need to be more consistent in the pits, both the crew and the driver. They need to cut down on their mistakes in this part of the race.

Kyle Busch: Though he had a rough season last year, Kyle still remains one of the best drivers on the circuit. We’ll find out if the team chemistry has gotten better this year which will allow Kyle to start winning multiple races early this year and get this team a chance to get ready for the playoffs and get their confidence back. He has been good at this track the last three seasons.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin was a bit disappointed with his teams performance on the intermediate tracks last year because they were so used to dominating for a couple of years previous to that. It seemed like he didn’t have a car that handled well at the beginning of races and had to make adjustments to get him towards the front, but they found it hard to win races. We’ll see if they figured something out for this year when there will be very few races that have practice sessions once again.

Joey Logano: All of the Penske drivers had fast cars on a weekly basis last season and Joey has always run well here. He won here back in the 2018 season and had a top five finish the year after. It seems as if this team has a good car early in the race they can compete, but if they miss on the initial setup it becomes a very long day for them.

Ryan Blaney: Another of the Penske drivers, Ryan is usually somewhere in the mix towards the front of the field. I think he still needs to learn to be a little more patient early in races and that will come with more experience. This is another team that can win almost every week if they can stay out of trouble of their own making.

Aric Almirola: Aric has excelled on the intermediate tracks the last couple of years and needs to make one more step in the right direction to start winning more races. We know the Stewart-Haas teams have the speed to win. This team just needs to believe in themselves more and not try to second guess when it comes to making decisions on adjustments during the race.

Brad Keselowski: Brad went on a streak of winning races on the intermediate tracks last season and he’s a past champion who knows what he needs to do to win races. With a fast car and with his crew together for the second season we might see a bit of that consistency early on this year.

Kyle Larson: Let’s not forget that Kyle is back now after being reinstated following a suspension last year. He is now with Hendrick Motorsports. I want to wait and see how the team works together before I start using him on my fantasy teams. It’s a long season so there’s no reason we can’t wait and see how the team gels before we use up some of his starts.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kevin Harvick

Driver Group Game Group B

• Aric Almirola
• Kyle Busch

Driver Group Game Group C

• Bubba Wallace

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Chase Elliott
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Kyle Busch
5. Martin Truex Jr.

Dark Horse: Christopher Bell

Stay Away From: Ryan Newman

Big 18: Kevin Harvick