Month: July 2021

The weeks are slowly winding down towards the playoffs. For some drivers without a win yet they might be winding down quite quickly though. Nobody wants to make the playoffs without a win under their belt. It’s hard to just turn it on all of a sudden and start winning races, which is what you need to do during the playoffs to win a championship.

FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO 301

This week the drivers head to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the running of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. This track is slightly longer than a mile and doesn’t have the banking we see at other tracks that are considered intermediate tracks on the circuit. What surprised me was that there are only seven active drivers who have won at this track. The question now is will one of these seven repeat again, or will we see a first time winner this week?

Denny Hamlin: I’m going to go out on a limb and say Denny wins this week. He has three career wins at Loudon and this is the type of track where he doesn’t need all the speed the Hendrick drivers have shown all year as the straightaways aren’t quite that long. It’s more about getting through the corners and getting back into the throttle early when exiting. I think Denny can do that this weekend and pick up the win.

Kyle Larson: None of the active Hendrick drivers have a win at this track. That is something that very well could change this week with the way they have run all year long. Of those four drivers I think Kyle has the best chance of winning this week. He’s been the most consistent of them week in and week out. He has also finished runner-up three times in his ten starts at this track. This might be the week he improves on that statistic.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has the most wins at this track among all active drivers with four. I still don’t know what’s wrong with this team. It’s true they don’t seem to have the speed the other teams have, but they usually have a better handling car than they have shown for most of the year. I don’t think they’re far off and they have run into their share of bad luck this season. This could be one of those races where they can get the car handling the way they like and do some damage.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is another driver looking for his first win at this track. He has had some dominant cars here only to see his hopes dashed away by some late race issue. In fact, Martin hasn’t finished outside of the top twenty here in his last eighteen starts and has finished in the top ten in six of his last seven starts at Loudon. He has lead around six hundred laps in his last seven starts here too. Could this be the week he wins for the first time here?

Brad Keselowski: Brad won this race last year and that was the second time he visited victory lane here. The Penske teams have shown some speed this year and the handling is the key in this race. They should have a fast car right off the truck this week with the notes they have from last year’s race and that is always a plus. If they have enough adjustment built into the car they will be a contender come the end of this year’s race.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has three wins and four runner-up finishes at New Hampshire. He has also been running much better recently than he did all of last season and at the beginning of this season. I think this team is so close to breaking out of a small slump and going on a tear where they can win multiple races in a row no matter what type of track they’re racing on. I look for him to run towards the front in this race and contend for the win at the end.

William Byron: William has only run three races here and has finished in the top fifteen in each of them. He has yet to finish in the top ten though. That could very well come to an end this week as he has shown a lot of improvement this season and we have all seen how fast the Hendrick cars are every week. I look for William to finish at least top ten this week and he could move into the top five too.

Aric Almirola: Aric has shown a lot of improvement over the past month or so. He has run pretty well here the past three races which are the only three he’s run for Stewart-Haas Racing. I don’t think he’ll win this race, but another top fifteen isn’t out of the question for this team. He could be a driver you might want to consider if you’re trying to make up some ground in your league. You never know when one of the top drivers is going to have an issue.

Joey Logano: Joey has eight top ten finishes in his last ten starts at New Hampshire. I think he and Paul Wolff are really working well together and communicating so they make the changes the driver is looking for. This could be the deciding factor on whether or not he wins this race. One bad decision coming from the pits could make of break a driver this weekend. We also know that this team isn’t afraid to do something outside the box to try and win a race.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Denny Hamlin

Driver Group Game Group B

• William Byron
• Aric Almirola

Driver Group Game Group C

• Bubba Wallace

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Ryan Newman

Stay Away From: Alex Bowman

Big 18: Kyle Busch

Chase Elliott did it again. This time he came from the back of the pack to win at a road course again and he did it by pulling away after taking the lead on the final restart of the race at Road America. He had over a six second lead as the drivers headed into the final lap and cruised home from there for his seventh road course victory in twelve starts.

QUAKER STATE 400 PRESENTED BY WALMART

This week the series heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the running of the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart. This is another of the intermediate tracks on the circuit and the pressure is starting to mount for drivers who don’t have a win yet this season as we are only six races away from the start of the playoffs. If we get a new winner who isn’t in the top sixteen in points it takes away another spot for someone to get in on points.

Kyle Larson: Larson has been the driver to beat on almost every track other than the road courses lately. I have to give him the nod to win again this weekend. The issue I have is I’m starting to run out of starts for him and might want to save him for some tracks where I think he has a better chance of winning, so I might not have him in my lineup this week. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use him. It is all dependent on if you can use him unlimited times or if you have a lot of his starts left.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin was the fastest driver on the intermediate tracks earlier this year, but has since cooled off a bit. He could turn it back on at any time. I don’t know if they have been experimenting a little bit to get ready for the playoffs or if they are just a bit out of sync right now. I can’t believe they could have made that big of changes that made him the person to beat to being a top ten driver on these tracks now.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin is one of those drivers who has a pretty good cushion to get into the playoffs on points without a win, but I’m sure that’s not how he wants to try and qualify. He has been very good at Atlanta lately with two wins in his last four starts and ten top ten finishes in his last eleven races at this track. This team just doesn’t seem to have the speed they need to compete with the Hendrick teams at this point of the season.

Denny Hamlin: Denny’s lone win at Atlanta came back in the 2012 season. He along with Kevin who were probably the top two drivers at this point in time last year is still looking for his first win of the season too. He is usually very good at this track also and has finished in the top five in three of his last four starts here. Once again he has a solid points cushion and should make the playoffs that way unless things really go south for him in the next six races.

Alex Bowman: Alex is really good on these intermediate tracks and won at Pocono a few weeks ago. He has three wins on the season and finished third here last season. We have seen that the Hendrick drivers seem to have more speed than all of the other teams although the Gibbs teams seem to be making some headway. Still, I think it’s a good idea to stick with some of the Hendrick drivers until they show vulnerability.

Chase Elliott: Wins on road courses, but doesn’t quite have what his teammates have on the intermediate tracks right now. I expect this to change quickly though. This team has so much confidence after last week’s win that they could carry that through this weekend and give the rest of the Hendrick drivers some competition this week too.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has been getting better every week and if he can win in the Xfinity series as much as he does he can win in the Cup series too. He did win at Kansas earlier this season which is a little bit like Atlanta. He has two career wins at Atlanta and has finished in the top ten in seven of his last nine starts there. This team could surprise at any time and go on a streak of winning.

Joey Logano: Don’t ask me what it is, but I just have this feeling that Joey is going to be fast this weekend and be a contender. There really isn’t anything in his stats that should make me think what I do. It’s just a feeling that I have. He has never won here, although he did finish second back in the 2013 season. Maybe it’s just that I need to make up some ground in my leagues and I want to take a shot at someone who I don’t think anyone else will have.

Aric Almirola: That feeling hit me again with Aric as he has run pretty well the last three races. Once again, there really isn’t anything in the stats that tells me he could run well this weekend and most of his finishes have been pretty dismal this year. He’s another driver I don’t think a lot of people will have on their rosters this week and could help you make up ground.

William Byron: William had his best finish here last season although he has only run four races at Atlanta. We know the Hendrick cars have the most speed and that gives them an advantage at a track like Atlanta. I’m think he is going to run in the top ten most of the day and could very well be a contender at the end of this race.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Joey Logano

Driver Group Game Group B

• Alex Bowman
• Kyle Busch

Driver Group Game Group C

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Larson
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Kyle Busch
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Alex Bowman

Dark Horse: Matt DiBenedetto

Stay Away From: Ross Chastain

Big 18: Joey Logano