Congratulations to Kyle Busch who dominated the race at Martinsville last weekend and is now qualified for the Chase. A number of teams who have had a rough start to the season ran very well this past weekend and came away with top ten finishes and a lot of confidence heading into this week’s race at Texas.
DUCK COMMANDER 500
Texas Motor Speedway is another of the mile-and-a-half tracks on the circuit and is very similar to Atlanta where the series has already run once this season. This is one of the fastest tracks in the series and you will see speeds in excess of 200-mph this weekend. This is also the first night race of the season and is going to be run on Saturday, so make sure you get your rosters set before you can’t change them for whatever league you are in.
Jimmie Johnson: Once again I am picking Jimmie to win the race this weekend at Texas. Jimmie has six wins at Texas including winning three of the past four races here. He also won the race at Atlanta earlier this season and like I said, this track is very similar to that track. I am going to stick with Jimmie on this type of track until someone can prove that they can beat him on one of them.
Kevin Harvick: Kevin is still looking for his first win at this track and always seems to have a fast car every week. He led a third of the race at Atlanta earlier this year before finishing sixth in that race. He has also finished in the top ten here in fourteen of his twenty-six starts and will be one of the drivers who should give Jimmie a run for his money this weekend.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale finished second to Jimmie at Atlanta this year, has one win at Texas, and has finished in the top ten in nine of his last ten starts at this track. Those are some of the most consistent stats in those past ten races of anyone on the circuit. This team has come so close to winning already this season and this might be the weekend that they break into the win column and get themselves qualified for the Chase.
Matt Kenseth: Matt has picked up two wins at Texas during his career and has some pretty great stats here himself. Besides those two wins, Matt has finished in the top five thirteen times in twenty-six starts. Anytime a driver can finish in the top five in half of his starts at any track, he is someone to consider having on your roster every time he visits that particular track.
Kurt Busch: Kurt has stats very similar to his teammate, Kevin Harvick, at Texas Motor Speedway. He has the same number of starts at twenty-six and the same number of top ten finishes here. He has one win and has led more than twice as many laps as Kevin has at this track during his career. I think this team will have a car just as good as Kevin does once again this weekend and they are another team that could pick up their first win of the season if all of the cards fall right for them.
Carl Edwards: Carl has won three races at Texas which is second only to Jimmie Johnson’s six wins among all active drivers. It seems that all of the Joe Gibbs teams are fast and have cars capable of winning races each and every week if they can make the right adjustments as the track changes throughout the race. Night races seem to be a little easier on the crew-chiefs decision making once the sun is gone and the track temperature doesn’t change a lot anymore during the race.
Kyle Busch: Kyle has one win here and has finished in the top five in five of his last six starts at this track. Now that this team has picked up a win they can relax a little bit and I think that will just make them even better. Kyle is another driver who has finished in the top five here in almost half of the races he has run here with nine top fives in twenty starts.
Joey Logano: Joey didn’t run real well here at the start of his career, but he has been very good here over the past few seasons. In his last six starts over the past three seasons, Joey has one win and four top five finishes. I think this team is at their best on this type of track and I think they will have something to say before the end of Saturday nights race.
Martin Truex Jr.: Martin has been very good at this type of track while racing for Furniture Row. He has ten top ten finishes in his twenty-one career starts and is looking for his first win at this track and his first win of the season. This team is always fun to watch on the intermediate tracks and will be towards the front of the pack at some point during the race and it might be all of the race.
Brad Keselowski: Brad is still looking for his first win at Texas and has run almost as well as his teammate, Joey Logano has lately. Brad has finished in the top five in his last three starts here and he has finished in the top ten in six of his last seven starts here. That tells me that both of the Penske teammates will be a factor in this weekend’s race.
YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Yahoo Driver Group A
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
Yahoo Driver Group B
- Carl Edwards
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Austin Dillon
- Greg Biffle
Yahoo Driver Group C
- Brian Vickers
- Chase Elliott
MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Busch
Dark Horse: Austin Dillon
Stay Away From: Ryan Newman
Big 18: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
15 replies on “2016 Texas Motor Speedway, Duck Commander 500”
Whats the reason to stay away from Ryan Newman this week, he has a good track record at Texas? My B class is getting slim and I hate to keep using Martin Truex Jr. and not conserve him for the later part of the race season?
and whats your opinion on AJ Allmendinger this week? Could he possibly be a surprise B Class pick for this week? Again I am trying to conserve Edwards and Truex Jr. as much as possible.
As for Ryan Newman, he has finished in the top ten here in only two of his last fifteen starts and his best finish was ninth during that stretch. I just think there are better drivers to use this week. AJ Allmendinger’s best finish here is a 10th place finish which he has done twice in fourteen starts. I think AJ is good on the short flat tracks and the road courses, I just don’t think he has the equipment to compete on these intermediate tracks against the better funded teams.
My B group is the same as yours other than Biffle. I have McMurray. Did you take Biffle on his past success here because McMurray has been better the last three races here. What do you think of Mac at this track?
The truth is McMurray will probably run better than Biffle this weekend. I’m still not sure the Roush teams have the speed they need to compete this year, but I wanted to have Biffle on my roster just in case he is fast during practice and qualifying. I did the same thing with Bowyer last week and he didn’t pan out for me.
I did the same with Bowyer last week as well. I take Chase Elliott for that same reason in the C group but I am riding Vickers no matter what.
What is Big 18 ?
It is a type of league that some people have asked for advice on where you pick any driver every week and receive his points for that race. The catch is that you can only use each driver twice during the season. Most people will use 18 drivers twice each thus the Big 18 name.
What are your thoughts on Chase elliot getting a top ten here at texas?
Chase has run very good on the intermediate tracks this season and I don’t see any reason for that to change this weekend. I think he has a great chance to finish in the top 10.
Kenseth or Harvick?
Tough choice this week. Harvick!
I was Kenseth all week up until happy hour and now I am not sure. Very tough. Again thanks for your input.
I was with Kenseth too and like you saw what happened in Happy Hour and think Harvick might be the better choice now.
Based on what my group has picked and a bit of a gut feeling, I went with Kenseth. I was the only one with Kenseth so I am hoping it pays off. Plus I have used Harvick twice this season and this will be my first pick with Kenseth. We are a group of people from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.