Author: Jeff Gutowski

The championship four are set for the culmination of the season. If the Martinsville race was any indication of what we can expect this weekend we are in for an exciting race. Who will be this year’s champion? Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, or Martin Trues Jr.. Two Hendrick drivers and two Gibbs drivers. The two teams that have been the best all season long.

NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP

The series concludes with the final race of the season at the Phoenix Raceway with the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race. For the second consecutive season we are on a shorter, flatter track for this race. Not like when they always ran on a mile and a half track in past seasons. I think all of these drivers have an equal chance to win this week and qualifying is going to be crucial for them. Getting the best stalls on pit road could be the difference in this race.

Kyle Larson: He’s the driver who’s been given the best odds to win this year’s championship for quite some time now. He’s the only driver of the championship four that has never won at this track. However, he does have a second and two third place finishes here. He has also finished in the top ten in each of his last five starts here with three of those being top five finishes. I think he gets the job done this week.

Chase Elliott: Chase won this race last year and with that won the championship. I truly believe that Kevin Harvick will not let Chase win the championship this year. I’ve never known him to say something and not follow through on it. This is why I will have Chase as my stay away from driver this week. Could I be wrong? Yes, but I don’t think so. If I am wrong, then Chase looked very good last week at Martinsville and runs well on this type of track and could repeat as champion.

Denny Hamlin: Denny won the fall race here two years ago and has finished in the top five in five of his last seven starts at the track. They are going to have to avoid pit road penalties that they are prone to have in this race. Qualifying will also be huge for this team and all teams as the person who wins the pole will get their choice of that first pit stall.

Martin Truex Jr.: The last qualifier won the spring race at Phoenix this year. That means he should have a pretty good setup when they take the car of the truck. If he can get it dialed in during practice and have a good qualifying run he is going to be a contender too. We probably couldn’t ask for a more competitive group for this years championship.

Kyle Busch: With nine top five finishes in his last twelve starts at this track, the rest of the championship drivers must be thrilled that Kyle came just short of making the top four. That doesn’t mean this team is done trying to win and I don’t think they are going to let any teammates pass them without earning it. A win is how this team wants to finish the season.

Kevin Harvick: With seven wins and three runner up finishes in his last eighteen starts here, Kevin will have a car good enough to win this race. He will also have a car good enough to get close to Chase Elliott and that will be the part of the race we’ll want to watch for. Will Kevin make good on his threat to make sure Chase doesn’t win this year’s championship. Will he do something early in the race, late in the race or not do anything?

Brad Keselowski: Brad had a good run last weekend at Martinsville and would like nothing to end his tenure with Team Penske with a win for Roger. They have nothing to lose in this race and have no teammates running for the championship. In fact, there are no Ford’s in this year’s championship either so they have nothing to worry about other than trying to get to the checkered flag first.

Joey Logano: With three straight top three finishes at this track they will be a contender once again in this race. It just seems that they have been off for most of the second half of the season and I don’t know if they are ready to win again. They might do better after they can practice instead of just taking their car off the truck and trying to race with it. They’ll be able to make adjustments early in the weekend that can help right from the start of the race.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR PHOENIX RACEWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Denny Hamlin
• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Aric Almirola
• Alex Bowman
• William Byron

Driver Group Game Group C

• Bubba Wallace
• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT PHOENIX RACEWAY

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

Dark Horse: William Byron

Stay Away From: Chase Elliott

Big 18: Tyler Reddick

Congratulations to Kyle Larson for winning again this weekend and solidifying his position as the person to beat for this year’s championship. With one race to go before the championship race, there are still seven other drivers who have a shot at making that race, but only three of them will. Who will it be?

XFINITY 500

This week the series heads to the Martinsville Speedway for the running of the Xfinity 500. This is the final race to qualify for the championship race and it is too early to tell who will make it in and who won’t. All we know for sure at this point is the Kyle Larson will race for the championship. Who he will race against is up in the air.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin currently sits three points below the cutline, but the good news is he has a good shot at winning this week and automatically qualifying for the championship. He has won three of the last four Martinsville races and has six top five finishes in his last eight starts here. Another top five finish will most likely propel him into the championship race.

Brad Keselowski: At only six points below the cutline this team still has a great shot at making the final race. Brad has nine top five finishes in his last eleven starts at the track including two wins. He isn’t afraid to mix it up with the other drivers on the track and a little bump and run doesn’t bother him much, so he has a good shot at winning once again.

Ryan Blaney: Only one point below the cutline can be made up very easily. Ryan has four top five finishes in his last five starts at Martinsville including back to back runner-up finishes last season. He might not need to win, but a top five is something that he will be striving for in the least. If one of the bottom four driver wins this race then more points need to be made up to unseat someone who is already in the top four.

Chase Elliott: With four top five finishes in his last five starts here, Chase is feeling pretty good going into this race. He won this one last year and should have a lot of confidence this week. The question is, will Kevin Harvick leave him alone or will he make life miserable for Chase this week? I do believe he is going to do something in one of the next two races like he promised.

Denny Hamlin: With a seemingly good cushion in points this team really doesn’t need to win, but early issues could make that points lead shrink in a hurry. This team needs to avoid mistakes in the pits that has cost them in years past. The good news is that Denny has finished in the top five here in four of his last six starts. Avoiding penalties is this teams biggest challenge this week.

Kyle Busch: Even after hitting the wall multiple times last week, Kyle still finds himself in the top four in the standings for the time being. He only has a one point lead and know that he might need to win this race to get in. If their car isn’t handling well at the beginning of the race and he gets frustrated they’re done. If he has a car that can stay in touch with the front of the pack they have a chance. He had a streak of eight straight top five finishes here that ended a couple of seasons ago, but if they can get back to that handling all is well again.

Joey Logano: Joey has only won here once in his career and being twenty-six points below the cutline and with three other drivers in front of him in the standing this is probably another must win situation for him. He’s been pretty good here in his career, but hasn’t been as consistent as any of the other playoff drivers which makes this an even tougher task to accomplish. I have a feeling things won’t go quite as planned for this team.

Kyle Larson: This team looks almost unbeatable, but this week they are going to have their work cutout for themselves. Kyle has never run great at this track although he did finish fifth here this spring. In thirteen career starts he has only finished in the top ten three times. He should be thankful that this isn’t the championship track.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kurt Busch
• Christopher Bell

Driver Group Game Group C

• Daniel Suarez

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Kyle Busch

Dark Horse: Tyler Reddick

Stay Away From: Austin Dillon

Big 18: Tyler Reddick

Kyle Larson wasted no time in securing a spot in the championship race by winning at Texas this past weekend. The odds on favorite to win this years championship didn’t have much of a problem winning his eighth win of the season and third of the playoffs. Joey Logano took the biggest hit when he lost an engine late in the race and now sits forty-three points below the cut line. He’s probably going to need to win to make it in.

HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400

This week the series heads to the Kansas Speedway for the running of the Hollywood Casino 400. This is the second race of the round of eight and only three more drivers can make the championship race. Things are going to heat up as these seven drivers try to win one of the next two races or position themselves to get in on points.

Kyle Larson: How can you not pick Kyle to win every week through the end of the year? He has nothing to lose and nothing to gain. They might try to do some testing for next year, but I think they just try to stay focused and keep winning races. As dominant as he was last weekend there’s no reason to think he can’t do it again this week.

Kyle Busch: Kyle won the race here back in May of this year and had a pretty good early showing last week at Texas. This team knows that they almost have to win one of the next two races to make the championship and they can win either of those. The Gibbs drivers don’t seem quite as fast as the Hendrick drivers, but Kyle doesn’t want to head to Martinsville needing to win.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin hasn’t won here since sweeping the races here back in the 2017 season. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been good here though either. He has only finished outside of the top ten once in his last nine starts at Kansas. The problem is they just don’t seem to be in the same groove they were in for a few years at the intermediate tracks.

Chase Elliott: Chase won at Kansas during the fall of 2018 and has finished in the top six in five of his last six starts there. He currently sits just below the cutline, but that doesn’t really matter right now with two races to go. The question is, when will Kevin Harvick make sure he doesn’t win the championship again this year? I think he waits until Phoenix if Chase makes it in.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan has run well here his whole career, but lately he hasn’t been getting the types of finishes he would expect. In his last four starts at Kansas he has scored points in every stage, yet he has only finished in the top twenty once. They are going to have to figure out why they can’t finish a race here in the top ten consistently and get that corrected this week. He should have a car capable of winning this race.

Brad Keselowski: Brad had a good run at Texas last week and needs to continue that momentum this week at Kansas. He finished third in the May race and has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts including a win in the spring of 2019. All they need to do is the same thing they did last week and hope for a little bit of luck.

Joey Logano: After losing an engine late in last weeks race this team really needs to win one of the next two races. He won this race last season, but they haven’t run consistently well with only three top ten finishes in their last nine races. This could be the beginning of the end for them for this season.

Denny Hamlin: Denny won back to back races here in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He currently sits in third place, but only has a nine point cushion. Nobody is truly in or out at this point with two races left to determine the championship four so they can’t sit back and points race. He has scored points in each stage in the last five races so that’s something else he’s got going for himself.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR KANSAS SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Ryan Blaney

Driver Group Game Group B

• Alex Bowman
• Christopher Bell

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chase Briscoe

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Larson
2. Kyle Busch
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Brad Keselowski

Dark Horse: Tyler Reddick

Stay Away From: Matt DiBenedetto

Big 18: Austin Dillon

The field of eight is set for the next three races to see which four of those drivers will race for this year’s championship. I still think Kyle Larson has to be the odds on favorite to win his first championship when everything is said and done. This round will consist of two intermediate tracks followed by a short track race.

AUTOTRADER ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE 500

This week the series heads back to the Texas Motor Speedway to kick off the round of eight. This is a mile and a half track and speed is the name of the game here. Drivers should be getting close to if not over 200 mph on the straightaways. A mistake on pit road late in the race could cost someone a shot a championship.

Kyle Busch: I’m going to pick Kyle to win this weeks race and propel himself into the championship race. He has won three of the last ten races here including last year’s October race. He knows that he’s going to have to win a race most likely to advance and this is one of the best tracks for him and we’ve seen the Gibbs drivers getting a bit faster as the season progressed.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan has six top ten finishes in his last seven Texas starts. This team really came on late in the season and this is the type of track where they started to show some speed and that they can run with the Hendrick and Gibbs teams. They should have a car fast enough to have a shot here once again.

Denny Hamlin: Denny has won three races here with the last of those coming during the 2019 season. This team has had their hopes dashed in past seasons because of mistakes they make and that is my worry here once again. Have they excised those demons and can they string some good races together and have a shot at Phoenix?

Kyle Larson: Kyle won the All-Star Race at this track earlier this year and that should give them a lot of confidence that they will have a fast good handling car right off the truck this week. After winning last week’s race he will have an excellent starting position and could possibly be the pole sitter. He could very well jump out to a sizable lead and maintain that speed throughout the race.

Joey Logano: Joey has six top five and nine top ten finishes at Texas in his last ten starts there. Those are really good stats and the Penske teams seem to have more speed than the other teams who are running Ford’s. I already said the Ryan Blaney has a shot here and Joey does too. He seems to quietly place himself in a position to win when he really needs to.

Kevin Harvick: Despite Kevin finishing in the top ten including three wins in his last thirteen Texas races this team just doesn’t seem to have what it takes to win a race this season. I just don’t see them flipping a switch this week and coming away with a win. Especially not that they have been eliminated from the playoffs. Most likely just going to try and figure out how to fix things for next season.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has eight straight top ten finishes at Texas, but none of those finishes have been top five’s. I don’t know where Chip Ganassi sits right now as these will be the last four races he gets to watch with a car he owns. Kurt is also moving on to a new team next year, so I’ll say we don’t want to really take a chance on him the rest of this year.

Chase Elliott: I don’t know what’s going to happen this week with the feud that has developed between Chase and Kevin Harvick. I’m sure a lot of it is just frustration on Kevin’s part, but will he continue to try and wreck Chase’s chances and will NASCAR put an end to it by some other means?

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Ryan Blaney

Driver Group Game Group B

• Aric Almirola
• Alex Bowman

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chase Briscoe

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Busch
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Joey Logano
5. Kyle Larson

Dark Horse: Tyler Reddick

Stay Away From: Kevin Harvick

Big 18: Aric Almirola

Congratulations to Bubba Wallace for picking up his first ever Cup win and the first win for 23XI Racing. Many drivers get their first win on the restrictor plate tracks and Bubba finished second in his very first Daytona 500. This should give this team more confidence as they head to the future and grow this team.

BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL 400

This will be a bit of a short week for the teams as they had to compete on Monday because of the rain at Talladega. It shouldn’t be too bad though seeing they will have a totally different type of car for this week’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course as they all try to conquer the Bank of America ROVAL 400. This is also the last race in the round of twelve so four more drivers will be eliminated after this race.

Chase Elliott: Chase has won two of the three races run on this track and those were the last two. He is just so good on this type of track that it’s hard not to use him in your lineup. He should finish top five even if he doesn’t win the race. The only thing that can stop him is poor pit stops, penalties, or someone wrecking him.

Kyle Larson: After getting caught up in a wreck at the end of stage one at Talladega last week, this teams points cushion took a bit of a hit. He still sits in second place in the standings with a twenty-two point cushion which is still pretty comfortable. He would have to have some pretty serious problems this week to not make it. He has led laps in each of his two starts here, but hasn’t cracked the top ten in the race results.

Ryan Blaney: The only other driver besides Chase to win on this track. Ryan won the first race when he got a gift from Jimmie Johnson who was trying to make a pass on Martin Truex Jr. late in the first race and he just drove by them both for the win. With only a fifteen point cushion himself this week, Ryan will need to be a bit patient early on and then he can make some moves later on.

Alex Bowman: Alex has two top five and three top ten finishes at the track and has shown that he can race at places like this. He is fifty-two points below the cut line right now, so he almost has to win to make it into the round of eight. second place won’t do him any good, so if he’s in contention at the end he won’t hesitate to move everyone else out of the way.

Joey Logano: Joey finished second to Chase in this race last year and has three top ten finishes in as many starts at the Charlotte Roval. He currently sits third in the standings with a twenty-one point cushion above the cut line. Playing it safe pretty much guarantees him to move on and that’s looking at the big picture. Most of the playoff drivers who feel they have enough of a point cushion will probably play it safe.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin hasn’t won at a road course for a little bit, but he is always a contender. He fought back for a twelfth place finish last week after sustaining some damage early on. You can never count this team out and Martin never gives up. Unlike one of his teammates who gets pouty once in a while when things aren’t going as well as he would like.

Kyle Busch: Kyle currently holds the eight place position in the standings nine points ahead of Kevin Harvick. The problem here is that he hasn’t finished better than thirtieth in his three starts on this course. He’s going to have to do much better than that if he wants to have a shot at winning another title.

Kevin Harvick: On the other hand, Kevin hasn’t finished worse than eleventh in his three starts here. Will a tenth place finish be enough to get him into the round of eight. He can’t rely on points alone because if one of the three playoff drivers below him wins this race he has to pass two people on points. He doesn’t have much choice other than to go hard all day and try and win this race.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has two top five finishes in his three starts here and always seems to have a shot on the road course races. As his career winds down at Chip Ganassi Racing he would love to get Chip another win before the team changes owners at the end of the year. Already eliminated from the playoffs he has nothing left this year, but to try and win a race. Any other position has no meaning for them.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE

Driver Group Game Group A

• Chase Elliott

Driver Group Game Group B

• Alex Bowman
• Kurt Busch

Driver Group Game Group C

• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE

1. Chase Elliott
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Joey Logano
4. Kurt Busch
5. Alex Bowman

Dark Horse: Alex Bowman

Stay Away From: Kyle Busch

Big 18: Ryan Newman