Author: Jeff Gutowski

Tough break with the race being postponed this Sunday at Dover. This week’s race will be the last race before the All-Star weekend at Charlotte. I think the week at Charlotte will afford the teams a lot of practice time to try and get better at the mile and a half tracks. It should also let NASCAR look at what they could do to make the racing a little more interesting for the fans.

DIGITAL ALLY 400

This week the series heads to the Kansas Speedway for the running of the Digital Ally 400. As mentioned above, this in another of the intermediate tracks with the new aero package that are prevalent on the circuit. We know the Ford and Toyota teams have had a big advantage over the Bow Tie Brigade so far this season, but those teams made some headway at Texas about a month ago. Now we will see if that was a fluke or if they really have something cooking.

Martin Truex Jr.: I am going to pick Martin to win once again this weekend. He swept the races here in 2017 and then followed that up with a second place finish in this race last season and then came back and finished fifth here in the fall. This team has looked very good on this type of track so far this season and that should continue this week.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan has been very good here the past two seasons. He has qualified in the top five in three of those four starts and finished in the top ten in three of them also. He has scored points in each of the stages in those races and won two of those stages. We have seen how fast the Penske teams have been all year and this could be the place for him to pick up his first win of the season.

Kyle Busch: Kyle is on a streak of eight straight top ten starting positions and finishes including his only win at this track. He has been the cream of the crop so far this season and has even come back from penalties to challenge for wins. We can’t use him every week in the DGG league or we would probably have him in our starting lineup every week.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has won two of the last five races at Kansas including this race last season. This team seems to be just slightly off with the new aero package, but they have been close. He has finished either first or second in six of his last eleven starts here too. It is going to be hard to decide which two of the Big Three to have on our roster this week.

Aric Almirola: Aric has finished in the top ten in each of his last three starts here and has been at his best all season. This team looks like they can contend for a championship this year if they keep improving. He is another driver where we have to pick and choose where we want to start him as we will use all of his starts by the end of the season.

Chase Elliott: Chase has run better here in the fall than they have in the spring race. Chase won the fall race last year and has scored points in each of the stages in the fall races. In his last two spring races, Chase hasn’t scored any points in the stages. At this point of the season I am going to keep him off my roster for now and see how this team progresses on this type of track.

Joey Logano: Joey has been very good here since the fall of 2013. Since that time he has won twice at this track and has seven top five finishes. That is in only eleven races. We have already talked about how fast the Penske drivers have been all season and they have an excellent shot at picking up another win for Team Penske.

Kyle Larson: Kyle finished in the top five in both of his starts here last year and won the second stage in this race. This team has struggled mightily so far this season with the new rules package and I’m not sure if I want to take a chance on him at this stage of the season. I think they will get better as the year progresses, so we will leave him off our roster this week.

Denny Hamlin: Denny is driver who has been up and down at this track in his career. With already having won this year this team might be working on a few things for the playoffs as this track and a bunch more like it come during those playoffs. I really think this team is dialed in on the short flat tracks and those are the places we should use him.

Erik Jones: Erik has been very good here during his short career and finished in the top ten in both races last season. He has also scored points here in six of the last eight stages that have been run. Opposite of Denny, Erik seems to be better on these intermediate tracks than he is on the short tracks. He could be a good option this week.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR KANSAS SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kevin Harvick

Driver Group Game Group B

• Ryan Blaney
• Aric Almirola
• Erik Jones
• Austin Dillon

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chris Buescher
• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kyle Busch
5. Joey Logano

Dark Horse: Alex Bowman

Stay Away From: Ryan Newman

Big 18: Ryan Blaney

So, now we know that the changes to the aero package at Talladega and Daytona doesn’t really change the way the races play out at those tracks. It is still pack racing like we are used to seeing with the possibility of having a crash that will take out a lot of drivers at one time. I’m glad to see that most of you didn’t use drivers that you are going to use all of their starts for in last week’s fantasy lineups.

GANDER RV 400

This week the series heads to the Dover International Speedway for the running of the Gander RV 400. This is a one-mile high banked concrete oval and is also known as The Monster Mile. This is another of my favorite venues to watch a race at. The racing seems to be fast paced with multiple grooves available for passing. Hopefully that will remain the same with the new larger spoiler on the cars.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is my pick to win this week’s race at the Monster Mile. He has qualified in the top three in his last five races here and finished in the top five in four of those races. He has also scored points in seven of the eight stages he has run here. The Toyota’s look as good as the Ford’s right now for speed and Martin has shown he knows how to get around this track.

Daniel Suarez: Daniel is my dark horse this week and I think everyone should have him on their roster. He has finished in the top ten in all four races he has run here and his team looks very good every week with Stewart-Haas Racing. I think he makes a run at a win this week and comes away with at least a top ten finish once again.

Chase Elliott: Chase has five top five finishes in his six career starts at Dover. After picking up a win at Talladega last week, this team has some momentum right now. He has been the best of all the Chevy drivers this season and we saw that the Hendrick teams found some more speed at Texas. If that speed holds, Chase will be a contender for back to back wins this weekend.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie is another of the Hendrick drivers that showed speed at Texas and has won an impressive eleven races at Dover. He should definitely be on your roster this week and then we can decide if we want to start him or sit him after qualifying and practice is over. This race is one of the races this team has a great chance at breaking back into the win column in.

Kyle Busch: Kyle should be on our radar each and every week. Not that we will have him on our roster, but we need to think about where we really want to use him. Looking at his stats at Dover I see that he runs very well here in the fall, but only average in the spring race. In the last five spring races at Dover, Kyle’s best finish is sixteenth and he finished worse than thirtieth in the other four races. Might want to leave him off our rosters this week.

Denny Hamlin: Denny has five top ten finishes in his last six starts at this track and will be looking for a little redemption this week after getting involved in an early crash at Talladega last week. Once again, this team is looking for nothing other than collecting playoff points and you get those by winning stages and races.

Kurt Busch: Kurt finished fifth in both of the races here last season and has looked very good this season with his new Chip Ganassi team. I think he is going to be competitive once again this week and this team will eventually win a race this sometime this season. Could this be the week for him?

Kevin Harvick: Kevin won this race last year and won all four stages here in both of the races. They are still looking for their first win of the season and this is one of the tracks where they should have a good chance of picking that up. The only concern I have with him is his pit crew seems to make a lot of mistakes and that costs him a lot of spots on the track. On the other hand, he has lead more laps than any other driver at this track over the past two seasons.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has lead laps in the last three races he has run here and scored stage points in all six of the stages run in those races. We know how fast the Penske teams have all been this season and that is another advantage he will have this weekend. My concern with him is that they know they already are in the playoffs and will have a different strategy to try and get themselves the win to collect playoff points. That can backfire on them and they might not have the finish we are looking for.

Clint Bowyer: Clint finished second in this race last year and has finished in the top ten in over half of his twenty-six career starts at Dover. These guys have shown a lot of improvement in Clint’s third season with Stewart-Haas Racing. I look for him to run with the leaders for most of the day and to come away with at least another top ten finish this weekend.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kevin Harvick

Driver Group Game Group B

• Daniel Suarez
• Kurt Busch
• Jimmie Johnson
• Clint Bowyer

Driver Group Game Group C

• Matt DiBenedetto
• Chris Buescher

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Chase Elliott
4. Daniel Suarez
5. Jimmie Johnson

Dark Horse: Daniel Suarez

Stay Away From: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Big 18: Jimmie Johnson

We are a quarter of the way through the season now and Kyle Busch leads the series with three wins and sits at the top of the standings. Some things to note at this point of the season are as follows. The Chevrolet teams haven’t been able to compete on the intermediate tracks yet, but they showed some improvement at Texas a few weeks ago. Kevin Harvick is still looking for his first win of the season, yet he sits in fourth place in the standings. Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez both look very good on their new teams, and Austin Dillon is having a great year so far.

GEICO 500

After a week off to celebrate the Easter holiday the series heads to the Talladega Superspeedway for the second restrictor plate race of the season. This is the first restrictor plate race where they will run the new aero package and I’m not expecting much difference than any other restrictor plate race. Drivers will still have to use the draft to make any moves. If nobody goes with a driver I don’t think they will be able to make a pass on their own. If you fall out of the draft you are going to be in big trouble this weekend.

Brad Keselowski
With five wins at this track already in his career and the speed the Penske drivers have shown all year, I am picking Brad to win here once again. Both he and Joey Logano work well together here and even with the new aero package I still think the Ford’s will be the manufacturer to beat. I am going to load up on them once again for this race.

Joey Logano
If Brad doesn’t win I think he pushes one of his teammates to win here. Joey has three wins here himself and has lead five more laps in his career at this track than Brad has. If they don’t get greedy at the end of the race and both try for the win, Roger Penske can mark this one in the books.

Ryan Blaney: Let’s not forget the third Penske driver. Ryan has run well for the most part this year until something happens to him late in the race. If he can stay out of trouble early on he will be right there with the rest of his teammates at the end competing for his first win of the season. The only thing about the B drivers is I don’t necessarily want to use the best ones here because of the potential for the big wreck to take them out.

Kevin Harvick
Kevin runs well at every track he goes to and you might not here much about him early in the race if he doesn’t qualify well because then he will just drive around at the back of the pack and just try to stay out of trouble. Then, at the end of the race he will make his move towards the front and try to use that strategy to pull off a win here.

Denny Hamlin
Denny won the Daytona 500 this year and always seems to run well on the restrictor plate tracks. Granted, they are going to run a different package here than at Daytona and the car he won there with is down in Daytona U.S.A. for the year. I still think this team will have something to say about getting to the front at the end of the day.

Kurt Busch
Kurt has run well here in the past and always seems to lead laps in the races. He has finished in the top ten in over half of his thirty-six starts at Talladega and is looking for his first win at this track. I have a feeling the Ganassi drivers are going to have some pretty good cars this weekend.

Austin Dillon: Austin always runs well at the restrictor plate tracks himself and one of his two career wins came in the Daytona 500 last year. Even after a horrific crash at Daytona back in July of 2015, Austin goes about racing on these tracks as business as usual. I think he is a good sleeper to have on your team this weekend.

Paul Menard
Paul is in his first season with the Wood Brothers and he runs well on the restrictor plate tracks. Combine these two and you have the potential for a minor upset this weekend. Remember when Trevor Bayne wont he Daytona 500 for the Wood Brothers back in 2011 and they have been competitive on this type of track every year. He is my dark horse this week.

Clint Bowyer
Clint has two wins at this track and has finished in the top ten in half of the twenty-six races he has run at this track. This team seems to be getting a little better every week and we know they have the speed of the Ford engines under their hood. I think Clint needs to just be patient early in the race and try to stay out of trouble and he will have a chance at the win at the end.

Aric Almirola
Aric is the only active driver to finish in the top ten in each of his last five starts here including a win in the fall race last season. This team has looked very good all year and once again I am reluctant to have him on my roster this week due to the fact of the potential for the big wreck to take out half of the field through no fault of their own.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Brad Keselowski
• Joey Logano

Driver Group Game Group B

• Paul Menard
• Austin Dillon
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Alex Bowman

Driver Group Game Group C

• Micheal McDowell
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

1. Brad Keselowski
2. Joey Logano
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Aric Almirola

Dark Horse: Paul Menard

Stay Away From: Erik Jones

Big 18: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

We finally got to see an exciting race this past weekend at Bristol right up until the end when Kyle Busch ran away from his brother to secure his third win of the season. The Penske drivers dominated most of the race, but at the end Kyle rallied from an early race accident to claim the victory.

TOYOTA OWNERS 400

This week the drivers head to Richmond, VA and the Richmond Raceway for the running of the Toyota Owners 400. This is the first Saturday race of the season, so make sure and get your rosters set on time this week. Richmond is another short track at just three-quarters of a mile in length without a lot of banking. I’m thinking this should be another decent race to watch.

Kyle Busch
I have to stick with Kyle to win again this weekend. He won both races here last year and has won here six times overall in his career. He has also finished in the top five in seventeen of his twenty-seven starts at this track. He has been the most consistent driver on the circuit this year and has finished in the top ten in all eight races he has run this year.

Denny Hamlin
Denny has looked pretty good himself this season and has three career wins at this track. He has finished in the top six in six of his last seven starts here and has led more laps here than any other active driver. Give him eleven top five finishes in twenty-five starts and he is another driver you might want on your roster this week.

Kevin Harvick
Kevin is another driver with three wins here. He has also finished in the top five fourteen times and the top ten twenty-three times in thirty-six career starts. He has been off a little bit this season compared to the last couple of seasons and it seems that he still has a lot of issues with his pit crew making mistakes on pit stops.

Joey Logano
Joey has two wins at Richmond and eight top five finishes in his twenty career starts here. He had a streak of nine straight top ten finishes broken here last fall when he finished fourteenth in that race. Regardless, the Penske teams have all looked fast all season long and Joey might be a better pick than Denny this weekend.

Chase Elliott: Chase finished second in this race last year and has three straight top ten finishes here. He has been close all year, but seems to get into some kind of trouble on the track not of his own making. I think he is going to be good here once again this weekend and could possibly win his first race of the year.

Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie ran alright at Bristol last week, but I think he knows he can do better and his team is moving in the right direction. This is another week we could put him on our roster as he has three wins at this track and hasn’t finished worse than eleventh in his last nine starts here. Once again this track isn’t so much about the speed of the cars, but the handling and that is where he can make big strides.

Brad Keselowski
Brad has finished eleventh or better in nine of his last ten starts at this track. He has looked very good all year and this week should be no different. I’m not exactly sure what happened to him before the last restart at Bristol where he got penalized for not following NASCAR directions on where to line up and I’m sure that will get straightened out this week.

Kurt Busch
Kurt has been having a great year so far and he runs well at Richmond most of the time. In fact, Kurt has finished eleventh or better in seven of his last nine starts, has scored stage points in five of the last six stages, and lead almost a hundred laps in this race last year. This is the type of track where he really excels.

Martin Truex Jr.
Martin is still looking for his first career short track win and this is one of the short tracks where he is very good. He has scored points in seven of the last stage run here and won three of those. In the last three races here, Martin has led 472 laps. He has started in the top five in his last four starts also. I look for him to contend once again this weekend.

Clint Bowyer
Clint is very good at this track also and is looking for a little redemption this week after having a great chance to win at Bristol last week until he and Joey Logano got together and Clint cut a tire and hit the wall late in the race. He has fourteen top ten finishes in twenty-six starts at Richmond along with two wins.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR RICHMOND RACEWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kyle Busch
• Joey Logano

Driver Group Game Group B

• Denny Hamlin
• Kurt Busch
• Clint Bowyer
• Jimmie Johnson

Driver Group Game Group C

• Ryan Preece
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT RICHMOND RACEWAY

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

Dark Horse: Daniel Suarez

Stay Away From: Auston Dillon

Big 18: Joey Logano

Once again, not a very exciting race this past weekend. The only thing that kept it kind of close were different pit strategies and drivers going off sequence. In the end there was never a challenge for the lead the last 30 laps or so. What did we learn? The Hendrick teams made huge gains on the intermediate tracks with Jimmie Johnson finishing fifth and William Byron in sixth. They have found something and we will see if they can repeat that in the near future.

FOOD CITY 500

The series heads to my favorite track on the circuit this week as the drivers go to the Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City 500. This short high banked oval tends to give some exciting fast racing as it takes around 15 seconds for the drivers to complete a lap here. Hopefully the racing will still be exciting with the larger spoiler on the cars this year.

Kyle Busch Kyle has won two of the past three races here and leads all active drivers with seven wins at this track in his career. I don’t think it is going to matter to Kyle what size spoiler is on his car. He is going to get the job done once again this week.

Kurt Busch
Kurt trails his brother in wins at Bristol, but he has six of them himself. He has looked very good so far this year in his first year with Chip Ganassi Racing. He won the fall race last year and has won with three different teams. That tells me he is just plain good here and this week should be no different.

Kyle Larson: Kyle finished second in both of the races at Bristol last season and this is the type of track where he can do some damage at this point of the season. They haven’t shown the speed they need on the intermediate tracks, but he should be good on the short tracks yet. I look for him to be a contender this week.

Kevin Harvick
Kevin has seven straight top ten finishes here including one of his two wins in that stretch. He hasn’t qualified the greatest here in that stretch and it has taken him a while to get into the top ten, but at the end of the day he has been a contender here.

Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie has finished in the top ten in seven of his last nine starts at Bristol and the short tracks are where he can make hay until they figure out the aero package on the intermediate tracks which they made big gains on last week. I think they will continue to improve on the intermediate tracks as the season progresses, but if you want to use him this is one of the weeks to do it.

Joey Logano
Joey has also had seven top ten finishes in his last nine starts here including both of his wins at this track. Joey has looked very good this season as have all of the Penske drivers. There is just something about this track that Joey likes and that equates to great consistent finishes here.

Clint Bowyer
Clint has five top ten finishes in his last seven starts at this track and is still looking for his first win here. I think this team keeps improving now in his third season at Stewart-Haas Racing. He is a little bit like Harvick in the fact that he doesn’t necessarily qualify well here, but at the end of the day he finds himself in the top ten with a chance to win the race.

Chase Elliott: Chase has been getting better as his career is in its early stages every time he comes to this track. His confidence is high now every week and he finished third here last fall and led over one-hundred laps in that race. I think he is going to be a contender once again this week and like the other Hendrick drivers, if you start him you probably want to start him on a short track right now.

Ryan Newman
Ryan has been very good here throughout his career where he has finished in the top ten in over half of his starts at Bristol. If this team is going to make any noise this year this is the week to get started. The thing that surprises me about Ryan at Bristol is he has never won here and has never led more than thirty laps in any race here.

Alex Bowman: Alex is my dark horse this week. In his two starts with Hendrick Motorsports at this track he has finished in the top ten both times and he won the second stage here in the fall race last year. I think this is a track where he will come with confidence and speed isn’t as big of a factor as handling and making passes here which he has shown he can do.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kyle Busch
• Kyle Larson

Driver Group Game Group B

• Jimmie Johnson
• Kurt Busch
• Alex Bowman
• Clint Bowyer

Driver Group Game Group C

• David Ragan
• Matt DiBenedetto

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Busch
2. Kurt Busch
3. Kyle Larson
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Joey Logano

Dark Horse: Alex Bowman

Stay Away From: Aric Almirola

Big 18: Kyle Busch