Author: Jeff Gutowski

We now approach race number ten on the season. The weeks are flying by and we’ll be to the playoffs before you know it. Some drivers are starting to get antsy looking for their first win on the season and the chance to lock themselves into the playoffs. This could be the week where the pressure really mounts depending on who wins this race.

GEICO 500

This week’s race is the second restrictor plate race of the season will be held at the Talladega Superspeedway and I’ll warn you right away. Don’t use the best drivers in your group. As in those you will use on nine other tracks during the season. The risk of an accident taking out a third of the field through no fault of most of those involved is too great to take here. I’ll tell you who I think is going to be good this week, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll have them in my lineup. It’s a game of deciding when is the best time to use them.

Joey Logano: Joey has lead more laps at Talladega than any other active driver. Then again, he only has three wins to show for it. That kind of tells you that someone can be really good here and lead a lot of laps but still find it difficult to win a race. In fact, in twenty-four starts at Talladega, Joey hasn’t finished seven of those races. Mostly because of accidents that were no fault of his own.

Denny Hamlin: I’m really tempted to use Denny here because of how good he is on both of the restrictor plate tracks. He has two wins here and only Joey has lead more laps than him during their careers when we talk about active drivers. You really need to look at each of your leagues and how many starts you get with your drivers and who is in each group. For the DGG league it might be worth it to take either of these top two drivers as there are plenty of other options for the rest of the season with most of those drivers being contenders at every track.

Brad Keselowski: Brad leads all active drivers with five wins at Talladega. That kind of fits in with teammate, Joey Logano, leading more laps than any other active driver. Brad seems to be able to find his teammates and draft well with them and if they aren’t around he finds someone else who can get him to the front and you know he isn’t going to be content pushing someone else to the victory without trying to pass them at the end himself.

Kurt Busch: Kurt is my dark horse this week. Not because you could pick any driver to be a dark horse, but because he has been so good here and never won yet. He’s bound to break into the win column sometime and always seems to run better here than at Daytona for some reason. He’s as good a pick as anyone else to win this race, but once again look at your options before you decide to use him.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan has won twice in only thirteen starts here and that leads me to comment on the Penske teams at this track. They all seem to have something that other teams are missing. That something is being able to pull out of the draft and still pass cars in front of them. There is something they have in the power of their cars that give them an advantage when trying to pass that can get them a spot here or there and at the end of the race you might only need to pass one car to win.

Chase Elliott: Another driver with out a lot of starts at Talladega, Chase has been very impressive here too. In only ten start he has one win and has finished in the top five in three of his last six starts. That tells me he has learned in each of his races here how to get to the front and give himself a chance to win at the end. The main thing is trying to be patient and stay out of trouble early in the race.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Here is the real wild card. You just never know if he’s going to do something early in the race to cause an accident or create a bunch of enemies who won’t want to help him at the end. On the other hand he has finished in the top ten in sixty percent of his starts here. He always has a car fast enough and he knows how to side draft other cars to his advantage, but he also makes mistakes while doing that and creates a lot of chaos. Still worth taking a shot on this week.

Aric Almirola: Aric really runs well here and has one win to show for it along with almost winning again last year. In fact, he had a streak of eight straight top ten finishes broken up last year when he got knocked into the wall late in the race while leading which is the reason he didn’t have another top ten finish to keep that streak alive. Another driver you have to decide on when you really want to use him.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin is another driver who fares a bit better at Daytona than Talladega, but that doesn’t mean he can’t win here. He has one win in his career and he’s patient if his car isn’t handling real well early in the race. When that happens you won’t even here much about him until all of a sudden in the last fifteen laps or so it seems like he comes out of nowhere to be a contender once again.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Brad Keselowski

Driver Group Game Group B

• Matt DiBenedetto
• Chris Buescher

Driver Group Game Group C

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Joey Logano
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Aric Almirola
5. Ryan Blaney

Dark Horse: Kurt Busch

Stay Away From: Martin Truex Jr.

Big 18: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Congratulations to Martin Truex Jr. who became the first repeat winner of the 2021 season on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway after the race was halted on Saturday night for rain and had to be continued the following day. Two tough weeks in a row for race fans with races being pushed back. Not to mention what it means to the drivers and their teams.

TOYOTA OWNERS 400

This week the series heads to the Richmond Raceway for the running of the Toyota Owners 400. Once again we are on a flat track that is relatively short, but not as short as Martinsville. We should see some of the same type of racing this week.

Martin Truex Jr.: I have to stick with Martin to win back to back races this week. In his last four Richmond starts, Martin has two wins, a runner-up finish and a third place finish. He will be the odds on favorite to win once again this weekend and there’s no reason to think he won’t run up front most of the day.

Kyle Busch: This might be the time to take a chance on Kyle if you are behind and know the leaders are going to take other drivers. In his last ten starts at this track Kyle has two wins, three runner-up finishes and has only finished outside the top ten once during that stretch. He could pull out a win this weekend.

Brad Keselowski: After a rough weekend at Martinsville, Brad and his team will be looking for a little better conclusion to this week’s race. Brad won the race here last fall and hasn’t finished outside the top eleven in his last ten starts at Richmond. He should fair much better this week than last.

Chase Elliott: Chase came close to winning last weekend and all of the Hendrick teams have been running well this year for the most part. I think Chase has a good chance to pick up his first win at this track where his previous best was a second place finish. I think he’ll be in the mix once again this weekend.

Denny Hamlin: Denny dominated the early parts of the race last weekend at Martinsville before being overtaken late in the race by both Martin and Chase. He has eight top six finishes in his last ten starts here and should have some confidence following last weeks strong start.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin is looking for his first win at Richmond since the 2013 season. However he has still finished in the top five in eight of his last twelve starts and has been very consistent here throughout his career. He should be a contender once again this week.

Joey Logano: Joey also had a pretty good run at Martinsville last week and has been very consistent over the long haul at Richmond. In fact, Joey has finished in the top ten here in eleven of his last thirteen starts. This is going to be a great race to watch with so many drivers who are consistently good.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has been having a great season so far and this is another week where he should run well. He won here back in the 2017 season and has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts. It seems that he has been running even better with his new team than he has throughout his early career.

Austin Dillon: Austin didn’t run very well here in his early years, but lately he has figured something out. He finished fourth here last year and has finished in the top six in three of his last four starts. He’s my dark horse this weekend.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR RICHMOND RACEWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kyle Busch
• Austin Dillon

Driver Group Game Group C

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT RICHMOND RACEWAY

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

Dark Horse: Austin Dillon

Stay Away From: Erik Jones

Big 18: Martin Truex Jr.

After the fiasco that was the Bristol Dirt Race and a week off for the Easter holiday, the drivers head to the Martinsville Speedway for the running of the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500.

BLUE-EMU MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 500

What can you say about NASCAR’s attempt to run a race on a dirt track without doing any testing prior to it. What a fiasco it turned out to be once again. When will they learn to take expert advice? They could have went to Eldora Speedway to run the races and that has been proven for years and years. This is Tony Stewart’s track and it wouldn’t have taken much advertising to get fans interested in the race. Instead they had tire issues and overheating issues because they didn’t want to listen to anyone.

Anyway, let’s see what we can figure out for this Saturday night’s race at Martinsville. The shortest track on the circuit and one of the flattest tracks too. Handling means more than speed at this track and the use of the chrome horn usually comes into play. Drivers won’t be having a lot of patience with slower cars in front of them as they move them out of the way to get by.

Martin Truex Jr.: I’m picking Martin to win this week on a short flat track. He has won 2 of the last three races here and has finished in the top five in five of his last seven Martinsville starts. He also has lead almost 750 laps in his last six races here which leads all drivers over that stretch.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has nine top five finishes in his last ten Martinsville starts including two wins. His other finish in that stretch was a top ten finish. That tells me that Brad has figured out a way to get around this track and communicate with his crew chief to relay the adjustments he needs to make his car handle better as the race moves through it’s stages.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan has finished runner-up here in each of his last two starts. He has also finished in the top five in five of his last six races here. This is the type of racing Ryan enjoys. The type where you can trade a little paint with your competitors if you need to move them to get by. One of the moves that has been prevalent here for a long time.

Chase Elliott: Chase won the fall race here last year on his way to his first championship. I think he has really learned how to run on the flat tracks over the past few seasons and is one of the drivers to beat on a weekly basis no matter what type of track he is on.

Joey Logano: All of the Penske drivers run extremely well here and Joey is no exception. He has seven top ten finishes in his last nine starts including a win back in the fall of 2018. With three drivers on the same team it makes it a bit tougher to get by them all if they are running up front together. Two can do a bit of blocking to keep the leader out front.

Kyle Busch: Not that long ago, Kyle had a run of eight straight top five finishes at Martinsville which included two wins and two runner-up finishes. The last year and a half has been a struggle for this team, but they seem to be getting a bit better once again. I’m not sure if this is the right time to use Kyle or if we should give them more time and see if they can consistently run in the top ten again.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has four top ten finishes in his last five starts at this track and has actually been more consistent than his little brother lately. This is the type of track where this team has a better chance to win as they don’t need the power as much as the handling on this track. I think Kurt should come away with another top ten finish this week.

Denny Hamlin: Denny used to be very dominant here early in his career. He has won five times at Martinsville, but four of those wins came before the 2011 season. Lately he has been doing a lot of wheel hopping here and with all of the pit road speeding penalties he gets this isn’t the place to take a chance on him. A pit road penalty will put you multiple laps down and those are very hard to make up.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has had good stretches and bad stretches at this track in his career. He has never been consistent enough to say, yes, this is Kevin’s week to win. In his last ten starts he had a stretch of five straight top ten finishes and then the other five races he finished anywhere from fifteenth to twentieth. That just isn’t good enough to take a chance on him this week when you are limited in the amount of starts a driver gets during the season.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kurt Busch
• Alex Bowman

Driver Group Game Group C

• Ryan Preece

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Alex Bowman

Stay Away From: Ross Chastain

Big 18: Denny Hamlin

This will be the last race before the series takes a week off for the Easter holiday. The rules for the DGG league are a little different also and you should have received an email about them. Make sure you check it out and ask questions if you’re not sure.

FOOD CITY DIRT RACE

The series heads to the Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City Dirt Race. Yes, as the name implies this week’s race is going to be run on a dirt track. They are covering Bristol with dirt for the entire weekend. This article might be a little shorter than most because we really have nothing to go on other than looking at which drivers have competed on dirt tracks earlier in their careers.

Kyle Larson: Once again I’ll have to go with Kyle to win this race. Last year when he was suspended from NASCAR he ran in the World of Outlaws and other dirt track events. In fact, he won forty races last year on dirt, so he is far and away the driver with the most experience on dirt. Especially the one with the most recent exposure.

Austin Dillon: Austin cut his teeth on dirt tracks with his brother Ty and they both have a lot of experience on the dirt. I’m not sure if Ty will be in a car this weekend or not, but you might want to keep your eye on the entry list. If he does register to race and has a halfway decent team he might be someone to take a chance on.

Christopher Bell: Christopher dabbles in running on dirt and is someone else to watch for this week. He had won three straight Chili Bowl Nationals races before losing to Kyle Larson the past two seasons. These are my top two drivers to pick from this weekend.

Chase Briscoe: Chase also grew up racing on dirt tracks in the Midwest and has been running a few dirt track events lately to try and get himself back to being familiar with this type of racing.

Other of Interest: Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch will all run in the super late model class at the Bristol Dirt Nationals this week. Kyle did win one of these races back in the 2012 season, so he has run on dirt before.

Joey Logano will compete in the open-wheel modified class, while Brad Keselowski recently ran a race on dirt at the Cochran Motor Speedway in which he finished twlefth.

Chris Buescher will compete in the 604 late model class.

Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. will both run the truck series race on the dirt at Bristol too.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR INSERT TRACK NAME

Driver Group Game Group A

• Ryan Blaney
• Chase Elliott

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Christopher Bell
• Austin Dillon
• Ryan Newman

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chase Briscoe
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT INSERT TRACK NAME

1. Kyle Larson
2. Christopher Bell
3. Chase Briscoe
4. Austin Dillon
5. Ryan Blaney

Dark Horse: Chase Briscoe

Stay Away From: Alex Bowman

Big 18: Christopher Bell

Five races in the books and five different winners so far. Will that trend continue this coming week or will we have our first repeat winner of the year?

FOLDS OF HONOR QUIKTRIP 500

The series now heads over to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the running of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. This is the third mile and a half track on the young season and so far we have had two different winners. Both of those drivers run for Hendrick Motor Sports, so we will probably stick with as many of them as we can this week.

Chase Elliott: I’m picking Chase to be the third Hendrick driver to win on a mile and a half track this season. He has been very good at Atlanta through his young career only having run five races at this track. In those five races he has come away with four top ten finishes. This team just keeps improving every week and I think they are due to win at Atlanta this week.

Kyle Larson: Let’s not forget the winner of the Las Vegas race a couple of weeks ago. Kyle has also run pretty well at this track and now that the Hendrick teams are showing a lot of speed on the track he should be able to improve on his average finishing position at Atlanta and could well give Chase a battle for the win.

William Byron: After a dominating performance when he won at Homestead-Miami, we can’t forget about William this week either. All of the Hendrick cars have been fast so far this season and Atlanta is a track built for speed. I have a feeling all of the Hendrick drivers are going to run towards the front of the pack this week. The question is which one can pull out the win?

Kevin Harvick: Kevin won the first race he ever ran in the Cup series at Atlanta back in the 2001 season. After that he seemed to struggle a bit at this track until three years ago. He has won two of the last three races at Atlanta and has also finished in the top ten here in nine of his last ten starts. You can really never count this team out on any track and he will give the Hendrick teams some competition this week.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is still looking for his first win at this track which is a bit surprising seeing how he dominated on this type of track for a couple of years running. That’s not to say that he doesn’t run well here. He just hasn’t gotten to victory lane yet. He has finished in the top five in five of his last nine starts here and the top ten in eight of those starts. He will be another non Hendrick driver to give them some competition.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has six straight top ten finishes at Atlanta and that includes two wins. That tells you that the Penske teams are going to be very competitive this week too. Brad has lead laps here in seven of his last eight starts which tells you that he is usually towards the front of the pack in every race he runs here. This is going to be a very competitive race this week at one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has six top ten finishes in his last eight Atlanta starts including a win back in the 2013 season and a runner-up finish last year. This team might not be back to dominating like they did a few years ago, but they are getting better and once they do start winning again they could go on a streak of wins. I might hold off on him a bit longer on this type of track, but I think by the middle of the year we will know how good they will be.

Kurt Busch: Another surprising thing to me is that Kurt has finished no worse than thirteenth in his last eleven Atlanta starts. That in itself isn’t so surprising, but that he did it with four different teams is. If he can run that well with that many different teams it tells me he has a great feel for this track and can communicate to his crew chief exactly what adjustments he needs to make his car better as the race progresses.

Denny Hamlin: This track hasn’t been all the great for Denny. He hasn’t been very consistent here throughout his career. In fact, in his last eight starts here he has finished in the top ten three times, but also finished thirty-eighth three times. Those aren’t the kind of stats I’m looking for when I want to set my lineup here.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Chase Elliott

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kyle Larson
• William Byron

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chase Briscoe

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Chase Elliott
2. Kyle Larson
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Brad Keselowski

Dark Horse: Aric Almirola

Stay Away From: Denny Hamlin

Big 18: Kyle Larson