Category: Fantasy NASCAR

Congratulations once again to Kyle Busch who picked up his third win in the last four races and moved closer to the top thirty in points to qualify for the Chase. Barring any catastrophic events over the next seven races, Kyle should easily move into the top thirty in points and have a chance at winning his first championship.

CROWN ROYAL PRESENTS THE JEFF KYLE 400 AT THE BRICKYARD

This week the series heads to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is a two-and-a-half mile rectangle which makes it a unique track on the NASCAR circuit. Winning this race is second to only the Daytona 500 on every drivers list and the Hendrick Motorsports teams have dominated here over the twenty-one races that have been run here. They have won nine of those twenty-one races. The most any other team has won is three.

Kyle Busch: When you’re hot you’re hot. I am picking Kyle to win yet again this week. Even though he has yet to win a race at this track, he has shown that his team is at the top of their game right now. He finished second in this race last season and the Joe Gibbs teams have shown a lot of speed the past few races. I think Kyle will run up front most of the day and take the checkered flag as he moves closer to making the Chase.

Jeff Gordon: Jeff leads all drivers with five wins at this track and has finished in the top five an outstanding twelve times in his twenty-one starts. I think Jeff will make the Chase on points if he doesn’t pick up a win in the next seven races but, this is one of his better tracks and he might be able to get that win this weekend.

Jimmie Johnson: I think Jimmie and his team did a lot of testing at Loudon last weekend as they prepare for the Chase. I don’t think you will see them struggle this weekend as there really aren’t any tracks like Indy on the Chase schedule. This week is all about winning this race and moving on. With four wins to his credit at this track he knows how to get the job done here.

Matt Kenseth: Matt is another driver who is looking for his first win at the Brickyard. He has finished in the top five in seven of his fifteen starts here and that shows he knows how to race on this track. With the Joe Gibbs teams looking very strong for the past month, Matt has an excellent chance to pick up that elusive win at this track.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has one win here and he has been competitive every week this year. I think that he will be fast once again this weekend and will be in contention throughout the race. Kevin would like to pick up another win before the Chase starts and keep his momentum heading in the right direction as he starts to defend his title in the Chase.

Tony Stewart: Tony has two wins at Indianapolis and has finished in the top ten eleven times in his sixteen career starts there. Tony has struggled most of this year and I don’t have a lot of faith in this team right now. If you need to take a chance to move up in your league he might be worth a shot this weekend but, in all likely hood he will not have a car that will contend for a win.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has only run five races at the Brickyard and his best finish is 9th which he has accomplished twice. Brad has lead laps in three of his five starts here but just can’t seem to come away with the type of finish he is capable of having here. I think Brad will be in contention once again this weekend and will lead some laps in this race once again.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale is another driver looking for his first Indy win and has finished in the top ten here in his last three starts. This team has run well most every weekend this season unless they have some mechanical issue that takes them out of a race. I think Dale will run well here once again and should come away with another top ten finish.

Carl Edwards: Carl has three top ten finishes in his ten starts at this track. Carl just doesn’t seem to have any consistency when he races on this track but, he never has a terrible finish either. He is just an average driver when it comes to Indy. I think this team still needs to improve on their adjustments that they make to their car during the race to keep Carl in contention at the end of the race.

Denny Hamlin: Denny always seems to run well on tracks like Indy. He struggled a little bit last week at Loudon and never really got his car to handle the way he wanted it to. That might have been a little testing as they get ready for the Chase but, like all of the other drivers in the field next weekend, Denny will do whatever he can to try and get his first win at this track.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Kyle Busch
• Jeff Gordon

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Tony Stewart
• Jamie McMurray
• Kyle Larson
• AJ Allmendinger

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Justin Allgaier
• Landon Cassell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Busch
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Kevin Harvick

Dark Horse: Kyle Larson

Stay Away From: Greg Biffle

Last Saturday night’s race marked the halfway point of the season. Congratulations to Kyle Busch on picking up his second win of the season and scoring the maximum points by leading the most laps in the race. There are now only eight races left before the start of the Chase and we have ten drivers locked in.

Kyle still needs to make up 87 points and overtake five other drivers in the standings to move into the top thirty in points and qualify for the Chase. Those drivers are Cole Whitt, David Gilliland, Brett Moffitt, Alex Bowman, and Michael Annett. Barring any total catastrophes on the track, I think Kyle will gain those points over the next eight races and make the Chase.

NEW HAMPSHIRE 301

This week the series heads to Loudon, New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the running of the New Hampshire 301. NHMS is a 1.058-mile oval speedway with minimal banking around the track. In other words, this is considered a “flat track” by NASCAR standards. The drivers who are normally good at places like Phoenix and on the road-courses should do fine here.

Jimmie Johnson: I am picking Jimmie to win his fifth race of the season this week in Loudon. Jimmie has won three races here during his career and has finished in the top ten eighteen times in twenty-six starts at this track. He has also finished in the top ten here in thirteen of his last sixteen starts. With stats like that, Jimmie is a driver you definitely want on your roster this weekend.

Kurt Busch: Kurt also has won three races at this track during his career and even though he hasn’t run that well here for the past five seasons, Kurt has been very good on the flatter tracks this season. I think Kurt will come to the track with a car that has the potential to win this race. Once they get their set-up figured out during practice, I think he will qualify well and run up front for most of this race.

Denny Hamlin: Denny has two wins and has finished second here three times in his eighteen starts. He looked very good last week at Kentucky and it seems like this team keeps improving as we get closer to the Chase. I look for Denny to have another good run this weekend and be in contention for the win late in this race. Every win he can pick up before the Chase just gives him that many more bonus points once the Chase begins.

Jeff Gordon: Jeff is still looking for his first win of the season. As of right now he looks like he should make the Chase on points but, if he has a couple of problems in a couple of races and we get a couple of first time winners on the season, he could find himself on the outside looking in during his last season of racing. He has three wins and twenty-two top ten finishes in forty starts at this track.

Brad Keselowski: Brad’s worst finish here in his last seven starts has been eleventh. He also picked up a win during that stretch and had a very good car last weekend. Most of Brad’s problems seem to be mechanical or, mistakes made on pit road. I think he had the best car last week at Kentucky and probably would have won that race if he didn’t lose so many spots on his pit stops. I think these issues will be addressed this week.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has one win at this track and, like Kurt Busch, he has been very good on the flatter tracks. This team is just looking for a few more wins and trying to become more consistent as we get closer to the Chase. New Hampshire is the location of the second race in the Chase so, all of the drivers who are already locked in are going to be doing some testing to get ready for when this race really means something to them.

Matt Kenseth: Matt also has won a race at NHMS. He has finished in the top ten in half of his thirty starts here and his win came in the fall of 2013. The JGR teams have all found more speed over the past six races and Matt is always calm and relaxed behind the wheel. He knows that if he relays pertinent information to his crew-chief he will get the changes he needs to his car to become more competitive as the race gets closer to the end.

Kyle Busch: Last week’s winner and the driver who really needs to run well every race for the next eight weeks so that he can qualify for the Chase has been on a roll in New Hampshire. Kyle has finished second in three of the past four races here and is on a mission to make the Chase and have a shot at winning his first championship. However, he can’t take a lot of chances and get caught up in wrecks so, where do you draw the line?

Ryan Newman: Ryan has won three races at this track in his career and has finished in the top ten in sixteen of his twenty-six starts here. Seven of those top ten finishes came in his last eleven starts and he really needs to start running better on a consistent basis if he wants to make the Chase once again this season. He made it last year without winning a race and almost won the championship. I don’t think he wants to wait and see if he can make it on points once again this year.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has only run two races at this track but, he finished in the top five in both of them. To finish second and third in your only two races at this track is very impressive and Kyle is my Dark Horse pick this week. I liked him last week at Kentucky and while he didn’t get the finish he was looking for there, he was fastest in both practices before the rains came. I think he will do well once again this weekend.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Jimmie Johnson
• Brad Keselowski

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kurt Busch
• Kyle Larson
• Carl Edwards
• Tony Stewart

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Justin Allgaier
• David Ragan

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Kurt Busch
4. Kyle Busch
5. Denny Hamlin

Dark Horse: Kyle Larson

Stay Away From: Paul Menard

All I have to say is WOW! I know that NASCAR wants to get the races in on the day they are scheduled but, how many people in the Eastern and Central time zones stayed up for the race and how many people who had tickets to the race stayed to watch it? I bet most left and figured it was going to be run on Monday. How about NBC? I bet they weren’t very happy having to show a race that late at night with less than normal viewers for a holiday weekend race. NASCAR wants to be a family sport. I wonder how many young children got to stay up and watch that race.

QUAKER STATE 400

I’m just glad that Austin Dillon was able to walk away from the wreck he had at the end of the race. I got to see the video on Monday and I still can’t believe that he walked away. That goes to show that the safety initiatives NASCAR has implemented over the years are really paying off. Kudos to NASCAR in that respect and great to see that Austin only suffered a few bruises.

Jimmie Johnson: I am picking Jimmie to pick up his first win at Kentucky this weekend. Jimmie has finished in the top ten in each of the four races he has run at Kentucky and is due to break into the win column here. He has been the best of the best on these tracks all season and I don’t see anything changing this weekend.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has one win here and has also finished in the top ten in all four of his races at this track. Kyle has also lead more laps than any other driver and is really looking to get as many top five and ten finishes as he can get to try and make his way into the top thirty in points and qualify for the Chase.

Matt Kenseth: Matt won this race two years ago and is another of four drivers to finish in the top ten in all four of his starts here. Matt is already qualified for the Chase and now he just needs to get more consistent and win some more races. That will give this whole team confidence heading into the Chase when you really need to come away with all of your finishes in the top ten if you want to win a championship.

Jeff Gordon: Jeff is the last of the active drivers to finish in the top ten in all of his starts at Kentucky. His best finish here is fifth and he would love to get a win at this track in his last season in NASCAR. Jeff is running out of time to guarantee himself a spot in the Chase with a win and waiting to get in on points is very nerve wracking.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has won two of the four races he has run at this track and both of the Penske teams have had a lot of speed this year. Brad has had some problems with mechanical issues during the season which have taken him out of contention in numerous races this year. But, with two wins here, this team will come into the weekend with a lot of confidence that they can get the job done once again.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin’s best finish here is a seventh place finish that he picked up last season. His worst finish here is sixteenth and he has gotten better every time he comes to this track. Kevin has been the person to beat almost every race for a year and a half and this weekend he will once again be stout and have a car capable of winning this race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale has two top five finishes at this track and has a lot of confidence after his dominating performance at Daytona last weekend. Dale can work on the handling of his car of the mile and a half tracks as they are where the majority of the races during the Chase are run. These are the tracks you need to run consistently well on during the Chase if you want to win the championship.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin has been very good all season and he has really been good at this type of track. Martin is already qualified for the Chase and can work on the adjustments that they make to the car during the races. This team is capable of running with the top tier teams even though they are a single car team.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has finished in the top ten twice at this track and has had cars that are just as fast as Kevin Harvick has all year. Kurt doesn’t have anything to race for except wins as he has been very good on all types of tracks this season. Kurt has a legitimate shot at winning his second career championship.

Ryan Newman: Ryan has two top five finishes at Kentucky and needs to get a win before the Chase starts. The drivers who don’t have a win and are hoping to get in on points are sitting on the razor’s edge. They can have one or two bad races and get knocked out of Chase on points or when other drivers who don’t have a win get the win they need to get in the Chase. No one wants to go to Richmond hoping to make the Chase on points.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Jimmie Johnson
• Kyle Busch

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kurt Busch
• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kasey Kahne
• Kyle Larson

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Danica Patrick
• Ryan Blaney

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kyle Busch
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Matt Kenseth

Dark Horse: Kyle Larson

Stay Away From: Greg Biffle