Fantasy NASCAR Blog

The All-Star race is in the books and now we can get back to points racing and our fantasy leagues. We didn’t learn anything from the All-Star race seeing they won’t be using the restrictor plates or the bigger spoilers this week, but we did see that Kevin Harvick is still winning. If this trend keeps up, NASCAR will try to implement some rules to even up the field and make the races a little more exciting.

COCA-COLA 600

Anyway, the series stays at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the running of the longest race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600. Once again we are on an intermediate track that has been dominated by a few drivers this year, but none more than Kevin Harvick. The biggest challenge for all of the teams this weekend will be the changing track conditions during this long race that starts out during the afternoon and concludes well after dark. That means the track is going to go through some major changes from the start to the finish of the race and you will see a lot of comers and goers throughout the race.

Kevin Harvick: You almost have to have him on your roster once again this weekend. This team has shown that they can be fast in qualifying, at the beginning of a race, and at the end of a race all season long. They also seem to make their car faster and faster as the day goes on and Kevin has shown he can also overcome adversity and still make runs at the end of the race to take a late lead and hold on for the win. Look for him to be fast all day long.

Martin Truex Jr.: Let’s not forget what Martin has done here the last three seasons. In that time he has finished in the top five five times in six races, won two of those races, led 847 laps, and dominated the 600 in 2016 when he led all but eight laps in that race. This is the driver and team that has the best chance to break the winning streak of Kevin Harvick this weekend and gain himself some valuable playoff points.

Denny Hamlin: Denny has finished in the top five in four of his last five starts at this track. He still scares me because of all the pit road speeding penalties he gets, which puts him in a position where he is constantly fighting to get a lap back. There is absolutely no reason for him to continually make the same mistake which costs his team time and time again. So put him on your roster at your own risk.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has five top ten finishes in his last six starts at this track and has shown that he has the same speed as his teammate, Kevin Harvick, this year. Kurt should do well once again this weekend, but I am going to save his starts for the short tracks and possibly the road course races. No matter which way you go, you will use up all of Kurt’s starts by the end of the season.

Ryan Newman: Ryan is my dark horse this week. He has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts in the Coca-Cola 600. Those are very impressive numbers for a driver you don’t hear a lot about on a weekly basis. I think this team thrives during this long race and makes the right decisions throughout the race to gain track position and make the right adjustments to their car to keep up with the changing track conditions.

Erik Jones: Erik has only run two races at this track in the Cup series and finished seventh in this race last year. This is the type of track where young Erik has thrived in his short career and I think he will do well once again this weekend. I think the main thing the younger drivers need to understand is that this is a long race and it doesn’t pay to take chances early in this race or worry too much about how fast your car is early on. I think Erik has the patience it takes to do well in this race.

Kyle Busch: Kyle finished second in this race last year and is one of the only other drivers who has shown he has anything for Harvick so far this season. Sometimes Kyle gets frustrated early on in races if his car isn’t handling as good as he wants it to and he needs to realize there will be plenty of time for his crew to make adjustments to the car and have him in a position where he can compete for the win late in the race.

Daniel Suarez: Daniel ran his only two races here last year and seems to like this track. He finished eleventh and sixth in those races last year and then followed it up by almost winning the All-Star race this past weekend. Granted that was a whole different type of race then we are going to see this weekend, but it seems like no matter what kind of setup he has, he likes to race on this track and knows how to get towards the front of the field.

Joey Logano: Joey has one win at this track and although that came in a shorter fall race, this team has shown that they have the speed that it takes to win races this season and Joey has run much better than he did last year. The Ford drivers have all shown a lot of speed for the most part this year and I think if his crew chief can keep up with the changing track conditions, Joey can stay in contention for the win once again this weekend.

Brad Keselowski: Let’s talk about Joey’s teammate and another driver who has won a fall race here. I think that Brad and his team have the patience and aren’t afraid to try different things early in this race to see what might work for them at the end of the race. They won’t be terribly concerned with an ill handling car early in the race and will be willing to take chances to go outside the box to gain track position or see if two tires might work late in the race. It is this type of strategy that could get him a win this weekend.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kevin Harvick
• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Daniel Suarez
• Erik Jones
• Austin Dillon
• Ryan Newman

Driver Group Game Group C

• Darrell Wallace Jr.
• Chris Buescher

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Kurt Busch
5. Brad Keselowski

Dark Horse: Ryan Newman

Stay Away From: Ryan Blaney

Big 18: Martin Truex Jr.

Congratulations to Kevin Harvick who won his fourth race of the season at Dover this past Sunday when he took the lead from Clint Bowyer for good after a red flag for rain. Once again Kevin pretty much dominated this race and all of the Ford’s looked impressive. Kyle Larson failed pre-race inspection and had to start at the rear of the field and he never recovered from that penalty, while Kyle Busch had a vibration through the whole race which eventually led to him breaking his drive shaft even though he had a fast car until the mechanical failure.

KC MASTERPIECE 400

This week the series heads to the Kansas Speedway for another Saturday night race before taking a week off from points racing for the running of the All-Star race at Charlotte. Kansas Speedway is another of the mile-an-a-half tri-ovals that make up most of the Cup series. So far this season there are three drivers who have been consistently fast on this type of track and those are the ones we want on our roster this weekend. Those three drivers have also won the last four races here.

Kevin Harvick: With four wins under his belt already this season and having won here in the fall of 2016, Kevin is my pick to visit victory lane once again. Besides winning the race last weekend, Kevin also won both stages and picked up another seven playoff points. These proved to be invaluable to Martin Truex last season as he won his first championship. Kevin has finished in the top three at Kansas in six of his last nine starts. Put him on your roster again.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin swept the races here last season and has sat on the pole twice and started in the top ten in each of his last six starts here. He has also led around 460 laps during those six races, so we know that he knows how to get around this track. Look for him to battle with Harvick all night long for his second win of the season.

Kyle Busch: Not to be outdone by the first two drivers I have mentioned, Kyle has three wins on the season and won the spring race here in 2016. He also has finished in the top five in five of his last six starts here. I think the driver shaft issue they had at Dover was an anomaly and this team will be there to compete for the win with Kevin and Martin at the end of the race this weekend. One of these three drivers will win this race.

Ryan Blaney: In only six starts at this track, Ryan has three top five and four top ten finishes. He also sat on the pole for this race last season and led laps in both of the races here last year. We have seen how fast the Ford’s have been all season and it looks like Ryan should be even better this year than he was in previous seasons because he is on a more well funded team than he was in the past. Look for another top five finish for Ryan.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has been fast all year, he just hasn’t come away with the finishes he thinks he should have. That is because of how dominant some of the other drivers have been all season so far. Kurt has finished in the top ten in four of his last six races at Kansas including a second and a third place finish here. One of these races everything is going to fall into place for this team and they will be visiting victory lane.

Matt Kenseth: Matt is back to run some races in the #6 car for Roush/Fenway Racing for the rest of the season, splitting time with Trevor Bayne. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been fast all season, so the #6 should be fast too. I think Matt will be a good option right away this weekend in the B group. In his last five races here, Matt has started in the top three three times and has led 272 laps during those races. I think he makes improvements to this car right away.

Brad Keselowski: Brad finished second in this race last season and has shown speed all year so far. This team has come close to winning a few times already this year and should break into the win column pretty soon. Brad has finished in the top ten in four of his last six starts here and is one of the drivers who never gives up no matter how poorly his car is handling early in the race. I look for him to come away with another top ten finish this week.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie has been improving every week and it won’t be long before this team figures out what they need to do to get the Camaro into victory lane. Jimmie leads all active drivers with three wins and has seventeen top ten finishes in twenty-four starts at Kansas. We might want to wait a little longer before we start using him on our roster, but I think we will be using him before too long.

Clint Bowyer: Clint has been getting better and better every week too. I still think we want to save his starts for places like Martinsville, Richmond, and Loudon on the short flat tracks where he really excels. However, he is a driver you want to keep your eye on this weekend to see how much he is improving on the intermediate tracks and if it is going to be feasible to use him on this type of track later in the season.

Chase Elliott: Chase was the best of the Chevrolet drivers earlier this season, but he seems to have taken a small step backwards lately. Not that he has been bad, it’s just that he hasn’t made the gains we would like to see. Where Jimmie has been getting better, Chase has either stayed about the same or slowed down a little bit lately. This is the type of track where I would expect him to flourish and he still might as the season progresses, but we might want to wait to use his starts up until he starts to show a little more consistency.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR KANSAS SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kevin Harvick
• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Matt Kenseth
• Ryan Blaney
• Erik Jones
• Aric Almirola

Driver Group Game Group C

• William Byron
• Alex Bowman

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Ryan Blaney

Stay Away From: Joey Logano

Big 18: Ryan Blaney

Congratulations to Joey Logano who picked up his first win of the season and is now qualified for the playoffs after the Talladega race this past weekend. Once again a bunch of drivers got taken out in two different wrecks that weren’t of their own making at a restrictor plate race, but this is to be expected.

The big news of the week is that Matt Kenseth will be returning to the track on a limited schedule with Roush/Fenway Racing starting next weekend at Kansas. Even though he is running a limited schedule the rest of the season, splitting time with Trevor Bayne, he is still on one of the better teams in the sport and will be worth using in the B group of the Driver Group Game.

AAA 400 DRIVE FOR AUTISM

This week the series heads to the Dover International Speedway for the running of the AAA 400 Drive for Autism. The races at Dover are usually some of my favorites to watch because it is short, fast, and there are multiple grooves for the drivers to run in and that makes for some great racing most of the time. The ‘Monster Mile’ is just what the nickname suggests. It is a one-mile concrete oval with a lot of banking in the corners and on the straightaways, giving drivers options when picking a line to run.

Kyle Larson: I am picking Kyle to win the race this weekend at Dover. Though he didn’t win here last season in either race, he led almost four-hundred laps in those two races and finished in the top five in both of those races with runner-up finish in the spring race last season. This is the type of track where you can run the high or low groove and Kyle likes the high groove, and has shown he can run just as well in the low groove this year. I think he visits victory lane for the first time this year.

Chase Elliott: Not to be outdone by Larson, Chase also finished in the top five in both of the races at Dover last season including a second place finish in the fall race. In fact, in the four races Chase has run at Dover in his young career, he has finished in the top five every race. I think he is going to give Kyle a run for his money this weekend as he tries to pick up his first ever Cup victory.

Kyle Busch: Kyle had won three races in a row before the Talladega race and still has to be considered the hottest driver on the circuit at this time. He won the fall race here last season and a Toyota driver has won three of the last four races at Dover. It is tough to stay away from a driver when they have momentum on their side and you will probably want to have Kyle on your roster once again this weekend.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin finished third and fourth in the two races run here last season and has been pretty consistent once again this year. I look for him to compete at the front of the pack all day and have himself in position to try and pick up his second win of the season late in the race. This team has shown they could be the next driver to win multiple races in a row and we know that Charlotte is coming up and we also know how well Martin ran there last season.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie won this race last season and has always run very well at Dover. That was his eleventh career win at this track. This team has also shown improvement each and every week and looks like they are poised to win a race very soon. How can you keep a guy like this off your roster? Maybe we don’t want to trust him just yet and want Kyle Busch and Truex in the A group, but Jimmie is worth taking a chance on this weekend.

Brad Keselowski: After a frustrating week at Talladega, Brad and his team will be chomping at the bit to get back on the track and compete for another win. Brad got caught up in an early wreck in the spring race here last season, but came back and won the first stage of the fall race before finishing in the top ten in that race. He has always run well at this track and should have another good handling car once again this weekend.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin won the fall race here in the 2015 season and led 355 of the 400 laps in that race. With the consistency and speed he has shown so far this year he could do something similar once again this weekend. This is going to be a tough race to set your A group drivers in because of how good most of them have been at Dover in their careers. I look for Kevin to have another strong run and finish in the top ten at the very least this weekend.

Denny Hamlin: Here is another A group driver who has run pretty well at Dover in his career. The worry I have with Denny is all of the pit road speeding penalties he picks up that virtually take him out of races. Last weekend at Talladega he got caught speeding coming down pit road and then got caught again while he was serving his pass through penalty. That is an unforgivable sin at any track, but even more so at a one-mile track where it will definitely put you at least one lap down.

Ryan Newman: Ryan finished fourth here last spring and likes to run on this high banked oval. The RCR cars have shown quite a bit of speed so far this season and this could be one of those weeks where everything goes right for this team. Although he hasn’t won a lot of races with RCR he has still run consistently well almost winning a championship a few years ago without winning a race. I thin he will be a surprise this weekend.

Daniel Suarez: Daniel has only run two Cup races at Dover so far in his career, but in those two races last year he finished in the top ten both times. He also started in the top five in both of those races. This could be the race where Daniel picks up his first Cup victory. He is my dark horse this week and to me he really isn’t a dark horse, but he will surprise a lot of fans this week.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Kyle Larson
• Jimmie Johnson

Driver Group Game Group B

• Chase Elliott
• Daniel Suarez
• Ryan Newman
• Aric Almirola

Driver Group Game Group C

• William Byron
• Alex Bowman

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Larson
2. Chase Elliott
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kevin Harvick

Dark Horse: Daniel Suarez

Stay Away From: Paul Menard

Big 18: Jimmie Johnson

Congratulations to Kyle Busch who won his third straight race of the season at Richmond on Saturday night. The win ties him with Kevin Harvick for the series lead in wins and gives him a series leading seventeen playoff points right now. As we saw last year with Martin Truex Jr., if you rack up enough playoff points during the regular season you are tough to knock out of the playoffs.

GEICO 500

This week the drivers head to the Talladega Superspeedway for their second restrictor plate race of the season in the Geico 500. At this point of the season, even though a Toyota has won the last three races, the Ford’s are still the class of the field and I think we need to fill our roster up with drivers who are running them. The Ford drivers will stick together when drafting and are by far the fastest of all the makes right now. That doesn’t mean one of the other manufacturers won’t win the race, but we want the odds in our favor.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has won two of the past four races at Talladega and has led the most laps of all drivers in those races. He is my pick to win once again this weekend. Remember, we want to use drivers we aren’t going to need all nine starts for in the Driver Group Game and in the A Group we shouldn’t have to worry about using anyone up other than maybe Harvick or Kyle Busch. We can use one of Brad’s starts here and should be none the worse for wear later in the season.

Joey Logano: One of Brad’s teammates, Joey has led the second most laps at Talladega over the past two seasons. This shows me we are starting to develop a pattern here. Joey also won one of these past four races giving Penske Racing three of the last four wins at this track. Hard to stay away from having these two on your roster this weekend. They work well together in the draft and seek each other out on the track. When they find each other and get hooked up they move to the front of the pack in a hurry.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Ricky won this race last season and then followed that up with another win at Daytona in July. He has led laps here in his last three starts and has two top five finishes in those races. If he can stay patient early in the race, which was part of his problem at Daytona earlier this year, he can make his way to the front in an orderly fashion and put himself in position to win here once again.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan led a bunch of laps here last fall when he was running for the Wood Brothers and now he is with the Penske crew. I think he is going to be even better this year, but he is one of those drivers in the B group where we are probably going to want to save his starts for other races. I would love to have him on my team, but I won’t put him on my roster this weekend because of the potential for the big wreck to occur and take out half of the field. No sense taking chances like that on a driver you will use up during the season anyway.

Aric Almirola: I haven’t started Aric yet this year and I think it might be time for me to do so, or at least have him on my roster. We have seen how fast all of the Stewart-Haas drivers have been all season and know we want the Ford drivers on our roster this weekend. Aric finished in the top five in both Talladega races last season while running for Richard Petty and should have even a little more speed and more teammates to draft with this year which will help him out even more.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has been great here even though he is still looking for his first win at this track. He has finished in the top ten in eighteen of his thirty-four starts hear, but once again he is another of those B group drivers that I will be using up at other tracks and I don’t want to take a chance on him here. This is one driver who will be really hard to leave off your roster this weekend, but once again, the risk out weighs the reward.

Paul Menard: Paul has always run very well on the restrictor plate tracks during his career and now he is with the fabled Wood Brothers team. He ran great at Daytona in his first race with this team and is my dark horse for this weekend. Some people will be surprised to see him run up front during this race, but I am not one of them. We saw David Ragan win a couple of these races with one of the smaller teams on the circuit and we saw Trevor Bayne win the Daytona 500 with the Wood Brothers not so many years ago.

Austin Dillon: Let’s not forget this year’s Daytona 500 winner. There are three things I don’t like about Austin at Talladega this weekend that will keep him off my roster. The first one is that his winning Daytona car is not available to him this weekend because it is at Daytona U.S.A. for the rest of the year due to him winning the Daytona 500. The second is that he doesn’t run as well at Talladega as he does and Daytona, and the third thing is he is not in a Ford.

Trevor Bayne: The former Daytona 500 winner has finished in the top ten at Talladega in two of the last four races there including a third place finish in last fall’s race. He has shown patience and skill on the restrictor plate tracks and I’m sure he has learned from a lot of different drivers how to draft and side draft on these tracks to get yourself to the front. Remember, he was a drafting partner of Jeff Gordon when he won the Daytona 500 and kept Jeff up front all day until the end when he was the lead car in a draft across the finish line.

Denny Hamlin: If you want to take a chance on a non-Ford driver, Denny is the drive to take that chance on in my opinion. However, he is also my short track guy and could be used on the road courses and at both Pocono races depending on how everyone is running when we get to that point of the season. I just think I will stick with the Penske drivers in the A group this weekend even though Denny has led laps here in each of his last eight starts.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Brad Keselowski
• Joey Logano

Driver Group Game Group B

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Aric Almirola
• Paul Menard
• Trevor Bayne

Driver Group Game Group C

• David Ragan
• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT INSERT TRACK NAME

1. Brad Keselowski
2. Joey Logano
3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
4. Kurt Busch
5. Aric Almirola

Dark Horse: Paul Menard

Stay Away From: Martin Truex Jr.

Big 18: Aric Almirola

Congratulations once again to Kyle Busch who came away with his second consecutive win of the season after battling the elements along with Kyle Larson for two days to visit victory lane at Bristol. This was an exciting race to watch when it wasn’t raining as there was a lot of passing all around the track, but eventually the two best cars on the weekend battled it out right to the end on Monday.

TOYOTA OWNERS 400

The drivers and their crews have a really short week ahead of them as they head to Richmond Raceway for the running of the Toyota Owners 400. The race this week is scheduled for Saturday night, so make sure you get your picks in in a timely manner. This is another short track on the circuit, but a bit different from Bristol. Richmond is a three-quarter mile D-shaped asphalt track just outside of Richmond, VA. This track has very low banking compared to the high banking we saw at Bristol last weekend, so it takes a whole different setup to run well here.

Denny Hamlin: I am going to pick Denny Hamlin to break Kyle Busch’s win streak this week at Richmond and win his first race of the season and get himself qualified for the playoffs. Denny has three career wins at this track and has finished sixth or better here in his last five starts. I think this team will put their pit road penalties behind them this week and turn in a winning performance.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin will be a nemesis for Denny once again this week. He has run consistently well here over the past five seasons coming away with six top five finishes in his last ten races at Richmond. Kevin probably feels like he hasn’t won for a long time and yet he still has three wins on the short season already. I think this team runs towards the front of the pack for the majority of the race on Saturday and will have a shot at the win late in the race.

Joey Logano: Joey won this race last year and was then failed post race inspection and that cost him the rest of his season. He has been running much better so far this year including a good run at Bristol last week. Nine of his last ten starts here have resulted in top ten finishes with him finishing first and second in the two races held here last season. This is the track where you can use Joey and he should get you good points no matter what.

Kyle Busch: The hottest driver on the circuit right now also leads all active drivers with four wins at Richmond. He has also finished runner-up here six times and has fifteen top five finishes in his twenty-five starts at this track. Once again he should probably be on your team this week, but how quickly can you use up his starts for the Driver Group Game?

Clint Bowyer: Clint has won twice at this track and has been running really well this season. After picking up the win at Martinsville earlier this year, Clint will be another big threat to win this weekend once again. I really like him on most all of the short flat tracks and Richmond fits the bill. Clint should be one of the better choices for the B Group of the Driver Group Game.

Kyle Larson: Kyle won the fall race here last year and almost came away with a win last week at Bristol. This team is right where they need to be at this time of the season to compete for wins on a weekly basis. They will be looking forward to getting back on track after coming so close to punching their ticket for the playoffs last weekend. Look for Kyle to run well here once again this weekend.

Ryan Newman: After having a horrible time during practice and qualifying last week at Bristol, Ryan still came away with a top ten finish. Now he heads to Richmond where he hasn’t won since back in the 2003 season. However, he has always run well at this track and came away with two top ten finishes last year here. He has also finished in the top ten in eighteen of his thirty-two starts here and should be on you roster this weekend.

Brad Keselowski: Brad finished second in this race last season and has seven top ten finishes in his seventeen starts at Richmond. He was running well at Bristol last weekend until a mechanical failure took him out of the race. The Ford drivers have all looked fast all season and this weekend should be no different for them. I think this team is on the verge of winning some races.

Martin Truex Jr.: At the beginning of his career he would have been a stay away from driver at Richmond, but in the past few seasons he has become someone to keep on you radar here. He has led almost four-hundred laps in the last two fall races here and has finished in the top ten in the last four spring races at this track. I still think there are better options to have in the Driver Group Game and will use Martin on the intermediate tracks for that game, but if you are in a different type of league he might be someone you could take a chance on this week.

Daniel Suarez: Daniel is my dark horse this weekend. He has shown he knows how to race a Cup car on the short flat tracks and just seems to get better and better every time he goes to one. In the only two races he has run here he has finished twelfth and seventh and I think he improves on those finishes this weekend. He had a good run at Bristol last week and I think this track is more suitable to his driving style.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR RICHMOND RACEWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Denny Hamlin
• Kyle Busch

Driver Group Game Group B

• Clint Bowyer
• Daniel Suarez
• Ryan Newman
• Kurt Busch

Driver Group Game Group C

• Alex Bowman
• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT RICHMOND RACEWAY

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

Dark Horse: Daniel Suarez

Stay Away From: Ryan Blaney

Big 18: Ryan Newman