Fantasy NASCAR Blog

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson who is the first driver to secure his spot in the third round of the Chase by winning the race at Charlotte this past weekend. There were five Chase drivers who finished thirtieth or worse in this first leg of the second round of the Chase. The good news for them is they are all close to each other in points. The bad news is one of the remaining two races is at Talladega. The best thing for these drives to do would be to win the race this weekend at Kansas Speedway.

HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400

Kevin Harvick: Kevin was fast last weekend at Charlotte until engine trouble took him out of the race where he finished thirtieth. We have seen Kevin in a similar position during the Chase before and I think he is going to come back with a vengeance this weekend and win this race to take Talladega out of the picture. At the very least he comes away with a top three finish and gives himself a chance to make it in on points.

Joey Logano: Joey won the last two Chase races at this track and could make it three in a row this weekend. I think he will come to the track with a car that is fast off of the truck and he will qualify well here. If they can keep up with the changing track conditions and avoid making mistakes on pit road they will be a contender at the end of the race and might punch their ticket for the third round.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin didn’t perform the way I thought he would at Charlotte last weekend after dominating at that track in May. I am going to say they were ready for a night race and didn’t figure the day race into their setup and just couldn’t get the handling where they wanted it to be this past weekend. I think he bounces back and contends for the win at Kansas once again this weekend.

Kyle Busch: Kyle won the race here in May of this year and has looked much better lately after struggling a little bit before the start of the Chase. I think Kyle is capable of winning each and every week no matter what type of track he races on and he is going to do everything he can to continue to defend the championship he won last season. Look for him to be towards the front all day this week.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie is already qualified for the next round, but that doesn’t matter to this team. They have found the speed they were lacking earlier in the year and eliminated the mistakes they have been making lately. He and Jeff Gordon each have three wins at this track, which is more than any other drivers. I have also seen this team win more than one race in a row multiple times, especially on the intermediate tracks.

Chase Elliott: We are going to see how cool and collected Chase is this weekend at Kansas after getting caught up in a wreck and finishing thirty-third at Charlotte last week. He was fast in the early part of the race and led 103 laps. I think he will be just fine and could come away with his first win of the season that will move him into the third round of the Chase. No one wants to have to win at Talladega to move on.

Brad Keselowski: Brad had more mistakes made by his team this past weekend at Charlotte, but he overcame them and came away with a seventh place finish. This team needs to eliminate all mistakes if they want to have a chance to win their second championship. Brad has finished in the top ten in seven of his thirteen starts at Kansas, including one win. He has also led laps in each of his last six starts here.

Matt Kenseth: Matt has won twice at this track and hasn’t finished outside of the top fifteen in his last twelve starts here. After finishing second last week at Charlotte all he needs to do is come away with another top ten finish this week and then if he can stay out of a major catastrophe at Talladega he will make it into the third round of the Chase. Matt runs very well on these intermediate tracks.

Denny Hamlin: Denny has won one race at this track, but he has only finished in the top ten in five of his sixteen starts here. Right now Denny holds the eighth and final spot to make it to the next round, but he is only from three to eight points ahead of the other four drivers who are behind him in the standings right now. This team can’t afford to make any mistakes or finish outside of the top twenty this weekend.

Carl Edwards: Carl is still looking for his first win here, but he has finished in the top ten in twelve of his eighteen starts here. Carl hasn’t been real consistent on this type of track this season and needs to come away with another top ten finish to ease his worries as he heads to Talladega for an elimination race. If he fails to keep up with the changing track conditions and finds himself going a lap down, he will have to fight his way back on to the lead lap like he has had to do all season.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR KANSAS SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Kevin Harvick
• Joey Logano

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kasey Kahne
• Carl Edwards
• Ryan Newman

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Chase Elliott
• Ryan Blaney

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Joey Logano
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Chase Elliott

Dark Horse: Carl Edwards

Stay Away From: Kurt Busch

Big 18: Martin Truex Jr.

The first round of the Chase is in the books and twelve drivers have moved on to the second round. Martin Truex Jr. won his second race in the round and looks like he will continue to run well each and every week. Still, it is anybody’s championship to win and one mistake can cost a driver his shot at this year’s title. Chris Buescher, Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, and Jamie McMurray were the drivers eliminated from the Chase after the race at Dover this past weekend.

BANK OF AMERICA 500

Charlotte Motor Speedway is another of the mile-and-a-half quad oval tracks that make up the majority of the Chase. This will be one of the few night races on the Chase schedule as this race is scheduled to be run on Saturday night. That means you might have to have your lineup set a little earlier this week.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin dominated the Coca-Cola 600 at this track back in May as he led 392 0f the 400 laps run that night. He is bringing that same chassis back and he also won the race at Chicago with this car a few weeks ago. He is definitely my pick to win the race this week and punch his ticket for the third round. This team is making all the right moves and avoiding the costly mistakes that will take a driver out of contention and I see them as being one of the drivers to make it to the final round.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has been the most consistent driver at Charlotte the past few seasons and he is going to give Truex a run for his money once again this weekend. Kevin has finished first or second in five of his last seven starts here which tells me this team really knows what adjustments they need to make as the track changes and the race progresses. I think this race could come down to the wire once again.

Matt Kenseth: Matt has always run well at this track winning twice here and finishing in the top ten in over half of his starts here. This team is steady and always has a shot at winning a race. They also don’t make the mistakes that take them out of contention in a race and if they can avoid bad luck they are a team you will have to deal with on the track each and every week.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie leads all active drivers with seven wins at Charlotte. Add to that the fact that he has finished in the top five in almost half of his starts at this track and you can see that they love to race here. However they haven’t run well here on a consistent basis lately. Jimmie only has four top ten finishes in his last eleven starts at this track and this team hasn’t been at their best in the second half of this season.

Joey Logano: Joey won this race last year and looks to repeat that feat this weekend and propel himself to the third round of the Chase. He led 227 laps in last years race, has led laps in each of his last three starts here and started in the top three in those three races also. If they can keep up with the changing track conditions they will be another team that can contend for the win this weekend.

Carl Edwards: Carl has eight top ten finishes in his last ten starts at Charlotte including his lone win here last spring. This is another team that needs to run consistently better if they want to remain in contention for the championship this season. It seems that they qualify fairly well, but then they can’t seem to make the correct adjustments to their car as the race progresses and they often find themselves a lap or more down and spend most fo the race trying to get back on the lead lap.

Denny Hamlin: Denny is another driver who has run consistently well here over the past bunch of years. He has eleven top ten finishes in his last twelve starts here and finished second in two of those races. He would like nothing better than to pick up his first points race win at this track and qualify for the next round of the Chase and take all of the pressure off of his team for the rest of this round.

Brad Keselowski: Brad is another driver who has run well here lately finishing in the top ten in five of his last six starts here. He has won one race here in his career and really brings his best when the chips are on the line. Paul Wolff does a superb job on top of the pit box making the right calls and taking chances when he sees no other option that gets Brad back into contention to win races.

Chase Elliott: Chase has really been running well each and every week this season and he has really excelled on this type of track. It would be no surprise to see him win this week’s race. He has come close to picking up that elusive first victory in this series and one of these weeks all of the cards will fall in place and it couldn’t come at a better time than during the Chase to keep him moving forward in his rookie season.

Kyle Busch: Kyle is still looking for his first win at this track also, although he has finished in the top five ten times in his twenty-five starts here. This team has also run more consistently lately, and are now avoiding the bad luck that had plagued them for quite a stretch of time during the second half of the season. I have a feeling this team is going to find a way to qualify for the final race at Homestead and try to defend their title from last year.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Kevin Harvick
• Denny Hamlin

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Austin Dillon
• Kasey Kahne
• Jamie McMurray

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Chase Elliott
• Ryan Blaney

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Chase Elliott

Dark Horse: Chase Elliott

Stay Away From: Greg Biffle

Big 18: Martin Truex Jr.

Congratulations to Kevin Harvick who battled hard and came away with the victory at Loudon last weekend. This gives Kevin an automatic bid to the second round of the Chase and takes the pressure off of him this coming week. Anything can still happen to the rest of the qualified drivers next week to help them advance or eliminate them from the Chase all together. Some teams need to win this race to advance, while others will be fighting for every point they can get to make it to the next round.

CITIZEN SOLDIER 400

The series heads to Dover International Speedway this week for the last race in the first leg of the Chase. Dover is a high banked, one-mile oval speedway that allows great racing with multiple grooves on the track as it rubbers in. Expect to see teams being able to come from the middle of the pack towards the front if they have their cars setup correctly because of the multiple grooves we should see. Drivers will be able to pass other cars on the high or low side and that makes for great racing.

Jimmie Johnson: I think this is the week Jimmie breaks out of his mini-slump this weekend and goes to victory lane for the eleventh time at this track. That’s right, Jimmie has ten wins here already in only twenty-nine starts. When you can win at any track once every three times you race there you wish you could run on this track every weekend and that is why I am making Jimmie my pick this weekend.

Matt Kenseth: Matt came close to picking up the win last week at New Hampshire and is sitting in a pretty good position points wise as we head into the third race of the Chase this weekend. Matt won the spring race here and has finished in the top ten in five of his last six starts here. Matt stays calm throughout the races and knows exactly what he needs to do to advance and won’t take any unnecessary risks that might eliminate him from contention.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin won this race and finished second in the spring race last year. Now that he has grabbed one of the automatic bids to the next round this team has nothing to lose by trying to win another race here. They can take a few chances if they want to, but I don’t think they will need to. Solid pit strategy should keep them in contention, but mistakes by the crew on pit road could force them into making some decisions to get them back into contention to win this race.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin has one win at this track and has finished in the top ten in seven of his last eleven starts here. Martin is already qualified for the next round of the Chase and has been running very well every week on all of the tracks he has visited. Once again they have nothing to lose by taking chances to win this race and I think they are going to come to this track with a great handling race car once again. Momentum means a lot to these drivers and they don’t want things to change when they are going good.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has one win and two runner-up finishes in thirteen starts at this track. This team is sitting pretty good points wise heading into this elimination race. I look for them to be aggressive like always and be in contention late in this race. The championship is still a wide open race this year and the teams that are aggressive and don’t make mistakes will be the ones vying for the championship when we get to Homestead in November.

Kyle Busch: Kyle came close to picking up his fifth win of the year and also sits good points wise heading into this weekend’s race. When Kyle stays out of early trouble on the track here he comes away with great finishes. He needs to have a little bit of patience early and wait until they get the car adjusted to his liking before he takes to many chances and gets too aggressive. He needs to remember that you can’t win the race in the first half.

Chase Elliott: Chase started out very well this season and has done nothing but improve as the year has progressed. In his only start here earlier this year, Chase came away with a third place finish. This team could win a race before the end of the season and even if they don’t win one this year I think they will win multiple races next season. He has a lot of potential and right now is the most consistent driver in the Hendrick stable.

Kasey Kahne: Kasey had a great run at Loudon last weekend and is probably the most consistent driver at Dover who is not in the Chase. All they really have to shoot for is to try and pick up a win or two before the end of the season and hope to use any information and momentum they can obtain for next year. Kasey has finished in the top six in his last three starts here and could compete for the win this weekend.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has run five races at this track and his worst finish in eleventh. This team has really come on strong the second half of the season and needs another good run this weekend to move on to the next round of the Chase. He sits on the bubble right now with a five point lead over two other drives which means he can’t afford to have a bad finish if he wants to keep his hopes alive for a championship this season.

Jeff Gordon: Jeff will be back in the #88 car once again this weekend, subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff has always been very good at this track and has only finished outside of the top twenty once in his last nineteen starts here. When he has been subbing this year he has been okay, but this team just doesn’t seem to have the chemistry needed to win races between driver and crew chief, but he is still Jeff Gordon and can win a race at this track yet.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Jimmie Johnson
• Matt Kenseth

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kasey Kahne
• Carl Edwards

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Chase Elliott
• Jeff Gordon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Chase Elliott
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Kyle Busch

Dark Horse: Kasey Kahne

Stay Away From: Austin Dillon

Big 18: Jimmie Johnson

Congratulations to Martin Truex Jr. who won the first race of this year’s Chase and is now qualified for the second round of the playoffs. Chase Elliott came close to winning the first race of his career once again, but was foiled by a late race caution where he came out of the pits just behind Truex and couldn’t make up the gap in the final laps. Joey Logano came in second, Elliott third, non-Chaser Ryan Blaney was fourth, and Brad Keselowski rounds out the top five.

NEW ENGLAND 300

For the second race in this round of the Chase we will travel back to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. NHMS is a slightly longer than one-mile oval speedway. This track, also known as “The Magic Mile”, hosts two races each season and used to be the opening race of the Chase until a few years ago. It is a fairly flat track in comparison to most other tracks on the circuit, so we will look at the drivers who run well on this type of track.

Matt Kenseth: Matt is my pick to win the race this weekend. He has won the last two races at this track, so this team has something figured out with the setup and adjustments that need to be made to keep up with changing track conditions. Matt has three wins overall at this track and eighteen top ten finishes in thirty-three starts here. I think his patience and calm demeanor really help him at this track.
Denny Hamlin: Denny always seems to run very well at this track and has two wins and thirteen top ten finishes in his twenty-one starts here to show for it. After winning the race at Richmond just before the Chase started you have to consider putting him on your team as that is a similar though slightly shorter track than Loudon. As I said last week, Denny’s pit crew has been spot on lately and that will get you a lot of spots on the track.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie is another driver with three wins to his credit at NHMS and nineteen top ten finishes in twenty-nine starts here. This team looked very good last week at Chicago and maybe that will turn their fortunes around as the Chase progresses. I think that with the amount of intermediate tracks on the Chase schedule this team will have a shot at winning another championship if they can avoid any hiccups on the way to Homestead.

Tony Stewart: Tony finished second in the race here earlier this season and has won three times. Winning a race would go a long way in ensuring Tony doesn’t get eliminated in the first round as this team hasn’t been very consistent this year and if you have one bad race out of three it might be enough to knock you out. Getting the win gets you the automatic pass to the next round.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has one win here during his short career and always seems to run well on this type of track. After coming away with a top five finish at Chicago this team is positioned to move on with another good run this weekend. Brad just needs to stay out of trouble on the track and he will get the adjustments he needs to make his car competitive at the end of the race.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin got caught on pit road at Chicago under a green flag stop when the caution came out and trapped him a lap down. He never got to make that lap up and it cost him all of the bonus points he entered the Chase with. There is a little pressure on this team now as they can’t afford to have another poor finish and the pit crew hasn’t been at the top of their game this year.

Joey Logano: Joey has two win at this track and eight top ten finishes in his sixteen starts. He has also finished in the top four in his last four races here. After coming away with a second place finish at Chicago last weekend this is another team that is sitting in the driver seat so to speak as they try to move on to the second round of the Chase.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has finished first or second in four of his last seven starts here. Those are impressive stats at any track and this team needs to get back to their winning ways. They came back from a pit road speeding penalty to pick up a top ten finish last weekend and avoided putting a lot of pressure on themselves in the first round of the Chase.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has two top five finishes in only five starts at this track. They stumbled a little bit last week at Chicago when a tire problem took them out of contention for a top ten finish and now they need to come back with a great finish to keep the pressure off. It is hard to fathom how much pressure is on these teams when they only have three races to move on to the next round and one slip up can knock you out.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has won three times at this track and this team needs another good run or a win to get themselves back on track. Kurt has struggled here a bit over the past twelve races here with only two top ten finishes and those were both tenth. They can’t afford to let an opportunity at a short track pass them by as this is where they usually make hay.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Matt Kenseth
• Kyle Busch

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Tony Stewart
• Ryan Newman
• Greg Biffle

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Chase Elliott
• Ryan Blaney

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Greg Biffle

Stay Away From: Kurt Busch

Big 18: Ryan Newman

The field for the Chase is set now that the Richmond race is in the books with nobody getting knocked out that was in before the race started. Made for a bit of a boring race when no one was even close to bumping someone else out of the Chase, but that’s the way it goes some years. Congratulations to Denny Hamlin on winning his third race of the year and kudos to his pit crew for being on top of their game all season.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 400

The Chase starts at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend and the next ten races will determine which of the sixteen qualifiers will win the 2016 Sprint Cup Championship. This is the first of many mile-and-a-half tracks on the schedule for the remainder of the season. Win and you automatically move on to the next round. After the next three races four drivers will be eliminated from contention and this continues until the final race at Homestead, where four drivers will vie for the championship in a best finish is champion scenario.

Kevin Harvick: I am going to pick Kevin to win the race this weekend and be the first automatic qualifier for the second round of the Chase. Kevin won the first two races run at this track and has finished in the top five in eight of his fifteen starts here. Last year he finished 42nd and that put him in a precarious position that he wants to avoid at all costs this year as he looks to reclaim his title of NASCAR champion.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has won two races at this track during his career which has only spanned seven races here. Right now there is a little bad blood between this Penske driver and Matt Kenseth who always seems to have an issue with either Brad or Joey Logano as we enter the Chase and during it. If Brad can stay clean and avoid the ire of other drivers he is racing close to on the track, he will be in contention to win this race.

Kyle Busch: The defending NASCAR champion won a race here back in 2008 and has finished in the top ten in his last four starts here. He has also led more laps than any of the other drivers here in the last two races. Running in the Xfinity series helps Kyle figure out the tracks and tire wear a little better than drivers who don’t get all of that seat time on Saturday and can be the difference between winning and losing a Cup race.

Denny Hamlin: Denny won this race last year and has momentum on his side as we enter the Chase. His pit crew has been outstanding lately and that helps Denny pass a lot of cars in the pits. If he can get a good pit stall selection and his crew continues to perform the way it has been, Denny will be a serious contender for his first NASCAR championship.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has only run two races at Chicagoland Speedway and he has finished no worse than seventh here while leading laps in both of those races. This is another team that has run very well every week for the past month and has had shots at winning the last three races. All of the Chip Ganassi teams have really been running well lately and showing speed on the track and that is a great sign for Kyle.

Matt Kenseth: Matt has run fifteen races at this track and has one win to show for it. The really impressive things about him here are that he has only failed to finish three laps in all of those races and he has led laps in ten of those fifteen races. Matt has his emotions under control when it comes to relaying information to his crew chief early in the race so their car is handling the way they want it to at the end of the race and giving them a shot at a win.

Joey Logano: Joey is looking for his first win at this track and he has improved with every race he has run here. He sat on the front row in two of his last three starts here and finished in the top ten in three of his last four starts. The Penske teams have been a close second to the Joe Gibbs teams all season with the speed and power of their cars and that show in the five races the two drivers have won so far this season.

Kurt Busch: Kurt has finished in the top ten in nine of his fifteen starts here. Although he is looking for his first win at this track, this team has the capability of winning on any track configuration at any time. I think he is better on the flatter tracks, but he has won on the mile-and-a-half tracks during his career and needs to do that if he wants to win his second championship.

Jimmie Johnson: The six time Sprint Cup Champion has struggled the past few years leading up to and through the Chase. They won their championships by being great at this type of track and need to get that magic back if they want to claim number seven. I think they are missing something with the new rules package that causes them to spin out more often now and once they figure out what that reason is they will go on another tear. The problem is they don’t have any more time to figure out what the problem is.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is one of the favorites to win the championship this year as we head into the Chase. He has struggled at Chicagoland in the past having finished in the top ten only twice in the ten races he has run here. I think we can throw those statistics out the window because Martin has shown he can run on any track this season regardless of how he has run on them in the past. Barring any major catastrophes, this team will be one of the four teams still in when we get to Homestead.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Kevin Harvick
• Kyle Busch

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kyle Larson
• Ryan Newman
• Jamie McMurray

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Chase Elliott
• Ryan Blaney

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT INSERT TRACK NAME

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Kyle Busch
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Matt Kenseth

Dark Horse: Chase Elliott

Stay Away From: Greg Biffle

Big 18: Chase Elliott