Tag: Yahoo! Fantasy Racing

Martin Truex Jr. starts the second round the same way he started the first round, by winning his fifth race of the season on a mile-and-a-half track. With the win, Martin propels himself into the third round and picks up another five playoff points. It is going to be very difficult to deny him a spot in the championship race at Homestead-Miami. On the other side of the coin, Kyle Busch had multiple incidents on the track and lost a lot of his cushion in the point standings.

ALABAMA 500

This week the series heads to the Talladega Superspeedway and the wildcard race of the playoffs. The restrictor plate races are known for their potential to have a wreck at anytime that could take out fifteen to twenty cars at one time. If one of the playoff contenders gets caught up in one of those wrecks it is going to be very difficult for them to continue on to the next round. It will be interesting to see if any of the playoff contenders run towards the back of the pack to stay out of trouble or if they think the stage points are too valuable and they need to try to finish in the top ten in the stages to maximize their points.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Ricky has won the last two restrictor plate races, so I am going to take him and start him on my team this weekend. The Ford drivers have all looked stronger on these tracks than the other makes this season with Kurt Busch winning the Daytona 500 in a Ford too. Ricky should be able to qualify well and run well in the draft once again this week. Don’t use up any of your good drivers this week because of the potential for that big wreck.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has looked a lot better in the playoffs and is also driving a Ford. He has run well at the restrictor plate tracks this season and usually seems to be able to make it through accidents with close calls or minimal damage. If he qualifies well he will be able to stay up front and not have to worry about the big wreck.

Kurt Busch: Although Kurt has been knocked out of the playoffs and has yet to win a race at Talladega in his career, he usually runs very well at this track. He is also the only driver to finish in the top ten here in each of the last four races. Once again this is another Ford driver. I believe these drivers have a little bit of an advantage over the drivers who are running other makes.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has four wins at this track in his seventeen career starts. He hasn’t been running as well as he would like lately and this might be the race where he can breakout once again. Brad really knows how to choose his drafting partners by finding someone who can push him to the front from anywhere in the field. I think this is going to be a good points week for Brad.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale leads all active drivers with six wins at Talladega in his career. He would like nothing better than to get win number seven in his final full season of racing. This is probably his last best shot at winning a race before the end of the season and he is going to do everything in his power to visit victory lane this weekend. The question is, will he take too many chances to move to the front and end up in an accident again.

Clint Bowyer: Clint has two career wins at Talladega. He also has finished in the top ten in twelve of his twenty-three starts. Even though he didn’t run as well as he would have liked to in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, but this is a race where anyone can win. You can even have a slow pit stop here that won’t really cost you anything on the track. I think Clint will be in a position to win this race at the end.

Paul Menard: This is a race where we can use drivers who haven’t really shown a lot this year. We have seen David Ragan and Trevor Bayne win restrictor plate races on teams that really don’t compete on other tracks. Paul has finished in the top ten in three of his last five starts here and seems to be able to find and work with someone in the draft to get himself in a position to have a shot at winning these races.

Aric Almirola: Aric is another one of those drivers who hasn’t had a very good season. Yet, he is one of those who seems to find some way to get to the front of the pack at Talladega. I think some of these drivers who seem to under perform on a team with good equipment have a little more patience in these races and they let the race come to them. They aren’t making questionable moves that can get them into trouble, so they have a good shot at the end of these races.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie has been quietly running a bit better lately. He still isn’t to the point where he is in contention every week, but he doesn’t have to be there yet. I think he is another driver who will take his time at this track as he knows he can go from the back to the front in just a few laps if necessary. I also think that Chad Knaus is a crew chief who really knows which strategy is going to play out in these races.

Denny Hamlin: Denny always seems to run well at the restrictor plate tracks. He might not run up front all day He might just hang out towards the back of the pack, but when it comes down to go time, he can find someone to work with to get back towards the front of the pack. The big thing is to not get wrecked early in the race and lose a bunch of points in the standings that can cost you the third round.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Brad Keselowski
• Kevin Harvick

Yahoo Driver Group B

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

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Michael McDowell
• David Ragan

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kurt Busch
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dark Horse: Jamie McMurray

Stay Away From: Kyle Larson

Big 18: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Congratulations to Kyle Busch who won his second straight playoff race and gained some more valuable playoff points on leader Martin Truex Jr. Chase Elliott held the lead for most of the final segment of the race, but Busch closed from over four-seconds back by running a higher line and taking advantage of Chase being held up by traffic and passed Chase with just over one-lap left in the race.

The drivers eliminated from the playoffs are Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Austin Dillon, and Ryan Newman. The rest of the drivers will have their playoff points reset and start all over to determine the eight drivers who will move to the third round after the next three races. This round also features a restrictor plate track which is anybodies guess as to what happens then. So, everyone will be fighting for every position they can this coming week to try and pick up a win so they don’t have to worry about the unknown at Talladega.

BANK OF AMERICA 500

The series heads back to the Charlotte Motor Speedway this week for the running of the Bank of America 500. Charlotte is another of the mile-and-a-half tracks that dominate the playoffs. Next year they will be using the road course in this race to add even more drama to the playoffs, but for this season they will run on the quad-oval track just like they have in the past.

Martin Truex Jr.: You have to stick with Martin this week at Charlotte. He has finished in the top five here in four of his last five starts including a win in a dominating performance in last years Coca-Cola 600. He has also led over 500 laps more than any other driver in the series over those past five races. I look for him to come out strong, get to the lead if he doesn’t win the pole and stay out in front throughout the race once again this weekend and win the opening race of the second round.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie leads all active drivers with eight wins at this track. He looked pretty good at Dover last weekend coming home with a third place finish and building a little momentum heading into the second round. This team knows they need to find some more speed to compete with the likes of Martin and Kyle, but we have seen them do just this time and time again as they were winning all of their championships. I think they are improved, but I don’t think they are quite good enough just yet.

Kyle Busch: Kyle is still looking for his first career win at Charlotte after running twenty-seven races here in the Cup series. He has led just under one-thousand laps here though and come away with eleven top five and sixteen top ten finishes including a runner-up finish in the Coca-Cola 600 this season. I think the playoffs and the battle for the championship are going to come down to Kyle, Martin, and Kyle Larson as they seem to be the three most consistent drivers this season.

Chase Elliott: So close once again for this team could do two things. It could really disappoint them, or it could make them even hungrier. I think they are just going to use the race at Dover as a momentum builder and be even hungrier now than they were before. I said it before and I will say it again. I think this team gets their first win before the end of the season. Wouldn’t it be something if it came at Homestead and brought them a championship?

Matt Kenseth: Matt is a two time winner at Charlotte over his career and he knows he is going to have to win some races during the playoffs is he is going to win a championship because he just doesn’t have enough playoff points to compete and move along on just points as we keep advancing. This is a good track for Matt and the Joe Gibbs teams have shown a bit more speed in the second half of the season. This should be one of his better tracks to try and pick up a win at in this round.

Kyle Larson: Although he has only run eight races at this track in his young career and only has one top five and two top ten finishes here, we can throw all of that out the door. Kyle has shown that he has a car that can compete most every week and he has run better at every track this year than he has earlier in his career. His two victories at Michigan this year tell us that they should be good on this intermediate track and I look for him to qualify well and run towards the front of the track all day again.

Denny Hamlin: Denny is another driver we might not think much about at this track, but his record tells us otherwise. In his last fourteen starts here, Denny has only finished outside the top ten twice and seven of those finishes were top five’s. After having a mechanical issue late in the race at Dover last week this team will be chomping at the bit to get back on the track and see what they can do in the second round of the playoffs.

Kurt Busch: Even though he got knocked out of the playoffs, there is no reason not to look at how Kurt runs here. He is the only driver to finish in the top ten at Charlotte in the last five races. His lone win came back in 2010 in the Coca-Cola 600, but his consistency here is something to look at. Kurt is still auditioning for a ride for next season and a win here in the playoffs could go a long way towards getting him a job, maybe even resigning with Stewart-Haas, but probably unlikely.

Kevin Harvick: Let’s not forget about Kevin yet. Even though they haven’t been running as well as they think they should, this team still has the tools to get the job done and win another championship. Kevin already has three wins at this track, including five finishes in the top two in his last nine starts. He has also sat on the pole for the last two races here. I think this team could break out at any time and go on a roll for the rest of the season.

Brad Keselowski: Despite having a win and six top ten finishes in his last eight races at Charlotte, this team doesn’t seem to have the speed they had earlier in the season when the Ford’s were dominating most of the races on the longer tracks. It seems that after Joey Logano got his encumbered win at the spring Richmond race all of the Ford teams have taken a hit on speed. I don’t think it has anything to do with the penalty. More than likely the other teams found more speed themselves and leveled the playing field a little bit.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Jimmie Johnson

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Chase Elliott
• Kyle Larson
• Kurt Busch
• Ryan Blaney

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Erik Jones
• Daniel Suarez

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Kyle Busch
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Matt Kenseth

Dark Horse: Erik Jones

Stay Away From: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Big 18: Martin Truex Jr.

Kyle Busch wins the second race of the playoffs and keeps pace with Martin Truex Jr. in the points race. Kurt Busch was the biggest loser on the day when he got caught up in a wreck that happened when Kevin Harvick spun in front of him and he couldn’t stop in time to avoid running into him. Now he will almost have to win the race next weekend to move into the second round of the playoffs as he finds himself in fifteenth place.

APACHE WARRIOR 400

This week for the first elimination race of the playoffs the series heads back to ‘The Monster Mile’, Dover International Speedway, for the running of the Apache Warrior 400. Dover is a one-mile high-banked oval speedway that will show speed and multiple grooves for passing. This being an elimination race I think we could see some great racing all through the race as those drivers on the bubble try to do everything in their power to pass every car they can.

Martin Truex Jr.: Once again last week, Martin had the car to beat until he got caught up in the same wreck that took out Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick. He still came back to record another top five finish in that race. Martin has two wins at this track and has finished in the top ten in six of his last seven starts here. I think I am going to stick with him and Kyle Busch as my two favorites for the near future.

Kyle Busch: Kyle also has two wins here and has also finished second here four times in his twenty-five starts here. The way these two are running now they are going to fight for this championship right to the end of the season. Kyle has sat on the pole for both of the playoff races and has started in the top three at Dover in five of his last seven starts there. Look for him to have another good qualifying effort again this weekend.

Kyle Larson: Kyle is the other driver in the field that has really run well all season long and continues that in the playoffs. Kyle has only run seven races at this track and is still looking for his first win here, but he has finished second here in two of his last three races. Look for him to have another great run this weekend at Dover and try to pick up some playoff points by winning this weekend.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie says he believes this team can win their eighth championship this year despite how they ran in the second half of the season. If he is going to do just that, this weekend will give us a good tell. He has won eleven races at this track during his thirty-one race career at this track. Anyone who can win one out of every three races at any track has to be considered one of the favorites no matter how they have been running recently.

Chase Elliott: Chase has been pretty quiet all year just because he hasn’t won a race yet. That can all change this weekend. In his three starts at this track, Chase has never finished outside of the top five. This is the type of track this team has excelled at the last couple of season and is the type of track where he has his best chance of picking up his first career win. What better time that during the playoffs to do that?

Kasey Kahne: After having some mechanical issues at New Hampshire last weekend, Kasey finds himself in a precarious position. He will have to win this race to continue his run for a possible championship. The good news for him is that he has run really well here in the recent pass. He has finished in the top five twice and the top ten three times in his last five starts here. If he wins this week it will be his first career win at this track.

Matt Kenseth: Matt has another great run last weekend at New Hampshire. He should be able to move on to the second round on points unless something really bad happens to him this weekend. However, he does run really well at this track and he could get his first win of the season here. He has three wins here in his career with one of those wins coming in the spring race last season. Matt is cool under pressure and should run well once again this weekend.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin had enough of a points lead that the accident he was in that knocked him out of last week’s race didn’t really affect him too much. He just needs to avoid another early exit this weekend and he will move on to the next round. Kevin won this race two years ago for his only career win at this track. I think this team makes the second round, but they need to step up their game a little bit if they want to contend for the championship.

Denny Hamlin: Denny is also sitting comfortable in the points heading into this elimination race and is still looking for his first career win at this track. However he has finished in the top ten in three of his last five starts here. I think they need to stop making mistakes on pit road to have a legitimate shot at winning a championship this season. They have shown they have the speed they need, but keep taking themselves out of races.

Brad Keselowski: In fifteen career races at Dover, Brad has one win and two second place finishes. This is another team that hasn’t been at the top of their game as we have moved into the playoffs. All of these teams can still turn it around, but they need to do it now. If they can get better they can go on a roll and make some noise yet this season.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kyle Busch

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Chase Elliott
• Jamie McMurray
• Kasey Kahne

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Erik Jones
• Michael McDowell

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

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

Dark Horse: Kasey Kahne

Stay Away From: Kurt Busch

Big 18: Jamie McMurray

The playoffs are underway and Martin Truex Jr. has picked up right where he left off in the regular season and won the race at Chicagoland Speedway this past weekend to propel him into the second round of the Chase with another 5 playoff points to add to his already impressive total. He has now won four of the seven mile-and-a-half races run this year with more to come, which gives him an advantage on the rest of the field. Chase Elliott finished second which will give this team a lot of confidence as the playoffs progress.

ISM CONNECT 300

For the second race of the playoffs the series heads back to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This is a slightly longer than one-mile oval track with very little banking in the corners or on the straightaways. Denny Hamlin won the race here in July and has been pretty good on the flatter tracks once again this season. There are nine drivers who are currently running in the Cup series that have multiple wins at this track and that should give us some good options for our teams this week.

Denny Hamlin: I will go with Denny to win the race this week and sweep the season here. Denny has been really good on the flatter tracks all season and will have a great setup under his car when they unload it from the truck this week. I look for him to practice well, qualify well and run well. The only concern I have for him this week is speeding penalties on pit road. He has gotten more speeding penalties this year than any other driver in the series and those penalties could spell doom at this track where it is tough to pass. Track position will be very important this weekend.

Jimmie Johnson: After a disappointing race at Chicagoland for this team they will look forward to being a contender this week at New Hampshire. Jimmie has three wins, ten top five and twenty-one top ten finishes in his thirty-one career starts at this track. I look for this team to rebound this week and have a shot at winning this race and moving into the second round of the playoffs.

Matt Kenseth: Matt is another driver with three wins at this track to go along with eleven top five and twenty top ten finishes in his thirty-five starts here. This team has been consistent lately and just needs to get a little better to actually contend for a win at the end of a race. I think they will have a shot to do just that this weekend just because of how consistent Matt has been here throughout his career. He could pick up his first win of the season here which would be huge for him.

Brad Keselowski: Brad knows that their cars aren’t as fast as those of the drivers who are beating them every week. He knows he is going to have to do something different if he wants to have a chance to win another race this year and this team is very good at doing just that. Brad has won here before and has finished in the top five six times and the top ten ten times in his sixteen starts. This is the type of track where speed isn’t necessarily what you need to win. With it being so flat, handling is much more important than speed. It is all about how you roll through the corners and get off them that matters in this race.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has only run seven races here and is still looking for his first win here. However, he has finished in the top five three times in those seven races and has been very consistent all season. They have run well on all types of tracks this year and should be able to do so again this weekend. They have a nice cushion in the point standings and really need to just stay out of trouble to move to the second round, but Kyle isn’t one to lay back. He will do everything he can to win every race he is in.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has two wins, ten top five and eighteen top ten finishes in his thirty-three starts at New Hampshire. He looked good last week at Chicago and showed a lot of speed once again. This is something I was watching for in the playoffs due to the fact that this team wasn’t performing as well as most of us were expecting them to in the second half of the regular season. We know now good Kevin has been at Phoenix and this track is kind of the same.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has two wins, nine top five and thirteen top ten finishes in his twenty-five starts at this track. Once again last weekend he had a fast car and was dominating the race early when they had trouble on a pit stop when they didn’t get all of the lugs tight and had a loose wheel forcing Kyle to pit again. On that stop he got caught speeding and just never recovered. If they can eliminate the mistakes on pit road this team is a threat every weekend no matter what type of track they run on.

Kurt Busch: After having some issues with a vibration last weekend, this team finds themselves down towards the cut-off line to move to the second round. The good news is that Kurt has won three races at Loudon and has been running very well on this type of track lately. I look for him to rebound this week and come away with another top ten finish and maybe be in contention for the win late in this race.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is looking for his first win at this track. He has never really been great here, he has really only been average. He finished in the top twenty in his last fourteen starts at this track. Now for the good news. Martin has run really well here in his last three starts, leading over one-hundred laps in each of those races. It will be interesting to see how this team approaches this race. Will they use pit strategy to win some stages or will they just continue to try and dominate the whole race and pick up yet another win?

Clint Bowyer: Clint has won two races here and finished seventh in his first race here with Stewart-Haas Racing back in July. I think they will have another good run once again this weekend and will have an even better handling car that they did back in July. Clint is my dark horse this week as I think he has a great chance to come away with at least a top ten finish if not even better. He might surprise a lot of people and win this race.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Denny Hamlin
• Martin Truex Jr.

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Clint Bowyer
• Kurt Busch
• Ryan Newman

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Daniel Suarez
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Matt Kenseth

Dark Horse: Clint Bowyer

Stay Away From: Trevor Bayne

Big 18: Ryan Newman

The field is set for the playoffs with nothing real exciting happening in the race other than an ambulance parked at the entrance to pit road when it was open and Matt Kenseth getting knocked out of the race because of it. The late caution kind of reminded me of wrestling when nothing really happened, but it looked like NASCAR was trying to do anything they could to prevent Martin Truex Jr. from winning another race and gaining another 5 playoff points. As it stands now he is going to be hard to knock out of the playoffs with his 52 playoff points.

TALES OF THE TURTLES 400

The playoffs start at the Chicagoland Speedway. This is the first of the intermediate tracks that make of much of the playoff season for NASCAR. Chicagoland is a mile-and-a-half tri-oval that is very similar to places like Kansas and Charlotte which are also both on the schedule yet this year. If a driver can dominate at these tracks they will find themselves in the hunt for the championship this November at Homestead-Miami.

Martin Truex Jr.: Truex has to be the odds on favorite to win his first championship with the way he has consistently run on all types of tracks this season. If it weren’t for an ill timed caution last week at Richmond he would have won his fifth race of the season. The way it stands now, he has a twenty point lead on his closest challenger, Kyle Larson and a fifty point lead on sixteenth place Jamie McMurray. He has at least a forty point lead on ten of the other fifteen drivers who made the playoffs. That is going to be tough for them to make up unless Martin has some real bad trouble. Three of his wins this season came on similar tracks to Chicagoland, so I am picking him to win the first race of the playoffs and put even more pressure on the rest of the field. Besides, he won this race last year too.

Kyle Larson: Kyle has only run three races at this track, but he finished in the top ten in his first two and led laps in each of those races. He has also won four times this season like Truex. The difference between them is all of the stages Martin won during the year. Besides his win at the 3/4-mile track at Richmond last weekend, Kyle won his other three races on two-mile tracks. That isn’t much different than the mile-and-a-half tracks, so he should be a contender once again this weekend.

Kyle Busch: Besides the aforementioned two drivers, Kyle has been just as good as if not better than them for most of the season. He had quit a few races where he could have and should have won this season only for an ill-timed caution or strategy that has cost him numerous chances to win races. I think this team along with the other two above are going to be the cream of the crop for the playoffs because of how consistent they have been all season. Kyle has one win at Chicagoland and seven top ten finishes in his twelve starts at this track.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin won the first two races ever run at this track in the Cup series and has finished in the top five in half of his sixteen starts here. This team hasn’t performed as consistently this year as they have the past two seasons, but he has a good car every week and if they can stay away from incidents on the track and pit road they will have a chance to win every race they have left this season.

Jimmie Johnson: The seven time champion can’t be counted out in any season no matter how well they have performed up to the start of the playoffs. Jimmie has won three races this year and although he is still looking for his first Chicagoland win we know this team is going to show up with their A-game this weekend. In his fifteen starts at this track, Jimmie has come away with seven top five and ten top ten finishes.

Brad Keselowski: Brad has two wins on the season and he has also won twice at the Chicagoland Speedway. That is in only eight starts. In those eight starts, besides the two wins he has finished in the top ten in six races. This team didn’t come away with the wins they thought they should have this season, but no matter how bad their car was early in the race they always seem to get it right by the end and be in contention to win. They also aren’t afraid to do something different than the rest of the field to dig themselves out of a hole if they need to.

Chase Elliott: I am very surprised that this team hasn’t won a race yet. I still think they will get one before the end of the season and it will come on one of the intermediate tracks left on the schedule. Chase has only run at this track once and he finished third in that race while leading seventy-five laps. Chase is another driver who hasn’t performed as well lately as he did earlier in the year, but maybe the Hendrick teams are hiding something they are going to bring out in the next ten weeks.

Ryan Blaney: Ryan made the playoffs by winning at Pocono in June. This team has had a fast car all season long and Ryan is at his best at this type of track. If he wins another race on one of the intermediate tracks it will come as no surprise to anyone on the circuit and shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us either. In his only start at this track, Ryan came away with a fourth place finish and led a few laps too. I look for this team to come out aggressive this week and try to move through the first round.

Erik Jones: Erik didn’t make the Chase in his rookie season, but he came very close and contended for a few wins. Right now he is on a roll finishing in the top ten in his last six starts. He is another driver who could very well pick up his first Cup win before the end of the year. Even though he has never run here in this series he finished sixth in his only truck start and he won two of his three Xfinity series starts here. This is going to be another good week for him.

Kurt Busch: Even though Kurt hasn’t won a race since the opening week of the season and hasn’t won a race at this track in his career yet, this team is starting to run much better and more consistent at the right time of the year. Kurt finished in the top five in his last two starts even while struggling early on in those races with his cars handling. This team could really surprise some people by going on a roll during the playoffs. Kurt has nine top ten finishes in his sixteen starts here too.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Kevin Harvick

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Chase Elliott
• Kyle Larson
• Ryan Blaney
• Kurt Busch

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Erik Jones
• Ty Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Erik Jones
3. Kyle Larson
4. Chase Elliott
5. Kevin Harvick

Dark Horse: Erik Jones

Stay Away From: Jamie McMurray

Big 18: Erik Jones