Its that time of the year again , the Daytona 500 which marks Fantasy Nascar starting again. Now for most sites that means start of their season coverage. But here at Timerssports , we been working all offseason to delivering the top notch content for the 2015 upcoming season. You can view all our offseason content by viewing it in the home tab.
Daytona is one of my personal favorite tracks from both a fan point of view and a lover of fantasy nascar. Anything and usually everything will happen during Sunday's 500 mile race. So what makes a good sleeper? Very good question. I personally prefer a driver who have a good but lengthy track record. While nobody is 100% certain to finish on the lead lap , usually drivers with a good track record will find a way to pull out respectable finish. Lets be clear the 'big one' doesn't care who you are. So keep that in mind.
Who qualifies as an bust? Well that depends. Most times it comes down to driver overall value and worth to a fantasy team. My definition of a bust would be someone who fails to meet or expand original standards. Always thought that was a good definition of a bust. The beauty of a bust is any driver can qualify as one on any given week. Anyhow lets get into today's sleepers & busts. Please enjoy! Feedback would be nice as well.
Sleepers -
Casey Mears: Mears is my top sleeper. Last season on plate tracks , only Hamlin had a better average finish. You are probably thinking , ''How is that possible , Garry?'' Well kids , slow and steady wins the race and it most certainly the case with Mears. He posted a overall driver rating below 80.0 for the four races. So he hung in the mid 20s to upper 30s mostly and was able to avoid all the wrecks. Pretty smart. That doesn't work all the time , but Mears is someone I really like in deep formats. I love challenges , so Mears will likely be on my Yahoo team.
In 2014, Denny Hamlin was the only driver to have a better avg finish (6.8) at the 4 restrictor plate races than Casey Mears (9.5). #NASCAR
— PJ Walsh (@FNPNASCAR) January 26, 2015
That tweet was from FantasyNascarPreview.com's Expert PJ Walsh! I found that super interesting. Will Mears back that 9.5 average finish up in 2015? I would say no , but I say it worth a shot. At worst you are wasting a start on a driver you're unlikely to consider most weeks.Austin Dillon: Austin Dillon was one of the most impressive drivers on the restrictor plate races in the 2014 season. Dillon have performed well on this type track for a few years now dating back the lower-level divisions. Dillon started on the pole in the Daytona 500 and finished inside the top 10.
Austin Dillon was one of just three drivers—with Casey Mears and Denny Hamlin—to place top 10 in both 2014 Daytona races. @StateSportsBeat
— Cory Smith (@RCorySmith) February 11, 2015
As the tweet above said , Dillon was only one of three drivers to sweep the top 10 at Daytona. Dillon is a savy plate racer who understands what it takes to effectively be a top plate racer in the series. He isn't there yet , but I see no reason why he won't be in the future. I really like Dillon as a fantasy option. He could provide solid value to any team without using up a massive amount of cash ( or a important start). Greg Biffle: The Biff rounds out my Sleeper-team for the Daytona 500. I always try to fit the Biff into my lineup at Daytona. He always seem to have a car that capable (more often then not) to be very competitive. Cannot remember the last plate race where Greg Biff wasn't a heavy contender for the win. The RFR cars have been hooked up here for years it seems now. Last season , Greg finished well in the top 10 at the 500.
FantasyNascarPreview.com's Expert Walsh made another good point on Greg Biffle in the tweet below:
Greg Biffle has best avg. running position over last 7 races at Daytona, yet 5Dimes gives 17 drivers better odds to win the 500 than Biffle.
— PJ Walsh (@FNPNASCAR) January 31, 2015
Most people probably would assume it Dale Jr , but nope Greg Biffle is the one who holds the best average running positiion (ARP). ARP is probably the most relevent stat to look for plate races to be honest. But for some reason , Biff's is being overlooked. Currently less then 30% have Greg on Yahoo Fantasy Racing. Kinda feel like that way too low for him. I will take that value and run for the hills.Busts :
Jamie Mac: I am a JMac fan. I always try to support him , but I have given up on him at Daytona and Talladega. He have let me down too many times. Now he definitely is a solid plate race and I am not trying to discredit him of that. I just think he's overvalued because of his big-race wins status. Could he knock off a win or top 5? Sure but last 4 seasons , JMac have 4 finishes of 18th or better and 4 finishes of 22nd or worse. Good news is he never have had two poor finishes at Daytona in the same year. Unfortunately he never had two good ones either. Even in 2011 he had finishes of 22nd and 18th. I just think there better options out there with more value. Cannot count out JMac , but always seems to find trouble at the wrong time. Example the Sprint Unlimited Race.
Tony Stewart: Smoke will probably be a popular pick in most people Daytona lineups. Yeah I am not taking that bait. Smoke is the Jim Kelly of the Daytona 500. Heck of a plate racer , but always chokes or comes up short in the big race. In this case it the Daytona 500. In his career , Smoke have an 11.4 average finish. 9 of his 16 career Daytona 500s have resulted in the top 20. Past two Daytona(s)? 35th and 41st. I have faith in Smoke if I were forced to use him , but I just rather wait on him for now. Mainly because in my opinion he have lost his elite plate-racer status. I am waiting to use him again until he proves the Smoke of old is 'officially' back.
Those my Sleepers & Busts for the Daytona 500. I hope this was a useful piece as it meant to be.
Have a question or ever want to chat?
Email - Briggs_garry48@yahoo.com
Twitter - @Garryy12