Welcome to TimersSports
After our first stop on the 1.5 mile racetrack , we head to another one out west in Las Vegas! This works out perfectly though since we have solid track data already from 500 miles at Atlanta. We will look at last week data and using relevant stats from past few seasons at Vegas. Who to sneaky on your fantasy roster? Who to leave off? Lets fine out!
Sleepers:
Paul Menard- Well..well look who lands on my sleeper list for second straight week? Yep Menard and it pretty obvious too. Over the past 3 seasons , Menard have 3 Top 10 and a 11.7 average running position. His 11.7 average running position ranks him 9th best in the past 3 Las Vegas races. I expect him to be a popular sleeper , but he will likely scare most away due to poor starting position. His average starting position is 21.3. Last week Menard finish 13th at Atlanta. Even though he came out of nowhere to score a top 15.
Martin Truex Jr - After finishing 6th last week at Atlanta , Truex is primed to be a excellent option. Last season Truex finished 14th here. Over past 4 seasons , Truex Jr have an 10.5 average finish and 7.0 average running position. Deeper we dig the more he impresses me! Like for example , over the past 4 seasons no driver have completed more laps inside the top 15 than Martin at 97.7%. Also Truex holds the 5th best driver rating. You could make the argument that only last season have any relevant impact. You could , but you shouldn't! Why? Truex finished 14th last season with an 7.0 average running position and 96.6 driver rating (very impressive). That was last season with FFR in 78 car. I don't think people truly understand how good Truex is at Vegas!
Dale Jr: Would you believe me if I said , Dale Jr have been realistically the best driver at Vegas over the past 4 seasons? Oh it true and not many realize it either! In past 4 seasons , Dale Jr have an 6.8 average finish (2nd-best), 8.5 average running position (2nd-best) , 89.2% laps completed in the top 15 (2nd-best) , and 107.8 driver rating (2nd-best). Over the past 8 Las Vegas races , Dale Jr is the only driver who holds an average finish better than 10.0 (8.3). Dale also have more Top 10(6) than anyone else in that 8 race span.
Busts:
Tony Stewart- Smoke looked lost at Atlanta and finished around 30th. He was worse in 2014 at Las Vegas and that's saying something. He finished 34th , but was slightly better with 33.0 average running position and 40.3 driver rating! Last season data or not , there are red flags popping up all over the place. To be honest I wasn't totally shocked by last week performance. I felt like he wasn't a fan of the new rules package during testing Thursday. I am not touching Smoke until least June.
Jeff Gordon- I am a big Gordon fan , but he have to be on my bust list unfortunately for Las Vegas. Looking back over the past 3 seasons , Gordon have struggled. The thing that jumps out at me is the time spent in top 15 which is only 52.7% of the time during the past 3 races. Last season was a major improvement though. He finished 9th after spending majority of the race in the top 10. Its encouraging , but then I think back to last week. Gordon wasn't very competitive and never had a car capable of top 10 once the track built up rubber. Now I know it was only 1 race , so hard saying why Gordon wasn't himself at Atlanta. But that the unknown and usually its best to stay away until we have some answers.
Email - briggs_garry48@yahoo.com
Twitter - @Garryy12
