Welcome to TimersSports
First off , wow what a race at Fontana! I have a lot of personal feeling how it ended , but I am gonna keep it professional. So hats off to Brad Keselowski and the 2 Team. Fun race , but overall it was pretty dull. Especially those long green flag runs.
Fortunately we head to a short track this week. Usually its bring more than enough drama and action to satisfy our needs for good ole beating and banging. The term value will be used a lot this week , especially in allocation leagues such as Yahoo Fantasy Racing. More importantly , avoiding that cost bust will be equally as critical if not more.
Sleepers:
Jamie Mac - JMac will be a popular sleeper , but he shouldn't be a sleeper though. Unfortunately the general public isn't educated enough to know how stout he been here. To be fair , his stats are what throw people off. Last season Jamie had finishes of 42nd and 16th. Both finishes doesn't do justification how good he was. In the spring , he running around 5th before Dale Jr put him in the wall. Eventually he finished 42nd and 114 laps down. In the fall , Jamie started on the pole and held an 7.0 average running position and finished 16th. In 2013 , Jamie sweep the top 10. Weather bad luck finds him will be the question!
Matt Kenseth - I don't know how Kenseth have gone unnoticed at Martinsville , but I will take advantage of his great value at the paperclip. Historically speaking , Kenseth have an slightly misleading average finish. In 30 career starts , Matt have an 14.7 average finish. Since joining JGR? He have a 7.0 average finish and 3 Top 10s. Digging deeper , Kenseth has led the 2nd most laps (336) and had held the best average running position (7.5). Even last season in a down year , he was still solid: 6.0 average finish , 11.0 average running position and 38 laps led. He won't be a race winning play , but anything can happen at Martinsville. If I wanted to gamble against the majority , Kenseth is on the short-list of top candidates.
Aric Almirola - Almirola is NOT the most talked about fantasy option , but he is my long shot play! Surprisingly Aric was quite effective last season overall at both Martinsville races. In those races , Aric had 14.5 average finish with a 13.5 average running position. Respectable numbers for a non-big name. So I did some digging and his numbers since joining RPM actually been better than most realize! In 6 career races in #43 car (Since 2012) , Aric have an 13.5 average finish and 3 Top 10s. Best finish of 4th came in 2012. By looking at his numbers for individual races , he clearly lucked into a few finishes. But not last season! He spent 78% of both races inside the top 15!
Busts:
Danica Patrick - I don't understand the Patrick hype at Martinsville! Its pretty obvious she isn't very good here , yet I see people claiming this is a great track for her. That just terrible research and false information. Excluding her debut , Danica have an 27.7 average finish and 1 Top 25 finish. Her average running position is 24.7 and had a 59.5 driver rating. Finished 32nd and 34th in last season races. Just awful numbers which tells me all I need to know. Danica seems to do better on larger tracks anyhow. I would save her for another week.
Kyle Larson - If Larson wasn't a household name , I wouldn't list him. But since he is , I think I have to mention him. In career starts , Larson have an 33.0 average finish and 27.0 average running position. Only 1 Top 30 in those 3 starts. While the simple size is extremely small , Larson MO isn't taking care of his equipment. At Martinsville , I feel like that a must. I love his potential , but I think there are way better opportunities to use him down the road.
Email - Briggs_garry48@yahoo.com
Twitter - @Garryy12