Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Fantasy Nascar Sleepers & Busts (Indy)

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Sleepers -

Austin Dillon - I call it on Twitter that Austin Dillon would have a top 10 run at New Hampshire. He went out and did exactly that (thanks for making me look good, Austin). Do I think he will finish inside the top 10 again this week? I think it a possibility he does, but at very least you should expect least another top 15 (or at worst top 20) run from the 3 car. Last season he had one of his better races of the season where he finished 10th at Indianapolis. In that race, he held an 13.0 average running position which backs up his strong performance. I am kinda wondering how this new package will turn out and who it will benefit. 

AJ Dinger - Another guy who showed up on my Sleeper's list last week at New Hampshire was AJ Dinger. Since he have had strong showings all season long on the flats tracks, I see no reason why he cannot continue it. Earlier this season at Pocono, he wrecked into Ryan Newman which also damaged his car. Before that he was running pretty competitive. I may be mistaken, but pretty sure he was batting for 7th with about 20-ish laps to go. Not to mention, Dinger have a pretty solid track record at this famous track. In 6 career starts, he have an average finish of 18.0 and have never finished worse than 22nd. In fact, there are quite a few drivers who have a worse career average finish than Dinger at Indy. Including Dale Jr , Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr and Paul Menard. He finished 22nd (2013) and 18th  last season. If he can manage results like those the past two seasons, then another top 15 run out of Dinger is possible. I think the 47 team is running much better than a season ago. Question is can they put it all together?

Matt Kenseth - It is very tough to call a guy like Kenseth a sleeper, but that exactly what he have turned into this season. Especially lately since Kyle Busch have returned. However Kenseth have had a very solid season and should not be overlooked. Over the past 4 races at IMS, he have finished inside the top 5 in 3 races. Including 4th and 5th respectably in his lone two starts with the Joe Gibbs Racing Organization. Kenseth also have some mojo on his side with finishes of 5th and 6th in his past two starts (Kentucky and New Hampshire). Honestly I am not sure how much it means, but he had a solid showing at Pocono and finished 6th. For those wondering, Pocono considered one of Matt's worst tracks. So that is pretty impressive IMO. Again not sure how much it worth since there will be a new rule package being used this weekend. Also Pocono isn't exactly a perfect comparison to Indy since they have several differences.

Busts:

Jamie Mac - You can make a case for JMac a sleeper or a bust really. Peronsally I think too many people jumped on the JMac bandwagon to consider him a sleeper anymore, but that is besides the point. I guess I am not too high on him because I feel like he is overrated due to this being a ''major race''. Since his win in 2010 and 4th place finish in 2011. He haven't really done much of anything here. He finished 22nd in 2012 , 15th in 2013 and 20th in 2014. Honestly it hard to get super excited about those numbers. Even though he have post consistent finishes this season, but sadly he really have not contended for top 10 finishes as much as I would prefer him to. I guess my problem is he get little too much credit at this venue, due to he won here in 2010. That was like 5 years ago now. He is probably a top 15 fantasy option in general.

Kurt Busch - Honestly it is very tough to get behind Kurt this week since he have underperformed the past few races. Yes finishing 10th is under-performing (in my book), plus he have only two top 10 finishes since the 2004 season at Indy. He finished 28th and a lap down last season. Even though it was a pretty bad year for Kurt. Can he bounce here and be a contender for the win? You bet he could, but I think it unlikely. Of course I am basing this on pure past history and pretty much counting on it to continue. Come back and ask me after practice , then I probably can give you a better idea weather to trust Kurt or not.

****That does it for this post and unfortunately it also does it for me at TimersSports this season.

Email  - Briggs_garry48@yahoo.com

Twitter - @Garryy12