Wednesday, December 23, 2015

2016 Fantasy Nascar Profile: Jimmie Johnson

Welcome to TimersSports

Driver Name: Jimmie Johnson

Car #: 48

Make: Chevy

Debut: 2002

# of Career Races: 507

# of Career Poles: 33

# of Career Wins: 75

# of Career Top 5s: 207

# of Career Top 10s: 314

# of Career DNFs: 44

# of Career Laps Led: 17,696

Career Average Finish: 11.9

Career Average Start: 11.0

# of 2015 Wins: 5

# of 2015 Top 5s: 14

# of 2015 Top 10s: 22

# of 2015 Poles: 0

# of 2015 DNFs: 1

# of 2015 Laps Led: 558

2015 Average Finish: 12.8

2015 Average Start: 12.1

2015 Fantasy Recap: Johnson started the season off very well and gathered 4 wins in the first 15 races, but much like in 2014 he fell off with fantasy production. And much like 2014, he also won at Texas during the chase. I felt like HMS as a whole fell off in the summer months and into the chase. They were just not quite on the same level as JGR and Penske. They didn't really get worse, but I felt like the competition improved greatly. Big reason why we saw Johnson's fantasy production just drop like a rock. Even in the chase, he struggled. The key to Johnson over the past two seasons is to use him early in the season and hope like hell he does not get hot late in the season. He typically becomes inconsistent in the summer months leading up to the chase. In 2015 that held true and seemed to rollover into the chase. I think Johnson had a really good season, but he wasn't great because of how he performed in latter part of the season.

Strong Tracks: Texas, Charlotte, Martinsville, Dover, Datyona and Pocono

Weak Tracks:  Michigan and Bristol

Yahoo Grouping Prediction: A-list Grouping Tier

2016 Fantasy Outlook: I expect Johnson to post multiple wins in 2016, but like the previous two season I expect it to happen in the first handful of races. I think the 48 team is more suited for a strong start and seems to become more inconsistent in 2nd half the season. I would try to use him much as possible early in the season, especailly at the 1.5 mile racetracks. They seems to be his strong suit early on, long with tracks like Martinsville and Dover. He also seems to run very well at Daytona. So try to employ at the 500. Also I would try to use him on the road courses as he is probably the most underrated road course driver in the series. Overall you can use Johnson pretty much at any track you want. I think the key is to know when to use him and for how long. As he shown us the past few seasons, he tend to go on hot streaks and cold streaks. I think you need to use him soon as possible. Typically Johnson win a race and then knock off 2 or 3 more within a short time frame. That is when you have to jump on the Jimmie bandwagon. I think the last few seasons, HMS as a whole have taken a step back during the middle of the season. I don't feel like they are as strong as they once were. I think that something we will have to watch for early part of 2016, and that will have a heavy impact on Johnson's fantasy value. The even bigger question is will Johnson fantasy production dip in the 2nd half of the season like in previous seasons? All good questions that will be answered soon.

Twitter - @JeffNathans