Thursday, December 24, 2015

2016 Fantasy Nascar Profile: Martin Truex Jr

Welcome to TimersSports

Driver Name: Martin Truex Jr

Car #: 78

Make: Toyota

# of Career Races: 369

# of Career Poles: 7

# of Career Wins: 3

# of Career Top 5s: 40

# of Career Top 10s: 117

# of Career DNFs: 42

# of Career Laps Led: 2,452

Career Average Finish: 17.6

Career Average Start: 16.3

# of 2015 Wins: 1

# of 2015 Top 5s: 8

# of 2015 Top 10s: 22

# of 2015 Poles: 0

# of 2015 DNFs: 2

# of 2015 Laps Led: 567

2015 Average Finish: 12.2

2015 Average Start: 12.5

2015 Fantasy Recap: Truex had a great season and was impressive all season. He started off very strong and was by the far the best surprise of 2015. I thought after his win at Pocono, he became inconsistent in his finishes. I felt like the 78 team took more risks which resulted in the inconsistency in performance. But overall I was pretty impressive they were able to make it all the way to the final four down in Miami. In the end, they just didn't have the needed speed to outrun Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick. Still a very successful season for the one-car team out of Denver.

Strong Tracks: Homestead, Texas, WGI and New Hampshire

Weak Tracks: Martinsville and Daytona

Yahoo Grouping Prediction: A-list Grouping Tier

2016 Fantasy Outlook: A lot of people are unhappy that the 78 team is dumping Chevy for Toyota in 2016. To me brand loyalty means shit in racing. FRR only had a partnership with RCR and getting funded by them, not directly from Chevy. So they have to depend on RCR for financial assistances. Toyota on the another hand can offer them the required financial assistances to expand their team and be competitive. Easy decision if you ask me! For 2016, I don't expect Truex to repeat his season from one year ago. I personally don't think he will return to victory lane in the first season back with Toyota. I think it may take a little while for the 78 team to get going since they switched brands in the offseason. I still think he makes the chase, but I don't think he will wrap it up early like 2015. I think Martin's biggest challenge will be ignoring the haters. He cannot let people get in his head. Last season he had the best season of his career. How will he respond in the very next season? That is the question I am wondering.

Twitter - @JeffNathans
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