Friday, December 11, 2015

2016 Fantasy Nascar Profile: Ryan Blaney

Welcome to TimersSports

Driver Name: Ryan Blaney

Car #: 21

Make: Ford

Debut: 2016 (First-Full season)

# of Career Races: 18

# of Career Poles: 0

# of Career Wins: 0

# of Career Top 5s: 1

# of Career Top 10s: 2

# of Career DNFs: 5

# of Career laps led: 20

Career Average Finish: 25.2

Career Average Start: 14.3

# of 2015 Wins: 0

# of 2015 Top 5s: 1

# of 2015 Top 10s: 2

# of 2015 Poles: 0

# of 2015 DNFs:  5

# of 2015 Laps led: 5

2015 Average Finish:  25.3

2015 Average Start: 14.5

2015 Fantasy Recap: Blaney season can be easily be summed by rain outs and blown engines! Seriously that how most of his season played out. He either missed the race or had engines blow up. Okay that not entirely true. He had some solid runs mixed in there and when he did get on the track, he was very fast. It didn't always lead to the results (due to issues during the race), but the potential was there every weekend. Personally I think the fact that the 21 team ran a part-time itself threw them off. One week they would race, then Blaney wouldn't be on the track for a few weeks. Kinda hard to get any momentum. Will be interesting in 2016 how he fairs with a full-time schedule.

Strong Tracks: Kansas and Indy

Weak Tracks: Texas

Yahoo Grouping Prediction: B-list Grouping Tier

2016 Fantasy Outlook: There isn't a lot of data on Blaney which is why it is harder to get a good idea what to expect from him. Look above under strong and weak tracks. Those probably aren't even accurate, but don't really have anything to go on. That's the big problem with young drivers when it comes to profiling them in the offseason. Personally I expect Blaney to be a top 10 contender from time to time. Most weekend I would expect a result in the teens. The fact that the 21 team is aligned with Penske alone gives him solid upside. Last season we saw flashes of what this kid could be. In 2016, I think we see more flashes of that. He could have a rookie year much like Kyle Larson did in 2014, if his cards are played right.

Twitter - @JeffNathans