Welcome to TimersSports
Hope everyone is having a phenomenal offseason like I am having! As much as I have enjoyed the time off, I am pumped for the upcoming season. I am excited to be contributing to TimerSports once again this season. Every Wednesday, I will release my initial Fantasy Sleepers for each race. Typically my posts will consist of 3 Sleepers with information on them. Such as stats, comparisons, etc. Okay so that the basic rundown of what to expect when we get into the season. Enough about that though. Time to dig into today's business: 2016 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers! Below I have listed my sleepers for the upcoming season. Enjoy!
1. Paul Menard - Yes I know you all are very shocked that Paul Menard is my top sleeper for 2016! Facts are facts though. Name me 5 drivers who isn't considered a powerhouse driver who can outproduce Paul Menard in 2016? Yeah I am pretty sure you won't be able to come up with five drivers. He is one of the more well-rounded drivers in the series and can run respectably just about on any type racetrack. His strong suit over the past few seasons have been at the intermediate racetracks. Paul have a tendency to start off the season well and become inconsistent when we approach the chase though. I fully expect him to have a lot of low to middle teen finishes. On Menard's worst days maybe high teens to low twenty, but most of his finishes should be from 11th-17th probably. I also believe there will be opportunity for him to snug some top 5 and top 10 finishes. I would expect those chances to come at tracks like Michigan, Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas, etc. If you want a in-depth look at Paul Menard, then I would highly recommend checking out Jeff's Fantasy Nascar Preview on Paul Menard (click here to view it).
2. Aric Almirola - Almirola blew me away last season how consistent he was last season. He always been a somewhat consistent driver for RPM, but last season I think we saw him step it up a notch. Especially in the final 21 races. In the final 21 races of 2015, he posted 16 Top 18 finishes. With 5 of his 6 top 10 finishes coming in the final 11 races. Hopefully he take last season's and apply it this upcoming season. I expect him to be his strongest at the short flat racetracks (Phoenix and New Hampshire) and short tracks (Martinsville, Richmond and Bristol). He also will have several strong solid runs on the intermediate racetracks. Especially the 1.5 mile high-speed intermediate tracks. He seems to have a habit of running well at them. Personally I expect big things from Aric Almirola in 2016. I think he is going to stabilize himself as a top 15 driver to top 20 early in 2016. What impresses me most about Aric is what he can do with average equipment. Considering there are probably close 20 drivers in better rides than him. I expect him to have mainly finish from the mid to upper teens, but as the season goes on he should contend for finishes closer to the top 10 though.
3. Kyle Larson - I have heard a lot of talking going on about Kyle Larson this offseason and none of it have been good! Larson will enter his 3rd full-season as a Cup driver and everyone is overlooking the young CGR driver. If you watched Larson last season, then you know how fast he was all season long. There no doubt about it. He had speed in that 42 machine almost every race weekend. Most weekends, he had top 10 or top 15 speed. What hurt him was how many poor finishes he came away with. Most times it was him overdriving his equipment, stupid mistakes or just plain bad luck. In 2016, I expect him to rebound fairly nice. I believe Larson will take some of those poor 20-ish place finishes from 2015 and turn them into solid results. However I don't think he will find victory lane. I think last season, everyone was pressuring him to perform at a high-level after a stout rookie season. Now everyone expectations are lower for him, I think that going to help him a lot. Larson will likely continue to be inconsistent like he was last season, but I also expect him to have better fantasy production though. More top 5, top 10 and top 15 finishes. Hopefully a similar stat line to the 2014 season or closer to it.
Okay that's it for my 2016 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers! This wasn't a long post and I probably could have added some stats, but the general projection of this was to give you an overview of the top sleepers. Obviously once we get into the season, I will use stats and comparisons to sell you on a driver. Anyhow I hope you all enjoyed this short piece.
Thanks for reading,
Garry Briggs
Hope everyone is having a phenomenal offseason like I am having! As much as I have enjoyed the time off, I am pumped for the upcoming season. I am excited to be contributing to TimerSports once again this season. Every Wednesday, I will release my initial Fantasy Sleepers for each race. Typically my posts will consist of 3 Sleepers with information on them. Such as stats, comparisons, etc. Okay so that the basic rundown of what to expect when we get into the season. Enough about that though. Time to dig into today's business: 2016 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers! Below I have listed my sleepers for the upcoming season. Enjoy!
1. Paul Menard - Yes I know you all are very shocked that Paul Menard is my top sleeper for 2016! Facts are facts though. Name me 5 drivers who isn't considered a powerhouse driver who can outproduce Paul Menard in 2016? Yeah I am pretty sure you won't be able to come up with five drivers. He is one of the more well-rounded drivers in the series and can run respectably just about on any type racetrack. His strong suit over the past few seasons have been at the intermediate racetracks. Paul have a tendency to start off the season well and become inconsistent when we approach the chase though. I fully expect him to have a lot of low to middle teen finishes. On Menard's worst days maybe high teens to low twenty, but most of his finishes should be from 11th-17th probably. I also believe there will be opportunity for him to snug some top 5 and top 10 finishes. I would expect those chances to come at tracks like Michigan, Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas, etc. If you want a in-depth look at Paul Menard, then I would highly recommend checking out Jeff's Fantasy Nascar Preview on Paul Menard (click here to view it).
2. Aric Almirola - Almirola blew me away last season how consistent he was last season. He always been a somewhat consistent driver for RPM, but last season I think we saw him step it up a notch. Especially in the final 21 races. In the final 21 races of 2015, he posted 16 Top 18 finishes. With 5 of his 6 top 10 finishes coming in the final 11 races. Hopefully he take last season's and apply it this upcoming season. I expect him to be his strongest at the short flat racetracks (Phoenix and New Hampshire) and short tracks (Martinsville, Richmond and Bristol). He also will have several strong solid runs on the intermediate racetracks. Especially the 1.5 mile high-speed intermediate tracks. He seems to have a habit of running well at them. Personally I expect big things from Aric Almirola in 2016. I think he is going to stabilize himself as a top 15 driver to top 20 early in 2016. What impresses me most about Aric is what he can do with average equipment. Considering there are probably close 20 drivers in better rides than him. I expect him to have mainly finish from the mid to upper teens, but as the season goes on he should contend for finishes closer to the top 10 though.
3. Kyle Larson - I have heard a lot of talking going on about Kyle Larson this offseason and none of it have been good! Larson will enter his 3rd full-season as a Cup driver and everyone is overlooking the young CGR driver. If you watched Larson last season, then you know how fast he was all season long. There no doubt about it. He had speed in that 42 machine almost every race weekend. Most weekends, he had top 10 or top 15 speed. What hurt him was how many poor finishes he came away with. Most times it was him overdriving his equipment, stupid mistakes or just plain bad luck. In 2016, I expect him to rebound fairly nice. I believe Larson will take some of those poor 20-ish place finishes from 2015 and turn them into solid results. However I don't think he will find victory lane. I think last season, everyone was pressuring him to perform at a high-level after a stout rookie season. Now everyone expectations are lower for him, I think that going to help him a lot. Larson will likely continue to be inconsistent like he was last season, but I also expect him to have better fantasy production though. More top 5, top 10 and top 15 finishes. Hopefully a similar stat line to the 2014 season or closer to it.
Okay that's it for my 2016 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers! This wasn't a long post and I probably could have added some stats, but the general projection of this was to give you an overview of the top sleepers. Obviously once we get into the season, I will use stats and comparisons to sell you on a driver. Anyhow I hope you all enjoyed this short piece.
Thanks for reading,
Garry Briggs
