Thursday, December 22, 2016

2017 Fantasy Nascar Profile: AJ Dinger

Welcome to TimersSports

Driver Name: AJ Dinger

Car #: 47

Make: Chevy 

Season Debut: 2008 (First-Full Season)

Number of Championships: 0

# of Career Starts: 299

# of Career Poles: 4

# of Career Wins: 1

# of Career Top 5s: 9 

# of Career Top 10s: 47

# of Career DNFs: 28

# of Career laps led: 494 

Career Average Finish: 21.0

Career Average Start: 19.9

# of 2016 Wins: 0

# of 2016 Top 5s: 2

# of 2016 Top 10s: 9 

# of 2016 Poles: 0

# of 2016 DNFs: 4

# of 2016 laps led: 29

2016 Average Finish: 17.8

2016 Average Start: 17.2

2016 Fantasy Recap - Dinger had a very good year in 2016, but I wouldn't call it a great year by any means. He is still struggle to be consistent with the 47 team, however he had his best year ever with JTG team though. He posted 2 Top 5 finishes, 9 Top 10 finishes with an very solid 17.4 average finish. Statically speaking from a career vantage point, he had his 2nd-best season ever. 2011 was the only season that he posted better numbers and it wasn't really that wide of margin either though. In fact, 2016 was only the 3rd time in his career where he had better than an 20.0 average finish for the season. Another thing I love? He had by far his best season ever with the 47 team, too! He had 2 Top 5 finishes and 8 Top 10 finishes in his first two-full seasons with the #47 team. And had 23.1 and 20.1 average finishes. He blow all of those stats out of the water in 2016 alone. Quite impressive! He saw one of the greatest improvements from 2015 to 2016. In 2015, he had 0 Top 5 finishes finishes and 2 Top 10 finishes with 23.1 average finish and 21.6 average start. He saw improvements in every category. In my last Profile (Aric Almirola), we saw a driver decrease significantly in every major stat. In this one, we saw AJ Dinger improve in every statically category. AJ has to be very happy with his 2016 efforts!

Strong Tracks - Sonoma, WGI, Martinsville, Phoenix and Richmond

Weak Tracks - Kentucky and Chicago 

Yahoo Grouping Tier: B-list Grouping

2017 Fantasy Outlook - Dinger had his best season ever at JTG and is prime to continue the success in 2017. The big key for Dinger in 2016, I think he was more patience and saw improvements in his cars overall performance. The technical alliance with RCR probably was a big-asset for him overall as well. So where will be the best places to use him in 2017? I think that is pretty previous by looking at recent seasons data and career-history. Obvious the road courses are where he will have his best chance to go to victory or grab a strong finish. But as we all know, he has proven he cannot be consistent with getting the job done. With that said, the chance is hard to past up when we come to Sonoma and Watkins Glenn though. Next, I would target him the short tracks and the shorter flats. So Martinsville and Bristol (Short tracks), along with the shorter flats of Phoenix, Richmond and New Hampshire. All of those venues are places where the Dinger has found success at in the past. However, I would primary target Martinsville as it considered his best non-road course track. Also he is pretty good at Phoenix. Does have nearly as high of a ceiling but has finished 16th or 17th in past 4 of 5 races there. Hard to beat that kind of consistency overall. He has uptrending potential at Bristol as well. As he ran pretty well in both races there. Over the past 5 races here, he has 3 races where he topped 82.0 driver rating. That's a very good rating for him, as it shows he was a top 20 contender. You like seeing driver ratings above 80 for Dinger, it usually a good indication he was a decent option. As for New Hampshire and Richmond, I am still meh about overall. I think he is in that 20 to 25 range with limited upside. He just has been that good in the past 3 races at either track. No finish better than 20th. That's need to change in 2017, for him to an asset to me. Still, he has ran well in the past though. It's all about the potential, so he is worth keeping an eye on. He will have days on the other tracks like the intermediate tracks, plates and larger flats. However, I think there will be inconstent results. He doesn't have the speed to be a true contender overall, his best days will be in the low to mid teens. However, he will have a lot of races where he contends just around 20th all day. Those are the races, where he is unlikely a real asset for fantasy teams. As for Dinger, he needs to have teen-like upside to be a true option consider. Overall, I am expecting very good things from the Dinger! He could surprise some people overall!

Twitter - @JeffNathans18