Friday, December 23, 2016

2017 Fantasy Nascar Profile: Martin Truex Jr

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Driver Name: Martin Truex Jr

Car #: 78

Make: Toyota 

Season Debut: 2006 (First-Full Season)

Number of Championships: 0

# of Career Starts: 405

# of Career Poles: 12

# of Career Wins: 7

# of Career Top 5s: 48 

# of Career Top 10s: 134

# of Career DNFs: 46

# of Career laps led: 4,261 

Career Average Finish: 17.3

Career Average Start: 15.6

# of 2016 Wins: 4

# of 2016 Top 5s: 8

# of 2016 Top 10s: 17 

# of 2016 Poles: 5

# of 2016 DNFs: 4

# of 2016 laps led: 1,809

2016 Average Finish: 13.9

2016 Average Start: 9.1

2016 Fantasy Recap - Martin Truex Jr was a dominant driver at times during the 2016 season, but more often than not he would find some terribly bad luck. Unspeakable bad luck really, the type of luck you think the races were rigged for him to lose. They weren't but at times you would think they were though. From his dominance at Kansas to his shit luck at Pocono with a stupid fast racecar, Truex season can be summed up with bad luck. He won 4 times, but it felt like he should had won 10 or 12 times because how fast he was a on a weekly basis. He stood out at the intermediate track early and never really let it go! Every time we were at an intermediate track, he was one of the cars to beat. And as the season went on, he started to become a dangerous threat on other tracks like at New Hampshire, Martinsville and Bristol. But again, bad luck cause him to have poor finishes at those venues. Bad luck truly is the story of his career, but it doesn't change the fact that he was stupid fast all year long in 2016!

Strong Tracks - Texas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dover, WGI and Darlington

Weak Tracks - Bristol and Martinsville

Yahoo Grouping Tier: A-list Grouping

2017 Fantasy Outlook - In 2017, I have some very high hopes for him and FRR. They will continue to be backed by JGR and will probably get even more support with new teammate Erik Jones. So that should only lead to more speed in their cars. Truex Jr had his best year ever and it is not even close. He entered the 2016 with just 3 career wins and had 4 wins in 36 races. And those are only the races that he was able to avoid bad luck. Just imagine how many wins, he would have had if things went differently for him? Crazy to think about! In 2017, I expect him to be his strongest at the intermedate tracks overall. He will run well at them all, but the worn-out tracks will be where he really excel at. Places like Homestead, Texas, Altanta, Charlotte, etc. I would say Texas is his best track and it probably not very close either, too. He will also have good runs on the road courses as well. He is a gem on the road courses, yet he doesn't quite as much credit for it. But he starting to show signs of a road course ace back in his MWR days. It showing even more at FRR! The flats tracks (larger and shorter) will be where has questionable outcomes. More often than not, he will have very good runs but just not elite-status runs though. I say he has top 10 potential at them all, but not sure if he at that next level. At least not like he is on the intermediate tracks. Overall, I expect great things from Truex in 2017. I think he will pull off about 2-3 wins with 12-14 top 5 finishes and roughly 18 Top 10 finishes. He will have some more bad luck in 2017, but I think it will happen less often though.

Twitter - @JeffNathans18