Welcome to TimersSports
My Pick to win the championship in 2017 is Kyle Busch! It is hard to overlook the combination that Rowdy possesses. Top-equipment, talent, speed, consistency, upside and clear winning potential. That's everything we are looking for in a driver and Rowdy has it. Could you make a case for a couple driver that has all of those things? Sure, but I think Rowdy has good shot as any of those drivers. There's a certain level of confidence to Rowdy the past couple seasons. I love that in a driver, I love it even more in a driver like Rowdy!
Intermediate tracks will be very strong for Rowdy and the No.18 team in 2017. Over the past couple seasons, there hasn't been many drivers as strong as him on the intermediate tracks. His real strength been the 1.5 mile tracks though. He was impressive on the 1.5 mile tracks in 2016. If take out his one race race Charlotte, he's wrecked and finished 33rd. He had 5.1 average finish (2nd-best was 8.6 - 3 positions by the way) with 7.7 average running position (tied for 2nd-best in series behind Truex Jr) and 108.8 driver rating (3rd-best in series). That's unbelievable really, he had a top 5 average finish on ten 1.5 mile tracks. Also, he's posted 168 laps led and 196 fast laps. He was ranked 5th in laps led at 168 and ranked 3rd in fast laps at 196. Busch was very strong on this type of track in 2016.
His best intermediate are Texas, Cali and Kentucky. But like most elite drivers, you can say any track on the schedule is good place to use him. When looking at all of the intermediate tracks, the only place I wouldn't use him is Michigan honestly. Everywhere else, I would give him the green light. I say Kentucky is his best track though. In 6 starts, he has been amazing! He's finished 12th in last season and by far had his worst season of his career there. He had career-low driver rating of 108.8 driver rating. In his previous 5 starts, he had compiled 4 Top 5 finishes. Including two wins and additional 2nd-place finish as well. Prior to finishing 12th in last season's race, he had 3 straight Top 5 finishes. On top of that, he had finishes of 1st and 2nd in 2014 and 2015. It also helps that he spent number of years racing here in lower series. Cali is his 2nd-best intermediate track, in my opinion. He had a rough race last season here and finished 25th. Ran very well in the race but had issues late in the race. I believe he spun out with a flat tire in the final couple laps. I know something happened to him, because he brought out the final caution. Prior to that race, he had compiled 4 straight Top 3 finishes at the track. Over his past 16 races overall (dating back to 2005), he has compiled 12 Top 10 finishes in just 16 starts. In that span, he has had 7 top 5 finishes. In 2013 and 2014, he's won back races. From 2011 to 2014, he had driver ratings above 123 in every race.
Shorter flats will be a major strength for Kyle Busch in 2017. Behind the intermediate tracks, I think this is his best type of track honestly. He's great at all three tracks and you could make a case for them all as top 10 tracks for him. Richmond been his best track from a career point of view. Rowdy been amazing in 23 starts. In those 23 starts, he has compiled 4 wins, 15 Top 5 finishes and 17 Top 10 finishes. So, just 6 finishes outside of the top 10. That's insane! It is also only one of three tracks that he had led 1000+ laps. The other two are Bristol and Dover. Rowdy was in his prime at Richmond from 2009 to 2012. In a 7-race span, he had 7 Top 6 finishes. While posting all four of his wins (May 2009, May 2010, April 2011 and April 2012) and additional 2nd place finish in 2010. After winning in April 2012, he went on a 3-race slump. Where he's finished outside of the top 10 for a career-high 3 straight races at Richmond. How about over his past 5 races here? 4 Top 9 finishes. While 3 of those 4 races has ended in 3rd or better. 2 of his past 3 races has ended in 2nd place. Mr. Rowdy is returning to form at Richmond. Not good for the competition!
Phoenix always been a great track for Rowdy! He seem to run well every time he's comes here and recently been on it. Over his past 6 races, he has compiled 5 top 9 finishes. Over just his past 3 races, he has compiled 3 straight races of 4th or better. I love Rowdy at Phoenix, I have always considered him a great driver here. In his entire career at Phoenix since joining the top series, he has never went more than 3 straight races without a top 10 finish here. I doubt that will change anytime soon. He's enjoying the best stench of his career right now. He has compiled 7 Top 9 finishes over his past 9 races at the track.
New Hampshire is as good as the two tracks listed above for Rowdy. He's great at New Hampshire, but his average finish is ranked as 17th-best over the past two seasons. But that has a lot to do with his 37th place finish back in September 2015. Over his past 8 races, he has compiled 5 Top 3 finishes. He had a great stench from July 2013 to 2015. In that span, he had 4 Top 2 finishes in 5 races. In 2016, he had finishes of 8th and 3rd. In July race, he had a top 2 car and led 133 laps on that day. Him and Truex were by far class of the field. Hard to say who was better though. Regardless, he had a misleading finish. In the fall, he wasn't quite as strong but still finished 3rd. The shorter flats will be great for Rowdy in 2017, I am expecting!
Short tracks been good to Rowdy, but he hasn't gotten the finishes lately at Bristol. He's use to own this place, but lately nothing seem to go his way. Over his past 5 races at this track, he had posted 4 finishes of 29th or worse. Over his past 6 races at the track, he's only has 2 top 11 finishes. Best finish of 8th came back in August 2015. It is hard to feel great about Rowdy with those finishes, but we all know how good he was there last season. Had a top 3 in the spring race but had mechanical issues. In the summer's race, he had a dominant car and led 256 laps before having another mechanical issue. A couple drivers are like that at Bristol lately. Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson also has had top 5 cars in both races in 2016, and had issues. Rowdy isn't the only one!
Martinsville is a great track for him and not many people even realize honestly. He's been great at Martinsville recently and should keep the results pouring in, too. Over his past 8 races here, he has compiled 5 Top 5 finishes. While finishing 15th or better in every single race. Want to go back further? Over his past 12 races here, he has compiled 7 Top 5 finishes. That's nearly 60% of the time, he's finishing inside the top 5! The dude been on it! Rowdy enters 2017 with 3 straight Top 5 finishes at Martinsville.
The larger flats are interesting for him. At Indy, he's always been great. In 12 career races, he has compiled 10 Top 10 finishes with 5 of them ending inside the top 5. Rowdy has had the magic touch lately though. Over his past 5 races, he has compiled 4 Top 2 finishes. Yes, 4 top 2 finishes in the past 5 races! What's stands out more? 3 straight Top 2 finishes at the track, including back-to-back wins here as well. Rowdy dominated last season's race from the pole and led 149 laps.
Pocono is a track that I considered as one of his worst tracks. I think you sell him as a underrated driver, but at the same time it is hard to do that because he is a elite driver. 5 of his past 8 races at Pocono has ended in 6th-12th. Problem is? His last top 5 finishes came back in 2011 (11 races ago) and only has 13 Top 20 finishes in 24 career start. That's barely over 50% of the time. Also, over his past 10 races, he has compiled 5 finishes of 21st or worse. Again, 50% of the time finishing outside of the top 20. If we dig deeper into the data pool, he has 5 career DNFs at Pocono. Tied for the 2nd-most at all 23 tracks on the schedule. Another scary thought about Rowdy at Pocono? 8 of last 10 races, he has compiled a driver rating below 100.0. That should tell you a lot about him, folks.
Road courses should be good to Rowdy in 2017, he's good on them. Watkins Glenn is considered a top 5 track for him by many. Hard to argue with that, too. In 12 career starts, he has compiled 10 Top 10 finishes. Minus debut in 2005, he has only finished worse than 9th in one race. Performance wise, he has only posted two races with a driver rating below 100, since joining JGR. That was 2010 and 2014. He finished 40th in one of those races, by the way. Over his past 5 races at the track, he has compiled 4 top 7 finishes. He's finished 6th, 1st and 2nd in 3 of the past 4 races. Pretty good, folks. His Sonoma's numbers aren't as good, but he's a former 2-time winner there though. His numbers are kind of lackluster honestly. In 12 career races, he has compiled just 6 Top 11 finishes. While just finishing 7 of 12 races inside the top 20. Like I said lackluster, but he does have two wins. Problem is? Those two wins are his lone top 5 finishes. On plus side, he has a win and additional 7th place finish in his past two races though.
Plate tracks been good to Rowdy recently, I think he is one of the most underrated plate racer in Nascar. People primary think of him at intermediate and short tracks, but then forget about him at Daytona and Talladega. Are they at top of his list of tracks? Nope, but he can be a very effective option though. I am not going to spend a lot of time at either track with him. But it should be noted that Rowdy has compiled 3 Top 5 finishes in his last 4 races there. In his lone non-top 5 finish? Talladega. He's hung at the back to ensure advancement via points. Talladega is his better track recently. As 6 of his past 9 races ending in 12th or better. Including 4 Top 5 finishes in that span of races. His most recent top 5 finish came last May 2016. Daytona been a lot tougher though. He's swept the top 3 in both races in 2016. However, those remind his lone top 5 finishes since summer 2011. Before that? Summer 2008, his lone career Daytona win. The plate races aren't the first place, I would use him. But, hey there are worse places to use him!
**All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FantasyRacingCheatSheet.com
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
My Pick to win the championship in 2017 is Kyle Busch! It is hard to overlook the combination that Rowdy possesses. Top-equipment, talent, speed, consistency, upside and clear winning potential. That's everything we are looking for in a driver and Rowdy has it. Could you make a case for a couple driver that has all of those things? Sure, but I think Rowdy has good shot as any of those drivers. There's a certain level of confidence to Rowdy the past couple seasons. I love that in a driver, I love it even more in a driver like Rowdy!
Intermediate tracks will be very strong for Rowdy and the No.18 team in 2017. Over the past couple seasons, there hasn't been many drivers as strong as him on the intermediate tracks. His real strength been the 1.5 mile tracks though. He was impressive on the 1.5 mile tracks in 2016. If take out his one race race Charlotte, he's wrecked and finished 33rd. He had 5.1 average finish (2nd-best was 8.6 - 3 positions by the way) with 7.7 average running position (tied for 2nd-best in series behind Truex Jr) and 108.8 driver rating (3rd-best in series). That's unbelievable really, he had a top 5 average finish on ten 1.5 mile tracks. Also, he's posted 168 laps led and 196 fast laps. He was ranked 5th in laps led at 168 and ranked 3rd in fast laps at 196. Busch was very strong on this type of track in 2016.
His best intermediate are Texas, Cali and Kentucky. But like most elite drivers, you can say any track on the schedule is good place to use him. When looking at all of the intermediate tracks, the only place I wouldn't use him is Michigan honestly. Everywhere else, I would give him the green light. I say Kentucky is his best track though. In 6 starts, he has been amazing! He's finished 12th in last season and by far had his worst season of his career there. He had career-low driver rating of 108.8 driver rating. In his previous 5 starts, he had compiled 4 Top 5 finishes. Including two wins and additional 2nd-place finish as well. Prior to finishing 12th in last season's race, he had 3 straight Top 5 finishes. On top of that, he had finishes of 1st and 2nd in 2014 and 2015. It also helps that he spent number of years racing here in lower series. Cali is his 2nd-best intermediate track, in my opinion. He had a rough race last season here and finished 25th. Ran very well in the race but had issues late in the race. I believe he spun out with a flat tire in the final couple laps. I know something happened to him, because he brought out the final caution. Prior to that race, he had compiled 4 straight Top 3 finishes at the track. Over his past 16 races overall (dating back to 2005), he has compiled 12 Top 10 finishes in just 16 starts. In that span, he has had 7 top 5 finishes. In 2013 and 2014, he's won back races. From 2011 to 2014, he had driver ratings above 123 in every race.
Shorter flats will be a major strength for Kyle Busch in 2017. Behind the intermediate tracks, I think this is his best type of track honestly. He's great at all three tracks and you could make a case for them all as top 10 tracks for him. Richmond been his best track from a career point of view. Rowdy been amazing in 23 starts. In those 23 starts, he has compiled 4 wins, 15 Top 5 finishes and 17 Top 10 finishes. So, just 6 finishes outside of the top 10. That's insane! It is also only one of three tracks that he had led 1000+ laps. The other two are Bristol and Dover. Rowdy was in his prime at Richmond from 2009 to 2012. In a 7-race span, he had 7 Top 6 finishes. While posting all four of his wins (May 2009, May 2010, April 2011 and April 2012) and additional 2nd place finish in 2010. After winning in April 2012, he went on a 3-race slump. Where he's finished outside of the top 10 for a career-high 3 straight races at Richmond. How about over his past 5 races here? 4 Top 9 finishes. While 3 of those 4 races has ended in 3rd or better. 2 of his past 3 races has ended in 2nd place. Mr. Rowdy is returning to form at Richmond. Not good for the competition!
Phoenix always been a great track for Rowdy! He seem to run well every time he's comes here and recently been on it. Over his past 6 races, he has compiled 5 top 9 finishes. Over just his past 3 races, he has compiled 3 straight races of 4th or better. I love Rowdy at Phoenix, I have always considered him a great driver here. In his entire career at Phoenix since joining the top series, he has never went more than 3 straight races without a top 10 finish here. I doubt that will change anytime soon. He's enjoying the best stench of his career right now. He has compiled 7 Top 9 finishes over his past 9 races at the track.
New Hampshire is as good as the two tracks listed above for Rowdy. He's great at New Hampshire, but his average finish is ranked as 17th-best over the past two seasons. But that has a lot to do with his 37th place finish back in September 2015. Over his past 8 races, he has compiled 5 Top 3 finishes. He had a great stench from July 2013 to 2015. In that span, he had 4 Top 2 finishes in 5 races. In 2016, he had finishes of 8th and 3rd. In July race, he had a top 2 car and led 133 laps on that day. Him and Truex were by far class of the field. Hard to say who was better though. Regardless, he had a misleading finish. In the fall, he wasn't quite as strong but still finished 3rd. The shorter flats will be great for Rowdy in 2017, I am expecting!
Short tracks been good to Rowdy, but he hasn't gotten the finishes lately at Bristol. He's use to own this place, but lately nothing seem to go his way. Over his past 5 races at this track, he had posted 4 finishes of 29th or worse. Over his past 6 races at the track, he's only has 2 top 11 finishes. Best finish of 8th came back in August 2015. It is hard to feel great about Rowdy with those finishes, but we all know how good he was there last season. Had a top 3 in the spring race but had mechanical issues. In the summer's race, he had a dominant car and led 256 laps before having another mechanical issue. A couple drivers are like that at Bristol lately. Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson also has had top 5 cars in both races in 2016, and had issues. Rowdy isn't the only one!
Martinsville is a great track for him and not many people even realize honestly. He's been great at Martinsville recently and should keep the results pouring in, too. Over his past 8 races here, he has compiled 5 Top 5 finishes. While finishing 15th or better in every single race. Want to go back further? Over his past 12 races here, he has compiled 7 Top 5 finishes. That's nearly 60% of the time, he's finishing inside the top 5! The dude been on it! Rowdy enters 2017 with 3 straight Top 5 finishes at Martinsville.
The larger flats are interesting for him. At Indy, he's always been great. In 12 career races, he has compiled 10 Top 10 finishes with 5 of them ending inside the top 5. Rowdy has had the magic touch lately though. Over his past 5 races, he has compiled 4 Top 2 finishes. Yes, 4 top 2 finishes in the past 5 races! What's stands out more? 3 straight Top 2 finishes at the track, including back-to-back wins here as well. Rowdy dominated last season's race from the pole and led 149 laps.
Pocono is a track that I considered as one of his worst tracks. I think you sell him as a underrated driver, but at the same time it is hard to do that because he is a elite driver. 5 of his past 8 races at Pocono has ended in 6th-12th. Problem is? His last top 5 finishes came back in 2011 (11 races ago) and only has 13 Top 20 finishes in 24 career start. That's barely over 50% of the time. Also, over his past 10 races, he has compiled 5 finishes of 21st or worse. Again, 50% of the time finishing outside of the top 20. If we dig deeper into the data pool, he has 5 career DNFs at Pocono. Tied for the 2nd-most at all 23 tracks on the schedule. Another scary thought about Rowdy at Pocono? 8 of last 10 races, he has compiled a driver rating below 100.0. That should tell you a lot about him, folks.
Road courses should be good to Rowdy in 2017, he's good on them. Watkins Glenn is considered a top 5 track for him by many. Hard to argue with that, too. In 12 career starts, he has compiled 10 Top 10 finishes. Minus debut in 2005, he has only finished worse than 9th in one race. Performance wise, he has only posted two races with a driver rating below 100, since joining JGR. That was 2010 and 2014. He finished 40th in one of those races, by the way. Over his past 5 races at the track, he has compiled 4 top 7 finishes. He's finished 6th, 1st and 2nd in 3 of the past 4 races. Pretty good, folks. His Sonoma's numbers aren't as good, but he's a former 2-time winner there though. His numbers are kind of lackluster honestly. In 12 career races, he has compiled just 6 Top 11 finishes. While just finishing 7 of 12 races inside the top 20. Like I said lackluster, but he does have two wins. Problem is? Those two wins are his lone top 5 finishes. On plus side, he has a win and additional 7th place finish in his past two races though.
Plate tracks been good to Rowdy recently, I think he is one of the most underrated plate racer in Nascar. People primary think of him at intermediate and short tracks, but then forget about him at Daytona and Talladega. Are they at top of his list of tracks? Nope, but he can be a very effective option though. I am not going to spend a lot of time at either track with him. But it should be noted that Rowdy has compiled 3 Top 5 finishes in his last 4 races there. In his lone non-top 5 finish? Talladega. He's hung at the back to ensure advancement via points. Talladega is his better track recently. As 6 of his past 9 races ending in 12th or better. Including 4 Top 5 finishes in that span of races. His most recent top 5 finish came last May 2016. Daytona been a lot tougher though. He's swept the top 3 in both races in 2016. However, those remind his lone top 5 finishes since summer 2011. Before that? Summer 2008, his lone career Daytona win. The plate races aren't the first place, I would use him. But, hey there are worse places to use him!
**All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FantasyRacingCheatSheet.com
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
No comments:
Post a Comment