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Fantasy Nascar Update -
1. Martin Truex Jr - Yeah, his teammate will be starting on the pole, but I have Truex Jr as my top guy this weekend. There's a lot of reasons for this, but simply put: Nobody has proven that they can beat Martin Truex Jr consistency. Not only that, but he had a pretty good car back in April and led 116 laps. I think, the 78 team is a lot better right now than they were than, too. He has speed once again this time around at Bristol and looked pretty good on the long run in practice on Friday. If you can find something to hate about him, other than his track record. Then I would love to hear it, but I am pretty much sold on him from the 6th starting spot.
2. Matt Kenseth - Look, if Kenseth is going to win in these final three races before the playoffs, then it is here at Bristol! He is a 4-time winner at this racetrack and he has a pretty damn good car, too. He will start from 5th and he was pretty happy about his racecar during final practice. May not mean as much considering it was during the day, but the long run speed was there. But again that was during the daytime. But I confident that he will be fast at night, too. He is really good here and it would not shock me, if he won on Saturday night. He needs a win to secure a spot in the playoffs and I think he has a car to do it, too. He has been so close over the past month to getting back to victory lane. He was close at New Hampshire, but had to settle for 4th. He was close at Indy, but a caution came out at wrong time. He was close at Watkins Glen, but finished 2nd. He was in a good position at Michigan, but had a terrible final few laps. See a trend there? He will breakthrough sooner or later!
3. Denny Hamlin - Hamlin screwed up his qualifying lap in the final round of qualifying on Friday's evening, but he will start 7th. If Hamlin get another shot at the pole, I think he would be the pole sitter for Saturday's night race. In practice on Friday, I thought he had a top 3 car overall. He looked really good and his lap times were solid as well. This does not come as a suprise, either. In 7 of his last 11 races, he has finished in the top 5. Last weekend, it was just a bad day at the racetrack. I thought heading into the week, he would be a prime candidate for a rebound back week. He will start 7th, but he's good enough to win on Saturday night.
4. Kyle Busch - Kyle Busch probably has the best car in the field for Saturday's night race, but he will start from the 18th starting position. It should not be an issue for him to get to the front. But I do have concerns for him though. Kyle is a great driver here at Bristol, but over the past three seasons, he does not any finishes better than 8th place. And most of them have resulted in finishes in 30th-something. From a pure fantasy view of view, it is very worrisome. Especially with him, already starting middle of the pack. However, we cannot predict mechanical failure or wrecks. We have to go on, what we are given for the weekend. Everything points to him having a top 5 run and probably leading some laps, once he has track position. There's no doubt in mind that Kyle has the car to beat, the only question is how long will it take to get to the lead?
5. Kyle Larson - Larson didn't sound too confident about his racecar before qualifying, but he went out and qualified 2nd though. I think he has a better racecar than he was letting on to in practice. Larson is one of those drivers that can take a top 10 car and win with it. He did that last week at Michigan and I think Bristol is a great track for Kyle. It is considered one of his best tracks overall. He may have had bad luck the past couple seasons, but earlier this season, he was strong. How strong? He led over half the event and had the best car, in my opinion. He not nearly as strong, but it is a Larson kind of track. Also, his teammate has been really good this weekend. When Jamie is a legit fast, then there's a good chance that Kyle is not very far behind. If not better and sometimes (like last weekend) it too almost the entire race for it to happen. I am fairly high on Larson this weekend!
6. Chase Elliott - Elliott is coming off a top 10 finish at Michigan, but it could had been much more than 8th place finish though. On that final restart, he got bottled up by Matt Kenseth and made a little contact with him. That screwed Elliott at a shot at a top 5 finish. This weekend, he is very good once again. He's better than he was last weekend, too. The 24 car has flashed good speed all weekend and Elliott has had a lot of success in short span here. He leads the series in career average finish at 8.7. Great for him and he will start from inside the top 5. Of the three tracks left before the playoffs, I feel like this is his best opportunity to win. If he doesn't, I think he will still get in via points though.
7. Erik Jones - I know a lot of people are wondering why I have Erik Jones so low in my rankings, considering he is starting on the pole. That's a great question! Yes, he is starting on the pole and yes he was pretty good all day on Friday. There's no doubt that he is going to give it his all on Saturday night to make the playoffs. This may be his best shot to win. With all of that said, I like giving young drivers like Jones a higher ceiling. That's not a shot at Jones or his abilities. I personally just prefer to give rookies a little breathing room. Hence, why he is further down my rankings than some would rank him. I think he has a great shot at possibly winning at Bristol on Saturday night.
8. Brad Keselowski - I am not really that high on the Penske cars this weekend, I wasn't really feeling them entering the week, either. Sure, I thought they would be top 10 good or whatever, but not the race-winning threats. Of the two, I thought Keselowski would be the driver to challenge for a top 5 finish. It all could change once we get into the race, but both the 2 and 22 look like just top 10 guys. Minus Michigan and Watkins Glen, it been pretty much the trend for most of the summer. Penske is lacking that speed, the other top teams have right now. I guess that all I really have to say about Keselowski and Penske. I wouldn't count them out, but I am not planning to see to the No.2 Ford in victory lane on Saturday night.
9. JMac - I wonder if CGR is giving Jamie the better cars lately, because he needs to win to make the chase. I am not saying that they are playing favorites, but you know how it is. If a driver needs a win, the team will try to do anything they can to get it. Jamie the past few weeks has been a lot better and I just wonder if, the 1 team is getting the better stuff right now. As the 1 car has actually looked a little better than the 42 the past couple weeks, in my opinion. He probably would had a shot at the pole on Friday evening, but I think he screwed one of his laps up though. He was pretty good throughout the day on Friday. He has a solid consistent record here and was a top 12 guy back in April. If I wanted to, I think could rank him a few spots higher on this list, but I will keep him at No.9.
10. Ryan Blaney - Blaney unloaded with really good speed on Friday and looked good throughout the day. Blaney sounded pretty pleased with his racecar and that's great. But for whatever reason, he always run into trouble at Bristol. Even worse? That has been a very common theme throughout the 2017 summer for him. Most recently, it was at Michigan. He made contact with the bumps on the track and it literally gave him a flat. Do you realize how much bad luck you need for something crazy like that to happen? Ridiculous. I think he is one of those drivers that are kinda streaky. And sadly, he is streaking right into a hole every week at the moment. I don't hate Blaney because he has a great car for this weekend. But I think there are more things going against, than there is for him.
Just missed -
Kevin Harvick
Jimmie Johnson
Joey Logano
Clint Bowyer
Ricky Stenohuse Jr
Kasey Kahne
Daniel Suarez
Ryan Newman
****All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FantasyRacingCheatSheet.com
Twitter - @JefNathans18
Fantasy Nascar Update -
1. Martin Truex Jr - Yeah, his teammate will be starting on the pole, but I have Truex Jr as my top guy this weekend. There's a lot of reasons for this, but simply put: Nobody has proven that they can beat Martin Truex Jr consistency. Not only that, but he had a pretty good car back in April and led 116 laps. I think, the 78 team is a lot better right now than they were than, too. He has speed once again this time around at Bristol and looked pretty good on the long run in practice on Friday. If you can find something to hate about him, other than his track record. Then I would love to hear it, but I am pretty much sold on him from the 6th starting spot.
2. Matt Kenseth - Look, if Kenseth is going to win in these final three races before the playoffs, then it is here at Bristol! He is a 4-time winner at this racetrack and he has a pretty damn good car, too. He will start from 5th and he was pretty happy about his racecar during final practice. May not mean as much considering it was during the day, but the long run speed was there. But again that was during the daytime. But I confident that he will be fast at night, too. He is really good here and it would not shock me, if he won on Saturday night. He needs a win to secure a spot in the playoffs and I think he has a car to do it, too. He has been so close over the past month to getting back to victory lane. He was close at New Hampshire, but had to settle for 4th. He was close at Indy, but a caution came out at wrong time. He was close at Watkins Glen, but finished 2nd. He was in a good position at Michigan, but had a terrible final few laps. See a trend there? He will breakthrough sooner or later!
3. Denny Hamlin - Hamlin screwed up his qualifying lap in the final round of qualifying on Friday's evening, but he will start 7th. If Hamlin get another shot at the pole, I think he would be the pole sitter for Saturday's night race. In practice on Friday, I thought he had a top 3 car overall. He looked really good and his lap times were solid as well. This does not come as a suprise, either. In 7 of his last 11 races, he has finished in the top 5. Last weekend, it was just a bad day at the racetrack. I thought heading into the week, he would be a prime candidate for a rebound back week. He will start 7th, but he's good enough to win on Saturday night.
4. Kyle Busch - Kyle Busch probably has the best car in the field for Saturday's night race, but he will start from the 18th starting position. It should not be an issue for him to get to the front. But I do have concerns for him though. Kyle is a great driver here at Bristol, but over the past three seasons, he does not any finishes better than 8th place. And most of them have resulted in finishes in 30th-something. From a pure fantasy view of view, it is very worrisome. Especially with him, already starting middle of the pack. However, we cannot predict mechanical failure or wrecks. We have to go on, what we are given for the weekend. Everything points to him having a top 5 run and probably leading some laps, once he has track position. There's no doubt in mind that Kyle has the car to beat, the only question is how long will it take to get to the lead?
5. Kyle Larson - Larson didn't sound too confident about his racecar before qualifying, but he went out and qualified 2nd though. I think he has a better racecar than he was letting on to in practice. Larson is one of those drivers that can take a top 10 car and win with it. He did that last week at Michigan and I think Bristol is a great track for Kyle. It is considered one of his best tracks overall. He may have had bad luck the past couple seasons, but earlier this season, he was strong. How strong? He led over half the event and had the best car, in my opinion. He not nearly as strong, but it is a Larson kind of track. Also, his teammate has been really good this weekend. When Jamie is a legit fast, then there's a good chance that Kyle is not very far behind. If not better and sometimes (like last weekend) it too almost the entire race for it to happen. I am fairly high on Larson this weekend!
6. Chase Elliott - Elliott is coming off a top 10 finish at Michigan, but it could had been much more than 8th place finish though. On that final restart, he got bottled up by Matt Kenseth and made a little contact with him. That screwed Elliott at a shot at a top 5 finish. This weekend, he is very good once again. He's better than he was last weekend, too. The 24 car has flashed good speed all weekend and Elliott has had a lot of success in short span here. He leads the series in career average finish at 8.7. Great for him and he will start from inside the top 5. Of the three tracks left before the playoffs, I feel like this is his best opportunity to win. If he doesn't, I think he will still get in via points though.
7. Erik Jones - I know a lot of people are wondering why I have Erik Jones so low in my rankings, considering he is starting on the pole. That's a great question! Yes, he is starting on the pole and yes he was pretty good all day on Friday. There's no doubt that he is going to give it his all on Saturday night to make the playoffs. This may be his best shot to win. With all of that said, I like giving young drivers like Jones a higher ceiling. That's not a shot at Jones or his abilities. I personally just prefer to give rookies a little breathing room. Hence, why he is further down my rankings than some would rank him. I think he has a great shot at possibly winning at Bristol on Saturday night.
8. Brad Keselowski - I am not really that high on the Penske cars this weekend, I wasn't really feeling them entering the week, either. Sure, I thought they would be top 10 good or whatever, but not the race-winning threats. Of the two, I thought Keselowski would be the driver to challenge for a top 5 finish. It all could change once we get into the race, but both the 2 and 22 look like just top 10 guys. Minus Michigan and Watkins Glen, it been pretty much the trend for most of the summer. Penske is lacking that speed, the other top teams have right now. I guess that all I really have to say about Keselowski and Penske. I wouldn't count them out, but I am not planning to see to the No.2 Ford in victory lane on Saturday night.
9. JMac - I wonder if CGR is giving Jamie the better cars lately, because he needs to win to make the chase. I am not saying that they are playing favorites, but you know how it is. If a driver needs a win, the team will try to do anything they can to get it. Jamie the past few weeks has been a lot better and I just wonder if, the 1 team is getting the better stuff right now. As the 1 car has actually looked a little better than the 42 the past couple weeks, in my opinion. He probably would had a shot at the pole on Friday evening, but I think he screwed one of his laps up though. He was pretty good throughout the day on Friday. He has a solid consistent record here and was a top 12 guy back in April. If I wanted to, I think could rank him a few spots higher on this list, but I will keep him at No.9.
10. Ryan Blaney - Blaney unloaded with really good speed on Friday and looked good throughout the day. Blaney sounded pretty pleased with his racecar and that's great. But for whatever reason, he always run into trouble at Bristol. Even worse? That has been a very common theme throughout the 2017 summer for him. Most recently, it was at Michigan. He made contact with the bumps on the track and it literally gave him a flat. Do you realize how much bad luck you need for something crazy like that to happen? Ridiculous. I think he is one of those drivers that are kinda streaky. And sadly, he is streaking right into a hole every week at the moment. I don't hate Blaney because he has a great car for this weekend. But I think there are more things going against, than there is for him.
Just missed -
Kevin Harvick
Jimmie Johnson
Joey Logano
Clint Bowyer
Ricky Stenohuse Jr
Kasey Kahne
Daniel Suarez
Ryan Newman
****All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FantasyRacingCheatSheet.com
Twitter - @JefNathans18