Sunday, June 10, 2018

2018 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers & Dark Horses (Michigan)

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Sleepers -

Ryan Newman - I loved Ryan Newman heading into practice! And he has looked pretty good this weekend. He qualified well in the top 10 and then had a solid practice session on Saturday. He was good on both Friday and Saturday. That's a good sign for anyone considering the ''Rocketman'' at Michigan. He loves Michigan! In 24 (!!) of his last 29 races here, he has finished 18th or better. Holy shit! That's dating back to 2003. Are you freaking kidding me? He has just five finishes worse than 18th place, since the 2003 season at Michigan! In his last 14 races at Michigan, he has finished 18th or better in every single race. We would have to go back to August 2010 to find a Michigan race that has him outside of the top 20. In those 14 races, he has finished 11th or better eight times. Including 4 of his last 7 races at Michigan.

Paul Menard - A couple years ago, I would had considered Michigan as one of Paul Menard's best tracks and I still think that holds true. I think with the #21 team, he is capable of great things this weekend. Three races ago, he finished 6th at Kansas. A track that commonly is compared to Michigan. But that isn't what caught my eye though. He finished 6th at Kansas, then he had finishes of 14th at Charlotte and 11th at Pocono. Three straight finishes in the top 14 for Menard. Paired with the power under the hood of his ford, I think that is a great combo. He also has displayed decent speed since unloading this weekend. He's worth a look!

Dark Horses -

Clint Bowyer - I felt like the Fords (not named Kevin Harvick) were a little disrespected heading into the week. Just by reading social media, articles and forum posts. There just wasn't a lot of love for them. People like Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, etc were getting all the attention. I thought that was a big mistake. Heading into the weekend, I thought the Fords were going to be strong. They showed up on Friday and they were stout. Kurt Busch took the pole, his teammate looked the car to beat and several of qualified in the top 12. But the guy that I took notice of will start from the 12th starting position. His name is Clint Bowyer. He displayed a lot of speed on both days. I feel like he is one of the drivers that is in the ballpark to Kevin Harvick. On pure speed, I would say that Clint Bowyer is in latter part of the top 5.

Erik Jones - There are a lot of interesting dark horses picks this weekend, but Erik Jones is probably only one of the few who can actually legit challenge for a top 5 finish. Personally, I have my doubts n that. But at the very least, he has the potential to do so, if his team keep improving on his racecar. Entering the race, he is probably somewhere in the top 10 like usual. He has finished in the top 11 in every race on the intermediate tracks this season, minus Charlotte. And he had a top 5 car in the Charlotte race and then all hell broke loose. The deck was literally stacked against him during second half of the race. He had no chance in hell of finishing up front. He finished 7th at Kansas in May and also finished in the top 10 at Cali back in March. Two good things to like about Erik Jones today. Those results don't mean things will smoothly translate, but it is a good sign. Plus, we already know that he probably has a top 10 car for the race.

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