Saturday, July 21, 2018

2018 Fantasy Nascar Update (New Hampshire)

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Fantasy Nascar Update -

1. Kyle Busch - Kyle Busch is one of the heavy favorites heading into Sunday's race. I give him the slight edge over the likes of Truex Jr and Harvick. Not by much, but he probably in same range in terms of speed. Maybe not much momentum as Truex Jr, but his track record is impressive here. You could rank Kyle Busch, Truex Jr and Harvick in any order and make a strong case for them. For me, I just have a really good feeling about him. It is time for Kyle Busch to go back to vicotry lane and his No.18 is very fast again this weekend!

2. Martin Truex Jr -  Truex Jr could be ranked over Kyle Busch, if you wanted to based it off current momentum. There is no driver hotter in the series right now than Martin Truex Jr. The Toyota camp has a lot of speed this weekend and personally I think one of them will go to victory lane. I also believe that there is a very good chance, the winner will be Busch or Truex Jr. In my opinion, they have the two best cars here at New Hampshire. As always, Harvick is not very far behind. Truex Jr might be a bit more overlooked than Busch though. Since, Busch has such a standout record here in recent years. That's a mistake. Truex Jr is capable of dominating, regardless of the track! He topped final practice on Saturday afternoon and been at top of the charts all weekend. Hard to bet against Truex Jr!

3. Kevin Harvick - Harvick qualified outside of the top 10, but he will be fine in Sunday's race. He made long runs on Saturday and he looked strong on the charts. He is right there with guys such as Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. It is clear as day that these three drivers are gonna be the favorites, no matter what type of track that we go to. Not very often do we see any of Busch, Truex or Harvick have struggling days. If they do, usually one of the other two will have a even easier day. As for this weekend, I think Harvick will be very good in the race.  Entering the race, he's a top 5 guy with ease!

4. Denny Hamlin - Hamlin has a great car this weekend, it might be the best that he has looked prior to a race in 2018. He haven't been bad this season, but this might be the closest he looked to winning potential. Even though, he has had some pretty strong runs at place like Martinsville. Where he led 111 laps, but finished 12th. Otherwise, he has been pretty much just a top 10 guy. This weekend, he looks top 5 good with that winning upside that we are looking for. He qualified inside the top 5 and looked strong in race trim. He was someone that stood out to me on Saturday overall!

5. Brad Keselowski - I think this No.2 team is about to go on a run and it started last weekend at Kentucky. He didn't get the finish that he deserved, but he has another strong car for New Hampshire. Maybe not good as the four drivers above him, but still pretty good. He knows how to get around this track pretty good, too. I have always considered this to be one of his better tracks. This race will come down to track position and that should give some sort of advantage to Keselowski. We all know that he has won races before on pit strategy. 

6. Kurt Busch - Kurt knows how to get around this place and he will start on the pole for Sunday's race. I don't think he will last long up front leading, but I have a strong feeling that he finish in that 5th-9th place range though. Kurt has been consistent all season long and more often than not, he has finished somewhere in the top 5 or top 10. Usually it somewhere in the middle and that kinda where I am penciling him at right now.

7. Ryan Blaney - I really like Ryan Blaney this weekend. I liked him last weekend, too but I did have some concerns about him though. He goes out and have one of his better races of the season at Kentucky. He is now looking to build on that race. He qualified well and looked pretty good on the lap average charts on Saturday. This 12 team has been fast all season long, the biggest issues has been getting consistent results.Maybe they can start putting together some more top 5 finishes? He has enough of upside to finish in the top 5 this weekend at New Hampshire!

8. Joey Logano - The Penske cars all look pretty good, it just that they aren't as good as the JGR cars and Martin Truex Jr. I do believe that they are getting closer as whole though. Logano has been consistent all season long and might be the most consistent driver in the series, outside of the likes of Busch, Truex and Harvick. That's saying a lot, since there are some pretty good damn drivers out there. For this weekend, he is looking top 10 good again. But I am not seeing that upside in him though.

9. Kyle Larson - I am not low on Kyle Larson, but I am not super high on Kyle Larson here at New Hampshire. He is kinda overrated at New Hampshire. He had a pair of top 5 finishes in his rookie year and then went two seasons without a finish better than 10th. However, he added two more top 5 finishes in 2017. So could his cars be better now, that why he had strong runs in 2017? Maybe. I don't think he will top 5 to winning driver this weekend, as I am just not feeling Kyle Larson at New Hampshire. There are some very good tracks for him coming up, but I don't think this weekend is one of them. I have him finishing somewhere between 5th and 9th most likely.

10. Erik Jones - I know a lot of people have him higher than this, but I think is pretty reasonable. Outside of Daytona, he haven't really racked up top 5 finishes or truly contended for top 5 finishes. In fact, his only top 5 finishes on the season are at Texas and Daytona. He had finishes of 9th and 13th at the other two shorter flats this season so far. So yeah, I would say that this is a reasonable ranking for him. Obviously, he has some speed in his car this weekend. So that's a plus. At worst, I am giving him a very high ceiling. If he does indeed goes out there and finishes in the top 5. Still, I am a numbers guy. And the numbers points directly to him be somewhere around 10th. I would say you can give or take 2 spots on that 10th place position, too.

***All stats are from FantasyRacingCheatsheet.com and DriverAverages.com

Twitter - @JeffNathans18