Monday, May 11, 2020

2020 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers & Dark Horses (Darlington)

Welcome to Timerssports

I am very glad to have Nascar back this weekend and I am even more happy to be writing Fantasy Nascar again! I am not crazy about Darlington and Charlotte being the first two tracks, as I never have much luck there with my fantasy picks. However, I am pretty excited to have Nascar back, so I guess I will have to just take it and be happy with it. And what better way to start things off, then with my personal favorite article in the Fantasy Nascar Sleepers & Dark Horses!

Let's get rolling!

Sleepers -

Austin Dillon: Picking Dillon is never a great ideal, but you are not trying for excellance with Dillon. You are probably thinking outside of the box anyways. And when you think outside of the box, there will be risks involved. He lacks the upside, but one thing we have learned about Dillon in his cup career: Use him at his best tracks! He may be inconsistent at times, but his is the opposite of that at his top tracks. Darlington is one fo those tracks, too. In his career, he has found some pretty good results. As I mention, he lacks upside and his results at Darlington would agree with that! In 5 of his last 6 races at Darlington, he has posted finishes in the top 16. Also, 3 of his last 4 races here has ended in 12th or better.

Chris Buescher - The driver of the No.17 car is such a underrated driver and doesn't get enough credit for all of his early career success! Chris Buescher ran well just about everywhere in a low-budget car for JTG and Darlington has been one of his best tracks. So far in his career, he has finished worse than 17th place! In the last two races, he has been very competitive (for his ride) overall. In his last two races, he has posted 12.5 average finish and 13.4 (!) average run position. His driver rating has been also pretty good at 80.7. They aren't mind blowing numbers, but many drivers would kill for those kind of in-race performances? Outside of the top teams, probably most (if not all). Chris Buescher will have a chance to do even better, if all the cards line up right! Through 4 races in 2020, he has finishes of 3rd, 14th, 16th and 17th! Yup, his worst finish here in 2020 is 17th place. Combine that at one of his best tracks in his cup career? I love what you get!

Dark Horses -

William Byron - He has dominated races on IRacing, but now it is time to translate that success to the real thing! Can he do it? I don't think so (right now), but he showed some improvements early in year 3 (year 2 with Chad) here in 2020. He had some promising races that just didn't go his way. I think you can say the same thing about his first two races at Darlington. He got two misleading finishes that should had been much better than they were. He wasn't a top 5 contender or anything, but he would had a real shot at a top 10 finishes in both of those races. Another thing to like about Byron? I think he has one of the best crew chiefs in the garage and that will only benefit him with no practice!

Jimmie Johnson - People might have forgotten the JGR cars as a whole were down on speed before the Coronvirus, while the HMS cars shown some noticeable improvements! Will that trend stay the same after? Great question and who knows, but we will be finding out very shortly. When looking at possible dark horses, Jimmie Johnson is someone who came to my mind. Now, I know I said he's toasted and won't win a race here in the 2020 season. I still believe that, but that's also some fan bias as well. I have done some research (in general) and sometimes things just stick in your mind! Two things stuck with me and they are both good things about Jimmie Johnson: 1) Jimmie is looking more compettive (like his teammates are) through 4 races. Could that be because other teams just behind right now? Oh for sure! Could it because the Hendrick bunch really done their homework and headed in a better direction than last year? Almost certainly. Is it a combination of both? You bet your behind it is! 2) He was strong in 2019 at Darlington and just didn't get a good end result. He sadly got caught up a multi-car wreck and he really wasn't competitive after that. Will he bounce back here in 2020 at Darlington? Guess we will find out!

Have a question or wanna chat?

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12