2020 Fantasy Nascar RaceDay Thoughts (Texas 1)

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RaceDay Thoughts -

Jeff Nathans (@JeffNathans18):

- The numbers say Kevin Harvick is the favorite

- Blaney has been strong on all of the 1.5 mile tracks and should be again today

- I am not big on the HMS cars today

- Erik Jones needs to get it going for him and us fantasy players

Garry Briggs (@Garryy12):

- Aric Almirola will score his 7th straight top 10 finish and his 4 straight at Texas

- I wasn't high on Kyle Busch last week and I am not high on him this week

- William Byron is an excellent sleeper pick. He has finished between 9th and 12th in five of his last seven races. That boy is getting some consistency

- Austin Dillon will quietly have another solid points day for fantasy players

DGG Lineup -

Jeff's lineup - 4,12,1 and 8

Garry's lineup - 4,10,12,41

Dark Horse pick -

Jeff's pick - Almirola

Garry's pick - Almirola

Winner -

Jeff's pick - Harvick

Garry's pick - Harvick

2020 Fantasy Nascar Final Rankings (Texas 1)

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Final Rankings -

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Martin Truex Jr
4. Kyle Busch
5. Chase Elliott
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Aric Almirola
8. Joey Logano
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Kurt Busch
11. William Byron
12. Erik Jones
13. Matt DiBenedetto
14. Alex Bowman
15. Austin Dillon
16. Jimmie Johnson
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Tyler Reddick
19. Ryan Newman
20. Cole Custer
21. Chirsopher Bell
22. Chris Buescher
23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
24. Matt Kenseth
25. Darrell Wallace Jr
26. John Hunter Nemchek
27. Michael McDowell
28. Ty Dillon
29. Ryan Preece
30. Corey LaJoie

Twitter - @MattAleza

2020 Fantasy Nascar DGG Picks (Texas 1)

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Things didn't go exactly as I planned for my picks, but I never been so happy to escape one of my worst tracks with a solid score. A 281 points day with no top 5 finishers is pretty darn good, in my opinion. It am not messing around this weekend, though. I am going for blood and want a monster score. At Texas, I am expecting the big names to be at the front when the checkers wave.

We should look at data from other 1.5 mile tracks and that including last weekend's race at Kentucky. I also would consider momentum as another factor in your picks. I know most people will put some past history into their picks, but sometimes past history is overrated. Look at Kyle Busch for last week's race. If we got current season's data to go, I usually will go with that. Nine times out of ten, it gives us a better idea what to expect.

DDG Picks -

A:

Starter - Kevin Harvick

Bench - Martin Truex Jr

Reasons - I am not gonna lie, I would love to go against Harvick and save a start for another week. But at the same time, he has been nearly unstoppable at this track in the past and just as strong on these intermediate tracks in 2020. He's a hard pick to pass up this weekend at Texas! I think most players will have him as a starter!

B:

Starters - Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola

Bench - Erik Jones and Kurt Busch

Reasons - I think you could plug in William Byron, Austin Dillon or Matt DiBenedetto if you have to. But I think this is a race to go with your studs in B. Blaney has been a beast on these 1.5 mile tracks and nearly a lock for being a top 5 fantasy pick. As for Aric, he has been a stupid mad streak over the last 6 races. He also has 3 straight top 8 finishes at Texas. I like Kurt Busch today as well, but I think I rather save him for another race. Especially since I have two studs in my lineup.

C:

Starter - Cole Custer

Bench - Tyler Reddick

Reasons - Cole Custer shocked everyone when he score his first career win in last weekend's race. While it was a big suprise, I thought he ran a great race overall. He was top 15 all race long and was about top 10 good for the final stage. I need to use some Custer starts between now and end of the season, so hopefully he can ride that momentum over the next few races!

Dark Horse - Aric Almirola

Winner - Kevin Harvick

****All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Email - GarryBriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Likes & Dislikes (Texas 1)

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Likes -

Matt DiBenedetto - I left Matt off of my article yesterday, so I will give him a mention today. And I loved him last weekend at Kentucky and he honestly outperformed what I was expecting from him. The No.21 car was very impressive and we could see another strong run out of him today at Texas. I have been really impressed by him all season, with how well he has ran. I think his consistency is what makes him such an attractive fantasy option and now is starting to find the speed in the car, too. Speed and consistency is a very lethal fantasy combo! In 4 of 6 races this season on 1.5 mile tracks, he has finished inside the top 15. In 5 of 6 races, he has finished in the top 18.

William Byron - Byron may not have a lot of top 5 finishes or anything, but he is a lot better fantasy option than most people will give him credit for. And he is starting to get some good finishes and he is trending the right direction on these 1.5 mile tracks, too. On 1.5 mile tracks, he has finished between 9th and 12 in three of his last four races. In fact, he has finished between 8th and 11th in five of his last seven races. In the two other races? He finished 14th at Pocono and then he was running top 5 at Indy, but had issues.

Dislikes -

Erik Jones - Jones once again had a poor finish at Kentucky, even though it marked his third-best finish on a 1.5 mile track on the season. The bad news? He finished 21st. Yikes, yeah it has been a pretty bad season for Erik Jones and that No.20 team. I honestly can't really make much sense of Erik Jones' season so far. It's not like he has been horrible during the races on a weekly basis, as he has ran well at times. However, he has finished 20th or worse in six of last eight races this season. His two good finishes has resulted in top 5 finishes, though. Right now, it is extremely tough to get a good read on Erik Jones. There has been more bad than good at this point, so we gonna have to assume that he is a bad play until he isn't anymore!

Jimmie Johnson - Johnson started off the season pretty good, but he has declined and so has the speed in the car of the No.48 car. In his last 5 races this season, he has no finishes better than 13th and holds 16.8 average finish. Johnson is starting to look a lot like last season now. He looks like the worst hendrick driver in that span and he is. Ranked worst in both average running position and driver rating. And Texas hasn't been too kind to him overall over last couple seasons. In his last 5 races here, he has just one finish better than 15th. In his other 4 races? He has finishes of 15th, 27th, 35th and 35th. I know some people will gamble on him, but I wouldn't gamble on him. There's better fantasy options out there to consider for this weekend's race!

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FRCS.PRO

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers & Dark Horses (Texas 1)

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Another weekend is here and that means another race weekend is here as well. Last weekend was a good weekend for my picks for the most part, so I can't complain too much about it. All of my sleepers & dark horses were hits I gotta say. Some of them could had done a bit better, but it was a solid weekend. Now we will turn our attention to Texas Motor Speedway, the second straight of three 1.5 mile tracks on the schedule (excluding ASR). I would personally put a lot in what has happened so far in 2020, more than what has happened at past Texas' races. If you are gonna look at past history, I wouldn't go beyond the 2017 season. As it was repave prior to the 2017 season here!

Let's get rolling!

Sleepers -

Austin Dillon - Dillon is probably one of the biggest sleepers in Nascar in 2020! He get zero respect and that's not fair at all. He has been really underrated so far this season. In reality, he has been better than most realize. On intermediate tracks, he has been very good overall. In 6 races this season, he has only one finished worse than 13th and that was a 15th place finish. In fact, his average finish in those 6 races is like 9.7. In 4 of those 6 races this season, he has finished 11th or better. At Texas, he is in that same rage. In four of his last five races at Texas, he has finished 15th or better. Including three straight finishes between 10th and 14th.

Tyler Reddick - I debated who to put on here between Reddick and Matt DiBenedetto, but I have put Matt on here a lot in recent weeks. So I will give some love to Tyler Reddick. I really enjoy watching Tyler Reddick drive a racecar and I still believe that Reddick is best driver in this rookie class. However, I gotta give major props to Cole Custer. He was impressive at Kentucky! I didn't think he would win, but he was flirting with a top 10 finish a lot in second half of the race. Back to Reddick, he has been really good this season and seems to excel on these intermeidate tracks the most it seems. In six races this season on 1.5 mile tracks, he has posted 11.8 average finish and has finished in the top 10 in half of those races. Reddick is legit on these 1.5 mile intermediate tracks and would make a strong fantasy option in many formats.

Dark Horses -

Aric Almirola - Almirola has ran great in recent weeks and I think we gotta keep riding that wave of momentum that he has. He didn't keep his streak of top 5 intact at Kentucky, but he ended up leading the most laps on last Sunday at Kentucky. This weekend, he will be starting on the pole for Sunday's race. He has a great record here over the last few races at Texas. In his last three races at Texas, he has finished in the top 8 in all three races. Almirola is in general just a very good fantasy pick and will have enough upside to finish inside the top 5. Doesn't hurt that he could easily win a stage with starting in position no.1 right off the bat!

Kurt Busch - I was gonna say Ryan Blaney here but he's a heavy favorite in my eyes and we expect him to win or at least lead laps. So I will go with Kurt Busch. I really haven't been that high on Kurt this year, but I am higher than usual on him. He has been pretty consistent at Texas and coming off a pretty solid race at Kentucky. He had the 7th-best average running position and 6th-best driver rating for the event. Maybe he's not a possible race-winning dark horse pick, but nobody would be too shocked if he end up in victory lane. I say that would be a reach for him to actually pull it off, but top 10 and maybe more is very realistic to me!

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FCRS.PRO

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Update (Texas 1)

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1. Kevin Harvick - Harvick has been a monster this season and has been a monster at Texas. In his last 11 starts at Texas, he has finished eight times in the top 4. And he is only getting better since the repave (in 2017)! In his last 5 starts at Texas, he has posted 4 top 2 finishes. Including 3 wins during those 5 starts! He has been something special here lately and the only race where he didn't finished in the top 2 was last spring. The SHR were a bit slower to start off the 2019 season, so I will give him a pass on that one. On 1.5 mile tracks in 2020, he has been one of the best in the series. On 1.5 mile tracks (excluding his one bad finish - Homestead), he has compiled a series-leading 5.8 average finish with 7.6 average running position (4th-best in series) and a series-best 111.8 driver rating. You probably didn't need any convincing, but Kevin Harvick should be near top of your list this weekend as a fantasy pick!

2. Martin Truex Jr - It's hard to bet against Truex Jr on any given weekend and Texas should be no difference. Whenever I think of Texas, I always think of 2013 and his great battle with Kyle Busch. That was epic battle and I always remember them two having the two best cars in the field, with Jeff Gordon consistently running 3rd all night long. If you never seen it, I would check it out on youtube. It's a very underrated race, in my honest opinion. As for the 2020 season, Truex Jr has been consistently been a threat on these 1.5 mile tracks overall. In his last 5 races on 1.5 mile tracks, he hasn't finished worse than 12th. In those races, he has compiled 6.6 average finish with 8.2 average running position and 107.6 driver rating. He ranked 3rd in both ARP and Driver Rating in the last 5 races on 1.5 mile tracks. In his last three races at Texas, he has finished 12th or better in every race. However, he hasn't finished better than 6th in any of those races and only led 10 laps (all in last spring's race).

3. Ryan Blaney - I try to rank Blaney a little lower in the rankings to give him some room for error, but it is starting to get disrespectful at this point. He has been the best driver on these intermediate tracks in the series and most stats in 2020 will back that up. He was lights out at Kentucky and that is the most similar track to Texas. In his last 5 starts at Texas, he finished four times in 8th or better. His only bad finish? Last spring's race, where he finished 37th. Prior to that, he was easily a top 5 car and led 45 laps before overheating. I don't think many people are sleeping on Ryan Blaney at this point, but he is a legit threat to win here at Texas this weekend!

4. Denny Hamlin - Hamlin wasn't as strong as everyone was expecting at Kentucky and honestly I was kinda low on him last weekend. I didn't think he was gonna be average as he was, but I also wasn't picking to be a top 5 pick. More of the season this weekend at Texas, as I am never really super high on Hamlin to begin with. He will have his awesome races and he will have his meh races. Then there's will be his races right in the middle and that what I am kinda expecting this weekend at Texas. He has been great here at Texas in the past, but he also has been inconsistent at times. Like this season, he has been boom or bust at Texas. In his last 6 races at Texas, he has finished in the top 3 twice. Including a win in last spring's race!  Problem is? He has finished 25th or worse in the other 4 races.

5. Kyle Busch - After struggling at one of his best tracks, it is hard to be to high on Kyle Busch. Has been complete garbage? No, he has had some good runs in 2020. But if you look at his numbers, you would agree that he isn't an elite driver in 2020. And his numbers on these 1.5 mile tracks are down considerably as well. He's a former winner at Texas and swept the top 10. But I see a lot of double digit finishes from him since the repave. He won here back in 2018, but he also has finished 10th or worse in 4 of the last 6 races at this track. I am truthfully not very high on him, especially after being burned last weekend at Kentucky. For now, I think it is best to leave him alone for a few races and see how he does (from a fantasy point of view).

6. Chase Elliott - Elliott was a bit of a disappointment last weekend at Kentucky. He was very much a top 5 driver in the early stages of the event, but he struggled in second half of the race. He got sideways late on a restart and it was over for him. He was never able to recover. He put on fresh tires for a restart, but it didn't really matter that much. He finished a disappointing 23rd and was never more than 9th or 10th place driver in latter part of race, before dropping back on restarts. I am gonna assume that was just a bad race for him, as he has been one of the very best drivers in the series on the 1.5 mile tracks. He would be a very sneaky good fantasy pick this weekend, if you are looking to go against the other big-time names this weekend at Texas!

7. Brad Keselowski - Keselowski has been great at times during the 2020 season, but lately he just been another driver on the track. Not to say that he hasn't ran well during portions of events, but he hasn't been a standout driver, either. Like I say every week about him, I am never very high on him and isn't on my radar that much. He will probably be a top 10 driver, but there's too many better big-time names than Keselowski as a fantasy pick for me to consider him. He's a solid pick, if you are just looking for a good finish. I wouldn't expect the world from him, though.

8. Aric Almirola - Almirola is the pole sitter, but I am trying to give him some room for error this weekend at Texas. Last weekend at Kentucky, his streak of top 5 finishes came to a close. However, he was a top 5 driver for majority of the first two stages. He fell off in the three stages, but found a way to score a top 10 finish in the end. Now, he will head to a track that he swept the top 10 on last season. Aric has always been good at Texas and recently has stepped it up, too. In his last three starts, he has finished in the top 8 in all three races. Aric just simply a good top 10 fantasy pick this weekend with some upside. I think he will score his 7 straight top 10 finish this weekend. From a fantasy point of view, I think this is the best time to use him. I doubt we will see this kind of production last throughout the season. Take the points now or gamble that he can keep it long-time. History says it is unlikely for us to see Aric to keep producing at this level.

9. Joey Logano - Logano hasn't been great this season, since we returned to racing at Darlington. I spoke about all his declining production in recent weeks, so I won't go on rant on how he has been struggling. We know that already that he isn't a top fantasy pick right now. In 6 of his last 9 races this season (excludin the ASR - of course), he has finished 15th or worse. In lone three good finishes? 10th, 4th and 10th. That 4th place finish came at Martinsville, where he ended up leading 234 laps. Like I said, he has really struggled and this ranking is probably too high based on how he has finished lately. But I do believe in upside and Joey is in a top ride, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt at least. Plus he has been aweosme at Texas, since they repaved prior to the 2017 season here!

10. Kurt Busch - Since the repave, he has finished every race in the top 10. However, all of his finishes has been between 7th and 10th place. When we returned to racing, I feel like that when Kurt was at his best. In recent weeks, he has kinda declined. Even though, he had his best finish last weekend (5th) since May 28th at Charlotte and tied for 3rd-best finish of his season. I feel like between latter part of the top 10 and low-teens is where Kurt should be expected to finish this weekend at Texas and probably going forward. I don't believe that #1 car is fast enough to finish in the top 5 on pure speed and I think that was thinking headed into the season. This is not news for us, in my opinion.

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FRCS.PRO

Twitter - @JeffNathans18 

2020 Fantasy Nascar RaceDay Thoughts (Kentucky)

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RaceDay Thoughts -

Jeff Nathans (@JeffNathans18):

- Rain is in the forecast again

- Kyle Busch is starting on the pole from one of his best tracks. If I had to bet, I think this will be one of his best shots to win in 2020

- Don't sleep on Chase Elliott. He has been legit on 1.5 milers in 2020

- I like HMS more than most do

Garry Briggs (@Garryy12):

- Alex Bowman is a super sneaky top 10 option for this weekend

- I like Matt D and William Byron to score repectable finishes

- The RCR cars shouldn't be overlooked. They have been pretty good this season so far

- I don't think Kyle Busch will be good as people think

DGG lineup -

Jeff's lineup - 18,12,1,95

Garry's lineup - 9,88,10,95

Dark Horse -

Jeff's pick - Ryan Blaney

Garry's pick - Aric Almirola

Winner -

Jeff's pick - Kyle Busch

Garry's pick - Kevin Harvick

2020 Fantasy Nascar Final Rankings (Kentucky)

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Final Rankings -

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Kyle Busch
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Martin Truex Jr
5. Chase Elliott
6. Ryan Blaney
7. Brad Keselowski
8. Joey Logano
9. Aric Almirola
10. Kurt Busch
11. William Byron
12. Erik Jones
13. Alex Bowman
14. Jimmie Johnson
15. Matt DiBenedetto
16. Clint Bowyer
17. Austin Dillon
18. Ryan Newman
19. Tyler Reddick
20. Chrisopher Bell
21. Matt Kenseth
22. Cole Custer
23. Darrell Wallace Jr
24. Chris Buescher
25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
26. Ty Dillon
27. Michael McDowell
28. John Hunter Nemchek
29. Ryan Preece
30. Corey LaJoie

Twitter - @MattAleza

2020 Fantasy Nascar DGG Picks (Kentucky)

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For the second weekend in a row, I made a last minute decision with my DGG lineup that pay off in a big way. At Pocono's first race, I had Erik Jones in but switched him out for William Byron. Byron finished about 14th and Erik Jones wrecked out. Then at Indy (last weekend), I had Martin Truex Jr and William Byron in my lineup. At the last minute, I decided to go back with Kyle Busch (over Truex) and to put Matt DiBenedetto in over William Byron. Those decisions resulted in over a 100 points gain in points. Of course, I would had a ungodly score if the #21 car didn't wreck on the final lap. Oh well, it still has been excellent start to the season! Through 16 races on the year, I am averaging about 294 points per race. That pace will be tough to keep up, but I am excited about the chance to bulid on that this weekend at Kentucky. These 1.5 mile tracks are typically the best chance to knock out big-time scores. We have 3 straight races on this type of track, starting this weekend at Kentucky!

DGG Picks -

A:

Starter - Chase Elliott

Bench - Kyle Busch

Reasons - There's a lot of great picks for this weekend, but I am going with a driver who has led in every race on the 1.5 mile tracks in 2020. His name? Chase Elliott. He also finished 2nd in the most recent 1.5 mile track, too. Kyle Busch is obviously one of the heavy favorites based on his record. And Truex Jr has won 2 of the last 3 races here, so you have consider him. But Elliott has the best average finish on the this type of track in 2020 in this tier of drivers. He also is only selected by 15% of players. Much like last weekend in this grouping tier, I am looking where others aren't

B:

Starters - Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman

Bench - Kurt Busch and Erik Jones

Reasons - I might go back on this and put Kurt Busch in for Alex Bowman, but I am okay with gambling in B. It is obviously risky, if it backfires on me. Truthfully, I don't need to gamble like this. But I am gonna give it a try anyways. Aric Almirola is too hot to bench right now and over 50% of players has picked him. If he has a bad race? Most other players will too, so I see very little downside to using him. I originally had Kurt Busch as my second starter, but I started to think about Alex Bowman. His finishes on 1.5 mile tracks aren't great, but he has been a contender. Running top 5 at Vegas, he wrecked. Running top 5 at both Charlotte races, he found problems. Ran top 10 for good portion of the Homestead race, he finished 18th. At Atlanta, he was a top 12 driver most of the day and spent some time in the top 10. I think the Bowman pick will work out pretty good, especially if a few big names have some issues

C:

Starter - Chrisopher Bell

Bench - Matt Kenseth

Reasons - I know most will go with Reddick and rightfully so, but I am hoping to save a few starts for later in the season. So I am going with the Bell/Kenseth combo. Hard to say which driver is the better option right now, but I am going with the one who I have more starts left with.

Dark Horse - Aric Almirola

Winner - Kevin Harvick

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Likes & Dislikes (Kentucky)

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I am not crazy about today's chances of getting racing in, as the forecast doesn't look to good for this afternoon's race. I think we will see some racing, but it won't be until the lights comes on. Personally, I think that what they should had done in the first place anyways. However, it wouldn't had matter too much as it was raining on Saturday night. So let's assume that we are able to see some racing at some point today/tonight, who do I like and dislike as fantasy picks? Well I have some ideas below for you to consider!

Likes -

Matt DiBenedetto - DiBenedetto was running great last weekend and I thought I got away with a steal, until him and Austin Dillon wrecked on the last lap. He still finished in the top 20, but that was a real bummer for me. Matt is having a great season and keep showing he has speed in that car.  I wouldn't say that he is at his best on this type of track, but he has finished between 14th and 17th in 3 of the last 4 races on the 1.5 mile tracks. I would compare Kentucky the most to a place like Las Vegas. He was mainly a teen driver for that event, but finished 2nd after gaining some track position late.

William Byron - I like Byron more than most do and I have been fairly high on him most of the season. I think he has performed better over the past few races and that has given me more faith in him for this weekend's race. He has struggled to finish well on the 1.5 mile tracks, but he has shown speed at times. On a weekly basis, he seems close to having top 10 speed. Sometimes, he is just outside of that. He has finished 3 of 5 races on the 1.5 mile tracks in 20th or worse. Not ideal, but he was a top 10 contender in two of those races. In fact, he was running in the top 5 (or very close to it) when things went wrong for him. Byron is very underrated in general and I don't think he will get as much attention as he really should!

Dislikes -

Erik Jones - Jones has had a lot of bad luck this season and it was the same story at Indy. When he hit the wall hard and ended his day early. And because of all of his bad finishes this season, I am gonna keep avoiding him in most fantasy format, if possible. Drivers in a slump typically don't turn their luck around over night. While it is very possible, most of them have that bad luck them throughout the season. I think that could be the case with Jones. However, this would be a great track to use him, if you felt like gambling on him. In three career starts, he has not ever finished worse than 7th place. Bad news? He has somehow managed to finished 21st or worse in 4 of 5 races on 1.5 mile tracks in 2020. His only good result was a 11th place finish in the second Charlotte's race. He has obviously performed better than this, but he hasn't been able to get the finishes to match.

Joey Logano - Logano was a strong fantasy pick earlier in the season, but he has been on the decline since we returned at Darlington. In 5 of his last 8 races this season, he has finished 17th or worse. During that 8-race period, he has only once finished better than 10th place. He has led laps very often during those races, but he seems to fade more as the races go on. To me it seems to be that his team doesn't adjust on his car as well as other teams. That's just a guess, though. Joey drives for a top team, so I wouldn't call him a bad pick. But I also wouldn't recommend him, when I am looking at his numbers over the last 8 races. He needs to prove to us that we can trust him as a fantasy pick!

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers & Dark Horses (Kentucky)

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Last weekend was a pretty easy weekend to predict at Indianapolis and for the most part I wasn't suprised by who was fast. However, we can't ever predict crashes or anything. So obviously, there were some bad fantasy picks made by most players. As big names like Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, etc were selected by majority of players in some kind of form. If you avoided them drivers? Well you probably ended up some good results for the most part. Last week, I was pretty spot on a few of them and others not so much. They looked like good picks based on how they ran, however it don't always end like that. It's part of the game and the reason why we play the game, too.

There's a lot of good sleepers & dark horses for this weekend's race at Kentucky. As we have plenty of data to go on from earlier this season. So who should you consider in your fantasy lineup that will make your lineup stand out from the rest? Excellent question! Stay tuned and you will find out!

Let's get rolling!

Sleepers -

Bubba Wallace Jr - Bubba has improved a lot this year and the numbers are showing behind the wheel of the No.43 car. Espeically of late, as he has finished in the top 22 in his last 5 races. In 3 of those 5 races, he ahs finished in the top 15. In those 5 races, he has posted 15.6 average finish and held 17.3 average running position with 69.5 driver rating. Going back further, he has finished in the top 22 in his last 6 race combined. In fact, he has been even better if you take out Pocono. At the Pocono double, he had his worst two finishes of 22nd and 20th. In those other four races, he has finished 14th or better. Prior to finishing 11th at Martinsville, he had a 10th place run at Bristol as well. There's a lot to like about Bubba over the past month or so!

Chrisopher Bell - He has had a lot of bad qualication draws. However, he has ran well of late, but he is still a rookie driver. So the bad results will be there from time to time. In his last 5 races this season, he has finished in the top 12 in three races. In other two races? He has finished 29th and 39th. Not very ideal, but he is showing more speed than he did earlier in the season. As for this season as whole on 1.5 mile tracks, he has performed inconsistent so far. In his last 4 races on 1.5 mile tracks, he has a pair of top 10 finishes. He also has a pair of finishes between 18th and 21st.

Dark Horses -

Aric Almirola - History says it unlikely for Aric to score his 6th straight top 5 finish this weekend at Kentucky, but he has been so damn good over his last 5 races. All 5 races, he was a legit top 5 contender. So what's stopping him from scoring another one? Honestly nothing. And in fantasy racing, we have to go with who's hot and Aric is on fire right now. I am not really sure what else I can say to convince you honestly. If you aren't on the Aric bandwagon yet, I don't think you get on it. If Aric wasn't on this hot streak, I doubt he would be so many people radars. His record isn't really impressive this season on the 1.5 mile tracks. However, his streak started at the most recent 1.5 mile track of Homestead. Maybe he can keep it going at Kentucky!

Ryan Blaney - Blaney has been insanely good this season on the 1.5 mile tracks and has finished in the top 5 in four of the five races this season. On the season, he has the best-average finish at 5.0 and has the best average running position at 6.1. He also supports the 2nd-best driver rating at 111.5. His numbers are truly impressive this season. He has also gotten more inconsistent of late, but his last three races all has been on flat tracks. I wouldn't call them a strength to start with, especially compared to these intermediate tracks. This is where I have the faith with Blaney on. Blaney will have a great chance to finish in the top 5 this weekend and maybe even more!

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com and FRCS.PRO

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Update (Kentucky)

Welcome to Timerssports

Fantasy Nascar Update -

1. Kyle Busch - A lot of people jumped off the Kyle Busch train last weekend and rightfully so. He finished 6th, but nobody was on the level of the No..4 and No.11 cars. They were truly in a class of their own and we knew that going into Indianapolis, too. As for this weekend, I doutbt that they will repeat that so easily. Kyle Busch is a master of Kentucky, he had years of practice at this track before it made it way to the cup schedule. I think that part of the reason why he's so darn good here, but he simply has been locked in here during his career regardless. Since the track debut in cup, he has a 4.7 career average finish with two career wins. His last win came in 2015, though. On the 1.5 mile tracks in 2020, he hasn't been bad but not very Kyle Busch-like. Through 5 races on this type of track, he has only two top 5 finishes and total of three top 6 finishes. That's nothing to laugh, but at same time it not really impressive. I say not ''really impressive'' compared to seasons' past where he would average a top 2 or top 3 finish on this type of track through this time of the season. If he wasn't on the pole and we weren't at Kentucky, I might not rank him this high. But this is his own personal playground!

2. Kevin Harvick - Remember earlier in the season when Kevin Harvick was nexting off top 5 finishes constantly, but couldn't win? A problem no more, as he is knocking top 5 finishes still and the wins are coming, too. He finished 22nd in last season's race at Kentucky, but prior to that he had 7 straight top 11 finishes. He has made 6 starts at Kentucky and his first 5 races ended in 9th or better. The 2016 event is the only race where he led any laps. I think Harvick will be very good as usual, but I am not expecting him to repeat the last couple weekend and look much better than 95% of the field. Harvick is one of the favorites, no make mistake about that!

3. Martin Truex Jr - Truex Jr has had a lot of speed this season, but bad luck has been the theme of his season. Once again at Indy (last weekend), he had more bad luck and it started after a couple laps. He went down on power early on and then he got into trouble o pit road. Yeah, it wasn't his day. However, he comes to a great track this weekend at Kentucky. He simply domianted in 2017 and 2018. He led over 150 laps in each race and averaged over 148.0 driver rating. Does anyone realize how stupid that is? I mean how? Truly incredible, folks. I am worried about Truex's bad luck, but at same time I am not. He has had fast cars all season and he's very capable of going to victory lane this weekend.

4. Chase Elliott - Early in Elliott's career, I realize what kind of driver that he is and that is a consistent one. And he isn't the consistent one whom goes out and run in the low to mid teens. He's the good kind of consistent whom will almost always be a top 10 contender and usually much more. His rookie year at Atlanta was probably the first time I notice it at the cup level. Here we are 4 years later and that still holds very true. I guess it shouldn't be too shocking that he has collected the most stages points this season. I believe HMS as a whole has improved from a year ago at this point, but I also believe that Elliott get less credit than he did a year. In 2020, his teammates also has had some pretty good runs. Which I believe takes away from Elliott a little. Not to say he hasn't been better (he has by far), but he stands out less than he did a year ago. He was the only solid driver and he still probably is the only solid driver. But his teammates, like I said, have improved as well. Bowman had a few strong runs early in the year and Byron/Johnson has had their moments, too. I guess my point is Elliott has been easily one of the most consistent drivers in the series and you should probably count on him again on Sunday's afternoon to deliver another quality finish!

5. Denny Hamlin - Hamlin has been really fast in 2020  and really been boom or bust at this point. I personally don't believe that Hamlin gonna be as good as he has been the last few weekends, but I think a lot of people are still going to be on the Hamlin train this weekend. I don't hate him and I don't love him. Much like the 2020 season, he has been boom or bust (to lesser extent) at Kentucky. In his last 6 Kentucky races, he has finished 17th or worse in three races. In his other three races? He has won two times and finished 10th in another. Now I wouldn't call that complete boom or bust, but he has a little bit to him in that regard. However, Hamlin might be your guy if you look at the last few 1.5 mile races. In his last three races on 1.5 mile tracks, he has finished in the top 5 in all three races. He actually has finished in the top 2 in two of those races. Including leading 137 laps on his way to a win at Homestead.

6. Brad Keselowski - Keselowski has finished in the top 7 in 6 of his 9 career starts at Kentucky. Including 4 top 3 finishes and 3 of those finishes ending in wins. His win came in 2016. In 2 of his last 3 races at Kentucky, he has finished 20th or worse. On good end of things? He has led 5 of his last 6 races here. Including 3 of his last 4 races. So far in 2020, Keselowski has swept the top 10 on all five racs at the 1.5 mile tracks. Like I mentioned many times before, he isn't a sexy fantasy pick. But he will get the job done on a consistent basis. If you are just looking for a sound fantasy pick, then Keselowski should be at top of your list this weekend at Kentucky!

7. Ryan Blaney - Blaney went on insane run of strong finishes, so it was only a matter o time before he came back down to earth. Blaney is still that inconsistent driver, but he has proven to us that he is a superstar behind the wheel of the No.12 car! So far, he hasn't been anything special at Kentucky. In 4 career starts, he has only just 1 top 5 and 2 top 10 finishes. In his last three starts, he has finishes of 13th, 2nd and 10th. In 2018, he led a lap on his way to that 2nd place finish. He has been insanely good on the 1.5 mile tracks lately. As he has 4 straight finishes of 4th or better now. That No.12 car will be tough to beat this weekend most likely. If everything goes right, I think he will have a shot to finish ahead of some of these drivers above!

8. Joey Logano - Since Nascar returned, Logano hasn't impressed me. In 12 races (since Darlington's return in May), he has just 4 top 10 finishes and 2 of those top 10 finishes were 10th place. Including last weekend's finish at Indianapolis. In 5 of his last 8 races, he has finished 17th or worse. I am not saying that Logano can't run well, but he hasn't really shown the speed since early in the season. Until he starts running well again, I will personally be avoiding him and probably have a low opinion on him as a fantasy pick. Right now, I think you could do better than Joey Logano!

9. Aric Almirola - Aric Almirola keep proving the doubters wrong and knocked off another top 5 finish at Indy. He's at five straight top 5 finishes and will look to make it 6 straight top 5 finishes at Kentucky. I said last weekend that I doubted he would and he get the job done anyways. I has been impressed, but I really believe it comes to an end this weekend at Ketnucky. He did have a top 5 run at Homestead (most recent 1.5 mile track), but he has finished 15th or worse in other 4 races on 1.5 mile tracks. Personally, I don't believe he can keep up this pace. It has been insane, but at same time I think you always have to ride the hot hand. The data says he has been an average driver on the 1.5 mile intermediate tracks, except his most recent one. Where he was a legit top 5 driver. And then there's his momentum, where only Kevin Harvick probably has more. Personally, I am going to split the middle and say he finishes somewhere in the top 10!

10. Kurt Busch - Kurt Busch has been on the downslide after an impressive strench not too long ago. And his numbers on the 1.5 mile tracks been good, but not good as you would think. He put together 3 top 10 finishes in five races on 1.5 mile tracks. But he also has finishes of 25th and 17th. I am not super high on Kurt Busch this weekend. I think he has underperformed over the past few races and starting to show more inconsistency. Personally, I am backing away from Kurt and looking to use him down the more than right now. In 4 of his last 5 races, he has finished 13th or worse.

Just missed - William Byron, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones and Matt DiBenedetto

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar RaceDay Thoughts (Indy)

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RaceDay Thoughts -

Jeff Nathans (@JeffNathans18):

- Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin are the favorites headed in by many

- Ryan Blaney and his ford teammates should be contenders

- Aric Almirola will have another solid showing but i bet his top 5 streak comes to an end

- Bowyer will not as good as everyone is thinking

Matt Aleza (@MattAleza):

- Don't overlook Kyle Busch or Martin Truex Jr. Two guys that has slipped under the radar this week

- Matt DiBenedetto is a really good sleeper pick for today's race

- Penske is criminally disrespected this week. Don't sleep on that camp

- William Byron will finish in the top 10 again

DGG Lineups -

Jeff's lineup - 11,12,10,95

Matt's lineup - 4,10,21,95

Dark Horse Pick -

Jeff's pick - Ryan Blaney

Matt's pick - Erik Jones

Winner -

Jeff's pick - Kevin Harvick

Matt's pick - Kevin Harvick

2020 Fantasy Nascar Final Rankings (Indy)

Welcome to Timerssports

Final Rankings -

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Martin Truex Jr
4. Joey Logano
5. Kyle Busch
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Chase Elliott
9. Aric Almirola
10. Kurt Busch
11. Clint Bowyer
12. Erik Jones
13. William Byron
14. Alex Bowman
15. Matt DiBenedetto
16. Ryan Newman
17. Austin Dillon
18. Chris Buescher
19. Tyler Reddick
20. Chrisopher Bell
21. Matt Kenseth
22. Darrell Wallace Jr
23. Justin Allagier
24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
25. Cole Custer
26. Ty Dillon
27. Michael McDowell
28. John Hunter Nemchek
29. Corey LaJoie
30. Ryan Preece

Twitter - @MattAleza

2020 Fantasy Nascar DGG Picks (Indy)

Welcome to Timerssports

Happy Forth of July, friends! I hope everyone is having a great weekend and enjoying your holiday. But business as usual for us at Timerssports. I just want to say thank you to everyone whom checks out our website on a weekly basis. A lot of times, I don't even have to post a link and people have already checked out our most recent content. As you can imagine, it always put a big smile on my face. Not because I don't have to post a link to get pageview clicks, but because our content makes a big enough impact that people know the website's address! Again, thank you!

Anyways folks, I avoided a bad score on Saturday by taking Erik Jones out in the first Pocono's race. However, I couldn't avoid the bad Chrisopher Bell pick on Sunday's evening.  Still ended up with 289 points' day, after my other three picks all scored in the top 7. Sadly that 289 points drags my season's average down slightly (not much). Now, we will turn our attention to Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Usually teams will bring their best stuff to this racetrack and former champions have a knack for winning here. Also, the winner are the ones that typically start up front. In fact 6 of the last 8 winner has started in the top 8. Of course, this year the starting order was set by random draw. So I wouldn't put that much into that stat as usual.

DGG Picks -

A:

Starter - Kyle Busch

Bench - Martin Truex Jr

Reasons - Almost everyone will be on the Kevin Harvick/Denny Hamlin bandwagon this weekend at Indy. For good reason, but don't forget about Kyle Busch or Martin Truex Jr. Both will be rostered at a much lower % and both should offer value because of that. Realistically, I bet they finish within  3 positions. And that's being nice about it. Right now over, both drivers (Harvick and Hamlin) are around 50% picked in DGG. Kyle Busch is about 30% and Truex Jr is about 15%. Point is? Don't take much for one mistake and boom you are in the driver seat.

As of right now, I have Kyle Busch as my starter. However, it's 50/50 on which JGR driver get the call for my lineup on Sunday's afternoon!

B:

Starters - Aric Almirola and William Byron

Bench - Erik Jones and Clint Bowyer

Reasons - I really put a lot of thoughts into my picks for this grouping tier. I took a lot of factors into consideration, too. I thought about using Clint Bowyer, but I decided I rather use him at some of the shorter tracks later in the season. I also considered Matt D, but I decided I could get a few starts out of him at places like Bristol and Martinsville. And with 1.5 mile tracks being the next three tracks, I am also gonna save Erik Jones, Kurt Busch and Ryan Blaney. So what worked for me last weekend? Well Aric Almirola and William Byron delivered some solid finishes for my lineup. Why not use them again? Especially if I don't really plan to use them for several races.

C:

Starter - Matt Kenseth

Bench - Tyler Reddick

Reasons - I really don't have a good reason for starting Matt Kenseth, other than that I have less starts left with Reddick & Bell. Otherwise, I would start one of them than Kenseth. He still worries me, but we will have to use him sometimes anyways!

Dark Horse - Aric Almirola

Winner - Kevin Harvick

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Quality Picks (Indy)

Welcome to Timerssports

When we started to get back to racing, I said this website would be trying out new articles on a weekly basis. And I am trying to hold myself to that promise. So I am bringing you guys a new article for the second straight week now! Why is it titled, ''Quality Picks''? Great question. It will simply be a post that outlines some quality fantasy picks for the weekend. Not race-winning pick and maybe not even top 10 drivers. With that said, I will try to avoid major drivers and drivers whom I already mentioned in an article this weekend. As I am trying to spread the love around.

Alright everybody, I would like to wish you a Happy 4th of July and happy raceweekend! And now we are gonna get into today's content!

Lets get rolling!

Quality Picks -

Austin Dillon - I by no means love Austin Dillon this weekend at Indy, but I do like him a little bit. And he won't get any respect of any nature, either. I personally think that's unfair because he typically runs better than he ever get credit for. In his last 9 races, he has finished six times in 14th or better. Raise your hand if knew that? I thought so. And one of those non-top 14 finishes were Talladega and the other one was at Martinsville. He also finished 14th on Sunday's afternoon at Pocono. He's nothing special, but he is far better than most people would think.

Matt  DiBenedetto - I mentioned DiBenedetto a lot in recent weeks. including in my Sleepers & Dark Horses post. So there should be no shock that I am pretty high on the No.21 car this weekend at Indy. There's a lot of reasons to have high hopes for this team this weekend. In 10 of 15 races this season, the No.21 car has finished in the top 15. He has only a few top 10 finishes to his name, but that number should only grow as the season goes on. I believe this team hasn't peaked yet and they could be better as we get towards the Nascar playoffs.

Chris Buescher - Like I mentioned at the start, I am going to try to avoid mentioning major drivers or drivers I wrote about this weekend. So while I like guys like Byron, Almirola and Bowyer more than some of these drivers on this article (I mentioned those three drivers in my sleepers & dark horses' post), I am doing my best to not put them on here. Buescher has a pretty good record here at Indy. In four career starts, he has finished three times in the top 15. In his first start back with the #34 team (Front Row Racing), he ended up 14th. It was a sign of good things to come. In his last three starts with the #37 team, he had two top 15 finishes. In those races, he ended up 15th and 9th. I would like to note that his 9th place finish in 2017 is misleading as a lot of cars wrecked out at the end. Still he has a good record here, regardless. And to make him even appealing fantasy option? He finished 10th in the first Pocono's race and was running well in the second race until things went south for him.

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Email - GarryBriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Sleepers & Dark Horses (Indy)

Welcome to Timerssports

Pocono wasn't the most exciting weekend of racing, but we ended up getting all the laps in. I am not gonna lie, I actually took a short nap on Sunday during the rain delay. It was around 5:30 pm or so and I thought to myself, ''Well if they say maybe 7 pm, then I am gonna take a quick power nap!'' Well I wake up around 6:10 or whatever and there's racing on my tv. I was pretty surprised to say the least! Haha anyways other than that my fantasy picks were all pretty spot on.

And now we get to head to my hometrack at Indianapolis Motor Speedway! This is not one of my favorite tracks, but it will be nice to get the large flat racetracks out of the way for the 2020 season! I will depend on last weekend's results, 2020 season results and past data to make my fantasy picks. I also recommend checking out Jeff's Fantasy Nascar Update! He did an awesome job with that I thought as usual!

Let's get started!

Sleepers -

William Byron - I really liked him last weekend, I even wrote about him on both days prior to the race. In the first race, he kinda disappointed me. However, he made me proud in the second race and finished in the top 10. So can he have another good day at Indianapolis? I certainly think so! He did finished 4th in last season's race here and had a few good runs this season, too. More times than not this season, I have thought that William shown some speed. Some weekends, it's not good enough. And others, he is a top 10 driver. When you are picking Byron, I think your realistic outcome should be between 8th and 14th. That's the range where he could finish, if things don't go horribly wrong at some point in the event.

Matt DiBenedetto - DiBenedetto has been incredibly consistent in the top 15 this season and is coming off a near top 5 finish at Pocono on Sunday! He was top 10 good for most of the weekend, so that was no fluke. In 2019, he finished either 17th or 18th in the #95 car. If last week is any indication than, he should finish in the top 15 again. I also would like to point out that, Matt has only finished outside of the top 19 in 3 races this season. Two of those three races were at Talladega and Bristol. In 10 of 15 races this season, he has finished in the top 15. I bet Matt will finish in the top 15 again this weekend at Indy!

Dark Horses -

Clint Bowyer - I will give some love to Clint Bowyer after a pair of strong runs at Pocono. He finished in the top 10 in both races and comes to a underrated track. Over his last two starts at Indy, he has finished in the top 5. I would had never guessed that, but I am also not surprised. Bowyer is a really good flat track driver and has good records at all of them (regardless of size). But that not what getting me on the Bowyer's bandwagon this weekend! Over his last 6 races (exlcuding the Talladega's race), he has finished 11th or better in 4 of those races. He also has a 17th and 20th at Atlanta and Bristol. Oh and at Atlanta, he led 58 laps to a misleading finish. Yeah, he is starting to turn the corner as a fantasy option!

Aric Almirola - Aric Almirola would be my prefered dark horse pick this weekend! He has put together 4 straight top 5 finishes now and could make it 5 straight on Sunday's afternoon! I think Aric will finish in the top 10, but it's a great time to use Aric in your fantasy games. What's the old saying in the fantasy racing community? Something like, ''Use them, while they are hot''. Yeah folks, he's hot and it's time to squeeze every ounce of value out of him. I am sure some of you whom play season long games are like, ''why not save him for later in the season, if he keep running well?'' There's no promises in fantasy racing! If a driver is on a hot streak, then you should take advantage of it.

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com

Twitter - @Garryy12

2020 Fantasy Nascar Update (Indy)

Welcome to Timerssports

Fantasy Nascar Update -

1. Kevin Harvick - Harvick has been a stud this season and has shown no signs of slowing down any time soon. This has been the case since joining the #4 team! Every season, it seems like the #4 car is one of the heavily favorites to take the title home. In 2020, it is no different! For this weekend, he should be considered the favorite as well! He has been strong since being apart of SHR at Indy! He hasn't finished worse than 8th place in a SHR car and led 118 laps in his most recent's race here. Need more to convince yourself? Pocono is probably the most similar track and he finished in the top 2 in both races. He was very strong in both races last weekend!

2. Denny Hamlin - Hamlin is a former winner at the track and is coming off a pair top 2 finishes at Indy. He might had been the strongest driver at Pocono last weekend, when you look at all the numbers. It was clear very early on that he would be a major player all weekend! At Indy, he has been great here in his career. He has a career average finish of 12.4. And most recently, he also has ran very well. In his last 6 starts, he has complied 5 finishes of 6th or better. In 2019, he ended 6th. In his last 6 races, that is actually his 2nd-worst finish. Hamlin is an elite flat track racer and he should be very strong on Sunday's afternoon!

3. Martin Truex Jr - It is hard to bet against Martin Truex Jr on any race weekend, as that #19 car is usually so strong! At Pocono, he was among the contenders but never a true threat to win. I felt like at times, he was a top 5 drivers, but not consistent enough. On the longer runs, he would fade in the running order to somewhere in middle of the top 10. Of course, I am sure the consistent pit strategies had a factor in the changing of the running order, too. But even without it, I felt like he just was slightly off compared to the top couple cars. He has shown elite speed in 2020, but his luck at Indy is very concerning. In his last three starts at Indy, he has finished better than 27th. He finished 8th and 4th in 2015 and 2016. Depsite only having 3 top 10 finishes in 15 career starts, I am still very high on him. I wouldn't put too much into Truex's history at Indy!

4. Joey Logano- Logano is starting on the pole, but he had terrible luck at Pocono! He saw a tire go down both races for him and finished off the lead-lap in both races. He has been awesome at Indy in his career, since joining the #22 team! In 7 career starts, he hasn't finished worse than 13th in any race. In 6 of those 7 races, he has finished 8th or better. In 2 of his last 3 races at Indy, he has finished in the top 5. Most suprising part? He hasnt gone to victory lane in his career at that cup level! I am not gonna lie, I do have some concerns about his finishes lately. In 5 of his last 7 races (dating back to Bristol), he has finished 17th or worse. In that span, he has only one top 5 finish. His lone two good finishes are 4th and 10th. 3 of his last 4 races this season, he has finished 24th or worse. He is not trending in the right direction, but he has a lot of good history on his side. Sometimes that means nothing, but I will give him at least the benefit of the doubt. However, I would recommend that you use him with some caution this weekend!

5. Kyle Busch - Kyle Busch is another driver that I am little concerned about as well. As for this season and over the past couple seasons. He finished 1st, 1st and 2nd from 2014 through 2016. Simply the best driver in the series. In 2017, he was well on his way to another top 2 finish. Him and Truex Jr just dominated the race early on. Easily the best two cars in the field, but of course they both wrecked. So all-in-all, he has 2 DNFs over his last two races here. Not his fault, but you get the point here. The former Indy's winner also isn't having the greatest season to date. Through 15 races, he hasn't gone to victory lane and that suprises a lot of people. But then again the no practice part has really hurt that #18 team! They weren't bad at the first Pocono race and probably wouldn't ended too bad at the second one. However, that deal with Blaney ended his day. I know Blaney didn't do it on purpose, though. In the first 15 races, he has finished 19th or worse six times already. In eight other races, he has finished 6th or better. And 7 times, he has finished in the top 5! Kyle isn't the driver that he was over the past couple seasons, but you could do far worse than a guy Kyle's upside!

6. Ryan Blaney - Blaney reminded us last week that he can still be pretty inconsistent as a young driver, but he was indeed fast in both races at Pocono. Blaney should be strong again this weekend at Indy. In his last three races, he has been really competitive and his numbers could be even better. In last season's race, he finished 7th and led 19 laps. He swept the top 5 in the first two stages and held an elite driver rating of 118.7. When you are nearing that 120.0 driver rating, that when you know that you were really strong. In 2017, he was a lot stronger than his 23rd finishing position shows you. He finished 3rd in both the first two stages, but had an accident late and had to settle for a 23rd place finish. That 2017 race sure was a very strange race in the final laps! As for this weekend, I high hopes for him but I also think he's due for a string of inconsistent races.

7. Brad Keselowski - Prior to the 2017 season, he has never finished better than 9th. In 2017, he actually ended up finishing 2nd. He followed that up with a win during that the 2018 season. Then, of course he finished 38th in last season's race. So yeah, Keselowski has been all over the map. Personally, I usually don't have Keselowski on my radar because he never really excites me as a fantasy option. He is a great driver and does all the right things the right way. And somehow he always end up at the front, but he never stands out to me when I do my research. In other words, he doesn't go out and domiante races or have mega speed in his car on a weekly basis. He find his way to the front and find ways to finish up there. End of story. It's not flashy, but he knows how to be productive.

8. Aric Almriola - Aric Almirola is in middle of the best run of his career right now with 4 straight top 5 finishes. I don't believe he has ever even put together back to back top 5 finishes, let alone 4 straight top 5 finishes. He is simply on a tear and it came out of nowhere! Prior to Homestead, there were no indication that he was about to break out and be this strong. When drivers go on strong runs like this, typically we see inconsistent results with obvious speed in previous weeks. Not Aric though. And guys, he just hasn't finished well but he has been legit top 5 in all 4 races. I have been impressed! I don't think that Aric can go 5 straight top 5 finishes, but we are headed to another large flat racetrack!

9. Chase Elliott- The Hendrick cars started the season off really strong, but it seems like some of the speed has gone away. Obviously not a lot, but other teams seem to be running better than before, too. I don't think that really has an affect on someone like Elliott, who is still strong on a weekly basis. But not too long, we were talking about Elliott as one of the strongest drivers in the series. He still fast on a weekly basis, but I don't believe he is a top 3 driver right now. He can run top 5 time to time, but kinda floats back to that top 10 range sometimes. Either way, it is hard to deny that he has some awesome upside on any given weekend. As for Indy? Hard to say! He finished 4th in the second Pocono race, but really hasn't done much at Indy. In 5 career starts, he has a best career finish of 9th and two additional finishes of 15th. Those are his three best finishes in his cup career, so far.

10. William Byron - This last spot was a tough one because there's several guys who could be here! Clint Bowyer has produced 2 top 5 finishes in his last 3 starts here. Kurt Busch is having a great season and isn't bad at Indy. Erik Jones is always top 10 capable, but he obviously is having the case of the bad luck in 2020. Despite all of those drivers' claims, I am going with a guy coming off a solid 7th place finish at Pocono on Sunday! William Byron had a pair of solid finisehs at Pocono and I feel like he could had done a lot better on Saturday. Still, he wasn't bad considering all of the craziness. He finished 4th in last season's race here and scored stage points in 2 of the 3 stages. I think Byron has some question marks to him, as he has been inconsistent this season. But I believe it helps that we going from large flat track to another. It don't mean things will automatically translate, but it sure helps!

***All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Twitter - @JeffNathans18