Welcome to Timerssports
Happy 2021, my friends and fellow readers! I am super excited to kick off another season of Nascar and another season of Fantasy Nascar! In 2020, it was a very weird year and I feel like I didn't do a great job of posting content much as I should had. Trust me guys, I did the best I could but some days I just didn't feel like it. As we get closer to the season, I hopefully will have a better idea if Jeff or Matt are gonna be doing any writing for the blog this season. If so, that would be huge and give me a major helping hand. If not, I am prepared for the challenge. Regardless, I am super excited for the season! There has been so many changes in drivers, crew members, teams, etc and I think it will make for a very exciting season. Also there has been some noticeable changes within the schedule!
Anyways, I am gonna kick the season off with my personal picks for sleepers, dark horses and busts! Oh my friends, this is gonna be good! Let's get started!
Sleepers -
Austin Dillon - Austin Dillon wasn't great or elite during the 2020 season, but he was way better than most people ever gave him credit for! He isn't a top 5 driver or even top 10, but he is that next group of drivers in the low teens. In 2020, he only finished outside of the top 20 in 9 total races. The first 10 races and the final 14 races were pretty eye-opening for me on Austin Dillon! In the first 10 races, he posted 6 Top 11 races. And in the final 14 races, he also posted 8 Top 12 finishes. It was that middle portion of the schedule, that was where Austin was pretty inconsistent. He did win a race at Texas, though. So that was a pretty bright spot. Overall 2020 saw him have his best season since 2016! Question is will RCR keep bringing fast cars to the racetrack? I thought that was one of the bigger reasons for Austin's upstick in production and could be the reason why he has another good 2021!
Michael McDowell - You are probably pretty surprised that I have McDowell? Well if you are then you better keep on reading because he was very good in 2020! Most people look at Front Row as a 25th-30th team, but McDowell was much better than that. His average finish on the season was 20.9(!). That is impressive with his caliber of ride! In 2020, he posted 17 Top 20 finishes and added 27 top 25 finishes. He was really a machine during the 2020 season and rarely did he have a bad race outside of that top 25 mark. For me, that is always key to drivers in his range. If you can consistently finish 25th or better, then you are gonna have some value in most fantasy games. If McDowell can do it again (like I believe he can), then he should definitely be a solid sleeper! And that the thing about sleepers, they are about value not how high they finish (dark horses are about more about finishing high, not sleepers). People are too low on guys like McDowell and that what make them legitimate sleepers!
Dark horses -
Aric Almirola - Aric Almirola is coming off a really strong season, where he posted 13.1 average finish with 18 top 10s and 6 Top 5 finishes. He posted career highs in Top 5s, Top 10s, average starting position and laps led. And I agree, he doesn't have a ton of upside. However, he is much more consistent than most drivers out there. Outside of the top guys like Harvick, Busch, Truex, Hamlin, Elliott, Logano, Keselowski, etc, how many drivers has the consistency and top 10 potential on weekly basis? Not very many. Do I think he will win a race in 2021? I do not. Do I think he gonna be in contention for several top 5 finishes? You bet I do. If Aric Almirola can have close the season he had in 2020 or 2018, then he is gonna be an excellent fantasy pick in every single fantasy format!
Kyle Larson - Kyle Larson is a tough driver to predict, even though I know a lot of people are very high on him. I love Kyle and I am a huge fan of his, but I am realistic here, too. Drivers going to new teams are hit or miss really. Some do really good and some are inconsistent! It is hard to say about Larson at Hendrick, but it is undeniable that Larson is a godly talent and is very capable of winning multiple races in his first season at HMS! I love the signing by Mr.H and I think it too good for them to pass up. I think Larson will be better later in the season than early in the season, though. That seems to always be the case with drivers on new teams. It might take a little while for the driver and team to get on the same page.
Busts -
Ryan Blaney - Blaney was really good last season, so why is he my bust for 2021? Frankly, I think he is a bust because he is so damn awesome on these intermediate tracks. When we go to the intermediate tracks, I am eye him up like candy. But they took away multiple 1.5 mile tracks and that is a huge hit for Ryan's fantasy stock. Blaney was not great outside of the intermediate, even though he did have his fair share of good runs in 2020. However, we saw there was a massive dip in production on intermediate tracks and non-intermediate tracks. And that is my biggest concern with him, as Nascar is trying to get away from a crapload of intermediate and have a lot more short tracks, road courses and even plate races. My recommend for using him in 2021 is to target the 1.5 mile tracks/other intermediate tracks and see how he does at other kind of tracks. I am not mega high on him, though.
Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com
Twitter - @Garryy12
