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Fantasy Nascar Update -
1. Martin Truex Jr - Truex Jr will start on the pole and he has a fast car. He does not get credit outside of the intermediate tracks, but he is good here at Richmond. In 2 of the last 3 races at RIR, Truex Jr has led over 190 laps. In last fall's race, he had a top 3 car but finished 20th. He led a race-high 198 laps. Add on that he had a rough weekend at Bristol, I really think that the 78 team will look to put a beating on the field. Not sure, if he has a dominant car. However, I think he should be considered a serious threat to win on Saturday night.
2. Denny Hamlin - Hard to not like Hamlin this weekend. He started off the weekend on Friday with some question marks. On Friday, he had some suspension issues. But his team solved them and he qualified 4th later that day. On top of qualifying well, it is hard to overlook that Hamlin has 5 straight top 6 finishes in his last 5 races. In the 6 of the last 8 races at RIR, the winner of the event came from Penske or JGR. When you add everything up, Hamlin is certainly hard to bet against.
3. Joey Logano - So far this season, Logano has been good enough to challenge for top 5 finishes but not good enough to win. When you look at him, he is very consistent. But again, he is not the homerun pick. This weekend, he will start from 3rd and will probably challenge for a spot in the top 5. He is not a hard driver to figure out this season. Safe bet, but I would not count on him to lead laps. Otherwise, there is a lot to love about him. Richmond, afterall, is a great track for him. He has 5.2 average finish over his last 4 races. And all four races has ended in the top 10. Unless something crazy happens, he will most likely finish somewhere between 3rd and 7th most likely.
4. Kyle Larson - Larson for the second straight Bristol spring race had the car to beat, but couldn't finish the deal. I think the chevys are getting their shit together finally and Larson is the guy I am looking at to bust into victory lane first. Larson will start from 5th on Saturday night. He won here last fall and had the best-ten lap average in final practice. For whatever that is worth here, which probably not much as you would think. With that said, there is no reason to think that he won't challenge for a top 5 finish. I honestly wouldn't be shocked to see him win. Larson get disrespected at places like Richmond. In his cup career, he has no finishes worse than 16th. On top of that, he has finished 2 of the last 3 races in the top 2 at Richmond. Keep eyes on the No.42 car of Kyle Larson!
5. Kevin Harvick - Harvick is always someone to watch for here at Richmond. Harvick always seems to be very good on these shorter flat tracks. Back at Phoenix, he went to victory lane. Since then, he has finishes of 35th, 5th, 2nd and 7th. Not bad finishes by any means, but he has kinda slowed down since his hot start to the season. With that said, I think that has to do with 2 of those 3 wins were on intermediate tracks. I think this 4 team gonna be the dominance team on these intermediate tracks. Then just another guy these kind of tracks. And not is not to say that, he cannot win this weekend. But he clearly not as strong. As for Richmond, I think he will be on the boarder of that top 5.
6. Brad Keselowski - Keselowski is a good bet this weekend at Richmond. Personally, I think he is due for a good run. Besides having 7.0 average finish in his last 4 races here, he also has had a lot of bad luck lately this season. In 4 of his last 5 races this season, he has finished 10th or worse. Including finishes of 15th, 10th, 23rd and 33rd. At some point, he is gonna have to have a solid finish again. However, he is starting deep in the field, but he will move forward though. As Penske or JGR has scored 6 of the last 8 wins at this joint. In 7 of his last 8 races at Richmond, he has finished 11th or better.
7. Chase Elliott - The HMS cars are looking good so far this weekend and Elliott probably has looked the best between practice and qualifying. Elliott will start from 2nd and has a good chance to redeem himself, after that crazy Bristol race. Richmond was a great track for him in the lower series, so it is shocking that he has not ran any better than he has so far. However, he does have a shot to change that on Saturday night. He has a best-career finish of 10th, which came in last fall's race. Elliott very easily could set a new career-best! I have him penciled in as a top 10 pick with obvious top 5 upside.
8. Kyle Busch - Rowdy is starting deep in the field and that shot him down my rankings, no doubt. He would had been a top 3 guy for me, if he didn't qualify so poorly. What happened was the 18 team tried to make the first round of qualifying on just one lap. Worked out for Kyle Larson, not so much for Kyle Busch. Now, the 18 car will start from 31st. The good thing is he has fresher tires than anyone else in the field. Bad news? It is tough to make passes at Richmond. It can be done, but you aren't gonna do it 20 or 30 laps though. It will take a little bit, but I believe we will see the 18 up there challenging for the win.
9. Kurt Busch - Kurt is great here at Richmond! In 6 of his last 7 races, he has finished in the top 10. Including 4 straight top 10 finishes. In 8 of his last 10 races, he has finished 10th or better. Kurt will start from 6th and looked good all day on Friday. Of course, it remains to be seen how big that is. Considering how difference the track conditions will be on Saturday night. Still, it is good to have those things going for you. I like Kurt a lot at Richmond. It is one of his best tracks and you can bet that he will finish in the top 10!
10. Ryan Blaney - There are couple guys that I could had put here, including Jimmie Johnson or Erik Jones. But I am going with Blaney. That 12 car has been great all season. Pretty much everywhere, this team has been competitive. And there been a few races where, he has looked like men among boys. So we all know that he can get it done and run up front. Richmond is a question mark for me though. He has no career finishes better than 18th, but we know it is limited data though. And he put on hell of a performance at Bristol, too. And yes I know that they are not comparable tracks. But still, that gotta give him some confidence, regardless of the outcome.
Just missed -
Jimmie Johnson
Erik Jones
Jamie Mac
Clint Bowyer
Ryan Newman
****All stats are from DriverAverages.com
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
