Qualifying was rained out on Friday, so the starting lineup for this weekend’s race at Richmond International Raceway was set by Practice #1 speeds, which was held earlier that day. This wasn’t the best thing for us FOX Fantasy Auto players, though, because the fastest cars and the best Fantasy NASCAR picks are all starting up toward the front–thus limiting the possibility of getting place differential points on Sunday. There are some great picks that are starting mid-pack for the Toyota Owners 400, though, and really the roster for this race was one of the easiest we’ve picked all year.
Last week, our Fantasy Racing Online FOX Fantasy Auto team only scored 124 points due to Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, and Matt Kenseth all crashing out of the race. So that was rough. We did have Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Chase Elliott, though, which helped soften the blow. We are now in 4,058th place overall and 6th in our private group.
FOX Fantasy Auto Picks for the Richmond Toyota Owners 400
Ryan Blaney ($5,200) – The #21 Ford was just 29th-fastest in Practice #1 on Friday, so that means Ryan Blaney is going to have to pass a lot of cars to get to the front on Sunday. During the final practice session on Saturday, though, it was apparent that Blaney really wasn’t as bad as he seemed the day before, as he ran the 13th-fastest lap and had the 10th-best ten-lap average. Blaney has never ran a Sprint Cup race here at Richmond, but he finished 10th at Phoenix earlier this year, and those two tracks are somewhat comparable. At the $5,200 price point, and the fact that Blaney starts 29th, the #21 Ford is a must pick for all FOX Fantasy Auto rosters. As of this posting, just 20.1% of teams have Blaney, but that should jump up quite a bit before the green flag waves on Sunday.
Chase Elliott ($6,100) – The FOX Fantasy Auto game is finally starting to get Chase Elliott’s salary to a more respectable level, but he is still majorly under-priced. And like we said with Ryan Blaney, the low price point and the mid-pack starting spot–Elliott will roll off the grid in 23rd on Sunday–makes the #24 Chevrolet a must pick for all rosters as well. Chase ran 16th in this race one year ago while driving the #25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, and now he has an even better car underneath him. Additionally, Elliott finished top 5 in both XFinity races here at Richmond last season, and he even went to victory lane in one of them as well. Chase wasn’t the most impressive driver on the speed charts during practice on Saturday (20th-fastest) but we think he should be a top 10 threat during the race on Sunday. That’s going to equal some nice points in the FOX Fantasy Auto game. A whopping 63% of teams had Chase Elliott as of this posting, so if you want to avoid the #24 in case he wrecks or something, be our guest. We wouldn’t recommend it, though.
Kyle Busch ($13,100) – All of the good Fantasy NASCAR picks start up front this weekend, but Kyle Busch will roll off the grid in 9th for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 so there’s a little bit of room for place differential points out of Rowdy. He’s a four-time winner here at Richmond International Raceway and owns the best average finish (7.1) among all active drivers at this race track. Kyle missed this race last season due to his leg injuries but he did end up racing here in the fall and finished 2nd to his teammate Matt Kenseth. The #18 Toyota has top 5 speed once again this weekend and should be a threat for the win as well. Kyle was 3rd in ten-lap average during Happy Hour and laid down the 3rd-fastest lap in that session as well. It’s rare for this team to have two bad weeks in a row so we’re betting that that doesn’t happen.
Martin Truex, Jr. ($10,900) – There’s basically three drivers in the field on Sunday that have the potential to get us double-digit place differential points. Those are the two rookies mentioned above and Martin Truex, Jr., who starts 22nd for this year’s Toyota Owners 400. We feel very confident in picking Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney this weekend, but we’re not feeling 100% sure on Truex. With that being said, it’s almost impossible to pass up those place differential points, as even a top 15 run out of this #78 team should net you mid-to-high 30s points. The good news is that Truex has finished top 10 in each of the last two spring races here at Richmond and he posted the 7th-fastest lap in Happy Hour on Saturday. In terms of ten-lap average, the #78 Chevrolet ranked 11th-best out of 38 cars. An 11th-place finish out of Truex in this year’s Toyota Owners 400–which is where we project he will end up–will net you 41 points in FOX Fantasy Auto.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ($14,200) – With the four drivers we have listed above, you can afford any other driver to fill out your FOX Fantasy Auto roster so it really depends on what kind of strategy you want to take here. The way to score the most points in this game is to go with the drivers that will get you place differential points, and your best option with that route is Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He starts 17th for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400, so a 9th-place finish–which is where we project the #88 Chevrolet will end up–will net you a total of 40 points. Any finish above that would be bonus. Or you can take the route of picking someone like Kevin Harvick, who starts on the pole for Sunday’s race. We have Harvick ranked 1st going into race day, and a win with the most laps led will give fantasy owners 45 total points. However, there’s no room for place differential points there. Both Earnhardt, Jr. and Kevin Harvick are three-time winners at this race track and it wouldn’t surprise us one bit if they both ended up top 5 here on Sunday.
