When it comes to the FOX Fantasy Auto game, you’re worried about one thing and one thing only: place differential points. If you can maximize those points, you’re going to have a great fantasy week, because the high finish points will come along with them.
Now, when you look at this week’s starting lineup for Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway, you’ll notice we have a bunch of great options. There were plenty of drivers that didn’t qualify that high on Friday but should finish at least inside the top 10 when the 2016 Auto Club 400 is over. Unfortunately, quite a few of those drivers are pretty high priced, but it’s not impossible to put together a great roster this week while staying under the salary cap, which was an issue we had last week at Phoenix–partially because Kevin Harvick cost so much!
After the first four races of the season, our Fantasy Racing Online FOX team is sitting in 1,674th place overall with 774 total points. We don’t know how this is as far as percentile, but we can assume that it’s probably pretty good because we’re in 4th place in our private league, which is made up of some pretty competitive Fantasy NASCAR players.
FOX Fantasy Auto Picks for the Auto Club 400
Jimmie Johnson ($12,700) – We’re starting off our roster with the heavy hitter Jimmie Johnson, who is 3rd on the price list this week behind Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. However, he’s a full $800 less than Harvick and $400 less than Kyle Busch, and chances are Jimmie is going to score more points than both of those guys. The reason? Jimmie will start Sunday’s Auto Club 400 from the 19th-place starting position, while Harvick will roll off the grid in 2nd and Kyle Busch in 6th. Now, we’re not sure (at least going into the race) that the #48 Chevrolet is actually better than the #4 Chevrolet or #18 Toyota, but, like we said earlier, it’s all about the place differential points. Johnson won at Atlanta a few weeks ago after qualifying 19th, and Auto Club Speedway is somewhat similar to Atlanta in that they’re both rough race tracks. Johnson is a five-time winner here in Fontana and has posted twelve top 5s in twenty-one career starts here.
Matt Kenseth ($9,100) – Honestly, can you ignore Matt Kenseth at this price? Let’s take a look at some of the drivers that cost more than him this week: Aric Almirola ($9,600), Austin Dillon ($10,000), Ryan Newman ($10,500), Jamie McMurray ($10,500). Add in the fact that Matt Kenseth qualified 20th for this week’s Auto Club 400 and you’re looking at the possibility of gaining a whole bunch of points in FOX Fantasy Auto for not a whole lot of money. Personally, we think that Kenseth should be on all rosters this week. Yeah, he’s had a rough 2016 season thus far–and disappointed a lot of fantasy owners–but it’s noteworthy that Kenseth got his first top 10 of the season last week at Phoenix, a track that he has struggled at over the years. He’s going to break out of his little slump on the intermediate tracks eventually, and it could very well be this Sunday. The #20 Toyota was the fastest car in Happy Hour on Sunday and was 9th on the ten-lap average chart despite making his run later in the session. On top of all that, over the past sixteen Fontana races, Kenseth has posted twelve top 10 results, including three wins (the most recent in 2009). You can’t beat that kind of potential at this price.
Chase Elliott ($5,000) – Again, we don’t quite understand the pricing strategy of this game. FOX is starting to move some drivers up, such as Ryan Blaney ($5,100) and Brian Vickers ($5,200), but Chase Elliott remains at the $5,000 price point and we’re not complaining one bit. Remember, with this game, you don’t lose points if a driver finishes worse than he qualifies, so the fact that the #24 Chevrolet will roll off the grid in 8th on Sunday isn’t an overly big deal. Also, Chase Elliott tends to run better during the race than he does in practice and qualifying, so he could surprise some on Sunday–although, would a top 5 finish really surprise that many people? Elliott should have a shot at a top 10 on Sunday. In order to make this roster work, we have to have someone on our roster with a $5,000 price tag, and the best choice there (by far) is Chase Elliott.
Brad Keselowski ($11,200) – This isn’t exactly the most ideal pick for us, but at this price point, we have to take Brad Keselowski. In order to afford the final driver on our roster (see below), we have to take BK. And, quite honestly, Keselowski should be a decent Fantasy NASCAR pick here on Sunday. He is the defending winner of this race after all. The #2 Ford will roll off the grid from the 15th-place starting spot on Sunday, which means there’s a good possibility for some decent place differential points, as well as solid finish points as well. The Penske Fords haven’t been overly impressive on the speed charts this season, but they tend to perform when it matters the most: during the race. Just take a look at the Las Vegas race a couple of weeks ago, the one where Brad Keselowski went to victory lane. In Happy Hour at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, the #2 Ford was 10th in ten-lap average and 12th-fastest on the overall speed chart.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ($12,000) – Filling out our roster this weekend is NASCAR’s favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. This #88 team’s qualifying struggles continued into Fontana this weekend, but that’s great news for fantasy owners in a game like FOX Fantasy Auto. Because of his poor starting spots over the last few races, Earnhardt has been a fantasy gold mine in this game, and it looks like that trend will continue here on Sunday. Junior will be credited with a 27th-place starting spot on Sunday but he has a much better race car than that, and unless he has mechanical issues or gets caught up in a wreck, Dale should end up solidly inside the top 10 when the checkered flag waves on Sunday. He finished 6th in this race one year ago and has ended up there or better in three of the last four races at this track. Junior hasn’t ended up worse than 8th since that disappointing result in the season-opening Daytona 500, and we don’t expect that to change this weekend.
Note: We’d love to put Martin Truex, Jr. on our roster this week, but simply couldn’t fit him in at his price point of $12,100.
So, it’s Johnson and Keso vs Truex and Kurt.
Tru and Ku have greater bonus pts to gain.
We’ll see….