Let’s hope that the events that unfolded here at Auto Club Speedway on Friday weren’t an indication of anything crazy that’s going to happen on Sunday. First, Jimmie Johnson spun during practice and had to bring out the backup car. The #48 team then decided to forgo qualifying entirely, as they were starting in the back anyway–although I personally would have made a qualifying run to get a better pit stall selection, but I’m not a crew chief. However, there are some other drivers that will be joining the #48 Chevrolet in the back on Sunday, as both Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne never made it through inspection and never attempted a lap. Those three drivers will be credited with the 37th, 35th, and 36th-place starting spots, respectively.
My team points last week: 158
Overall team standings: 753rd
Total team points for the season: 714
Top FOX Fantasy Auto Drivers for the 2017 Fontana Race
Joey Logano ($12,200) – Unfortunately, because of the happenings on Friday, it’s going to be hard to make up much ground on the competition. Most of the top teams are going to run with Logano and Johnson, and probably Bayne, too. Yes, this provides fade opportunities (as you’ll read below), but that requires hoping something goes wrong with the other teams, and that’s never a very good position to be in. Anyway, Auto Club Speedway is a wide race track and Joey Logano will have brand new tires to start the race with. In other words, he could pop into the top 20 very early on Sunday. Joey has finished between 3rd and 7th in three of the last four races here at Fontana and has a fast enough car to get up there this weekend despite the poor starting position. Surprisingly enough, only 22.5% of FOX teams had Logano on their roster as of Saturday morning, so that’s something to keep an eye on.
Jimmie Johnson ($12,100) – Again, just doing my job. Jimmie Johnson is a six-time winner here at Auto Club Speedway and has finished inside the top 10 in twelve of his last fourteen races here at Fontana. With that being said, Johnson has never started worse than 23rd here, although he did wind up finishing 3rd in the race that he did. Anyway, the #48 team is good enough to get up there and run inside the top 10 on Sunday, and it will be fun watching the seven-time champion make his way through the field. If you want to fade Johnson and hope something happens to him, this is a great opportunity to do so, as 42% of FOX teams had him on their roster as of Saturday morning. Additionally, Johnson hasn’t really been finishing well this season; his 9th-place effort at Phoenix last Sunday is the best result the #48 Chevrolet has posted in 2017. Still, it’s very difficult to pass up all of those place differential points, and it’s not recommended.
Chase Elliott ($11,000) – For some reason this #24 team is lacking a little bit in qualifying on the intermediate race tracks so far in 2017. Back at Atlanta, Chase started in 11th and went on to finish 5th, and then at Las Vegas he qualified 12th and finished 3rd. This weekend at Fontana, the #24 Chevrolet will roll off the grid from 13th, and you should still expect a similar top 5 result out of this young gun. Chase made his first Cup start here at Auto Club Speedway last season and wound up finishing 6th. This year he seems to be even faster than he was during his rookie campaign, and let’s not forget that the #24 Chevrolet has been great on the 2-mile race track with this low downforce package; Elliott finished 2nd in the first Michigan race last season and then battled it out with Kyle Larson in the fall event, ending up 2nd once again. Nearly half of all FOX Fantasy Auto teams have Chase Elliott on them (as of Saturday morning), so that does provide a fade opportunity, but more than likely you will regret doing that.
Trevor Bayne ($8,200) – Bayne is entirely too high-priced this weekend, but you might as well bite the bullet on it because he’s going to be one of the better options on Sunday. This #6 team was one of those that failed to make a qualifying run on Friday and because of that they are credited with the 36th starting position. Trevor has made just three career Cup starts here at Auto Club Speedway, and while his best finish thus far has been 20th, if he is able to replicate that here on Sunday, we’re looking at at least 37 fantasy points in this FOX Fantasy Auto game. What you should really like about Bayne is how well this #6 Ford has been performing on the intermediate tracks this season–and, really, in all the races thus far. Trevor’s worst finish in 2017 has been 19th, and if you take Phoenix out of the equation (one of his worst tracks) he’s 3-for-3 in terms of top 15s.
Other viable options: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch
Stay away from…
Martin Truex, Jr. ($9,900) – Truex’s salary this weekend is quite a bit lower than it should be, and because of that, he’s going to be on a whole bunch of rosters. In fact, as of Saturday morning, over 44% of FOX Fantasy Auto teams had Truex on them. The bad thing is that the #78 Toyota is going to roll off the grid from 4th when Sunday’s Auto Club 400 goes green, which severely limits the place differential points potential from Truex. And while occasionally it is a good idea to simply target the finish points in this Fantasy NASCAR game, there are so many other options that could net you more points than Truex this week due to the place differential. Additionally, 44% is a very high number in this game, so why not roll the dice and see if the bad luck bug hits this #78 team again? For what it’s worth, Truex has never had a top 5 finish here at Fontana.
Kyle Larson ($12,000) – It’s hard to justify using this much of your salary cap on a driver that has literally no place differential potential–which is exactly what this FOX Fantasy Auto game is all. Larson is on the pole for this weekend’s Auto Club 400, and while it is possible that he could go out there and win the damn thing, it’s nowhere near a guarantee. And even if he does, the maximum he can earn in this game is 45 points. Jimmie Johnson, who costs only $100 more than Larson, will score 45 points if he finishes 16th or better. The #42 Chevrolet is an excellent Fantasy NASCAR option in most leagues this weekend, but not FOX Fantasy Auto. Apparently some people didn’t get that memo, though, because over 33% of FOX lineups had Larson in them as of Saturday morning.
