Like most of our Fantasy NASCAR teams, we had a pretty good week at Phoenix in NASCAR.com Fantasy Live thanks to race winner Kevin Harvick. Unfortunately we decided to go with Jimmie Johnson over Dale Earnhardt, Jr., but the #88 Chevrolet performed way better than we ever imagined. Still, it was a solid week in the desert for our team and we now sit in 1,979th place with 1,050 total points through four races. We’re in the 99.15 percentile and forging ahead.
This week we’re at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California for the Auto Club 400. Those 400 miles mean that there are 200 points up for grabs in terms of laps led, as well as 200 points for fastest laps. The great news is that there are a bunch of good drivers that are starting mid-pack or worse on Sunday. The bad news is that most of them are pretty pricey, so we’re going to have figure out which ones will be the best picks.
Don’t forget that the next race is Martinsville, in case any of your drivers currently cost more than what you paid for them. We’ll explain that below.
NASCAR.com Fantasy Live Picks for the Auto Club 400
Jimmie Johnson ($26.50) – We locked Jimmie Johnson in at this price a few weeks ago and we’re sticking with it. Yeah, he’s only went up a quarter since then, but there have been plenty of instances over the past couple of years that we wished we would have had just one more quarter to make that perfect roster. Furthermore, Jimmie Johnson should be an excellent pick on Sunday in NASCAR.com Fantasy Live. First of all, he starts 19th, but the #48 Chevrolet looks good enough for a top 5 finish, so there’s plenty of room there for place differential points. Remember, Jimmie won the race at Atlanta a few weeks ago and he started 19th in that race as well. The Hendrick Motorsports cars are always really good when we come here to Fontana, and JJ has went to victory lane on five separate occasions at his home track.
Martin Truex, Jr. ($26.25) – Here’s a great opportunity to use Martin Truex, Jr. because he starts mid-pack in 17th. Initially, when we were watching qualifying, we were a little concerned with this, but after the practice sessions on Saturday were over with, it was almost a good thing that Truex was a little slower on Friday. During Practice #2 on Saturday morning, the #78 Toyota ranked 2nd in both overall speed as well as ten-lap average, and then Truex posted the best ten-lap average later that day in Happy Hour with the 7th-best overall lap. In this race one year ago, Martin ended up finishing 8th after starting 12th, and at Atlanta a few weeks ago, the #78 Toyota was one of the best cars but due to Harvick spinning his tires on the final restart, Truex ended up finishing 7th.
Brian Vickers ($12.75) – We’re just hoping that Brian Vickers doesn’t wreck on Sunday. This isn’t the ideal pick, but if you want to fill your roster with three of the pricier options, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices. Vickers will start Sunday’s Auto Club 400 from the 24th place, and if he’s able to pull off a top 20 finish or so, we will be happy. The #14 Chevrolet has decent speed week in and week out but Vickers has yet to bring it home in one piece. On a positive note–and the reason we’re picking him over someone like Danica Patrick or Casey Mears–Vickers tends to run really well here at Fontana when given the chance. He most recently raced here in the 2014 season for Michael Waltrip Racing and came home 7th. Before that, while with Red Bull Racing, he he had seven finishes of 12th or better in eight races here at Auto Club Speedway. There’s potential there, we’re just not banking on a great race from Brian.
Kevin Harvick ($27.75) – Here’s another driver that we locked in at a lower price, as Harvick has gone up a quarter since we put him on our roster. This is the roster spot that we’re not 100% sure about, and Harvick’s high price point gives us a lot of flexibility, as we can afford literally anyone else in this spot. However, as of right now, we’re going with Kevin Harvick for one reason and one reason only: laps led. This #4 team thinks they have a car that can win the race, and when they say that, that typically means that they have the car to beat…which means the most laps led. It’s a huge risk in taking Kevin Harvick in this game because he starts 2nd, but we can only think of one driver that might lead more laps than him, and that’s Carl Edwards (who starts 5th). In this race one year ago, Harvick led 34 laps en route to a 2nd-place finish. If we decide to go with him, we’re going to need that laps led total to go up to about 100.
Matt DiBenedetto ($6.25) – Why not? DiBenedetto got a lot of people’s attention last week at Phoenix when we came home 20th, but before that he finished 29th at Atlanta and 31st at Las Vegas. He started 35th and 34th in those races, respectively, and DiBenedetto will roll off the grid in 33rd for this Sunday’s race at Fontana. The #83 Toyota was just 32nd-fastest on the speed chart in Happy Hour, but they did make it on to the ten-lap average chart, which is a lot more than you can say about these other super-low-priced drivers. DiBenedetto had a better ten-lap average than Danica Patrick in that final session, for what it’s worth, and we need someone to complete this roster, so we’ll go with him.
Race Winner: Carl Edwards
Manufacturer: Toyota
