The Toyota Owners 400 race title refers to the number of laps we’re running in Sunday’s race, not the distance. Richmond International Raceway is a 0.75-mile D-shaped short track that races like a speedway. At 400 total laps, that means we’re set to run 300 miles here on Sunday–a relatively short race. Qualifying was rained out on Friday so the starting lineup was set by Practice #1 speeds. Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green this weekend and the best Fantasy NASCAR options at Richmond are pretty much all starting toward the front. This should be a great race to watch on Sunday.
Our Fantasy Racing Online team picked wrong last weekend by going with Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth–who both wrecked out at Bristol–instead of race winner Carl Edwards. We also dropped our typical low dollar driver in Matt DiBenedetto last weekend, and he ended up finishing top 10. It was just one of those races… We are now sitting in the 93.06th percentile with 1835.5 total points.
NASCAR.com Fantasy Live Picks for the Richmond Toyota Owners 400
Kevin Harvick ($27.75) – We typically don’t like going with the pole sitter on our NASCAR.com Fantasy Live team, but at the shorter tracks it’s not as much of a gamble because of all the points available for leading laps. In order for this to work out, the Toyota Owners 400 needs to play out exactly like we’re hoping it does: that Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson combine to lead the majority of the race. We believe that the #4 Chevrolet and the #48 Chevrolet are the two fastest cars heading into Sunday’s race, and the start 1st and 3rd, respectively. Harvick is a three-time winner here at Richmond and finished 2nd in this race one year ago. He had the 2nd-best ten-lap average during Saturday’s lone practice session this weekend and sounds generally pleased with his car. Also, Richmond is comparable to Phoenix and Harvick led 139 laps there earlier this year en route to his only Sprint Cup victory of 2016 (so far). Kyle Busch is another good play in this spot as well as Carl Edwards.
Jimmie Johnson ($26.50) – We still have “Six Time” locked in at 50 cents less than his market value, but with the roster we’ve put together for Richmond, you have plenty of cap room to play with. Johnson was the fastest car in Saturday’s Happy Hour practice session and he also had the best ten-lap average during that practice as well. He’s no stranger to victory lane here at Richmond International Raceway, either: Jimmie has won three times here at RIR and is currently on a three-race streak of top 10 finishes at this track–including his 3rd-place run in this event one year ago. Johnson hasn’t led any laps at Richmond since the 2012 season but we expect that to change here on Sunday.
Chase Elliott ($19.25) – We’re going to try a different strategy this weekend and go with a couple of mid-range drivers. The first of those is going to be Chase Elliott, who we think can end up with a top 10 finish here on Sunday. This #24 Chevrolet has been stout lately, as Chase is fresh off of his second straight top 5 finish at Bristol, and he has posted four top 10s in the last five Sprint Cup races as well. As far as Richmond goes, Chase finished 5th and 1st in the two Xfinity races here last season, and he actually ran in this race on the Cup side in the #25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He finished a respectable 16th after starting there as well. This weekend he’s going to start the Toyota Owners 400 from 23rd, so we’re hoping to capitalize on some place differential points as well.
Matt DiBenedetto ($6.25) – We’re going back with DiBenedetto as our low dollar driver this weekend, because why not. This team seems to thrive on the shorter tracks, as evidenced by their 20th-place run at Phoenix earlier this year and, most recently, their 6th-place finish at Bristol. Obviously there’s a very low chance that the #83 Toyota is going to wind up finishing that high here at Richmond, but a solid mid-20s result isn’t out of the question for this team. DiBenedetto starts 36th for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 and had the 28th-best lap during practice on Saturday, so there’s the potential for a few place differential points as well.
Ryan Blaney ($17.00) – Again, we’re trying a different roster setup this weekend, so our second mid-range driver will be Ryan Blaney. He starts 29th for this weekend’s race so we’re really just trying to get those place differential points out of him. Going into Sunday, we have the #21 Ford ranked in the mid-teens, which means we should get a decent amount of points for the money if everything goes to plan. Blaney ran 10th at Phoenix earlier this year, but he also started 10th in that race. Still, the #21 Ford showed some speed here at Richmond on Saturday, posting the 13th-fastest lap in Happy Hour with the 10th-best ten-lap average. This is going to be Ryan’s first Sprint Cup start here at Richmond International Raceway but we all know by now that the sky is the limit for this kid.
Race Winner: Kevin Harvick
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
