By Jordan McAbee
It’s that time once again: to lock down our final rosters for the race on Sunday. Luckily, this week is pretty predictable, and unless there is some crazy wreck that happens during the Good Sam 500, we’re all going to have a good fantasy week. Remember, this isn’t the race to try and make up points with your fantasy teams. Just go with the flow because chances are, if you go off-course, you’re going to majorly regret it and be even further behind when it’s all said and done. Could you make a great argument for starting some drivers that a lot of other people aren’t going to use? Yes, you could, but that doesn’t mean you should actually pull the trigger. The A Group is loaded this week, and it wouldn’t surprise us one bit if all nine drivers in that group ended up finishing inside the top 10 on Sunday.
Our final rankings for each driver grouping in the Yahoo! Auto Racing game for Phoenix can be found below. We arrived at these taking into account the practice results from Saturday along with what happened during qualifying on Friday. Click here for the starting lineup for Sunday’s Good Sam 500(k). Also, be sure to check out ifantasyrace.com for the practice speeds and other great fantasy content. And don’t forget about the Post Practice Predictions where I rank all drivers 1 through 25 for the race on Sunday!
Yahoo! A Group Final Rankings for Phoenix
Kevin Harvick should have been on all rosters this week, so the real question was who you were going to pair him with. The best choice would have been Kyle Busch (since he won the pole) and more than 1 in 3 Yahoo! rosters had the #18 Toyota this weekend. As far as our Fantasy Racing Online team, we went with Kurt Busch, who starts 4th. Now, it’s tempting to go with the #41 Chevrolet over his teammate, but that’s not the smart move. Kurt may have been faster than Harvick in practice on Saturday, but let’s not forget that the #41 team tends to fade over a race. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick has ended up 1st or 2nd in seven of the last eight Phoenix races. Both of these drivers should be a threat for the win, but the safer pick is Kevin Harvick. Right now, The Choice: Kevin Harvick
Final A Group Rankings: (1) Kevin Harvick, (2) Kyle Busch, (3) Kurt Busch, (4) Joey Logano, (5) Jimmie Johnson, (6) Brad Keselowski, (7) Denny Hamlin, (8) Matt Kenseth, (9) Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Yahoo! B Group Final Rankings for Phoenix
This is where things get interesting, because I don’t think there’s a car in the B Group that can win this weekend. The one with the best chance is Carl Edwards’ #19 Toyota, which is on our roster, but do you really want to waste an Edwards start when there’s just a chance he can win? I know you want to score maximum points every week, but with a game like Yahoo! Auto Racing, you also have to bring in strategy when it comes to allocating your starts. For the record, the drivers that our Fantasy Racing Online team are choosing between are: Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, and Austin Dillon.
In our rankings, we have Carl Edwards as a solid top 10 car. Meanwhile, we have Ryan Newman and Austin Dillon on the outside looking in as just top 15 cars. And with Jamie McMurray, we have him in the later teens despite the fact that he qualified 11th for the Good Sam 500. So let’s take a look at how each driver was in practice, specifically Happy Hour ten-lap averages. Austin Dillon ranked 10th on that chart followed by Ryan Newman in 18th, Jamie McMurray in 22nd, and Carl Edwards in 24th. Now, the #19 Toyota isn’t that bad, in my opinion, and it’s good that Carl actually made a long run. For maximum points, the starts should be Carl Edwards and Austin Dillon, but saving an Edwards start by pairing Dillon with Newman is a possibility, too. Our gut says The Choices Are: Carl Edwards and Austin Dillon
Final B Group Rankings: (1) Carl Edwards, (2) Martin Truex, Jr., (3) Austin Dillon, (4) Ryan Newman, (5) Jamie McMurray, (6) Kyle Larson, (7) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (8) Kasey Kahne, (9) Paul Menard, (10) Aric Almirola, (11) Greg Biffle, (12) A.J. Allmendinger, (13) Casey Mears, (14) Trevor Bayne, (15) Danica Patrick, (16) Clint Bowyer
Yahoo! C Group Final Rankings for Phoenix
The clear best choices in this group are Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott–like every other week. However, with this race at Phoenix, the gap between those two and the rest of the C Group drivers is even wider. So, we’d consider this a must-start Blaney or Elliott event. Don’t worry about start saving with the C Group this week because these two might be the only drivers that finish top 20 in Sunday’s Good Sam 500. Now, if you have both Blaney and Elliott on you roster, you have a decision to make. The #21 Ford is the faster car, but the #24 Chevrolet has ran really well here at Phoenix in the past. As far as our Fantasy Racing Online team, we have Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon to choose from, so the choice is pretty easy. The Choice: Chase Elliott
If you really want to dig deep and save the valuable Ryan Blaney/Chase Elliott starts you have, Ty Dillon is probably going to be your choice. However, some other drivers that might surprise on Sunday are David Ragan and Matt DiBenedetto. Obviously there’s some major risk there but both of those guys looked pretty good during the practice sessions at PIR on Saturday.
Final C Group Rankings: (1) Ryan Blaney, (2) Chase Elliott, (3) Ty Dillon, (4) David Ragan, (5) Brian Scott, (6) Matt DiBenedetto, (7) Regan Smith, (8) Landon Cassill, the rest
