Charlotte, North Carolina is the hub for most NASCAR Sprint Cup teams, and all of them put a little extra effort toward running well whenever we stop at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of the season and this event has been known to test the engines in these race cars. Teams will be unloading their very best cars here this weekend, and because of that we’re sticking with the top teams for our Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing team. We finally had a good points week back at Dover, now we just need to finish off the Spring Segment with a great Coke 600 roster this weekend.
We did see most of the field on-track last weekend in the Sprint Showdown and then the All-Star Race. Those events–especially the latter–are basically won on strategy, so we wouldn’t recommend putting much stock into the results. If you watched the events and paid attention to how the cars actually ran, that’s worth more than the finishing order.
Yahoo! A Group Picks for Charlotte
Matt Kenseth (8 starts remaining) – We had Kenseth on our roster at Dover and left him on the bench as he went to victory lane. While that wasn’t good for our fantasy team, that win was great for the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing team: they finally got the monkey off their back. Matt can now drive a little more stress-free knowing that he is guaranteed a spot in the Chase. He can also focus on driving now and not trying to answer why his team isn’t catching any breaks. This #20 Toyota has been a fast car all season long and now the finishes are coming. In three of the last four Sprint Cup races, Kenseth has ended up 7th or higher, and he’s still led in all but one race this year. Here at Charlotte, Matt owns a career average finish of 11.5 and he has finished 4th and 3rd in the last two Coca-Cola 600s. He also sat on the pole for both races here last season. We’re jumping on the Kenseth bandwagon and keeping him on our roster for Charlotte.
Kurt Busch (9 starts remaining) – As of this writing, we’re feeling like an outside-of-the-box strategy is going to work this weekend. Just a hunch. Start saving isn’t a huge deal in the A Group, but since we’re already down to 6 starts left with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, we’re going to try a different direction this week. This season, Kurt Busch has actually been one of the most reliable Fantasy NASCAR picks with ten top 10 finishes in the first twelve races. This team is coming off of back-to-back top 5 finishes at Kansas and Dover and now we’re at a track that they have been very fast at as of late. In last year’s Coca-Cola 600, Kurt started 14th but ended up leading 118 laps en route to a 10th-place finish in that fuel mileage race. He bounced back with a 5th-place finish in the fall race here last season, and that makes it three Charlotte events in a row that he has had a driver rating of at least 107. We might change our mind with this pick before the rosters lock this week but we think the #41 Chevrolet is going to be a contender here on Sunday night.
Looking at the other A Group choices, you can’t go wrong with Harvick or Kyle Busch. We have 8 starts remaining with Jimmie Johnson but we’re not really considering him this week. He’s kind of in a funk both here at Charlotte and in Sprint Cup action overall. The Penske teams of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski finished 1-2 in the All-Star Race, but once again that was a race centered on strategy. We’re still not convinced that #22 team has found the long-run speed they need. This is a great track to use Denny Hamlin but we don’t trust him enough right now.
Yahoo! B Group Picks for Charlotte
Carl Edwards (7 starts remaining) – This is one of Carl Edwards’ best tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit so we’re not opposed to using a #19 start this weekend. Thanks in part to fuel mileage, Carl is the defending winner of this race, and that event really jump started this #19 team and vaulted them to the elite group that we’re seeing on the track today. Edwards hasn’t finished worse than 11th in a points-paying race here at Charlotte since the 2011 season and we don’t see that changing here on Sunday night. Honestly, we think this #19 Toyota is going to be a legitimate threat for the 2016 Coca-Cola 600 win. Carl has had a very rough month of May thus far, so if you put a lot of stock into momentum and want to save a start, feel free to leave him off your roster. We won’t be doing that, though.
Austin Dillon (6 starts remaining) – After this weekend, Austin Dillon just may be our most-used B Group driver. Statistically, this is the 2nd-best track on the Sprint Cup schedule for Austin, right behind Daytona. In four career starts here at Charlotte, he has never finished worse than 16th, and he posted a career-best result of 7th in the fall race here last season. All of that equates to a career average finish of 13th for him. This track type has been one that Austin has excelled at over the last year and a half and that means the #3 Chevrolet should be a solid car here in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. This team isn’t as good now as they were in the first month of the 2016 Sprint Cup season, but the potential is there.
Martin Truex, Jr. (6 starts remaining) – Truex probably had the best car in last year’s Coca-Cola 600, and now that he is in a Toyota and partnered with Joe Gibbs Racing, he might be even better. This could finally be the week that we see the #78 Toyota in victory lane. Yeah, 600 miles means that there is more time for this #78 team to make a mistake, but that also means that they have more time to recover from a mistake. None of us can deny that Truex is one of the fastest drivers in the series right now, he just needs things to fall into place during the race. It’ll happen eventually. Martin swept the top 5 in both Charlotte races last season and should be a contender for the win here on Sunday night. The only way we’re going to burn another Truex start this weekend is if he can win, so if you really want to start save you might not even put him on your roster.
Kyle Larson (7 starts remaining) – Most NASCAR fans are feeling sorry for Martin Truex, Jr. right about now, but what about Kyle Larson? He had a car that could have potentially won at Kansas before he wrecked. He then had victory within his grasps at Dover, only to fall short and finish 2nd to Matt “I Suddenly Got Rid Of My Bad Luck” Kenseth. And then Larson was leading with a few laps to go in last weekend’s All-Star Race before he hit the wall, allowing Joey Logano to collect that million-dollar check. Well, this weekend is the chance for Kyle to get some redemption. One thing about this kid is that he’s a very streaky driver, so when he starts heating up and has a bunch of speed, you should hop on the bandwagon. In the fall race here at Charlotte last year, Larson raced his way up to the top 5 but got damage after an altercation with Kyle Busch and ended up finishing 21st. He did end up 6th in the 2014 Charlotte fall race, though. We like the #42 Chevrolet a lot this weekend.
When it comes to the other B Group drivers, Jamie McMurray tends to run well here at Charlotte but hasn’t been that great this season. We expect a teens finish from Jamie Mac on Sunday night. Trevor Bayne has an average finish of 13.7 over the last six Sprint Cup races if you’re looking for a sleeper. We wouldn’t recommend him, though. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. has top 15 potential again this weekend, and Kasey Kahne has finished 14th or better in eight of his last nine starts here at Charlotte. Kahne just might make our roster this weekend before we lock down. Greg Biffle ran 2nd in last year’s Coca-Cola 600, but remember: fuel mileage.
Yahoo! C Group Picks for Charlotte
Well, our gamble at Dover paid off somewhat, as David Ragan was able to come away with a top 20 finish. So right now our Fantasy Racing Online Yahoo! team has 8 starts remaining with Ryan Blaney and 6 starts remaining with Chase Elliott. That means we have to find 10 more starts from lesser talent. We have two road courses and two more restrictor plate races coming up, so that number is down to six. Then we have Loudon twice, Bristol, and Dover–all short tracks, where we plan on start saving–bringing it down to two. The reason we’re saying this is because we are going with Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott as our two C Group drivers this week. As stated earlier, we think the best course of action for the Coca-Cola 600 is to go with the best options available, and that’s what we’re doing. Blaney ran 14th in last year’s fall race here at Charlotte and Elliott finished 18th in last year’s Coke 600. We think they will both be top 10 threats here on Sunday night.
Have a Beer on me..Maybe a Pitcher if it’s Happy Hour…Ha