The story of the week is what Bristol Motor Speedway has decided to do to the track. In an effort to make the bottom lane prominent again, they covered that section of the track with rubber and a sticky substance, and it was apparent in the truck race earlier this week that the fastest way around the track was, once again, the hugging the bottom line. Now we will have to find out whether or not the high line will come into play over the course of the 500-mile Sprint Cup race here on Saturday night. Nobody knows exactly how this is all going to play out, but we can guarantee one thing: it should be a great, entertaining race to watch this weekend–just like the Bristol night race typically is.
After our 338-point week at Watkins Glen, our official Fantasy Racing Online Yahoo! Auto Racing team is now up to the 67th percentile, although we’ve had a pretty good summer segment thus far. At the last Bristol race, we scored just 207 points thanks to Kyle Busch’s wreck, but hopefully our team can do better this time around.
Yahoo! A Group Pick and Final Rankings for Bristol 2
We’re confident in both of our A Group picks this weekend, but we’re going to roll with Matt Kenseth over Joey Logano on Saturday night, and for a couple of reasons. First, those Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas are all super fast, and they also have great pit crews. That could pay major dividends this weekend. Also, Kenseth qualified 5th for this year’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, and while Logano wasn’t too shabby in qualifying (10th), we still have to give an edge to Kenseth with the track position. Both of them are recent winners at this race track and are at least top 5 threats heading into race day. Also, we have 8 starts left with Matt Kenseth so we figure we might as well use one this weekend. It’s not a major concern but we’re down to 6 left with Logano.
All of the JGR cars are capable of winning Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, and they are led by Kyle Busch. He had the, hands-down, best car all day on Friday during the two practice sessions and he ended up qualifying 3rd as well. He has disappointed frequently here at Bristol but Rowdy is a still a five-time winner here, and we think the new bottom groove is going to help him excel again. Denny Hamlin has a great car this weekend, and it wouldn’t surprise us if he was a contender for the win on Saturday night. He did win here at Bristol back in 2012. As far as the Penske cars, both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have top 5 potential this weekend. The former is going for three straight wins in the summer Bristol race. As far as the three remaining A Group drivers–Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, and Jimmie Johnson–they might actually struggle to crack the top 10 so feel free to give them a breather this weekend.
Final A Group Rankings: (1) Kyle Busch, (2) Denny Hamlin, (3) Matt Kenseth, (4) Joey Logano, (5) Brad Keselowski, (6) Kevin Harvick, (7) Kurt Busch, (8) Jimmie Johnson
Yahoo! B Group Picks and Final Rankings for Bristol 2
We still have 5 starts left with Carl Edwards, and the fact that he is on the pole once again here at Bristol as well as the fact that he won the race here back in April (and led the most laps) almost makes him a must-start in our minds. Obviously your situation might be different if you have less starts left, but we’re alright with burning our fifth Edwards start in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race. He should lead a bunch of laps and contend for the win as well. As mentioned before, all of the JGR teams have cars capable of going to victory lane this weekend.
Our other three B Group options are Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Jamie McMurray. They qualified 15th, 27th, and 28th (respectively), and because of that we have to go with Ryan Newman as our second driver in this group. Now, we do think that Tony Stewart and Jamie McMurray will make good fantasy picks in leagues that award points based on place differential this weekend, but the strategy with this Yahoo! game is a little different than that–and we’re not going to take a huge risk by putting the #14 or #1 Chevrolets on our team for this weekend’s race. So, as said before, we’re going with Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman as our two B Group drivers in this week’s Bristol 2 race. The latter is on a three-race streak of top 10 finishes here in Thunder Valley, for what it’s worth.
Martin Truex, Jr. has a good car this weekend, just like he did here back in April. However, he disappointed in that race once again and still hasn’t had a top 10 finish at Bristol since the 2012 season. We think that changes here on Saturday night, though, because that #78 car (and team) are just too good for it not to. We have Truex ranked 7th overall heading into Saturday night’s race. Kyle Larson is an interesting option this weekend, as he starts pretty far back but has a car capable of getting to the front. You have to wonder just how aggressive he’s going to be, though, because he basically needs a win to get into the Chase. Aggression and a Bristol race usually don’t equal a good finish.
Austin Dillon might surprise some people this weekend, as he has finished between 11th and 13th in three of his five starts at this track and he qualified 13th for the 2016 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race. Also, don’t be surprised if some or all of the Roush-Fenway Fords end up toward the front, especially Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Trevor Bayne. The former just has a knack for staying out of trouble and finishing well here, and actually has the best average finish at Bristol (11.9) of all drivers that aren’t rookies. Bayne, on the other hand, has actually been a pretty valuable Fantasy NASCAR option as of late, and he finished 5th in the spring race here at Bristol this season.
Final B Group Rankings: (1) Carl Edwards, (2) Martin Truex, Jr., (3) Tony Stewart, (4) Ryan Newman, (5) Kyle Larson, (6) Austin Dillon, (7) Kasey Kahne, (8) Jamie McMurray, (9) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (10) Paul Menard, (11) Trevor Bayne, (12) Greg Biffle, (13) A.J. Allmendinger, (14) Aric Almirola, (15) Danica Patrick, (16) Casey Mears, (17) Clint Bowyer
Yahoo! C Group Pick and Final Rankings for Bristol 2
Man, the two good rookies in the C Group are bad fast this weekend. Ryan Blaney might have had the best practice/qualifying combination here at Bristol on Friday that he has had all season long. That’s not an exaggeration, either. Blaney will roll off of the grid from 4th on Saturday night, and while the #21 Ford had top 10 speed all day on Friday, it’s hard to say with confidence that a rookie is going to contend in Thunder Valley. If Blaney can make it mistake-free on Saturday night, though, he’s got a chance to be better than he was here in the spring (he finished 11th). Chase Elliott has a bunch of speed as well and will start from 6th when the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race goes green. Our only concern is how unreliable he has been for the last couple of months. Also, Hendrick has a whole is down. It does appear like the #24 Chevrolet has top 10 speed, though, and don’t forge that Chase finished 4th here in April. With all that being said, we’re still playing the start save game in Yahoo, so we’re going with Jeff Gordon here on Saturday night. He looks to be top 15 good, and could crack the top 10 if everything goes right during the race. Chris Buescher is an excellent sleeper pick this weekend in most Fantasy NASCAR leagues (he actually legitimately runs well here at Bristol) but we don’t see why you would start him in Yahoo! this weekend, to be honest.
Final C Group Rankings: (1) Ryan Blaney, (2) Chase Elliott, (3) Jeff Gordon, (4) Chris Buescher, (5) Michael McDowell, (6) Matt DiBenedetto, (7) Landon Cassill, (8) Brian Scott, the rest
