Richmond International Raceway is one of the most interesting tracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit and, in my opinion, provides some of the better racing of the year. This 0.75-mile D-shaped oval is technically a short track but it races like an intermediate track. We’re set to run 400 laps with Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 race but that’s still a relatively short event, coming in at 300 miles. In all, thirteen current drivers have been to victory lane at Richmond with nine of those thirteen having at least two wins at this track. Comparison-wise, the closest track is probably Phoenix International Raceway, where we raced at just a little over one month ago.
Please Note: I will be busy all weekend and won’t have time to write any of my typical post-practice articles, both here as well as over at ifantasyrace.com. If you would still like my advice, just hit that ‘Contact Us’ button on the top of this page and shoot me an email. I’ll try to reply to all that I receive.
Yahoo! A Group Early Picks and Rankings for Richmond
Joey Logano (7 starts remaining) – With Joey Logano, there’s a lot to like with this weekend’s race. First and foremost, he’s been the most reliable Fantasy NASCAR pick this season, with seven finishes of 6th or better in the eight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races we have ran. The only exception was the Phoenix race, but don’t forget that Logano sat on the pole for that event and led 82 of the 314 laps before mechanical issues ended his day. The best part (in a very weird way) about this #22 team, however, is the fact that they haven’t won yet. You know a victory is coming soon, the question is just when it will happen. As far as Richmond goes, Joey has one career victory here and is currently on a six-race streak of top 10s. He has also started on the front row in three of the last four races here. Sounds like a pretty safe pick if you ask me.
Kyle Busch (8 starts remaining) – There’s plenty of Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing players that have quite a hangover after Kyle Busch’s disappointing race at Bristol, but don’t lose faith just yet. Don’t forget that the #18 Toyota was the best car at Phoenix last month and would have went to victory lane if it wasn’t for Joey Logano’s late wreck. Additional, Rowdy could have won the Martinsville race earlier this month, which is another short, flat race track. Here at Richmond, Busch has a series-high four career wins as well an overall average finish of 7th–which is a full three spots better than Denny Hamlin’s 10.1 average finish (2nd-best). It’s very hard to trust Kyle Busch right now but he could very well win this race on Sunday.
As mentioned before, Denny Hamlin is also very good at Richmond and is the most recent race winner here. With that being said, he has just one result better than 10th this year and has yet to really show any competitiveness this season. If you put Hamlin on your roster, you better have a backup pick that is a lock for a good finish. Martin Truex, Jr. is an interesting A Group driver this week. He’s starting to creep up in the ownership percentages on a week-to-week basis because of the #78 team’s ability to hit on a setup and go out and dominate a race. Truex has led at least 40 laps in five of the last six Cup races and finished a career-best 3rd here at Richmond last September. Kevin Harvick now has back-to-back top 5 finishes after his 3rd-place finish at Bristol and has ended up inside that mark in four of the last five Richmond races.
Pre-Lockdown A Group Rankings: (1) Joey Logano, (2) Kyle Busch, (3) Brad Keselowski, (4) Jimmie Johnson, (5) Martin Truex, Jr., (6) Kevin Harvick, (7) Denny Hamlin, (8) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., (9) Matt Kenseth
Yahoo! B Group Early Picks and Rankings for Richmond
Ryan Newman (9 starts remaining) – Right now, the only races where the Richard Childress Racing drivers are viable options are on shorter tracks. At Phoenix, Newman went to victory lane after gambling on that late caution, and then he went on to finish 8th at Martinsville before coming home 14th at Bristol last weekend. Here at Richmond, “The Rocketman” has actually been pretty solid, with one victory and an overall average finish of 12.3 over a total of 30 career starts. He has wound up inside the top 10 in just over half of those attempts. Newman has had a rough few races here at Richmond as of late but he’s more than capable of challenging for a top 10 here on Sunday.
Chase Elliott (7 starts remaining) – Chase Elliott’s first three attempts here at Richmond haven’t been great–his best finish has been 12th–but at the same time he should still be considered a solid top 10 pick heading into the Toyota Owners 400 race weekend. The one thing you really have to like about Chase is that he had a great car at Phoenix and led 106 laps before finishing 12th after that late restart. He also had a solid car at Martinsville, finishing 3rd after starting 2nd and leading 20 laps. As far as my team goes, I’m alright with having Elliott on my team (as a ‘stud’) but he’s only going to start if he can dominate and win this race on Sunday.
Clint Bowyer (7 starts remaining) – This was knocking on the door of victory last week at Bristol, and let me tell you one thing: when Clint Bowyer is happy and having fun in the race car, he’s a damn good Fantasy NASCAR pick. Here at Richmond, Clint had a terrible couple of races here last season–which was understandable due to the equipment he was in–but before that he had three straight top 10s with Michael Waltrip Racing (as well as six results inside that mark in the previous eight races). Bowyer is a two-time winner here at Richmond International Raceway and should have another hot rod here this weekend.
Kasey Kahne (8 starts remaining) – If you’re in a gambling mood this weekend, Kasey Kahne is your guy. This #5 team is putting super fast race cars on the track right now, but at the same time they haven’t been able to finish better than 14th since the second race of the season (Atlanta). However, with the speed they have, you know the finishes will be coming soon. Here at Richmond, Kahne has three finishes of 6th or better in the last four races and has wound up inside the top 15 in seven of the last ten. Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing players have every reason in the world to avoid Kahne this weekend, but if you take momentum out of the equation, he’s be a very good pick at Richmond.
It’s going to be extremely difficult to leave Kyle Larson off of any Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing roster this weekend, and there’s still a very good possibility that he makes it into my lineup despite me only having 6 starts left. In addition to being the absolute strongest car in the garage right now, Richmond is also one of Larson’s best tracks. In six career starts, Kyle has averaged a finish of 11.3 and in the race last September he finished a career-best 2nd. If you have 7 or more Larson starts left, you have to roster him this weekend. I’m in a similar situation with Jamie McMurray, with whom I’m already down to 5 starts left. With that being said, I’m not as worried about saving McMurray starts simply because he could very well go cold in the second half of the year. McMurray has four top 10s in the last seven Richmond races and hasn’t finished worse than 16th over that span.
Kurt Busch is unable to be trusted in the Fantasy NASCAR world right now but it’s hard to look past his four top 10s in the last five Richmond races, which includes one of his two victories at this track. In my opinion, Kurt is still too over-owned for the terrible results he’s putting up. Ryan Blaney has been terrible here at Richmond (33.5 average finish) but that could make him a great off-sequence pick this weekend. This #21 team is more than capable of finding speed. The Roush-Fenway drivers of Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. are still (and probably will be all season) in that spot of being good but not good enough to roster. Both are solid top 15 threats this weekend, but those kind of results are what we should look for in the second half of the year when we really need to start save. Bayne finished 17th and 14th in the two Richmond races last year while Stenhouse came home 26th and 18th.
Pre-Lockdown B Group Rankings: (1) Kyle Larson, (2) Clint Bowyer, (3) Chase Elliott, (4) Jamie McMurray, (5) Ryan Newman, (6) Kasey Kahne, (7) Kurt Busch, (8) Ryan Blaney, (9) Trevor Bayne, (10) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (11) Austin Dillon, (12) Aric Almirola, (13) Chris Buescher, (14) A.J. Allmendinger, (15) Danica Patrick, (16) Paul Menard
Yahoo! C Group Early Picks and Rankings for Richmond
It’s quite clear that the #77 team and Erik Jones have no problem finding speed this season, they’re just not getting the finishes. With that being said, one major key to success in Fantasy NASCAR is timing, so we’re just going to have to sit tight and wait for the results to come. Jones did have a solid top 10 run at Phoenix last month, though, and could very well have a similar result here at Phoenix on Sunday. Ty Dillon is going to be good for his typical finish: somewhere between 15th and 20th. He ran 16th at Phoenix but, like Jones, will be making his first career Cup Series start here at Richmond. As far as Daniel Suarez goes, he lucked into a top 10 finish at Phoenix despite running mid-pack all day long, so try not to think about that too much this week. It’s looking more and more like he’s going to be a very valuable C Group driver in the second half of the year. As a ‘start save’ option this weekend, Michael McDowell is your best bet once again. He actually finished 12th the last time we were here at Richmond so a top 20 isn’t really out of reach for that #95 team this weekend. As far as my roster goes, Erik Jones is a lock and then it’s going to come down to Ty Dillon or Michael McDowell.
Pre-Lockdown C Group Rankings: (1) Erik Jones, (2) Ty Dillon, (3) Daniel Suarez, (4) Michael McDowell, (5) Landon Cassill, (6) Matt DiBenedetto, (7) David Ragan, the rest
