This weekend’s Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway is a great example of NASCAR’s insatiable desire to squeeze race weekends into the smallest time frames possible. On Friday, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team will practice for two sessions on Friday and then qualifying later that day as well. And then on Saturday they’ll line up for 400 miles underneath the lights for our first scheduled night race of the year. The good news for NASCAR is that there isn’t any rain in the forecast, so we won’t be completely blind when making our final Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing picks on race day.
Yahoo! A Group Early Picks and Rankings for Kansas
Martin Truex, Jr. (9 starts remaining) – Martin Truex, Jr. hasn’t finished better than 11th in the last three Kansas races but that shouldn’t scare you away from picking him this weekend. The #78 Toyota has been one of, if not the best car in this event for the last two years, leading a total of 267 laps over that span. Additionally, Truex has made it clear that he has not lost any speed despite an entire new team joining him at Furniture Row Racing, as he has consistently been one of the favorites in most intermediate track races this season. One thing to watch before lockdown this week is Truex’s ownership percentage; as of Thursday afternoon, he was sitting at 20% in Yahoo! Fantasy Auto racing, which is relatively low considering Truex could go out and dominate this race on Saturday night.
Jimmie Johnson (9 starts remaining) – Ever since this track was repaved back in 2012, qualifying has been very important at Kansas Speedway. The majority of the top finishers on Saturday night will have came from the top 10 starting spots. So now you may be questioning why I’m going with Jimmie Johnson, who has an average starting spot of 20.8 this season. Let me explain. Jimmie Johnson is a solid Fantasy NASCAR pick no matter where he starts at Kansas, and over the last month this #48 team has really started to get back into their true self–especially at Texas and Bristol, where they ended up in victory lane. Here at Kansas, “Seven Time” is a three-time winner, and over the last four races here he has ended up inside the top 5 in three of them. Overall, Johnson’s career average finish of 8.9 is the best in the series at this track, with Kevin Harvick coming in 2nd-best at 10.4. Before lock, I may swap out Jimmie Johnson with a Penske car, but as of Thursday evening, he’s on my Yahoo! team for Kansas.
Kevin Harvick is a solid choice at Kansas Speedway, especially considering he has finished 1st or 2nd in five of the last seven races here. Also, this #4 team is getting closer to knocking on the door of victory lane here lately, so Harvick should be good for at least a top 5 finish on Saturday night. He would be in my Yahoo! lineup if I had more than 6 starts left. Kyle Busch has four straight top 5 finishes at Kansas but the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization has been unreliable on the intermediate race tracks this season. Track history only goes so far at intermediate tracks. The two Penske cars of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski are both solid top 5 threats this weekend. One reason is because they constantly qualify well, and that’s going to be important this weekend. Also, one thing to note about Logano: he has led in all but one race this year. Those 10 bonus points in Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing really add up!
Pre-Lockdown A Group Rankings: (1) Joey Logano, (2) Martin Truex, Jr., (3) Kevin Harvick, (4) Brad Keselowski, (5) Jimmie Johnson, (6) Kyle Busch, (7) Matt Kenseth, (8) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., (9) Denny Hamlin
Yahoo! B Group Early Picks and Rankings for Kansas
Ryan Blaney (7 starts remaining) – Ryan Blaney has actually had a pretty nice career at Kansas Speedway thus far. He struggled in his very first start here, but in the three races that Blaney has ran here since then, he hasn’t finished worse than 14th. The only downside to Ryan Blaney this weekend is the struggles that this #21 team has gone through over the last month or so; in the last five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events, Blaney has just one result better than 25th, and he has ended up 33rd or worse in each of the last three. The good news, however, is that the #21 Ford has had really good speed during that same time, so eventually the finishes will come. Hopefully that is the case this weekend.
Chase Elliott (7 starts remaining) – Chase Elliott is on my initial Yahoo! roster this week, but he may be swapped out for another driver before lockdown. Now, don’t get me wrong, Chase is a solid contender for a top 10 finish on Saturday night, but I don’t want to use his starts for top 10 finishes, I want to use them when he can challenge for a win. This #24 team started out of the gates hot this season but have regressed just a little bit over the last month. Chase’s best finish over the last four races has been his 7th-place result at Bristol, and he hasn’t led a lap since the Martinsville race in early April. Here at Kansas, Chase started 13th in both races last year and wound up finishing 9th and 31st. The latter result was due to a tire issue.
Kurt Busch (8 starts remaining) – Kurt Busch and this #41 team went through a bit of a rough patch right after their Daytona 500 victory, but with his 6th-place finish at Talladega last weekend, the elder Busch brother now has three top 10s in the last four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races overall. Here at Kansas, Kurt hasn’t finished worse than 13th in the last four races and he wound up 3rd in this event one year ago. I’ve been waiting for the time to get back on the Kurt Busch train with this Yahoo! game (hence the 8 starts left) and it looks like now may be the time.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (8 starts remaining) – If you’re going to start save this weekend, why not go with the hot hand? Fresh off his win at Talladega, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will be looking for another solid run at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night. He actually ran 13th and 19th in the two races here last season, which is impressive considering how much Roush-Fenway struggled during the 2016 season. As far as this season goes, Stenhouse hasn’t finished worse than 14th in the last five races, and four of those events also ended with him inside the top 10. It’s definitely hard to trust a driver like Stenhouse, but he could surprise some people on Saturday night.
As you can probably tell, I’m planning on staying away from some of the ‘big dogs’ here in the B Group this weekend. The fact of the matter is that we only get 9 starts per driver in this Yahoo! Fantasy NASCAR game, so some weeks you have to do this. Kyle Larson has cooled down a bit over the last month so I’m alright with saving him this week. Additionally, he’s really only had one good run here at Kansas (2nd in 2014) throughout his Cup career so far. Over the last three races here, Larson hasn’t finished better than 29th–although it should be noted he’s still a top 5 threat on Saturday night. This is considered Clint Bowyer‘s home track but he really hasn’t been competitive at Kansas since back in 2013, even when in decent equipment. Bowyer should still challenge for a top 10 this weekend but, like Larson, it might not be a bad idea to save him (especially if you’re like me and only have 6 starts left).
We’re getting to the point of the season where we need to make a decision on Jamie McMurray. He has ended up inside the top 10 in all intermediate track races this season, and should be good enough to grab another one here on Saturday night. Now, will he keep this up all year, or will he fizzle out? If you think the latter will happen, it’d be best to use McMurray while you can. Personally, I’m optimistic that Jamie Mac keeps this up all year long. Trevor Bayne‘s career-best finish here at Kansas has been just 17th, but the good news is is that came the last time we were here. Also, Bayne has finished 13th or better in all but three races this year. He’s a great start save option this weekend.
Pre-Lockdown B Group Rankings: (1) Kyle Larson, (2) Chase Elliott, (3) Clint Bowyer, (4) Jamie McMurray, (5) Ryan Blaney, (6) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (7) Kurt Busch, (8) Trevor Bayne, (9) Ryan Newman, (10) Kasey Kahne, (11) Aric Almirola, (12) Austin Dillon, (13) A.J. Allmendinger, (14) Chris Buescher, (15) Paul Menard, (16) Danica Patrick
Yahoo! C Group Early Picks and Rankings for Kansas
Now that we are ten races into the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, we’re starting to get a pretty good feel for what to expect out of the three C Group drivers that are the best options at most tracks. Daniel Suarez has found his comfort zone in finishing between 18th and 21st, and while consistency is never a bad thing, you have to believe that he’s going to get better in the second half of the season. Personally, I don’t enjoy watching the race and hoping my C Group driver gets a good finish based on pit strategy or something, so I’ll continue to hold off on Suarez. Erik Jones has had a bunch of speed but hasn’t quite figured out how to put a whole race together. He also hasn’t finished better than 17th in the last four races. It’s hard to leave him off your team but it might be the best decision right now. With that being said, Erik does have Cup experience here at Kansas; Jones filled in for Kyle Busch in this race two years ago and ended up finishing 40th despite running near the top 10 for most of the race. Ty Dillon also has Cup experience at this track, as he started 32nd and finished 26th in the same race that Jones wrecked out of. This season, Ty has been a solid 15th-to-20th-place finisher in almost every race and the same should be the case this weekend in the Go Bowling 400.
