We were at one of the shortest tracks on the schedule with New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend, and now we go to one of the largest, as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday afternoon’s Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400. Hopefully this race isn’t as boring and terrible as a Brantley Gilbert concert. Indy is a track that only gets one race per year, and because of that it’s usually thought of as a momentum track. As far as comparable venues, Pocono is the closest, and we were just there a month ago. We’ll also race at Pocono next weekend, so you can expect to use similar drivers in this Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing game for the next two weeks.
Yahoo! A Group Early Picks and Rankings for Indy
Martin Truex, Jr. (6 starts remaining) – There’s really no reason to go against Martin Truex, Jr. right now. This #78 team has been on an absolute tear as of late, with finishes of 6th or better in six of the last eight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races overall. The only exceptions there were Sonoma (blown engine) and Daytona 2 (wreck). Additionally, Truex has been a machine when it comes to qualifying, starting 3rd or better in six of the last seven races. It’s always nice getting those bonus points from qualifying in the Yahoo! league. Here at Indianapolis, Truex has just one top 5 finish in twelve career starts, but he should be in contention to add another this weekend. He has ended up 11th or better in four of the last five Brickyard races.
Kyle Busch (4 starts remaining) – And the summer of Kyle Busch continues… Even if you’re low on Yahoo! starts with Rowdy, he has to be on your roster this weekend. Not only did he absolutely dominate last year’s Brickyard 400 race, but he also went to victory lane here in 2015, and finished 2nd in 2014 and 2012. Overall, Kyle has a career average finish of 9th here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he has led in half of his twelve career starts here. For the cherry on top, remember that this #18 Toyota led 100 of the 160 laps at Pocono earlier this year, and that’s the closest track on the circuit to Indy. Denny Hamlin got Joe Gibbs Racing to victory lane at Loudon last week; now it’s Kyle Busch’s turn to clinch his spot in this year’s playoffs.
Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick could really be ranked 3(a) and 3(b) this weekend, as they should both be top 5 threats. I like Hamlin just a little bit more, though, as he has four finishes of 4th or better in the last five races, and he has three straight top 5 results here at Indianapolis coming into this weekend. The #11 Toyota tends to qualify better as well. Harvick and the #4 team are admittedly just a bit off right now (according to his crew chief, Rodney Childers) but still a top 5 contender. “Happy” has finished 6th, 3rd, and 8th in the last three Brickyard races and came home 2nd at Pocono last month.
Matt Kenseth is a driver that could be a great off-sequence pick this weekend. He posted a top 10 finish at Pocono last month and hasn’t finished worse than 7th here at Indianapolis since the 2012 season. Going with Kenseth over the four drivers mentioned above, however, is hard to recommend, as the #20 Toyota probably won’t have a real shot at victory lane this weekend. Jimmie Johnson is hit or miss at this track, with six results of 3rd or better (including four wins) along with five results of 19th or worse in his fifteen career starts here. Still, it’s hard to recommend a driver that hasn’t had a result better than 10th since Dover in early June.
Pre-Lockdown A Group Rankings: (1) Kyle Busch, (2) Martin Truex, Jr., (3) Denny Hamlin, (4) Kevin Harvick, (5) Matt Kenseth, (6) Brad Keselowski, (7) Jimmie Johnson, (8) Joey Logano, (9) Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Yahoo! B Group Early Picks and Rankings for Indy
Kyle Larson (3 starts remaining) – You never want to run extremely low on starts with a driver in Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing this early in the season, but the speed that the #42 Chevrolet has right now simply cannot be ignored. Larson came home 2nd yet again at Loudon last weekend and has now wound up 1st or 2nd in three of the last five Cup races overall, with the only exceptions being Sonoma and Daytona. As far as Indianapolis goes, Kyle has finished 7th, 9th, and 5th in his three career starts here, and when you combine that performance with how this team is running right now, Larson should be a contender to win here on Sunday. I’m only going to start him in Yahoo! if he can dominate the race, but he’s for sure going to be on my roster for Indianapolis.
Clint Bowyer (5 starts remaining) – Clint Bowyer doesn’t have a stellar record here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but he has the next best thing, and that’s consistency. Clint owns a career average finish of 13.6 at this race track and has just one finish worse than 20th in eleven total starts. That result, by the way, came last season when he was in the junk HScott Motorsports equipment. What you really have to like about Bowyer right now, though, is his momentum: after coming home 7th at Loudon last weekend, this #14 team now has three top 10 finishes in the last four races, with the worst result over the last month being a 13th-place effort at Kentucky. Clint should be good for at least a top 15 here on Sunday, if not a top 10.
Ryan Blaney (4 starts remaining) – Qualifying is going to be pretty important here at Indianapolis this weekend, and that’s good news for Ryan Blaney, who is typically a lock for the final round of qualifying no matter what track we’re at. If you remember back to the Pocono race last month, each of the top 7 qualifiers that weekend ended up finishing 10th or better. Of course, it was Ryan Blaney who ended up winning that race at The Tricky Triangle, and while it’s not likely that he takes the checkered flag here at The Brickyard this weekend, a top 10 result is well within reach for this #21 team. For what it’s worth, Blaney has been on an good finish-bad finish cycle over the last six races, so if that continues, he should have a good result on Sunday.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (6 starts remaining) – The #17 Ford has been a legitimate top 15 threat week in and week out this season, and that’s going to be the case at Indianapolis this weekend as well. Stenhouse has excelled at the flat tracks over his short career, and he was able to post a career-best 12th-place finish in last year’s Brickyard 400. Additionally, Ricky came home 11th at Pocono this season after starting back in 23rd. If you need a start save option in the B Group this weekend, Stenhouse is a pretty solid choice.
With his 11th-place finish at Loudon last weekend, Chase Elliott now has the 2nd-best average finish (9th) over the last six races among all Cup Series drivers. He’s right behind Denny Hamlin, who is at 8.2. And while Chase has never finished better than 15th here at Indianapolis–over two career starts–you still have to believe that he will challenge for a top 10 here on Sunday. The #24 Chevrolet came home 8th at Pocono last month, and a very similar result could happen this weekend, too.
All three Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets are viable this weekend, but with how much they have been lacking speed as of late, it’s hard to recommend them with any confidence. Remember, Indy is a track that requires a strong engine in order to be successful. With that being said, Ryan Newman is a previous winner here and has wound up 12th or better in five of the last six Brickyard 400s; Austin Dillon wound up 9th here last year and has two top 10s in four career starts; and Paul Menard–if you want to go really deep on a start saver–has just one finish worse than 14th in the last seven Brickyard races.
Kurt Busch has solid potential this weekend, but his track record here at Indy leaves a lot to be desired, with just one finish better than 14th in the last six races here. Overall, Kurt’s average finish at this track is 19th, but on a positive note, he did run top 5 at Pocono last month. Jamie McMurray is someone that is coming down to earth a bit over the last two months, and he hasn’t had a top 10 finish here at Indianapolis since the 2011 season. Still, Jamie Mac has won at this track before, and the Ganassi cars are consistently some of the strongest in the field race in and race out this year.
Pre-Lockdown B Group Rankings: (1) Kyle Larson, (2) Chase Elliott, (3) Ryan Blaney, (4) Jamie McMurray, (5) Kurt Busch, (6) Clint Bowyer, (7) Ryan Newman, (8) Austin Dillon, (9) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (10) Trevor Bayne, (11) Paul Menard, (12) Chris Buescher, (13) Kasey Kahne, (14) A.J. Allmendinger, (15) Aric Almirola, (16) Danica Patrick
Yahoo! C Group Early Picks and Rankings for Indy
Erik Jones will be the C Group driver to watch this weekend. If you remember back to the Pocono race, Jones had his best performance of the season, leading 20 of the 160 laps and ending up 3rd when the checkered flag flew. He has no Cup experience here at Indy, but in the Xfinity Series, Erik had top 5 qualifying efforts in both of his starts here. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get a good finish in those races, similar to the problems he’s having in a lot of races in Cup this year. Still, the #77 Toyota should have legitimate top 10 speed, so it’s hard to leave him off your Yahoo! roster this weekend. Daniel Suarez will be my other C Group driver, as Indianapolis has been a great track for the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas as of late, and he’s coming off of his fifth top 10 finish of the season last weekend at Loudon. Suarez finished 7th in the Xfinity Series here at Indianapolis last season and wound up 3rd back in 2015. As far as using a start save option this weekend, it’s not recommended, as this track relies a lot on strong engines. Michael McDowell would be the best option but it’s hard to imagine him finishing inside the top 20 on Sunday without there being a lot of attrition.
Pre-Lockdown C Group Rankings: (1) Erik Jones, (2) Daniel Suarez, (3) Ty Dillon, (4) Michael McDowell, (5) David Ragan, (6) Landon Cassill, (7) Cole Whitt, the rest
