Welcome to start save week! The final restrictor plate race is this Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, and in case you’re new to the sport, the races at Talladega and Daytona are incredibly unpredictable. And because of how this Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing game plays out–including the fact that we’re limited to 9 starts per driver through the entire season–that means that the races at those two tracks give us the opportunity to pick some drivers that aren’t necessarily good options most other weeks.
Yahoo! A Group Picks and Rankings for Talladega 2
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (7 starts remaining) – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at less than 20% ownership at a track where he has won at six times? Yeah, I’ll take that any day of the week. Now, it’s been awhile since Junebug has posted a good finish on a restrictor plate track, but let’s not forget that this #88 Chevrolet has average starting position of 1.7 on the plate tracks this year. So, if Earnhardt was able to get the pole again this weekend, not only would he earn your Yahoo! team those qualifying bonus points, but he’d also more than likely get some bonus points for leading a lap as well–assuming, of course, that you start him on Sunday.
Brad Keselowski (6 starts remaining) – Brad Keselowski is an elite racer here at Talladega Superspeedway and, honestly, will probably be my A Group starter this weekend. In 17 career starts at this track, BK has went to victory lane four times and finished inside the top 10 in ten of them. This year on the restrictor plate tracks, Keselowski hasn’t quite gotten the finishes he deserved, as his average running position (12.7) ranks 3rd-best in the series but his average finish (21.7) is 23rd-best. This #2 team struggled at Charlotte last weekend and need a good run here at Talladega on Sunday.
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. are going to have fast race cars here on Sunday and should be contenders for the win. And as far as the A Group goes in Yahoo!, we have to save much less than the B and C Groups. Still, I’m personally down to one Kyle Busch start and three Martin Truex, Jr. starts left, so I won’t be rostering either of them, except for maybe the possibility of qualifying bonus points–although, as mentioned before, I think the best shot for those is Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
The #48 team ended up with another solid run at Charlotte last weekend, and honestly it wouldn’t be surprising to see Jimmie Johnson win another race here soon. He’s a two-time winner here at Talladge and wound up finishing 8th in the first race we had here this season.
Denny Hamlin is another great choice in the A Group this week, as he’s going to be under-owned (15% as of Thursday afternoon) even though he’s currently one of the best plate track drivers in the series. Hamlin has won at both Daytona and Talladega in his Monster Energy Cup Series career, and as far as average finish goes on the plate tracks, he’s actually the best among A Group drivers this year–although it’s with an unimpressive 17.3 average.
Another driver that deserves consideration this weekend is Kevin Harvick. That #4 team seems to have found a little extra speed for the playoffs, and “Happy” has won here at Talladega before (back in 2010). Additionally, Harvick boasts the 4th-best average finish among all active drivers at this track, as he has usually ended up right around 15th throughout his 33 career starts here.
Pre-Lockdown A Group Rankings: (1) Brad Keselowski, (2) Kyle Busch, (3) Martin Truex, Jr., (4) Jimmie Johnson, (5) Denny Hamlin, (6) Kevin Harvick, (7) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., (8) Joey Logano, (9) Matt Kenseth
My Starter: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. over Brad Keselowski
Yahoo! B Group Picks and Rankings for Talladega 2
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (4 starts remaining) – For the record, I love Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. as a fade option this weekend. Almost half of all Yahoo! teams will have him rostered this weekend, and most are probably going to start him as well. And on one hand, who can blame them? Stenhouse is the most recent winner here at Talladega and also went to victory lane at Daytona back in July thanks to his very powerful Roush-Yates engine. Also, Ricky has an incredible average finish of 10.4 here at ‘Dega, which is the best in the series and also quite impressive considering that is over eight total races. As I said before, though, Stenhouse could be an opportunity to make up some points this weekend, as he could easily get caught up in a wreck on Sunday.
Austin Dillon (7 starts remaining) – Even at a decently high 29% ownership–where he was at on Thursday afternoon–Austin Dillon is a nice off-sequence pick at Talladega this weekend. Now, this #3 team has had terrible luck on the restrictor plate tracks this year (Austin’s average finish of 30.3) but that doesn’t take away the overall history of this team here at ‘Dega; in addition to posting two top 10 finishes in the last three races here, Dillon has also wound up inside the top 15 in five of his eight career starts at this track. He may be eliminated from this year’s playoffs but that doesn’t mean that Austin can’t contend for a solid finish here on Sunday afternoon.
Paul Menard (9 starts remaining) – Paul Menard isn’t really used much in Fantasy NASCAR allocation leagues, but here at Talladega he’s usually one of my go-to guys; in six of the last eight races at this track, Menard has finished 13th or better, and in five of those six he ended up inside the top 10. Additionally, looking at the restrictor plate tracks in 2017, Paul Menard actually has the 2nd-best average finish of all Cup Series drivers (5.7), as he has yet to end up worse than 9th in a plate race this year. And the best part about Menard this weekend? Everyone’s overlooking him. As of Thursday afternoon, less than 10% of Yahoo! players had him on their roster.
Aric Almirola (9 starts remaining) – Speaking of best average finish on the restrictor plate tracks in 2017… Yep, you guessed it, that title belongs to Aric Almirola. Now, we can’t forget that Almirola missed the second Daytona race in July, but we also can’t overlook his 4th-place finishes in both plate races he actually raced at this year. Additionally, Darrell Wallace, Jr. came home 15th in relief of Almirola at Daytona 2. The Fords have a little bit of an edge at these big superspeedways in 2017, and Aric Almirola actually isn’t that bad of a plate racer; in addition to getting a win at Daytona back at 2014, AA has posted top 10 finishes in each of the last two Talladega races and has wound up 16th or better in six of his last nine starts here as well.
Kasey Kahne is another one of my favorite B Group start save options this weekend. Chances are we’re not going to use him any more in 2017, and you probably have more than a few starts left in case we do. One reason I like Kahne so much this weekend is the extra speed that this #5 Chevrolet has shown since Darian Grubb took over as crew chief. And last week at Charlotte, this #5 team finally got a good finish, winding up 9th–the first top 10 for them since they lucked into the win at Indianapolis. The second reason I like Kahne this week is how he has performed on the plate tracks this season: after winding up 7th in the season-opening Daytona, he followed that up with a 5th-place run here at Talladega and then an 18th-place finish at the second Daytona race. Kahne also has the 4th-best average running position (13th) on the restrictor plate tracks this year.
Another solid option this weekend is Ryan Newman, although his ownership percentage of nearly 50% is too high for me. Still, “The Rocketman” is averaging a finish of right around 17th on the restrictor plate tracks this season, and he’s actually been pretty solid here at Talladega over the last few years. In fact, Newman has posted four top 10 finishes in the last ten races at this track, and he’s wound up inside the top 15 in six of them. He’s right there on the edge of being considered a solid B Group option and a full 9-start guy, so using him this weekend could come down to how many Newman starts you have left.
Unless you have a bunch of starts left with the B Group ‘studs,’ I wouldn’t recommend using any of them this weekend. This includes Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, and Ryan Blaney. The races at Talladega are such a crap shoot that, while odds are some of those guys are going to finish up front on Sunday, it’s nowhere near a guarantee. Now, if you want to roster some of the ‘studs’ to possibly get some qualifying bonus points, that’s something I can get behind. Chase Elliott has an average start of 3.7 on the plate tracks this year while Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer are next-best (among those listed above) at 11.3.
EDIT: I’m going with Kasey Kahne instead of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Pre-Lockdown B Group Rankings: (1) Chase Elliott, (2) Kyle Larson, (3) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (4) Kurt Busch, (5) Jamie McMurray, (6) Austin Dillon, (7) Clint Bowyer, (8) Ryan Blaney, (9) Ryan Newman, (10) Paul Menard, (11) Kasey Kahne, (12) Aric Almirola, (13) Trevor Bayne, (14) Danica Patrick, (15) A.J. Allmendinger, (16) Chris Buescher
My Starters: Paul Menard and Aric Almirola over Kasey Kahne and Austin Dillon
Yahoo! C Group Picks and Rankings for Talladega 2
The C Group is similar to the B Group this weekend, as you won’t find any of the ‘studs’ in my lineup for Talladega 2. This includes Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, and Ty Dillon for sure, and maybe even Michael McDowell. And honestly, those guys might not even be the best options this weekend. David Ragan is a great restrictor plate driver, and also has an average finish of 13.7 on the plate tracks this year. He wound up 10th here at Talladega back in May and has wound up inside the top 10 in a little over a third of his 21 career starts at this track. If you’re looking for someone who would be considered ‘outside of the box’ this weekend, Matt DiBenedetto is your guy. As of Thursday afternoon, less than 5% of Yahoo! players had him on their roster, and when you consider the fact that DiBenedetto has the 6th-best average finish at plate tracks this year (13.3), that’s makes him an even better off-sequence pick–especially when you compare his ownership percentage to David Ragan, who is hovering around 30%.
Pre-Lockdown C Group Rankings: (1) Daniel Suarez, (2) Erik Jones, (3) Ty Dillon, (4) Michael McDowell, (5) David Ragan, (6) Landon Cassill, (7) Matt DiBenedetto, the rest
My Starter: David Ragan over Matt DiBenedetto
