Sonoma Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks

Kurt Busch – Kurt Busch will be a good fantasy NASCAR pick at Sonoma. In recent races at this venue he’s ranked as one of the best. He’s the 2011 champion and in four of the last five races he’s finished in the top 5. Over this five race stretch he has the best driver rating, best average finish (4.4) and the second best average running position (8.0). Last year at Sonoma he had a great car and I would rank him as the second best. In the race he started second, finished second, earned the best driver rating and led the second most laps (43). In 2014 it looked like he had top five potential and he was better than his 12th place finish. His somewhat less than stellar result can be traced to pit strategy. In 2013 he had to overcome two speeding penalties but he still manged to lead 15 laps and finish 4th. In the two Sonoma races prior to that he finished 1st and 3rd. At Watkins Glen Kurt Busch has been strong. Currently at that venue he has three straight top tens. Last year he finished 5th. (Yahoo A Driver)

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Jimmie Johnson – Jimmie Johnson should be on your short list of fantasy options at Sonoma. He’s a former winner (2010) and his level of consistency is second to none. Currently at this west coast track he has 7 consecutive top tens. Over that stretch he has the best driver rating, best average finish (5.6), best average running position (7.6) and has led 101 laps. One notable strength of his over this stretch is that he’s been good over long runs. Last year at Sonoma he had a great car and was the driver to beat. He likely would’ve won if there wasn’t a late caution which put him at a tire disadvantage. When the checkered flag waved he finished 6th, earned the 2nd best driver rating, had a 4th place average running position and led a race high 45 laps. In 2014 he ran well throughout the event. He earned the 4th best driver rating, finished 7th and had an 8th place average running position. After about 15 laps into a run is when his car started to really shine because he was strong over long runs. In 2013 Johnson drove a solid race. He started in 19th and drove up into the top five around the mid-point. Late in the race Johnson was at a tire disadvantage but he still finished 9th. Also in that race Johnson earned the 8th best driver rating and had an 11th place average running position. (Yahoo A Driver)

Kevin Harvick – Kevin Harvick will be one of the drivers to beat at Sonoma. He’s an extremely capable road course driver and in the #4 car he’s thrived here. Last year on this track type Harvick scored the 3rd most points and had a 3.5 average finish. One hall mark of his in the #4 car is that he’s excelled over long runs. Between the last two races at Sonoma perhaps nobody has been better than him in that element of the race. Last year Harvick had a strong showing. He started 17th, finished 4th and earned the 4th best driver rating. In 2014 at Sonoma nobody was better than Kevin Harvick. Over a long run his car was in a league of it’s own. Prior to the first caution coming out he had a 12 second lead over 2nd! In the race he started in 6th and drove up to the lead on lap 22. Unfortunately his race wasn’t incident free. With how the cautions fell he was cycled back to mid-pack and while he was making his move up to the front Clint Bowyer spun and Harvick got some pretty severe looking damage from contact. Even with that issue he still finished 20th, had the 7th best driver rating and led 23 laps. In three of the four Sonoma races prior to that Harvick finished in the top ten. Last year at Watkins Glen Harvick led 29 laps and if he had a little more fuel he would’ve reached victory lane. (Yahoo A Driver)

Make sure you read the full spectrum of our 2016 Sonoma Fantasy NASCAR Rankings

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