Pocono Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Jeff Gordon – Jeff Gordon will once again drive the #88 at Pocono. If you’re in an allocation league now is another good chance to sneak in a surprise start from him. At Pocono nobody has ever been to victory lane more than Gordon. In his career he has six wins, has finished in the top five 43% percent of the time and in the top ten 70% percent of the time. This spring at Pocono Jeff Gordon called the race from the broadcast booth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. who piloted the #88 finished runner-up. Over Jeff Gordon’s last five Pocono races he has an 6.6 average finish and a 9.0 average running position. Last August in what was believed to be his Pocono farewell he finished 3rd. In spring 2015 I thought he had top five potential but he finished 14th because of poor restarts and pit strategy. In August 2014 Gordon had the car to beat but lost the race during the final pit stop. In that race he earned the best driver rating, best PROS Ranking, led 63 laps and finished 6th. In the two races prior to that he finished 2nd and 8th. At Indy Jeff Gordon showed some rust but finished 13th when the checker flag waved. (Yahoo C List)

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Tony Stewart – Tony Stewart has dark horse fantasy value at Pocono. He’s been to victory lane twice, has a  12.6 average result and has finished in the top ten 66% percent of the time. This spring he showed potential and spent a good amount of time running around 10th. If his race would’ve been incident free I think he might’ve finished in the top ten. Unfortunately it wasn’t problem free. Around lap 93 shortly after a restart he wrecked. He was running around the teens at the time. That led to his 34th place finish. Last August Stewart had a solid showing but I will note his finish is slightly inflated by fuel mileage at the end. In that event he finished 9th, had a 15th place average running position and earned the 16th best driver rating. In spring 2015 he didn’t have a strong showing. He finished 21st, had a 20th place average running position and earned the 20th best driver rating. Nothing notable happened to him in the race, he just wasn’t good. In August 2014 Stewart was likely teens good but was caught up in the “Big One” which led to his 36th place finish. In June 2014 he had a very strong car but took himself out of contention. In the race he started in 12th, earned the 7th best driver rating and led 24 laps. His downfall in the race came around lap 118 when he got busted speeding on pit road. At the time of that incident he was leading and it sent him to the back of the field. That was a pretty big problem with only about 40 laps to go so that makes his 13th place finish respectable. In the five Pocono races prior to that he finished in the top 11. (Yahoo B List)

Ryan Newman – Pocono is a good track for Newman and ranks as one of his very best. His average finish is 12.8 and since 2011 he’s only finished lower than 12th twice. Both of his results lower than 12th came during 2015 which was a very tough season for him. This spring at Pocono he had a solid race. He finished 12th, earned the 15th best driver rating and had a 16th place average running position. Last year he had a tough season. Last August he was about mid-teens good but his fuel strategy burned him at the end and caused him to finish 23rd. In June 2015 Newman was going for his 10th straight top 12 finish at Pocono but it wasn’t meant to be. With 20 laps to go he was battling AJ Allmendinger for 7th but AJ got loose and took Newman out which led to a 39th place finish. Leading up to that race Newman had five straight top tens. All of his top tens over that stretch were results between 4th and 8th. (Yahoo B List)

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