Pocono Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Alex Bowman – Alex Bowman is hot right now and I wouldn’t overlook him at Pocono. Last year at Pocono he had a great season and ran well in both races. Last summer, Bowman had a great performance. He finished 9th in Stage #1, 4th in Stage #2 and finished 3rd when the checkered flag waved. Additionally, he earned the 7th best driver rating and had a 9th place average running position. Last spring, Bowman ran well but he finished an asterisk mark 27th. With 14 laps to go while he was battling Denny Hamlin for 11th they had contact and he got a good amount of damage which ruined his afternoon. On Sunday, look for Bowman to compete for a top ten.

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Jimmie Johnson – Don’t overlook Jimmie Johnson at Pocono. He’s been lacking good results here recently, but on Sunday I would look for him to be a low-double digits driver who’ll compete for a top ten. At Pocono, he’s a three-time winner who’s finished in the top ten 59% percent of the time. In recent races he hasn’t fared so well and in 5 of the last 6 he’s finished 16th or worse. Last summer at Pocono, Johnson finished 17th, but I wouldn’t read into that result. He was around 10th place good, but he choose to pit during late cautions. With 8 laps to go before the late cautions came out he was running in 10th. His average running position for the afternoon was 13th. In spring 2018, Johnson had a solid race. He finished 8th, earned the 9th best driver rating and had a 10th place average running position. In both Stage #1 and #2 he finished 9th. In summer 2017, Johnson had a short race and on lap 58 he backed his car into the wall which led to his 35th place finish. At the time of the incident he was running in the low-teens. If he didn’t have problems its very reasonable to think he was low-teens good. In spring 2017 he had a strong car and was top ten good but careened into the wall which led to his 36th place finish. At the time of his problem he was running in 7th.

Aric Almirola – Aric Almirola has a 25.7 average finish at Pocono, but don’t overlook him on Sunday. In 12 of his 13 races at the “Tricky Triangle” he’s finished 18th or worse. That should definitely give him “out of sync” potential. In 2018, Almirola had a good season at Pocono and was a top ten contender in both races. Last summer, Almirola was a top ten contender but finished an asterisk mark 25th. In the race he started in the rear of the field but had no trouble moving up through the field. On lap 46 which was shortly before the ending of Stage #1 he was in 13th. Unfortunately, his race wasn’t incident free. While he was running in the top ten with about 40 laps to go he had contact with Kevin Harvick on pit road which did some damage and led to second pit stop. Then right at the end with 2 laps to go he spun and brought out the caution. Last spring, he had his best Pocono result by a wide margin and crossed the finish line in 7th. His driver rating ranked as the 10th best. For fantasy purposes, I wouldn’t read into any of his other Pocono finishes.

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