New Hampshire Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Fantasy NASCAR Preview and Picks
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A = Really, Really Good Pick
Jimmie Johnson – In the six COT races at New Hampshire Jimmie Johnson has never finished outside the top ten. His COT average start is 9.8 and his average finish is 5.8. (Yahoo A Driver)
Kurt Busch – Kurt Busch is always a contender every time the series visits New Hampshire. His average finish over the last four races at New Hampshire is 4th. In eighteen starts at the Magic Mile Kurt Busch has three wins and nine top tens. Last year Kurt Busch outscored all drivers in terms of cumulative points scored at New Hampshire. (Yahoo A Driver)
Jeff Gordon – So far this year Gordon has finished 2nd at both Richmond and Phoenix which are similar to New Hampshire. At Richmond his car was really strong on long runs. Expect long runs to come into play at New Hampshire this week. (Yahoo A Driver)
Kyle Busch – Check out what I said about Kyle Busch in my Contender or Pretender post. (Yahoo A Driver)
A- = Really Good Pick
Denny Hamlin – Hamlin is a great driver at New Hampshire. He just hasn’t been up to par on similar tracks this season. I give him a free pass on Phoenix but at Richmond his team struggled. (Yahoo A Driver)
Kevin Harvick – New Hampshire is a Kevin Harvick track and in a Kevin Harvick year he’s my pick to win. (Yahoo B Driver)
Jeff Burton – Burton once led all 300 miles at Loudon but they had restrictor plates on that day. He’s also not a bad driver when he’s unrestricted. His average finish in 26 races is 11.6 (Yahoo B Driver)
Tony Stewart – Tony Stewart is a momentum driver and it’s really starting to build for him. New Hampshire is among Stewart’s best tracks and in the COT era no driver has led more laps at the Magic Mile than Stewart (264). His 9.2 New Hampshire average finish over the last six races doesn’t hurt his value either. (Yahoo A Driver)
Ryan Newman – Newman has two career wins at New Hampshire and has been strong all season long on similar tracks including his win at Phoenix (Yahoo B Driver)
B+ = Good Pick
Mark Martin – Martin won the second race held here in 2009. Something’s missing for this team at the moment. Check out what I said about Mark Martin my Contender or Pretender post. (Yahoo A Driver)
Juan Pablo Montoya – Montoya arguably had the best car at New Hampshire the last time the series visited this track. He started on the pole, led 105 laps, and had an average running position of 3.6. He went on to finish 3rd in that race. (Yahoo A Driver)
Clint Bowyer – New Hampshire is the site of Clint Bowyer’s first cup win. In the un-rain shortened race last year he finished 10th. (Yahoo B Driver)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – I think Earnhardt Jr is very capable of being competitive at Loudon Sunday. He finished 13th in this race last year and in the second race of 2009 he was very competitive but was the victim of David Reutimann’s breaking. Here’s his Yahoo! race chart from last year. (Yahoo B Driver)
B = Just A Tier Below The Good Picks
Carl Edwards – I avoid the Roush guys at tracks like New Hampshire. Edwards only has two top tens in eleven starts at New Hampshire. Despite his lack of top tens his career average finish here is 13.8. (Yahoo A Driver)
Matt Kenseth – Kenseth hasn’t cracked the top ten at New Hampshire in the last 4 races. Plus he has a new crew chief this week so there could very easily be a learning curve for the 17 team this week. (Yahoo B Driver)
Marcos Ambrose – If you need a sleeper pick look no further than Marcos Ambrose. He finished 11th at Phoenix earlier this year and 9th at Richmond.(Yahoo B Driver)
Martin Treux Jr. – Between 2007 and 2008 Martin Treux Jr. never finished worse than 7th. Consider Treux a super sleeper pick this week. (Yahoo B Driver)
B- = You Can Pencil Them In For Around 20th
Greg Biffle – Biffle won here in 2008 but Roush cars were a lot more competitive back then. With 22nd place finishes at Richmond and Phoenix in 2010 I would avoid him at all costs this weekend. (Yahoo A Driver)
Kasey Kahne – In the COT era Kahne has a 10th and 11th place finish and all of his other COT finishes are 20th or worse. (Yahoo B Driver)
David Reutimann – In the 2010 rain shortened New Hampshire race last year Reutimann finished 4th. This year Reutimann has finished 20th (Phoenix) and 15th (Richmond) on similar tracks. (Yahoo B Driver)
Joey Logano – Joey Logano won last year at New Hampshire in the rain. Does a rain shortened win mean anything in fantasy racing? Of course it doesn’t, at least not under the circumstances in how Joey Logano won. I think it would be hard for Joey Logano to be any less competitive than he was last year. Joey Logano was a 20th place driver at best last year in this race. He started 24th, he was in 24th at the midpoint of the race and his average running position was 21.4. Joey Logano was only in the top fifteen 13.9 percent of the race. (Yahoo B Driver)
Jamie McMurray – Lots of things have gone bad for McMurray at New Hampshire over the course of his career. If things go good then he’s a proven 15th place driver at New Hampshire. Montoya was pretty good here last year so it will be interesting to see how McMurray performs. (Yahoo B Driver)
C+ = Got Some Question Marks Here
Brad Keselowski – Brad raced in the rain shortened 2009 race and finished 6th. His Yahoo! race chart tells the story of the race for him. He definitely wasn’t a 6th place car. (Yahoo B Driver)
Paul Menard – Menard has never finished better than 20th at New Hampshire. I can’t imagine you would need any more information then that to steer you away. (Yahoo C Driver)
AJ Allmendinger – Two words for him stat wise “NOT GOOD“. (Yahoo C Driver)
C = I’m Not Picking Them
Elliott Sadler – Sadler finished 8th in the second race last year but don’t bite the apple of temptation and pick him. It’s poison. (Yahoo B Driver)
David Ragan – There’s absolutely no reason to pick David Ragan at New Hampshire. Only twice in his career has he finished better than 20th and both of those are back in 2007. His best career finish at the Magic Mile is 15th. (Yahoo B Driver)
Sam Hornish Jr. – For a brief time in Hornish’s career short flat tracks appeared to be his strength. If they are then he certainly hasn’t backed it up this year. (Yahoo C Driver)
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New Hampshire Fantasy NASCAR Picks
My Pick : Kevin Harvick
Top Onpitrow.com Expert Pick : Denny Hamlin
Top Onpitrow.com Darkhorse Pick : Ryan Newman
If you’re still looking for more fantasy NASCAR info for New Hampshire check out my Fantasy NASCAR News From Around The Net post for New Hampshire
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