Scouting Report: Kentucky Quaker State 400
How to make an informed pick for the Kentucky Quaker State 400:
- The two tracks I’m going to look at to make an informed pick for Kentucky are Kansas and Michigan. That may sound simple, but I believe beyond a shadow of doubt if a driver performed good in these two events then they’re as good as gold this week. If you would like further information on this matter check out my post called: Kentucky? How should I approach it from a fantasy NASCAR perspective?
- Practice will be very important this week. Look for some team to really hit the setup and pull away from the competition. This week there’s multiple practice sessions so stay on your toes.
- Another variable to making an informed fantasy pick this week I would recommend you study other similar non-concrete intermediate track results.
- Picking a driver with positive momentum is always important in fantasy racing. The tracks NASCAR visited the last two weeks don’t translate into a good day at Kentucky, but I always side on caution and avoid crash magnets.
- Don’t over think it this week when your making a fantasy pick. Kentucky shouldn’t be viewed as the great unknown. Kentucky is a ten year old track and NASCAR teams once visited it on a regular basis in attempts to skirt the old NASCAR testing ban.
Drivers to watch at Kentucky:
Kurt Busch – Kurt Busch had the field covered at Kansas. His driver rating was by far the best (135.0) and he led 152 laps. Also at Kansas he never ran below 11th and his average running position was 3rd. If qualifying points matter to you don’t forget Kurt Busch was the pole winner at Kansas. At Michigan Busch finished 10th and had an average running position of 5th.
Denny Hamlin – Hamlin is the Michigan winner and at Kansas he finished 2nd. I really believe studying these two tracks is the way to approach the the inaugural running of the Kentucky Quaker State 400. If a driver is good in both of these races then they’ll be good at Kentucky.
Carl Edwards – Edwards was strong at both Michigan and Kansas. At both venues in recent weeks he finished 5th. At Kansas his average running position was fourth and he was the second highest finisher who had to pit for gas in the closing laps of the race.
Matt Kenseth – When it comes to any intermediate track it’s hard not to like Kenseth. From a Kentucky Insider I hear this track is Kansas with Texas bumps. Kenseth won at Texas and at Kansas he finished sixth and had an 8th place average running position.
Tony Stewart – The 14 team has had many disappointments this season but he’s been particularly strong on intermediate tracks. Today I used FantasyRacingCheatSheet.com’s stats wizard and between Kansas and Michigan (recent races) his combined loop data stats are impressive. His average running position is 8th and he only raced inside the top fifteen for 90.5 percent of the laps run.
For the rest of my driver rankings check out my Kentucky Fantasy Preview
VegasInsider.com Odds to win:
Kyle Busch 5/1, Denny Hamlin 6/1, Jimmie Johnson 7/1, Jeff Gordon 8/1, Tony Stewart 9/1, Kevin Harvick 9/1, Kurt Busch 10/1, Carl Edwards 14/1, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 16/1, Clint Bowyer 18/1
FantasyRacingCheatSheet.com top scoring drivers over the last three races: 1)Matt Kenseth 2)Kyle Busch 3)Kurt Busch 4)Jeff Gordon 5)Joey Logano 6)Paul Menard 7)Kevin Harvick 8)AJ Allmendinger 9)Carl Edwards 10)Marcos Ambrose
