Martinsville Goody’s Fast Relief 500: Fantasy NASCAR “Mid Pack” Projections
Matt Kenseth – Last fall Kenseth was the victim of Brian Vickers. Unfortunately for him Vickers went kamikaze on him. He was having a very good race and clearly had top ten potential (Yahoo! race chart). Despite his wreck he still had the seventh best average running position (10th). In the spring 2011 race he finished 6th. If you’re in an allocation league this is not the week to pick Kenseth.
Carl Edwards – Edwards has either finished 8th or 9th in three of the last four races at Martinsville. Despite this fact I really don’t think the #99 was that fast last year. In the spring race he finished 18th and in the fall race he finished 9th. Last fall he went lap down under green and had a 17th place average running position. I would contend that if this was a 400 lap race he would’ve finished around 20th. If you don’t believe me check out his Yahoo! race chart. I think people will look at his recent stats and pick him this week but I urge you to avoid him.
Jeff Burton – Burton is a dark horse driver who I think might be worth a look. In thirty five races at Martinsville he has one win and sixteen top tens. His career average finish is 14.6. In the last two years at Martinsville he’s been good in three of the four races. His only bad race was last spring. He didn’t lead any laps in 2011 but in 2010 he led 140 laps in the spring and 134 in the fall.
Joey Logano -Since 2009 Logano has the 8th best average finish in the series at Martinsville(13.8). I think he’s really benefited from using Denny Hamlin setups. He’s never led a lap but he does have four top thirteen finishes. If you use loop data you might want to look the other way. At Martinsville his driver rating ranks as the 19th best. Logano’s Martinsville career highlight is his second place finish in 2010.
Juan Pablo Montoya – Montoya is a sleeper pick who you might want to consider for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. He has a 14.7 average finish and he’s only finished outside the top sixteen three times in ten races. Last spring he finished 4th and had a 11th place average running position. He had a good run last fall but was involved in a late accident. Without the accident I believe he would’ve finished around 13th.
Kurt Busch – Did you know that Kurt Busch hasn’t had a top ten finish at Martinsville since he drove a Ford for Jack Roush! Kurt Busch needs a good finish here but his track history suggests this could be quite difficult. Martinsville is a “skill track” and if he enters with a positive attitude he might just get a good finish.
Brian Vickers – Remember him last year? How could you forget! In case you did here’s the video. Something tells me he won’t be getting much respect on the track in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. I think he’ll be a driving with a Bulls-Eye on him. Even with all the wrecking last fall he looked pretty good on the track. His Yahoo! chart doesn’t lie. In three of the last six Martinsville races Vickers has finished 11th or better. If he avoided problems last fall he would easily have four finishes of 11th or better in the last six.
Kasey Kahne – Early in his career Kasey Kahne almost got his first career victory at Martinsville. Despite his near victory in 2005 Martinsville has not been a good track for Kahne. His last top ten at NASCAR’s oldest track was in 2006. Since then his best finish is 14th and he’s averaged a 22.1 finish. I believe there is hope this weekend though for fantasy players who have Kahne on their team. He’s in Hendrick equipment this race and that’s a big plus. All of his wrecks this year do make him a risky proposition though.
Greg Biffle – I hope you’re not contemplating picking Greg Biffle for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. Statistically Martinsville ranks as one of his worst tracks. In eighteen races he’s only finished in the top ten twice. In fact he’s only finished in the top fifteen four times. The Ford’s have been better at Martinsville lately but picking the #16 shouldn’t be on your radar this week.
AJ Allmendinger – Allmendinger is a driver who might sneak up on fantasy racers this week. In the last three Martinsville races he’s finished 12th, 14th and 11th (2011 fall). Last fall he was really impressive. He led 19 laps, had a 9th place average running position and posted the 6th best driver rating. All of the other drivers who had a higher driver rating are Martinsville Top Tier Elite drivers. He’ll have a better pit crew in this race so a top ten might just be in the cards for him (last year his pit crew proved troublesome). Keselowski was strong in his Dodge last year so I think the likelihood of a good finish is all the higher.
Martin Truex Jr. – Truex is a high risk driver at Martinsville but I think he has potential which might entice some fantasy racers this weekend. Last fall he finished 8th and had a 13th place average running position. In the 2011 spring race he was involved in an accident and finished 40th. His results were somewhat similar in 2010 (finished 5th in the spring race, finished 29th in the fall race). Each year lately he’s been getting a top ten finish once a year at Martinsville so the question is will it be this race? From a career long perspective Martinsville has not been a good track for Truex.
Make sure you read the full spectrum of ifantasyrace.com Goody’s Fast Relief 500 fantasy NASCAR rankings
Top Tier Elite > Front Runners > Mid Pack Projections > Drivers To Avoid
