Pocono 400: Fantasy NASCAR “Top Tier Elite” Picks

Denny Hamlin – Denny Hamlin will be a very popular pick by fantasy NASCAR experts to win the Pocono 400. He’s a four-time winner and his career average finish is 9.7. Last year at Pocono Hamlin finished 15th and 19th. Don’t let those finishes scare you away though. He had a 5.5 average running position and led the most laps (141). Leading laps isn’t a rare occurrence for Hamlin at Pocono. In the last five races he’s paced the field for 339 laps and led in every race. His next closest competitor in this stat is Jimmie Johnson and he’s only led 119 laps. If you’re looking for a driver who starts up front don’t overlook Hamlin. He has a 5.9 average start and in the last six races he hasn’t started worse than 7th. (Yahoo! A Driver)

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Jimmie Johnson – I don’t think there’s a safer pick than Jimmie Johnson for the Pocono 400. In the last nine races at the “Tricky Triangle” Johnson has 5 top fives and 8 top tens. His only finish outside the top ten in this stretch was a 13th place finish in 2009. Last season Jimmie Johnson finished 4th in both races and had a 6.5 average running position (3rd best). The only downside about Johnson at Pocono is that he hasn’t won since he swept the races in 2004. (Yahoo! A Driver)

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Jeff Gordon – Last spring Jeff Gordon crossed the finish line first and tied Bill Elliott as the all-time win leader at Pocono (5th win). In his other two most recent races he finished 6th. Also in this three race stretch he has a 4.3 average running position (best in series) and a 118 driver rating (second best). The most similar track to Pocono is Indy and Jeff Gordon had the best car there last summer so essentially he could’ve won two out of the three races on the big flat track sub type in 2011. Gordon’s had terrible luck this year but it can’t last forever. (Yahoo! A Driver)