Texas NRA 500 Fantasy NASCAR Top 10 Confidence Rankings

1. Kyle Busch – Kyle Busch has unquestionably been one of the best performers on intermediate tracks this season. He won at Auto Club Speedway and at Las Vegas he had one of the best cars and finished 4th despite having a pit road penalty. Between the two races he’s scored the most points in the series. Last fall at Texas Kyle Busch was very good. He finished 3rd, led 80 laps and had the second best driver rating. In Happy Hour Kyle Busch didn’t run 10 consecutive laps but in practice #1 he had the sixth best 10 lap average. On Saturday Kyle Busch will be starting on the pole (full qualifying results). I believe he’s now poised to be the favorite.

Want to be a better fantasy racer? Join now to get the ifantasyrace advantage and read our full / exclusive content

2. Jimmie Johnson – It’s hard not to like Jimmie Johnson’s chances in the NRA 500. Last year at Texas Johnson had finishes of 1st (spring) and 2nd (fall). Between the races he led 324 laps, had a 2.5 average running position and a series best 139.2 driver rating. In both races last year he was also the ifantasyrace.com PROS Rankings #1 driver. That ranking shows you who had the best car the last time they raced here. Today in practice Jimmie Johnson had a good car. In Happy Hour he focused solely on race trim and it appears it paid off because he had the second best 10 lap average. On Saturday Johnson will start in 7th.

3. Brad Keselowski – Last fall at Texas Brad Keselowski was very impressive. If there were fewer cautions at the end of the event he would’ve emerged victorious over Jimmie Johnson. Instead he ended up finishing second. In that race he led 75 laps and had a third place average running position. This season on this track type Keselowski has been one of the strongest performers. At Las Vegas he finished 3rd and at Auto Club Speedway he had a good car but had motor issues at the end. Today in practice Keselowski had one of the strongest cars. In Happy Hour he had the best 10 lap average and in Practice #1 he had the second best 10 lap average. On Saturday night Keslowski will be starting in 16th.

4. Matt Kenseth – Starting off the week Matt Kenseth was my #1 Top Tier Elite Pick. Those drivers have fared very well this season. Excluding the Daytona 500 that pick of mine has three wins and two third place finishes. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Kenseth in victory lane. He’s won here twice and in the last fifteen Texas races he’s finished in the top five 73% percent of the time. One key factor you have to like about Kenseth is how good he’s been on intermediate tracks this season. At Las Vegas he became the first driver in the Gen 6 car to win on an intermediate track and at Auto Club Speedway he finished 7th. Today in Happy Hour Kenseth had the third best 10 lap average.