Richmond Toyota Owners 400 Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks

Kevin Harvick – Kevin Harvick is a good fantasy NASCAR Pick to win the Richmond Toyota Owners 400. Phoenix is essentially a reverse Richmond and Kevin Harvick dominated there this spring. In that event he started in 13th, had a 2nd place average running position, led 224 laps and came up .1 short of scoring a perfect driver rating. When you combine that performance with how he traditionally performs at Richmond he’s the favorite heading into the Toyota Owners 400. At Richmond in spring 2013 Kevin Harvick drove the 29 car to victory lane. In that race he only led 3 laps but he lead when it mattered. In the event he started in 17th, had a 9th place average running position and earned the 5th best driver rating. Last fall at Richmond Kevin Harvick finished 11th. That’s one of those results that deserve an asterisk mark. With 100 laps to go he radioed his crew chief while he was running in 3rd and said his car “came to life”. In the race before the caution with 58 laps to go he was right on Clint Bowyer’s heels for the lead and was running in 2nd. During that round of green flag pit stops he was a driver who pitted and got burned by the yellow. That dropped him back to the teens. In fall 2012 at Richmond he finished 10th. From a career perspective Richmond has arguably been one of his best tracks. He’s a three-time winner who’s finished in the top ten 62% percent of the time. His top ten finish percentage is only higher at Homestead. My prediction is Kevin Harvick will win the Richmond Toyota Owners 400.(Yahoo A Driver)

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Kyle Busch – The spring race at Richmond has been Kyle Busch’s personal playground. In the eight spring races between 2005 and 2012 he won four times, had a 2.1 average finish, 5.3 average running position and led 580 laps. His worst finish over that stretch of races was 4th. In last years spring race at Richmond Kyle Busch had a good car. He earned the #1 position in the PROS Rankings. The PROS rankings aren’t based on a drivers finish position, it’s based on who subjectively had the best car in the race. In that event Busch didn’t have the best car when the green flag waved but over the course of the race his team got it dialed in. When it was tuned to his liking I don’t think anyone would’ve beat him. On lap #255 he took the lead and then paced for the field for 40 laps. Then a caution came out and several drivers elected not to pit. He did pit and that put him back in the running order. During his drive back to the front Tony Stewart got loose, got into Johnson and then they came down the track and collected Busch. Due to the damage Busch got from the incident he was relegated to a 24th place finish. If that didn’t happen I thought Busch was going to win and at the least he was a lock for a top five. Last fall at Richmond Kyle Busch and the #18 team used the race as a test session and they used an experimental chassis. Busch wasn’t thrilled with how it performed but it wasn’t bad. He started in 13th, had a 9th place average running position and finished 19th. That finish deserves as asterisk mark because he was a driver who got burned late in the race when a caution came out during a pit cycle with 58 laps to go. Prior to that he was running around the low double digits. Phoenix is essentially a reverse Richmond and earlier this year Busch started in 7th, had an 8th place average running position and finished 9th. (Yahoo A Driver)

Recommended Reading – Richmond Front Runner Rankings, Richmond Mid Pack Predictions, Yahoo C List Fantasy Preview, Who will win at Richmond, Richmond Scouting Report

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