Loudon Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions

Track Position Is King

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1-mile flat track, and on Sunday–weather permitting–we will make at least 301 circuits around this joint. That may seem like a lot to you and me, but for the drivers in those cars, it’s going to fly by. This is a relatively short race, and that paired with the fact that it is difficult to pass makes track position king this weekend. It’s not impossible to get to the front from further back in the field but a lot of things have to go your way. Kyle Busch won the pole for Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 and the full starting lineup can be found by clicking here. There were then two additional practice sessions on Saturday, and those results can be found here: Practice #2 — Happy Hour. Be sure to check out Ryan’s notes for each practice as well: Practice #2 — Happy Hour. The drivers that will finish up front on Sunday will be the ones that have speed throughout the entire run. Ten-lap averages are very important to look at this week.

[box type=”tick” border=”full”]We’re officially in the second half of the 2014 season. Now is not the time to lose ground in your fantasy leagues. Click here for more information on the ifantasyrace advantage, which gives you access to all of the exclusive content on this site![/box]

Final Top 15 Ranking For The Camping World RV Sales 301:

Portions of this content are hidden. To view this ifantasyrace advantage content log in or join the site

11. Jamie McMurray – Starts 5th – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 18th (change: +7)
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

Jamie McMurray is one of those drivers that I really don’t like to get excited about, simply because I’ve been burned so many times by him in the past. I guess that’s kind of what happens with “sleepers,” however, or those mid-tier drivers like Jamie Mac. All of that being said, I’m starting to think that McMurray has something figured out here at Loudon. He ended up 12th in this event one year ago and in the second visit to “The Magic Mile” in 2012, Jamie was 5th when the checkers flew. He started 11th and 23rd in those two events, respectively. Flash-forward to 2014 and McMurray will roll off the grid in 5th for Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 and was impressive in both practice sessions on Saturday, posting the 3rd-best ten-lap average in Practice #2 and winding up 6th on that chart in Happy Hour. Obviously there’s some risk there but Jamie McMurray is definitely the top “sleeper” option this weekend. Looking back at Phoenix in March (another flat track), the #1 team posted a top 10 result in that race, so that’s encouraging.

12. Tony Stewart – Starts 4th – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 15th (change: +3)
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

Whenever “Smoke” is fast off the truck, fantasy owners should take notice. He went out and qualified 4th on Friday, and if you just went off of that, it’d be hard not to consider Tony a threat for the win on Sunday. However, he’s had some bad luck here at Loudon as of late, specifically regarding fuel mileage. For his sake, hopefully this race on Sunday won’t come down to that. Stewart was a lot better in the morning on Saturday (5th in ten-lap average) than he was in the afternoon during Happy Hour (22nd on that chart). It was a pretty quiet final session out the #14 team. It looked to me like, as usual, the only solid and fast option out of the Stewart-Haas stable was the #4 and Kevin Harvick. Whether that proves true on race day we shall see. Stewart has finished 12th or better in four of the last five New Hampshire races and should make it five of six come Sunday. His career average finish of 11.9 here is good enough for 4th-best in the series.

13. Kasey Kahne – Starts 10th – Yahoo! A Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 17th (change: +4)
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

Since joining Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne has had a very good race car pretty much every time we have come to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Does he always get the finish he deserves, though? Of course not, it’s Kasey Kahne. He won this event two years ago and followed that up with a solid 5th-place outing in the fall. Last year Kasey ended up 11th in the July race at Loudon and finished a disappointing 37th in the fall after starting on the front row and leading 31 laps. He hit the wall late in the race while running inside the top 10 and that’s what caused the bad result. With all of that being said, I think the #5 Chevrolet will be strong once again in Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301. However, do you have enough trust in Kasey Kahne not to burn you? He qualified 10th, which is pretty good, and had the 4th-best ten-lap average in Practice #2. In Happy Hour, he ranked 12th on that chart. Before their mid-pack finish at Daytona last weekend, this #5 team had a three-race streak of top 10s going, and I think they may be able to get back on that horse this Sunday. Kahne is running chassis no. 5-815 this weekend, which ys the same one he has used at the last two Phoenix races, finishing 11th and 2nd.

14. Kyle Larson – Starts 13th – Yahoo! C Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 20th (change: +6)
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

Larson wasn’t overly impressive here in the Nationwide Series last season–he finished 14th–but with the amount of speed that the Ganassi cars have here this weekend, I’m not going to doubt this phenom. The #42 Chevrolet was 5th-fastest on the speed chart in Practice #2 on Saturday morning, and although Larson ended up 14th-quickest later that day in Happy Hour, he had the 2nd-best ten-lap average and ranked near the top in fifteen-lap average as well. Phoenix is another flat track and if you remember back to that race in March, Kyle looked like a top 10 threat all weekend and then was a dud on race day, finishing 20th. Hopefully that doesn’t happen here at Loudon on Sunday. Larson has a decent 13th-place starting spot and could be a top 10 threat when the Camping World RV Sales 301 is all said and done. We all know that his teammate has an absolute hot rod this weekend so maybe Kyle is picking up a few things…

15. Clint Bowyer – Starts 8th – Yahoo! A Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 11th (change: -4)
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

Clint Bowyer is a very good flat track racer, but I don’t trust him one bit, and that bumps him down in my rankings pretty much every single week. He owns a career average of 15.1 at Loudon with two victories, though–the most recent coming in 2010. Clint did finish top 5 in both races here in 2012 but last season he struggled a little bit more, ending up 13th and 17th. This weekend, the #15 Toyota will roll off the grid in 8th, which should help this team a little bit. However, I just didn’t see an abundance of long run speed out of this car during the practices, so that could hurt Bowyer during the Camping World RV Sales 301. He had the 13th-best ten-lap average in Happy Hour. This is the same chassis (no. 798) that Bowyer used at Phoenix back in March where he finished 13th. I’m expecting a similar result here at Loudon on Sunday.

The Next Ten:

16. Ryan Newman
17. Brian Vickers
18. Paul Menard
19. Martin Truex, Jr.
20. Kurt Busch
21. A.J. Allmendinger
22. Austin Dillon
23. Jeff Burton
24. Greg Biffle
25. Marcos Ambrose

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related