Bristol IRWIN Tools Night Race Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings
Denny Hamlin – If your fantasy league rewards points for qualifying such as Yahoo don’t overlook Denny Hamlin. In the last three Bristol races he’s qualified 1st, 1st and 3rd. This spring he had a good performance. He started on the pole, led 4 laps, finished 6th and earned the 10th best driver rating. His average running position was 8th and he was one of just two drivers who ran in the top fifteen 100% percent of the laps. In August 2013 he started on the pole, led 23 laps and finished 28th. In the race he likely had about a 10th to 15th place car but late in the race he was involved in the “Big One” that took out a number of competitors. In spring 2013 he was very competitive and was a contender for the win. He led the most laps (117), had a 4th place average running position and earned the 5th best driver rating. However the race wasn’t incident free for him. He had a run in with Joey Logano and later in the event his former teammate retaliated and damaged the #11. With 10 laps to go Hamlin’s car was having serious problems on the track and was riding the walls around the corners. If Bristol didn’t have walls he probably wouldn’t have been able to turn. In the inaugural race on the current track configuration he emerged victorious. In that event he started in 8th, had a 6th place average running position, led 70 laps and earned the best driver rating. In the four combined races on the new surface among the drivers who competed in every race he has the best average running position (7.3), ran the highest percentage of laps inside the top fifteen, led the third most laps and has a misleading 14.5 average result. (Yahoo B Driver)
Brian Vickers – Dark Horse / Sleeper Alert! Brian Vickers currently has five consecutive top ten finishes at Bristol. That ranks as the longest active streak in the series. On the current Bristol track configuration he’s one of just two drivers who have finished in the top ten every race. Over these four races he has a 6.3 average finish, 15.8 average running position and has the 12th best driver rating. Earlier this year at Bristol he had an OK race but was aided by attrition and late pit strategy. Performance wise I would say he had a low teen’s car. In the race he started in 38th, earned the 17th best driver rating, had a 16th place average running position and finished 9th. Last August at Bristol he had a solid race. He started in 4th and finished 4th. When the green flag waved he dropped through the running order. Around the mid-point he was back in the mid-twenties. I’ll speculate his lack of performance in the first half could be attributed to damage. Just after the mid-point he brought out the caution when debris from his left front fender came off. In the second half of the race he continually moved forward up to his eventual finish position. In March 2013 he had another strong showing. He started in 4th, had a 13th place average running position and finished 8th. In the first race on the new surface at Bristol Brian Vickers had a good chance of winning. His car was good in both the low line and the high line. In the race he got two lucky dog passes and somehow he was still within striking distance at the end. Late in the race he ran as high as second but got loose coming off a turn while battling for the lead and slid back. In that race he started in 22nd and finished 4th. This season on short tracks Vickers has scored the 8th most points. (Yahoo B Driver)
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Clint Bowyer – Clint Bowyer is one of the best short track drivers in NASCAR. Recently he’s been down on his luck on this track type but his talent can’t be underestimated. This spring at Thunder Valley he didn’t have a great showing. Outside of using pit strategy he never really ran better than 13th. The only thing notable that really happened to him in the race was when Danica Patrick ran into the back of him on pit road. Ultimately that really wasn’t a big deal. In the race he started 15th, finished 15th, had a 20th place average running position and earned the 22nd best driver rating. Last August at Bristol he had a good car but finished 14th. That’s one of those results that deserve as asterisk mark. In that event he was running in the top five late but ran out of gas on the last lap and coasted back to 14th. In the race there’s no question he was top five good. Earlier in the race on lap 176 he was leading but got spun. That was a setback but he managed to climb up towards the front again. Also in the race he led 50 laps. In spring 2013 Clint Bowyer had the best MWR car. He started in 23rd, had an 11th place average running position and had a 5th place result. Also in the race he earned the 9th best driver rating. In August 2012 in the first race on the ground down surface he had a very similar performance. He started in 23rd, had a 10th place average running position and finished 7th. (Yahoo A Driver)
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