Charlotte Bank of America 500 Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks

Joey Logano – Joey Logano will be a good fantasy NASCAR pick to win the Charlotte Bank Of America 500. This season on 1.5 mile tracks he’s been very strong and is about as close to money in the bank as you can get. Throughout his career Charlotte has proven to be a good track for him. His average finish is 10.5 and among the 23 tracks on the circuit that ranks as his best average finish. He’s never won here but his primary strength is his consistency. He’s finished in the top ten 55% percent of the time and in the top fifteen 82% percent of the time. In May Joey Logano performed very well. He started in 8th, had an 8th place average running position, earned the 10th best driver rating and finished 12th. In the race he performed better than his result. With 20 laps to go he was running in 6th. Last fall his team simply missed the setup. He had an 18th place average running position, finished 18th and earned the 17th best driver rating. In only 6% percent of the laps completed did he run in the top fifteen. In spring 2013 Logano had a good car. When the sun went down it got stronger. In that race he finished 5th and over the last 100 laps I would estimate his average running position was around 5th. In fall 2012 he finished 9th. (Yahoo B Driver)

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Kevin Harvick – Kevin Harvick will be tough to beat at Charlotte in the Bank of America 500. This season on 1.5 mile tracks he’s been very strong and a case could be made he’s been the best driver in the series. He hasn’t won at any of these tracks but he’s been good enough to win half of them. In May Kevin Harvick was very successful. He finished 2nd in the All-Star race and 2nd in the Coca Cola 600. In the Coca Cola 600 his car was very fast. He started 11th, had a 5th place average running position, finished 2nd, earned the 2nd best driver rating and led 100 laps. In the race nobody had a stronger car then him when it came to running the middle to upper grooves. The turning point for him in the race was when he pitted under green just before Kurt Busch’s engine failure. That dropped him from 2nd back to 15th in the running order with only about a quarter of the race remaining. Over the final 20 laps he drove the 4 car hard and rallied from 11th up to his 2nd place finish. Last fall at Charlotte he looked very strong. He started 2nd, had an 11th place average running position and finished 6th. In spring 2013 he made the late pass on Kasey Kahne for the lead and went to victory lane. Also in that event he had a 9th place average running position and led 28 laps. Over the last nine Charlotte races Harvick’s 6.6 average finish ranks as the best in the series. Also over this stretch of races he has a 10.3 average running position and the 6th best driver rating. (Yahoo A Driver)

Further Recommended Reading – Front Runner Rankings, Mid Pack Predictions, Weekly Poll, Charlotte Scouting Report

Brad Keselowski – Brad Keselowski has been a very strong performer on 1.5 mile tracks this season. A solid case could be made he’s been the strongest performer at these venues. He’s been a contender in nearly every race and has been to victory lane three times. Heading into the Charlotte Bank of America 500 he’s looking like a good default fantasy NASCAR pick. One factor you have to like about him at Charlotte is that he’s the defending champion. Last fall he emerged victorious despite having some problems in the first third of the event. On lap 88 while he was running in 8th he left his pit stall with his jack and as a result he fell back to 21st. From that point on he continually climbed towards the front until he took the lead from Kasey Kahne who was on two tires at the end. In this year’s Coca Cola 600 he ran well and late in the race he was going to attempt to win the race on fuel strategy but he had a loose wheel and pitted with 42 laps to go while he was running in 10th. If he didn’t have that issue and the race would’ve stayed green I would put my money on him winning. After he did his extra pit stop he told his team that they threw their chance of winning away. In the Coca Cola 600 he started in 2nd, finished 10th, had a 7th place average running position, earned the 4th best driver rating and led 43 laps. In the race based on pure speed he likely had around a 6th place car. In May 2013 Brad Keselowski had a disappointing performance. With 82 laps to go he was involved in a wreck with Danica Patrick and went on to finish 36th. Before he wrecked he didn’t run well. His car was stuck back in the 20′s for the majority of the event. In the race he had a 22nd place average running position and only ran in the top fifteen in 3.5% percent of the laps completed. In fall 2012 Keselowski had a great car. He was ranked #1 in the PROS Ranking and finished a misleading 11th. In that race he led 139 laps, had a 7th place average running position and earned the third best driver rating. If he didn’t run out of gas while leading late then I think he would’ve won. In the 2012 Coca Cola 600 he had a 10th place average running position and finished 5th. (Yahoo B Driver)

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