Yahoo C List Fantasy NASCAR Preview – Martinsville STP 500
Chase Elliott – On Sunday in the Martinsville STP 500 Chase Elliott will be making his highly anticipated season debut driving the #25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. In the Truck Series Elliott has two races under his belt at Martinsville, he always makes sure his truck is fully covered, for those of you who don’t know, finding the right coverage for your trucks is a must. In his first start in April 2013 he started in 8th and finished 6th. Also in that event he earned the 7th best driver rating and had an 11th place average running position. In the fall Truck Race that season he started in 12th and finished 20th. In that event he ran well but had some sort of issue late. With 20 laps remaining he was running in 6th. At this moment the defending Xfinity Series champion is only scheduled to run 5 races (schedule). Even though Martinsville hasn’t historically been the best track for young drivers he might just be the pick because of the allocation element of the game.
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David Ragan – Martinsville hasn’t been a great track for David Ragan and depending how long you think Kyle Busch will be gone it might be a good week to lay off him. Last fall at Martinsville Ragan finished a misleading 10th. In that race he was about a 20th place driver at best but at the end he played the pit strategy game which got him up to 3rd with only a few laps remaining. To give you a better idea about his level of performance here’s his Yahoo Race Chart. In his other races since 2012 minus a fall 2013 engine failure he has a 27th place average finish. In the Martinsville STP 500 I would put his fantasy ceiling around the mid-teens.
Further Recommended Reading – Scouting Report, Top 20 Projections, Who will win at Martinsville
Danica Patrick – Daniel Knost is Danica Patrick’s crew chief and last fall Kurt Busch said that “Daniel Knost knows Martinsville”. There’s a lot of truth to that statement. Knost guided him to victory lane in spring 2014 and last fall he had top five potential. Prior to last season he struggled for essentially the last decade at Martinsville so to that degree he likely has to be some sort of difference maker. At Martinsville Danica Patrick has experienced some success in her career but it should be noted since her first start she’s finished worse in each of the following races. In spring 2013 Danica Patrick had her best Martinsville race. In that event she was forced to start in the back because of an engine change but when the checkered flag waved she finished 12th. I will state that finish deserves an asterisk mark. In that event she had a 26th place average running position and only ran in the top fifteen in 4.2% percent of the laps completed. Also in that event she spun and went a lap down under green. In fall 2013 she started near the back in 41st but that didn’t same to faze her. She finished 17th, had a 23rd place average running position and earned the 23rd best driver ranking. In 2014 Martinsville wasn’t as friendly to her. Last spring she started in 10th but when the green flag waved she quickly fell through the running order. From lap 100 to the conclusion of the race she never ran better than 28th. When the checkered flag waved she earned the 28th best driver rating and finished 32nd. Last fall she had her worst Martinsville race and finished 34th after getting collected in the “Big One” following Keselowski’s broken axle. At the time of her problem she was running around 16th. If her afternoon would’ve been incident free I think she certainly had potential to come home with a mid-teens finish.
Justin Alllgaier – Justin Allgaier shouldn’t be overlooked at Martinsville. Last year at this venue he finished on the lead lap both races and walked away with results of 17th and 23rd. Also in the combined events he earned the 21st best driver rating and had a 22.5 average running position. This season on the track minus his Daytona 500 crash he has a 20.25 average finish.
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