New Hampshire 2 Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions – Sylvania 300

11. Kyle Larson – Starts 6th – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 14th
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

I’m really excited to see what Kyle Larson can do this weekend because I honestly believe that New Hampshire Motor Speedway might be the best track for him on the Sprint Cup circuit. In his first Cup start at this track, “The Phenom” came home 3rd, and he followed that up with a 2nd-place finish here in this event one year ago. Fast forward to this season and in the July race at Loudon, Larson came home 31st, but I’m going to call that a fluke and say he’ll be much better this time around. The #42 Chevrolet will roll off the grid in 6th, which is great, and Larson showed promise in both practice sessions on Saturday. In the first morning practice, Kyle was 11th in overall speed and 12th in terms of ten-lap average. In Happy Hour, he ended up ranking 13th and 12th, respectively. Larson got his 8th top 10 finish of the 2015 season at Chicago last weekend and has now finished 13th or better in seven of the last eight Sprint Cup races. I’m definitely expecting him to make it eight of the last nine here at Loudon on Sunday.

12. Jeff Gordon – Starts 10th – Yahoo! A Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 9th
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

Last week at Chicago was the first time in a while that potentially winning a race was associated with Jeff Gordon, so that says a lot about this #24 team right now. Don’t forget that one of my predictions before the Chase started this year was that Jeff Gordon would make it to the second round of the playoffs. This is one of those teams that just needs to get hot at the right time and before you know it you’re looking at them as a serious championship contender. I know that sounds crazy, but they’ve definitely come a long way since the beginning of 2015. Anyway, Gordon is a 3-time winner here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and owns a career average finish of 11.3 at this venue. He came home 9th here back in July and I honestly think we could see a similar result out of the Rainbow Warrior this weekend. In Happy Hour, Gordon was 12th on the overall speed chart and ranked 19th in ten-lap average. I think there are much better fantasy options this weekend but Jeff Gordon is one of those guys that will make you say “where did he come from?” when we’re on lap 250 on Sunday.

13. Ryan Newman – Starts 9th – Yahoo! A Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 11th
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

Ryan Newman is a solid high teens driver week in and week out and this weekend is no exception. He might be able to pop into the top 10 before Sunday’s Sylvania 300 is all said and done, but going into the race, the #31 Chevrolet isn’t quite there. The one thing that Newman does have going for him this weekend is his starting position. He finished 11th here back in July despite starting 26th. This time around, he’ll roll off the grid in 9th, so it will be interesting to see if that makes a difference. In terms of practice speed, “The Rocketman” typically doesn’t show a whole lot before the race. In Practice #2 on Saturday morning, Newman was 16th in terms of overall speed and 15th-best in ten-lap average. In Happy Hour, he ranked 22nd and 21st, respectively. In the last seven Loudon races, Ryan has ended up 16th or better in five of them, and I’d be willing to bet that he makes it six of the last eight by the time the checkered flag waves on Sunday.

14. Austin Dillon – Starts 16th – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 18th
**Risk Factor: High Risk**

If you read my Sleepers post earlier this week, you know that Austin Dillon was one of my favorites heading into the Sylvania 300 race weekend. The fact that he cracked my final top 15 rankings should say a lot to you, too. The #3 Chevrolet is solid heading into Sunday’s race, and it honestly wouldn’t surprise me to see Austin Dillon crack the top 10 before it’s all said and done. This is actually his best track on the Sprint Cup circuit (statistically) and this #3 car ended up finishing 8th here back in July despite starting 24th. This time around, Austin will roll off the grid in 16th. In terms of practice speed, Dillon was 10th-fastest in both overall speed and ten-lap average during the first session on Saturday. In Happy Hour, the #3 Chevrolet laid down the 8th-best lap and was 11th in ten-lap average speed. Now, this team has had some terrible luck thus far in September–which is the reason why picking Austin Dillon is such a risky move this week–but if you take that out of the equation, the #3 Chevrolet is a very solid sleeper and out-of-the-box pick here at Loudon on Sunday.

15. Martin Truex, Jr. – Starts 21st – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 10th
**Risk Factor: Medium Risk**

If Martin Truex, Jr. would have qualified a little better for this year’s Sylvania 300, I would have him ranked quite a bit higher. However, I just don’t like the combination of a mid-pack starting spot at Loudon with how this team has been performing over the last couple of months. Now, with that being said, Martin believes that he has a very fast car in race trim–similar to what he said at Chicago last week–despite the fact that the #78 Chevrolet didn’t show up on the ten-lap average chart in Happy Hour. In terms of overall speed, Truex was 16th-fastest in that session. In Practice #2 of the weekend, Martin was 13th in overall speed and 14th-best in ten-lap average. Not stellar by any means. One thing that needs to be pointed out about Truex this weekend, however, is his consistency here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; over the last nine races here, Martin has never finished worse than 17th, and he’s currently on a streak of four straight races of ending up 12th or better at this race track. There are some leagues where it might be worth giving Truex a shot on your roster this Sunday but for the most part I think that there are much better options available.

The Next Ten:

16. Jamie McMurray
17. Kasey Kahne
18. Aric Almirola
19. Paul Menard
20. David Ragan
21. Tony Stewart
22. Clint Bowyer
23. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
24. Danica Patrick
25. Greg Biffle