Texas Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Aric Almirola – Aric Almirola should definitely be on your fantasy NASCAR radar at Texas. His track record leaves a lot to be desired, but I’m confident he’ll be competitive. On Sunday I think he has a great chance to finish in the top ten. This year at 1.5 mile tracks minus Texas #1 and Chicagoland (problems in both races) he has a 9.9 average finish, an 11.4 average running position and has finished in the top 13 every race. Earlier this year at Texas he didn’t have an incident free race and finished 32nd after crashing on lap 179 during the start of the final Stage. I’ll note he certainly looked like a top ten contender. In Stage #2 he finished 10th and in Stage #1 he finished just short of the top ten. Last year at Texas he started 18th twice and finished in the teens both races. Last fall he finished 15th, had a 19th place average running position and earned the 19th best driver rating. In spring 2017 when the checkered flag waved he finished 18th, earned the 19th best driver rating and had a 20th place average running position.

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Alex Bowman – Alex Bowman is capable of coming up big at Texas. I think he’s a low-double digits driver who’ll have a good chance to compete for a top ten. Kansas is the most recent 1.5 mile track visited and at that venue he finished 9th. This spring at Texas there isn’t any key fantasy NASCAR takeaways from his performance (Finished 28th). He was involved in a wreck on lap #2 and then later on lap 56 he went to the garage because of a mechanical problem. None of his other track starts were on the current Texas track configuration.

Jimmie Johnson – Jimmie Johnson won the first race on the new Texas track configuration, but since then things have taken a turn for the worst. On Sunday I’m going to project him as a 10th to 15th place performer. Earlier this year at Texas he showed potential early but finished 35th after crashing. In the race he started in 9th but on lap 54 while he was running in 10th he made an unscheduled pit stop that dropped him a lap down back to 27th. That led to him using inferior pit strategy to try to get his lap back by not pitting during the Stage caution. Early in Stage #2 he was forced to pit for fuel under green which really hurt him. Later on lap 179 he was caught up in a huge multi-car wreck that marked the end of his race. In November 2017 he had a tough race and finished 3 laps down in 27th. He made an unexpected pit stop on lap 68 for a vibration that dropped him two laps down and later he got lapped under green. Five laps before his problems started he was running in 15th. In spring 2017,  Johnson started in the rear of the field but raced his way to victory lane. Additionally he earned the 4th best driver rating, had a 10th place average running position and led 18 laps. His speed over long runs was his primary strength.

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