Phoenix (ISM Raceway) Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stops in Phoenix this weekend in between the Las Vegas and Fontana races as the West Coast Swing continues for 2019. Of course, the official name for this track is ISM Raceway, but nobody refers to it as that. Phoenix is a 1-mile flat track that compares most similarly to Richmond, and the races here in the desert are always fun to watch (at least in my opinion). One thing to note here is that green flag runs are a lot of laps, so simply looking at the practice charts is foolish; long-speed will be the most important thing on Sunday, with the team finding the best balance between short- and long-run speed probably having the best day. The schedule went as planned this weekend, with the first practice session and qualifying going down on Friday followed by two more practice sessions on Saturday. Ryan Blaney won the pole for Sunday’s Ticket Guardian 500, and the full starting lineup can be found by clicking here. You can find the practice speeds for each session here: Practice #2 — Happy Hour. You should also read our in-depth notes for each practice here: Practice #2 — Happy Hour. [themify_box ]Want to be a better fantasy racer? Get the ifantasyrace advantage and read all of our full, exclusive content. We offer tons of content every week to help you dominate your leagues, both season-long and DFS weekly. Click here to Join Now![/themify_box]

Final Top 25 Fantasy NASCAR Rankings for Phoenix

1. Kevin Harvick – Starts 8th – DraftKings Price: $12,800 – FanDuel Price: $14,500 – Slingshot Price: $12,900 From 2012 to 2016, Kevin Harvick was the master of ISM Raceway. It was to the point where we’d stop at that track, and he’s be a shoo-in for any Fantasy NASCAR roster. He was just that good. But something changed in the fall 2016 race, and in that race as well as the two events in 2017, we didn’t see Harvick lead a single lap at Phoenix. He was still top 5 good (he finished between 4th and 6th in all three of those races), but definitely not dominant. For comparison sake, the #4 car led 198.8 laps per race in the five events before that at this track. Harvick got back to his ‘normal’ ways last year, though, taking the checkered flag in the first race at Phoenix (38 laps led) and then leading 73 laps and finishing 5th in the fall race as he punched his ticket to Homestead. As far as this weekend goes, there’s no reason to not consider Harvick a race contender on Sunday. He had the 2nd-best ten-lap average in Practice #2 on Saturday and ranked 2nd-best on that chart in Happy Hour as well. He’s a great play in any Fantasy NASCAR format this weekend. 2. Kyle Busch – Starts 4th – DraftKings Price: $12,200 – FanDuel Price: $14,200 – Slingshot Price: $13,000 Finally is about the only word you can use to describe Kyle Busch at Phoenix–as in, he finally got to victory lane here last fall. Rowdy and Kevin Harvick have been head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field at this one-mile oval for what seems like ten years, although Busch was never able to get another win in the desert until last November. His last victory came during his rookie season in 2005. So it should be no surprise that the #18 Toyota and #4 Ford are the two cars to beat heading into Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500. Busch was 5th-fastest in Practice #2 on Saturday and ranked 4th-fastest in Happy Hour, all the while putting up the best and 6th-best ten-lap averages during those sessions (respectively). Kyle has six top 5 finishes in the last seven Phoenix races, and the only exception during that span was a 7th-place finish in 2017. Richmond is the most similar track to ISM Raceway and Rowdy swept the Cup Series races there last season. You can’t go wrong by picking the #18 Toyota this weekend. 3. Brad Keselowski – Starts 5th – DraftKings Price: $11,600 – FanDuel Price: $13,500 – Slingshot Price: $12,000 Why would you go against Penske Racing right now? Through the first three races of 2019, it’s becoming more and more apparent that they have something figured out now that no other organization does, and Brad Keselowski is at the forefront at that. If last week’s race at Las Vegas was a few laps longer, Brad would be rolling into Phoenix with two straight wins, but he’s stuck with the second best combination: a 1st and a 2nd. Here at Phoenix, Keselowski has had his ups and downs, but has never really been a true contender. With that being said, Kez did come home 2nd in last year’s fall race and led 44 laps between the two events here in 2018. Those were his first laps led at ISM Raceway since the 2015 season. This weekend, the Blue Deuce looks fast again, as Keselowski was 3rd-fastest in Practice #2 on Saturday and 6th-fastest in Happy Hour. He ranked 6th and 5th (respectively) on the ten-lap average chart during those sessions. Overall, I’m looking at Bad Brad as a solid top 10 threat for Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 but at the same time a top 5 finish wouldn’t surprise me one bit.