Auto Club Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions
Auto Club Speedway is the site of this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, and it’s the first event on a 2-mile track for the 2019 season. There are only two tracks on the schedule that are 2 miles in length, and those are Auto Club and Michigan. In other words, if you’re looking for a similar track to research, look at the recent Michigan races. Typically the same drivers that do well there do well here at Fontana–which is what I often refer to Auto Club Speedway as, since it is located in Fontana, California (and less to type–ha!). Another great thing of this event is that drivers get to know more about their cars, how they function and how to maintain properly, they get to see how they can use abs plastic repair to fix their cars since racing cars have a lot of parts that are made out of hard plastic.
Austin Dillon “won” the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 400, as nobody completed a lap in the final round of qualifying and he was the fastest car in the second round. The full starting lineup can be found by clicking here. You can find the practice speeds for Saturday’s two practice sessions here: Practice #2 — Happy Hour. You should also read our in-depth notes for each practice here: Practice #2 — Happy Hour.
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Final Top 25 Fantasy NASCAR Rankings for Auto Club
1. Kyle Busch – Starts 4th – DraftKings Price: $12,600 – FanDuel Price: $14,800 – Slingshot Price: $12,700
No matter how you look at the numbers this weekend, Kyle Busch is #1. Looking specifically at the 2-mile race tracks last season, Rowdy was the best: 5.7 average running position and a 3.3 average finish. Running that span over the last two years and once again, Kyle Busch is the best, with an average running position and finish of 5.8 at Fontana and Michigan. This weekend, the #18 Toyota ended up 4th in that wacky qualifying session on Friday and then Kyle ended up 2nd-fastest in Practice #2 with the best 15-lap average. In Happy Hour, he was 11th-fastest with the 6th-best ten-lap average. Momentum-wise, Busch hasn’t finished worse than 6th this year and is coming off of a dominating win at Phoenix. He’s going to be a contender in the Auto Club 400 on Sunday. He won here back in 2005, 2013, and 2014, and currently has five results of 3rd or better in his last seven Fontana starts (remember, Kyle missed the 2015 race due to injury). You can’t go wrong with Rowdy this weekend.
2. Joey Logano – Starts 5th – DraftKings Price: $10,400 – FanDuel Price: $12,800 – Slingshot Price: $11,400
You really can’t go wrong with the Penske Fords this weekend. I’m putting Joey Logano ahead of Brad Keselowski heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400, but the only reason for that is because Logano qualified a little better than Kez. Other than that, I feel like the #2 and #22 Fords have very similar speed and are more than capable of coming home with a victory on Sunday. Looking specifically at Logano, he’s currently on a three-race streak of top 5 finishes here at Fontana and has ended up 7th or better in five of his last six starts here. He was 6th-fastest in both practice sessions here on Saturday and ended up with the best 20-lap average in Happy Hour. Finally, Joey ranked 4th-best in average running position (9.0) on the 2-mile tracks last season, and 4th-best in average finish (7.3). He’s a great Fantasy NASCAR pick all around.
3. Brad Keselowski – Starts 13th – DraftKings Price: $11,500 – FanDuel Price: $13,200 – Slingshot Price: $12,200
As I mentioned before, all three Penske cars are solid Fantasy NASCAR picks on Sunday. And as far as Brad Keselowski goes, I’d probably have him ranked P1 if he didn’t start back in 13th. Now, I don’t have a lot of concern with that qualifying spot, but his pit stall could cause some issues, as Keselowski will be pitting behind Bubba Wallace on Sunday, and Bubba has Kyle Larson in front of him. I just think we could see some issues there. With that being said, the #2 Ford is super fast once again this weekend and a true race contender. Keselowski was 3rd-fastest in Practice #2 on Saturday and had the best ten-lap average as well, and then during Happy Hour he ranked 1st and 3rd on those two charts (respectively). His 20-lap average also ranked 2nd-best in that final practice session. BK won here at Fontana back in 2015 and hasn’t finished worse than 9th since. I don’t expect that to change this weekend.
