NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire

Drivers with Most Top 10s (Last 5 Years):

By Race

Both with 4 - Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch
All with 3 - Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch

By Track

Kyle Busch - 7
All with 6 -  Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano
All with 5 - Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson

Recent Pole Winners:  

2018 Kurt Busch
2017 Martin Truex Jr.

Last Year's Race Winner: Kevin Harvick

The Likely Suspects: This flat track is a favorite with these New Hampshire masters: Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is Denny Hamlin. My next picks are Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney and Jimmie Johnson. I will complete my team with  Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell.

My Final Four: Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Chris Buescher.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver was also last week's second-look driver: William Byron. William races well at short, flat tracks and he has momentum on his side. He had an up and down day at Kentucky last week. He started in 12th, but the No. 24 team used pit strategy and couple times during the race. In the final stage this strategy had William lining up in fourth, but he quickly raced to the second position to contend for first. After a caution, a restart violation had him serving a pass-through penalty that he never did completely recover from. He ultimately finished in 18th.

Points to Ponder:

• Ryan Newman leads the series in poles at New Hampshire with seven.
• Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman lead all active drivers in wins at New Hampshire with three each.
• The first starting position is the most proficient starting position in the field, producing more winners (six) than any other starting position at New Hampshire.   
• Joe Gibbs Racing lead the series in wins at New Hampshire in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with 11 victories.
• Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch lead all active drivers in runner-up finishes at New Hampshire with four each. 
• Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch lead all active drivers in top fives at New Hampshire with 11 each.
• Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers in top-10 finishes at New Hampshire with 22
• Denny Hamlin leads Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in average finishing position at New Hampshire with a 10.2 in 25 starts.  
• Kyle Busch leads all active drivers in laps led at New Hampshire with 1,010 laps led in 29 starts.  

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your picks by 8 a.m. ET on Friday, July 19th, and your final picks by 3 p.m. ET on race day Sunday, July 21st.

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D’Agostino wields fantasy-racing superpowers. Each week, Carol researches statistics and combs through her personal racing notes to provide fans with fantasy racing advice at NASCAR Fantasy Fusion, a column she has written for Skirts & Scuffs since October 2011. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway, and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. This year she joins the NASCAR Expert Picks panel at

Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet When she isn’t crunching numbers, you’ll find Carol in business meetings or hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat.