NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

 

It sure was fun watching Kurt Busch punch his ticket into the Playoffs. What an emotional win. Now here we are at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a track where Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, both winless so far this season, are masters. Will we see one of them in Victory Lane? A repeat winner like someone from Team Penske or Joe Gibbs Racing? Or a surprise winner? Stay tuned.

 

This week's pick strategy: I'm hedging my bets this weekend. I'm pretty sure that we'll have a repeat winner on Sunday. Since Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch are starting on the front row and we see a lot of winners from there at this track I'll be looking at those drivers. I will also be seriously focusing on the Team Penske camp and you can never count out Denny Hamlin here.

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

By Race

Kevin Harvick - 5

All with 4 - Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr.

All with 3 - Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman

By Track

Both with 6 - Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr.

All with 5 - Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch

Denny Hamlin - 4

Top 10 Driver Ratings at New Hampshire
Denny Hamlin........................... 104.5
Brad Keselowski........................ 100.9
Kyle Busch............................... 100.0
Kevin Harvick.............................. 98.8
Martin Truex Jr........................... 95.5
Chase Elliott............................... 91.1
Kurt Busch.................................. 89.3
Kyle Larson................................ 87.9
Ryan Newman............................ 87.3
Ryan Blaney............................... 86.8
Cole Custer................................ 85.5
Joey Logano............................... 83.2

SOURCE: NASCAR Media
Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2020 races (29 total) among active drivers at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Brad Keselowski

My No-Brainer Pick: Martin Truex Jr.

My Final Four: Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver and last week's second-look driver are one and the same, Matt DiBenedetto. Matt finished sixth here last year in the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang for Wood Brothers Racing and fifth in 2019 driving for Leavine Family Racing. “New Hampshire is a place I always have circled off as being excited to go to,” he said. “I love the low downforce/high horsepower races the most. It fits my driving style for sure. Our cars have been strong there so I’m excited to see if we can go contend for the win.” It doesn't hurt that Matt has added incentive to race well this weekend courtesy of fiinding out that he would be losing his seat for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season with the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to Harrison Burton. 

 

Matty D. had another great race weekend at Atlanta last weekend. The No. 21 Menards/ Quaker State team started the race in 12th and came away with a ninth-place finish. It was Matt's fifth Top 10 of the 2021 season and second in a row, the first being a 10^th-place at Road America the week before. “This is another good example of where we’re really clicking as a team and executing,” he said, adding that the over-the-wall crew had another great afternoon. I think everybody just did a good job."

Points to Ponder:

• The first starting position is the most prolific starting position in the field, producing more winners (six) than any other starting position at New Hampshire.   
• Five different manufacturers have won at New Hampshire in the Cup Series led by Chevrolet with 19 victories, followed by Ford with 16 and Toyota with nine.
• Six of the 49 (12.2%) NASCAR Cup Series races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway have been won from the first starting position, the most recent was Kyle Busch in 2017.
• Sen of the 24 NASCAR Cup Series New Hampshire winners are active this weekend: Kevin Harvick with four, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman with three each, and Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski with two each,.
• Joe Gibbs Racing leads the series in wins at New Hampshire in the NASCAR Cup Series with 11 victories.
• Among active drivers, Denny Hamlin leads the series in runner-up finishes at New Hampshire with six.
• Kevin Harvick leads all active drivers in Top 5s at New Hampshire with 13 as well as in Top 10s with 21.
  
• Kyle Busch leads all active drivers in laps led at New Hampshire with 1,128 laps led in 30 starts.  

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your picks by 3 p.m. ET on race day Sunday, July 18th..

Enjoy the race!

Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 15 years. She launched NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pores through statistics and combs through her personal notebooks to arm fans with analysis and picking strategies that will leave their friends wondering how they got so smart. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. She is also part of the distinguished NASCAR Expert Picks panel at frcs.pro. formerly called Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet.

When she isn’t wielding her fantasy-racing superpowers, you’ll find Carol hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat, or executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.