NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Down and Dirty at Bristol Motor Speedway

 

Last week, William Byron snapped the seven-different-winners streak at Martinsville Speedway. There's a good chance that we'll see another repeat winner this week, perhaps Kyle Larson or maybe Chase Briscoe. Of course, someone like Tyler Reddick, Justin Haley, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, Ty Dillon, or Christopher Bell could quite easily change that story line. Stay tuned.

 

This Week's Pick Strategy:  

I don't think it's a given that a dirt racer will win on Sunday. I'm going to weigh the two practices pretty heavily when I make my picks. Then I'll cross reference who was fast and who has dirt experience and then fill in with non-dirt racers who seem to enjoy the experience. My goal will be to have two dirt races and two drivers attuned to traditional track surfaces.

NASCAR Cup Series Drivers' Points for recent races at Bristol Motor Speedway

Last 2 Races

1. Kevin Harvick 102

2. Kyle Busch         75

3. Chase Elliott 74

4. Ryan Blaney                  67

5. Alex Bowman 65

    Erik Jones         65

7. Denny Hamlin 63

8. Joey Logano 61

9. Tyler Reddick 60

10. Kyle Larson 59

  
Last 3 Races

1. Kevin Harvick            141

2. Kyle Busch                114

3. Chase Elliott            109

4. Brad Keselowski      103

5. Erik Jones                100

6. Denny Hamlin              95

7. Joey Logano                 90

8. Kurt Busch                    81

9. William Byron              79

     Austin Dillon                79

SOURCE: racing-reference.info

Last Year's Pole Winner: Kyle Larson (Set by Metric Qualifying due to weather)

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Joey Logano

The Likely Suspects:  I'll be focusing on these drivers: Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, and Tyler Reddick. 

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick is Kyle Larson. My next choices are Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Chase Briscoe. I'll complete my roster with Justin Haley and Ty Dillon.

My Final Four: Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Ty Dillon.

Points to Ponder:

• The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt produced five lead changes among five different leaders.
• Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps in last year's dirt race with 126, followed by race- winner Joey Logano with 61, Daniel Suarez with 58, Kyle Busch with seven, and Denny Hamlin with one.
  
• The Top 5 in last year's dirt race at Bristol were: Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman. Last week's race winner William Byron finished sixth. Rounding out the Top 10 were Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Chase Elliott. 
• In last year's race, Joey Logano's margin of victory was 0.554 seconds over Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Four NASCAR Cup Series drivers will be getting a little more seat time on the dirt. Chase Elliott, Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, and Joey Logano will be running in the the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt track on Saturday night.  

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game and are using an eight driver entry form, make your initial picks by 8 a.m. ET on Saturday, April 16th and your final four by 7 p.m. ET on race day, Sunday, April 17th.

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 16 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