NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville

 

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

Brad Keselowski - 5
All with 4 - Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, and Kurt Busch

All with 3 - Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Kevin Harvick 
All with 2 - Alex Bowman, Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott, and William Byron

By Track
Brad Keselowski -9
All with 8 - Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.
Chase Elliott - 7

Both with 6- Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney
Both with 5 - Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch

Last Year's Race Winner: Alex Bowman

 

The Likely Suspects: My Martinsville elite drivers include Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr.

My Two Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is Denny Hamlin. My next picks are Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Austin Dillon. I will round out my roster with Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

My Final Four: Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, William Byron, and Erik Jones

Second-Look Driver: My second-look driver is Ryan Blaney. All eyes may be on Denny Hamlin this weekend, but don't underestimate the No. 12 car of Ryan Blaney at Martinsville. Ryan has made 13 series starts at Martinsville Speedway posting 6 Top 5s and seven Top 10s. He leads all eight remaining Playoff contenders in average finish at Martinsville with a 10.2, and he finished fourth there earlier this season.

Points to Ponder:

• 36 of the 142 (25.17%) NASCAR Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway have been won from the front row: 21 from the first starting position and 15 from the second starting position.
• Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Martinsville Speedway with 27 victories. Joe Gibbs Racing ranks second with 13.
• Eight of the 57 NASCAR Cup Series Martinsville Speedway race winners are active this weekend: Denny Hamlin (5 wins), Martin Truex Jr. (3 wins), Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch (both with 2), and William Byron, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick (each with one win).
  
• Martin Truex Jr. is the most recent driver to win consecutive races at Martinsville (2019 Playoff race / spring of 2020). 
• Among active drivers, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are tied in runner-up finishes with four.
• Kyle Busch leads all active Cup drivers with 16 Top 5 finishes each at Martinsville Speedway. 
• Denny Hamlin leads all active Cup drivers in top 10s at Martinsville with 22, followed by Kyle Busch with 21, and Kevin Harvick with 20. 
• Ryan Blaney (14 starts) leads the NASCAR Cup Series among active drivers in average finishing positions at Martinsville Speedway with an 10.231, followed by Denny Hamlin with a 10.697 (34 starts). 
• Denny Hamlin leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in laps led at Martinsville Speedway with 1,884 laps led in 32 starts. 
  

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your initial picks by 8 a.m. on Saturday, October 29th and your final picks by 2 p.m. ET on race day Sunday, October 30th.

 

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