NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

 

We're back! We will be racing on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in three years, and it will be the inaugural race for the new Gen-7, aka Next Gen, car. We'll also be running a softer right-side tire similar to what was run at Pocono last weekend. The goal is to add more grip and more wear.

This weekend there we'll have a mix of 11 drivers who have never raced on the oval at Indy and 15 drivers entered in the Brickyard 400 that have won at least one of the Crown Jewel events in their careers. Denny Hamlin is hoping to add the final jewel to his crown on Sunday.

There are plenty of drivers looking at this race as an opportunity race to punch their ticket into the Playoffs, so Denny is going to have to earn it.

This Week's Pick Strategy: Teams will have to make one stop during each stage this week, so my focus will be on the driver/crew chief combos that love to implement bold strategies as well as drivers who are desperate to turn their seasons around. Since we'll also see some tire wear here, I wouldn't be surprised to see those drivers who are good at tire management show the rest of the field how it's done.

 

Top 5 Average Finishes at the Last Two Races on the Oval (2020 and 2019)
Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace    6.0
Tyler Reddick    8.0

Chase Elliott    10.0
Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell    12.0
Ty Dillon    13.5

 

The Likely Suspects: I expect these drivers to run well this weekend: Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is Tyler Reddick. My next picks are Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Busch. I will complete my roster with Todd Gilliland and AJ Allmendinger.

My Final Four: Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, and Todd Gilliland.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Alex Bowman. Alex is pretty decent with tire management and that No. 48 is fast this weekend. Alex was the fastest of all four Hendrick Motorsports cars in practice. Another plus is Alex had a great run at Pocono Raceway (third) last week, and Pocono and Indy share some similarities. 

Points to Ponder:

• Jimmie Johnson (2008-09) and Kyle Busch (2015-16) are the only two drivers to win consecutive Monster Energy Series races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• The first starting position is the most proficient starting position in the field, producing more winners (five) than any other starting position at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series – a 18.52% winning percentage. The third starting position has produced three wins with a 11.11% winning percentage.
• Hendrick Motorsports leads the series in wins at Indianapolis in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with 10, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing (five) and Stewart-Haas (three).
• Joey Logano and Kyle Busch lead all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in runner-up finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with four. Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers in Top 5s with six. 
• Kyle Busch leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in top-10 finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with 12.
• Joey Logano leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in average finishing position at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a 10.833 in 12 starts.
  

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your final picks by 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 21st. 

 

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 17 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.