Excitement For A Boring Race
Congratulations to Trevor Bayne on winning the Daytona 500 in only his second career Sprint Cup start. It added excitement to an otherwise boring and crash filled race. I still hope NASCAR can come up with a solution to the two-car drafts before they return to Daytona in July.
This week the series heads to Phoenix International Raceway for the running of the Subway Fresh Fit 500. Many of the teams who were struck with adversity at Daytona will be looking to rebound this week on the short-track at Phoenix. That means all new cars and a totally different type of racing is on hand for everyone.
Subway Fresh Fit 500
Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie hasn’t finished out of the top 5 at Phoenix since April of 2006. He has won four of the nine races run since then and will be the driver to beat this coming weekend as he tries to get back in the hunt for his 6th straight Sprint Cup championship.
Carl Edwards: Carl won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix last November during the Chase and will be trying to take over the point lead this weekend. He really has a handle on racing on the short tracks at this point of his career and should be a contender once again.
Ryan Newman: Ryan won the Spring race here last season and then followed that up with a 2nd place finish last fall. He was looking good for most of the race last weekend until he got caught up in a couple of late race accidents.
Mark Martin: Mark has finished in the top 10 in all 4 races he has run at Phoenix since joining Hendrick Motorsports. This includes a win in the spring race of 2009 at Phoenix. Mark is trying to win his first Sprint Cup championship in an otherwise illustrious career.
Greg Biffle: Greg has had a lot of bad luck at Phoenix through the years. He has put himself in position to win this race on multiple occasions only to have something go wrong in the pits towards the end of the race. If this team can avoid those mistakes he should be a contender once again.
Kurt Busch: Kurt is very good at Phoenix as he is on all of the short tracks on the circuit. He won a race here while with Roush Racing and has been very good recently with his Penske team here. He will have himself in a position to come away with another victory this weekend.
Kevin Harvick: Kevin was very disappointed last week when he lost his motor early in the Great American Race at Daytona. He will be looking to rebound this week with a strong run at Phoenix. He swept the races here back in the 2006 season and he could come away with his first win of the season this weekend.
Yahoo Picks for Phoenix
Yahoo Group A
- Jimmie Johnson
- Carl Edwards
Yahoo Group B
- Ryan Newman
- Mark Martin
- Clint Bowyer
- Jeff Burton
Yahoo Group C
Top 5 Overall at Phoenix
- Jimmie Johnson
- Carl Edwards
- Kurt Busch
- Ryan Newman
- Mark Martin
Dark Horse: Bobby Labonte
Stay Away From: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
you state that edwards will be trying to take over the points lead this week. he’s in the lead already! pay attention to the scoring and the rules this year. there were 5 drivers who did not score points at daytona because they did not declare the cup series as the one to be scored in. you are clueless and should not even be on the web. darren is right about you. you deserve to get blasted with the missinfo you are putting out. DO YOUR HOMEWORK ALREADY! you are an embarassment to the sport. later.
doug – I must clarify the context of my words you reference about ‘blasting Jeff’. I was at the race and thought it was super exciting! So, I was taking exception with his statement of it being, “…an otherwise boring [race]“. Not having seen it on tv yet I was curious about how other viewers thought of the race…since I have heard both positive and negative.
I read Jeff’s preview before it was posted and didn’t catch the Edwards faux pas. Sorry we are ‘clueless’ and ‘an embarrassment to the sport’.
Thanks for your passion and opinion. All views are welcome here.
i was basically just busting balls. i apologize for that. you guys do a great job. keep up the good work. love your website. thanks guys.
doug….are you bi-polar? Is this your ‘good’ twin that has now responded? I’m gonna start referring to you as ‘good’ doug and ‘evil’ doug…bwahahahhaa.
I’m new to fantasy as of last year, I married last February and my wife’s family is huge into the sport. I had always watched but I decided to join a pool with her father, two uncles, and their friends. I finished 4th out of 12 which wasn’t bad although this year we are doing it through the live fantasy at nascar.com where you receive 100 dollars to split among five drivers per week. Last week I had Bayne, Stewart, Newman, Gordon, and Martin which put me in first at 224pts, 2nd is at 205, and 3rd is at 159. I don’t know that this is a very comfortable lead is it?? This week I have Newman, Martin, Johnson, Hamlin, and Bayne so far. Being new to this method what is the best way to split the cost of the drivers (i.e two top, two middle, and one bottom driver?) also, is starting position an important factor at Phoenix being a short flat track? Any help or strategy would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks!!! Sorry for the long post…
Josh, first I want to congratulate you on your nuptials from last season and welcome you to the world of fantasy racing. The season is 36 races long so there is no safe point lead this early in the year. You will find that you along with the drivers will have your ups and downs as the season goes. One of your drivers will be contending for a win for most of the race and then he will either blow an engine, have a major miscue on pit road or get caught up in an accident.
Last week’s race was a restrictor plate race. There are only 4 of them on the schedule. Two at Daytona and two at Talladega. There are 2 road course races where the drivers go left and right. There are a few 2 mile tracks like Michigan, Pocono and California. The rest of the races are made of of intermediate tacks which are 1.5 miles and short tracks which are anywhere from one-half mile to 1.5 miles.
Everyone of these tracks use different chassis’ and set ups and some drivers are better on one configuration compared to others. To answer your main question, I like your lineup for the most part. The only question is Trevor Bayne. He is only 20 years old and has started 2 Sprint Cup races in his life. Every driver who makes it to the Sprint Cup series has a lot of talent but I really don’t know how he will run on a short track at this level.
I don’t know who else you could get for the money you have left as I don’t play in that particular fantasy league. There might not be anyone else any better for your final spot without revamping your entire lineup.
Don’t be afraid to ask anymore questions at anytime. If there is anything else you need clarified about your question let us know as soon as possible. We at fantasyracingcheatsheet.com are more than willing to help anyone the best we can every week. Keep checking back with us on a weekly basis and good luck with your league!
@Josh
Welcome to the world of fantasy NASCAR!
The NASCAR Live game is very tricky. I am just grasping it better with two races in the books. Make sure you really comprehend the scoring method they’re using.
Your group of 5 drivers are scored on: Finish Position (you score same points as your driver), Pass Differential (How many times they were passed compared to how many passes they made. This can end up giving you negative points), Place Differential (Where they started compared to where they finish. Example: If Jimmie Johnson qualified 7th but finished 1st, his place differential would be +6, and he would earn 6 points. This can end up giving you negative points), Laps Led (Total number of laps led divided by 2. Example: If Carl Edwards lead 65 laps, he would earn 32.5 points.), Fastest Laps (Total number of fastest laps divided by 2. Example: If Denny Hamlin recorded 50 fastest laps, he would earn 25 points.)
I think their scoreboard is a little jacked up because on our league I can’t look at previous weeks performance. It just shows me the same thing. But, there is another scoreboard after the race that breaks down how your team of drivers scored in each category.
One point of strategy I used for Phoenix was to have Johnson on my team. He started 28? 29? but I was confident he would move up. He did and I scored good points on him in the Place & Pass metrics.
Some of the loop data stats on the site could be helpful for this. I’ll post any more thoughts I have on strategy and see if we can’t get others to join in as well.
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