Spotter's Call - Texas Motor Speedway

Spotter's Call archive for Texas Motor Speedway. Fantasy NASCAR information we believe to be helpful to our subscribers to stay on top of their fantasy NASCAR game.

Archive of Spotter's Calls for Texas Motor Speedway

Dust off Denny Hamlin this weekend at Texas

Denny Hamlin had his emotional meltdown about 353 days from today. November 14th, 2010 at Phoenix International he dominated the race, led 190 laps and surely had the win in his grasp almost assuredly guaranteeing himself the Sprint Cup Championship. Then it all went wrong. He had to come in for fuel and finished 12th. Few foresaw the struggles he would have in 2011. Finally, Hamlin is stringing together some consistent finishes. His first string of three were 7th, 8th and 9th (races 24 - 26). Now, Hamlin has strung three more together with finishes of 9th, 8th and 5th these last three. Those finishes are also moving in the right direction! Denny finished 15th at Texas in the spring race. He swept both races in 2010 with wins. He finished 2nd in the fall race of 2009. Hamlin's career average finish at Texas is 9th and his average Loop Data driver rating is 97.8. Both excellent numbers. If you are out of starts for Kenseth and Edwards this weekend you might do well to use one of your (probably) many allocations left of Hamlin. This race could be his again.

Posted on 11/02/2011 10:03 PM

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Jeff Burton could be your extra bullet in the gun at Texas

Just how miserable has the 2011 season been for Jeff Burton? Well, it took him 22 races before he got his first top-10. His average finish up to and including that 9th place finish at Watkins Glen was 20.8. The 11 races since then Burton is now averaging 14.5. Over the last five races (a reasonable time to look at momentum) Jeff is averaging 11.6. His last two finishes have been 2nd at Talladega and 6th at Martinsville. Jeff finished 11th at Texas in the spring race and 13th at Atlanta (another fast cookie-cutter like Texas) in September. Since (and including) his win at Texas in 2007 Jeff has an average finish here of 11.4. His median during that time is 9th. It might be fair to say that Jeff Burton has fallen off many fantasy NASCAR players radar this year. With just three races to go in the season a bold move to make that could catch other players off guard is using Jeff this weekend with the hopes of cashing in on his momentum and race history.

Posted on 11/02/2011 10:05 PM

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Marcos Ambrose is viable dark horse pick for Texas Motor Speedway

Of the ten tracks on the NASCAR schedule that NASCAR designates as intermediate (oval greater than 1 mile, but less than 2 miles) tracks, Texas Motor Speedway is about 3rd for Marcos Ambrose in the success category. He has 6 career races here with 1 (17%) top-10, 3 (50%) top-15 and 4 (67%) top-20. His best finish here is 6th which he earned in the spring race this year. Ambrose was solid all night with an Average Running Position of 7th and running in the top-15 99.7% of the race. Marcos has 1 top-5, 2 top-10's and 3 top-20 finishes at the four intermediate tracks during the Chase. Ambrose has an average finish position at Texas of 18.2 over the last five and 11.6 over the last three. If you are running short of quality drivers in your B- or C-groups (or where ever the Aussie falls in your particular game) then Texas could be a good place to use him. Fantasy NASCAR expert Ryan Rantz considers him a viable dark horse pick which in our book is reason enough to include him on our fantasy team.

Posted on 11/01/2011 10:49 AM

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Clint Bowyer represented Chevrolet nicely among the Fords at Texas

Clint Bowyer was the fly-in-the-ointment for the Fords in the spring race at Texas. While Roush Fenway drivers certainly held 80% of the top honors it was Clint Bowyer that ran nose-to-nose with them. Bowyer had the 2nd highest Loop Data Driver Rating of the night with a 123.6. His Average Running Position of 3rd was due to his running 100% of the race in the top-15, an accomplishment only matched by Carl Edwards that night. Clint has been hit-or-miss during the Chase on intermediate tracks (Charlotte 24th, Kansas 7th, Loudon 26th, Chicago 7th) although his momentum over the last five races is a solid 11.8 average finish which includes 1 win, 3 top-10's and 4 top-20's. If RCR gives the soon-to-be-departing driver a capable car this weekend the driver is certainly capable of earning your fantasy NASCAR team good points.

Posted on 11/01/2011 10:25 AM

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Roush Fenway Racing dominated Texas in the spring

It was almost seven long months ago that the NASCAR Cup Series raced at Texas Motor Speedway. In case you've forgotten, Roush Fenway drivers dominated the race that Saturday night. Jack's four Fords earned four of the top-5 Loop Data driver ratings: Kenseth (144.7), Edwards (116.0), Ragan (115.5) and Biffle (111.7). We saw a lot of them on camera as well as they all also held four of the top-5 Average Running Position spots: Kenseth (2nd), Ragan (5th), Edwards (6th), and Biffle (7th). The way that the Fords have run this year on the 1 1/2 milers your fantasy NASCAR line-up should be chock full of Fords.

Posted on 11/01/2011 10:11 AM

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Matt Kenseth is Mr. Consistency at Texas

Except for a couple minor blemishes Matt Kenseth is by far a model of consistently good finishes at Texas Motor Speedway. No matter how you slice it Kenseth's record at Texas points to a strong finish this weekend and many points for his Chase hopes and fantasy NASCAR owners alike. Over his career of 18 races at TMS Kenseth has 2 wins, 9 top-5's, 12 top-10's and 17 top-20's. His career average finish is 9th and his median is 5.5. Matt is not a big lap-leader here (except for his run here this spring where he led 169 of them).

Posted on 11/01/2011 9:58 AM

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