NASCAR: Richmond Fantasy Racing Picks
By Matt Lovisa
Fantasy racing players should gear up for another trip to a short track as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway.
NASCAR is headed to Richmond for the third short track this season. News during the week has been dominated by Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s announcement that he will retire at the end of the 2017 season. But as we inch closer to the green flag at Richmond, it’s time to start paying attention to your fantasy racing lineup.
The fantasy racing season has looked pretty similar over the past few races. Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. continue to put up big fantasy racing numbers. So does Chase Elliott and now with Jimmie Johnson’s back-to-back wins at Texas and Bristol, he is another driver to favor in a fantasy racing lineup moving forward.
Richmond is a different short track than the previous two on the schedule and this will be the third spring day race (second scheduled) in the past three years, providing a little bit more information as to who performs well during the daytime compared to the nighttime race in the fall.
Let’s take a look at six drivers to keep an eye on this weekend for your fantasy racing team.
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin
If you’re going to choose drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing, then start with these two. Busch will be on the top everyone’s list since he has an average finish of 4.3 in his last three races at Richmond. He led 78 laps and came within one corner of winning the race last spring.
Denny Hamlin is the most recent winner at Richmond, picking up the win last fall, and has led a total of 204 laps in his last four races there. In his last three races there, he has not finished worse than sixth place.
Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick
Joey Logano is the only driver in the last four races at Richmond to finish in the top ten in each race. Despite not earning a victory, he has led 119 laps during that stretch of time and finished inside the top five twice.
Harvick is the only driver in the last four races to finish inside the top five three times. He is tied with Joey Logano for scoring the most NASCAR points, 146, in the last four races at Richmond.
Next: NASCAR: Power Rankings – The Toyota Owners 400 From Richmond
Trevor Bayne and Cole Whitt as your sleeper picks
Bayne sits 13th in the point standings currently and despite only one top-ten finish this season, he could put in a nice fantasy racing points effort this weekend. Bayne finished 14th in the fall and 17th last spring at Richmond, and is coming off of an 11th place finish at Bristol. He also finished 13th at Martinsville.
Whitt finished 21st at Bristol and Martinsville after starting both races from the 31st position. Whitt is a nice option to earn some place differential points and has been running at the end of all but one race so far this season.