2. Regan Smith- 78 team was very impressive in the Daytona 500. Three year average finish here is 27.0 with no top 10′s in 5 starts. Last year Regan finished 23rd and 26th.
3. Paul Menard- Paul was very consistent here last year. Bad news is that he finished 29th both times at Phoenix. In last 3 years Paul’s average finish is 26.2 with no top 1o’s in 6 starts at the desert. Menard will be much more useful on other tracks. You won’t see the 27 on my team this week.
4. Bobby Labonte-Bobby needs to show me something on a non plate track before he makes my team. Three year average is 24.3 with no top 10′s in 6 starts. Has Frankie Kerr who was impressive with Marcos Ambrose last year so could surprise. Question is was it Kerr’s setup or Ambrose’s driving?
5. Trevor Bayne- I can hear the masses now. Where’s the 21? Let’s not crown him the Sprint Cup Champion yet. Very talented young man who raced the race of his life last week. Phoenix is a tricky track and I’ll let Mr. Bayne get some more experience at the desert before I use him. Tough track for rookies to conquer. His average here is 20th in 3 starts in the Nationwide Series with a best finish of 14th last fall.
6. Casey Mears- I doubt many will look this deep but if you want to save Ragan and Regan I like Mears as a deep sleeper. He will have to race his way in, but there’s only 45 cars on the entry list. Last 3 years here he has a 23.6 average finish with no top 10′s in 5 races. Finished 24th in his lone start at the desert last year which will be tough to repeat, especially if his engine only lasts a few laps again.
7. Robby Gordon- Robby had a good run in the 500. Three year average is 27.5 with no top 10′s. Don’t expect too much out of Robby this weekend.
8. Bill Elliott- Awesome Bill has only raced here twice in the last 6 races and finished 31st and 29th. Not too awesome. Bill shouldn’t be on any teams this weekend.
Kyle Wiseman
Sure did not take long for Trevor Bayne to kill the 21 car early in practice. Even though he sid he knew something was amiss with the brakes. “not working right”. Brake pressure and locked up brakes were his clues. Perhaps this is where experience shows. Good kid said he really hates to ruin a racecar. Refreshing since others just shrug it off as if they dont care.
Now #78 has fire around brakes. 6 piston calipers,2” pads are needed big time at Phoenix.
they run lots of calipher..just a tuff braking track.
[...] Phoenix Fantasy NASCAR Driver Rankings – Kyle Wiseman [...]
Man you guys are on it. You are correct Paul i fixed it. I swear i thought it was his lone start but he has 3 starts. Good catch and thanks Paul.
average is 20th in 3starts not that impressive.
Correction Trevor Bayne finished 14th at Phoenix in the Nationwide race last fall on the lead lap.
I guess because Bobby used to drive the 43 and now drives 47 my brain got confused.
Great write-up…Bobby is actually for JTG Daugherty Racing (this year), but yes, they are a satellite program for MWR. hopefully he can get a W this year, he’s long overdue and has some Daytona Mo. He will most likely be on my PIR roster. Thanks, Bobby Lobotomy
Thanks for that
i like you rankigs for this race kwise, just wanted to let you know though, that Labonte isn’t with RPM, he’s with MWR…lol