OK, practice and qualifying is over time to rank the drivers. Qualifying is important here, but not as important as it is at other short tracks. We’ll take into consideration practice, qualifying and past performance to rank them this week.

A List- 18, 11, 29, 99, 48, 24, 14, 17, 16, 22

Kyle didn’t look all that good in practice, but fear not the No. 18 should challenge for the win on Saturday night. His teammate Denny Hamlin looks like he’s ready to post his best finish of the year.

Kevin Harvick is fast and starts deep as usual. I expect a top 1o at least out of the No. 29 this week. Harvick is a top 10 machine here.

Carl Edwards looks stout once again, but I’d save him unless you’ve backed yourself into a corner this week. You will need your No. 99 starts for the intermediate tracks forthcoming. His Roush teammates are ok, nothing spectacular.

Tony Stewart has struggled on the short, flat tracks this year so I’ll wait on him to prove he’s stout on this type of track. He looks like a top 10 car and you could do a lot worse than Smoke.

B list- 33, 42, 39, 20, 88, 4, 31, 5, 56, 43, 00, 2, 9, 83, 1

All the RCR cars are pretty good this weekend, I see Bowyer as top 5 potential. Burton starts too deep for my liking but I expect a top 15-20th place finish from Jeff.

I was all set to start Newman and Bowyer, until Montoya grabbed the pole. I think it’s a great time to start Juan and save a Newman start. That #1 pit stall will come in real handy for the No. 42 team on Saturday.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.simply can’t qualify to save his life. I’d feel much more confident in using Junior if he would start in the top 10. I think had Junior listed as a top 10 car going into qualifying. I’ll bump him to 15th place car due to his poor qualifying effort.

Joey Logano is one of my dark horses. He’s building momentum slowly, and his teammates are really good here. Throw in a great qualfying effort and the No. 20 team makes for a good start saving option this week.

Kasey Kahne’s knee made me stay away from him this week. However, Kenny Francis has a great flat track program and I think Kahne makes for an intriguing sleeper option this week. Look for the No. 4 to come home around 15th.

My other sleeper option this week still is Martin Truex Jr. He has been fast all weekend and like Kahne, should be good for around a 15th-place finish. Martin is a high risk option but, those in salary cap leagues should pick Truex this weekend.

C List-27, 78, 6, 47, 13, 09, 7

Paul Menard’s stats aren’t good here and he was just mediocre in race trim. He’s gonna be the class of this list a lot so you have to decide if he’s worth using here this weekend, I don’t have him on my team so the choice is easy for me.

Regan Smith once again qualified up front, now can he finish near the front? I’d say anything more than a top 20 finish is wishful thinking. This is the same tire combo that was ran at Phoenix and Regan was fast there in race trim until he got caught up in a wreck.

David Ragan starts pretty deep and that doesn’t make me feel too confident about him. I’ll be looking for crew chief notes on him this week, but they always say they are good. I’m actually leaning towards gambling on Bobby Labonte and saving Ragan for another day.

Yahoo team 18, 33, 42, 47 over 11, 39, 88, 6 for now

Paythefan team 33, 11, 42, 88, 78, 13

Sleeper picks: Treux, Logano and Dale Jr.

Pick to win: hard to go against Kyle Busch, but I’ll go Clint Bowyer.

Good luck, FNPers!!!

Kyle Wiseman

 

Tags: B-list sleeper, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, fantasy nascar, Fantasy NASCAR Advice, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, NASCAR, Practice, Qualifying, sprint cup series, yahoo

This entry was posted on Friday, April 29th, 2011 at 7:13 pm and is filed under Fantasy NASCAR Driver Rankings, NASCAR Handicapping, NASCAR Practice Breakdowns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.