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2019 First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway Fantasy Picks

The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues down its home stretch, and as we head back to Martinsville Speedway this weekend, just four races remain. Sunday’s First Data 500 is the first race of the Round of 8 of the playoffs, and it is also the final short track event of the year. From a fantasy standpoint, short tracks can offer the opportunity to be a little more creative your lineups, but you probably won’t want to stray as far from the big names this weekend as you would at Bristol or Richmond. There has been a small group of drivers who have put together dominant stretches at Martinsville, and I plan to lean on them heavily this weekend. The good news for fantasy owners, at least for the Fantasy Live contest, is that a couple of those Martinsville studs were eliminated from the playoffs last weekend at Kansas. With Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer now a part of the non-playoff pool drivers, you should be able to assemble a powerhouse lineup for Sunday’s race. Unless you are desperate to make up ground in your league and need to take some chances, I recommend sticking with the proven plays this weekend. Depending on how you have been allocating your starts, things could be a little bit trickier in the Driver Group Game. If you have guys like Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney at your disposal, then I recommend using them Sunday, even if you are down to your final starts. On the flip side, I do think you can use Martinsville as an opportunity to save a start from Group C studs Chris Buescher and Matt DiBenedetto. For Slingshot Fantasy Auto, I valued past Martinsville success over pure place differential upside. Obviously, drivers who check both boxes jump to the top of the list, but I’d rather give up a few differential points to own a proven Martinsville stud. Of course, a major curveball could be coming if several drivers fail post-qualifying inspection. A driver with average numbers here becomes a lot more appealing if they are starting outside the Top 30. Make sure to check back Sunday for any updated picks after the starting lineup becomes official, but in the meantime, here are my preliminary Fantasy NASCAR season-long lineups for the First Data 500 at Martinsville. Join FullTime Fantasy for top advice in the industry from check-cashing, proven winners! NASCAR.com Fantasy Live Kyle Busch (Playoff) Since the start of the 2015 season, Busch has cracked the Top 5 in all nine of his starts at Martinsville, picking up a pair of wins and leading more laps than any other driver. Since NASCAR introduced stage racing, he has collected points in nine of the 10 at Martinsville, and his 68 total stage points in those races are the second most in the series. Starting 13th with a car that showed Top 5 speed in practice, this is a no-brainer pick. Denny Hamlin (Playoff) The five-time Martinsville winner has been knocking on the door of another win at the track. He was the runner-up in the fall race last year, finishing first and second in the two stages, and he finished fifth here in the spring, finishing fourth and third in the two stages. Hamlin ranks third with 60 total stage points at Martinsville, earning points in eight of the 10 segments. On the provisional pole, he’s a must-own option. Brad Keselowski (Non-Playoff) Keselowski won’t be winning a championship this year, but he can definitely help you win your fantasy league title. He has eight Top 10s and seven Top 5s in his last nine starts at Martinsville, and his 72 stage points and four stage wins here are the most in the series. Keselowski clobbered the field in the spring race at Martinsville, leading 446 of the 500 laps while sweeping both stage and winning the race. He is the top non-playoff option available, but if you want to fade the chalk to try to gain some ground, Erik Jones looked surprisingly stout in practice. Clint Bowyer (Non-Playoff) I won’t blame anyone who wants to stay on the Jimmie Johnson bandwagon this weekend, but I think Bowyer is the better play. He’s an excellent short track driver, and he has finished seventh or better in four of his five starts at Martinsville with Stewart-Haas Racing, winning the spring race in 2018. More importantly, Bowyer has earned points in eight of the 10 stages here, including both stages in this year’s spring race. Meanwhile, his 36 total stage points at Martinsville rank second among non-playoff options and are 16 more than the next closet driver. He had arguably the fastest car in practice Saturday and qualified seventh. I love him this weekend. Garage Driver – Chase Elliott (Playoff) He’s come close to winning at Martinsville on a couple of occasions, and he was the runner-up back in the spring race, finishing second and fourth in the two stages. He has earned points in seven of the 10 stages here, and his 47 total stage points rank fifth. If you are looking for alternatives, Martin Truex Jr. is always a high-floor, high-upside option, and Ryan Blaney is my favorite contrarian. Blaney has earned points in nine of the 10 stages at Martinsville, and he ranks fourth with 55 total stage points earned. Yes, he’s starting in the back after losing an engine in practice, but he had one of the strongest cars in Happy Hour. Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Driver Group Game Kyle Busch (A) His consistency at Martinsville has been in a league of its own, and Busch has reeled off eight straight Top 5s at the track, winning twice and posting a 2.9 average finish in that stretch. His 68 stage points at Martinsville rank second overall, and he has earned points in all but one segment here. This is my final start from Busch, but I believe this is the best remaining track to

2019 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway Fantasy Picks

The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is winding down, and if you play season-long Fantasy NASCAR contests, the finish line is starting to come into view. Before we get there, we have one huge hurdle left to deal with, and it comes this weekend in the form of Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR’s biggest track will host Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500, the fourth and final superspeedway race of the year. No type of track levels the playing field and creates chaos quite like a superspeedway, and unfortunately for fantasy owners, there is now way to construct a lineup that is immune to the wreck-inducing, running order-jumbling pack racing that has come to define Daytona and Talladega. Aside from having luck on your side, there are strategies that can help you minimize the potential damage to your fantasy teams this weekend. It starts with understanding the scoring system in each of your leagues and your position within the standings of each league. Now that the Fantasy Live contest has shifted to the playoff format, we don’t have to worry about driver allocations. You are free to use the biggest names without any long-term repercussions if they do end up crashing this weekend. However, just because you can load up on big names, it doesn’t mean you have to. If you need to try to make up some ground in your Fantasy Live leagues, this is the perfect race to go against the popular, chalk-type plays and take a chance on some contrarian picks. You won’t have a better opportunity to gain a bunch of points in a single race than you will this weekend. For the Driver Group Game, Sunday’s race is a great opportunity to save some starts from the top drivers in the Group B and Group C tiers. This late in the season, you cannot afford to waste starts from drivers like Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Chris Buescher and Matt DiBenedetto. The good news is that you don’t need to use these bigger names to post a big score this weekend. Take full advantage of some sleeper picks Sunday. In the Slingshot game, I am 100 percent committed to exploiting the place differential category. I’m not concerned about leaving money on the table, and I’m not too concerned about which drivers I use. I want all my picks starting outside the Top 20, if not outside the Top 25. Worst-case scenario, my picks wreck but don’t cost me too many points. Best-case scenario, my picks all survive to the checkered flag and pile up a ton of place differential points. Join FullTime Fantasy for top advice in the industry from check-cashing, proven winners! NASCAR.com Fantasy Live Joey Logano (Playoff) There is no such thing as a safe pick at the superspeedways, but Logano has been your best bet. He ranks second in points scored in the last 10 races, notching a series-high six Top 5s in that span. This year, he has scored the second most points in the three superspeedway races while leading a series-best 88 laps. Logano has been at his best at Talladega, reeling off four straight Top 5s and piling up six Top 5s in his last eight starts at the track, including three wins. Alex Bowman (Playoff) Bowman might seem like a strange pick with guys like Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott available, but Bowman has actually scored a series-high 113 points in the three superspeedway races this year. He has also finished second in four of the six stages in those three races, finishing second in both stages at Talladega in the spring on his way to a runner-up effort in the race. I’m going to play the hot hand. Aric Almirola (Non-Playoff) He usually isn’t a flashy pick, but Almirola has put up some big numbers at the superspeedways. He is the defending winner of this weekend’s race, and he has finished in the Top 10 in his last six starts at Talladega, leading 27 laps here in the spring. He is also a former winner at Daytona, and over the last 10 superspeedway races, his 11.2 average finish ranks second in the series. I’ll take advantage of his early postseason exit and use him as a non-playoff option this weekend. Kurt Busch (Non-Playoff) Busch tends to get overlooked when discussing the best superspeedway drivers, but over the last 10 races, he ranks fourth in driver points scored. His recent numbers at Talladega are particularly encouraging. Busch was the runner-up here in the spring of 2018, and last fall, he led a race-high 108 laps, finishing first and third in the two stages. He also picked up a sixth-place finish in this year’s spring race. Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and several others could also make great plays, but I’m going with Kurt Busch. Garage Driver – Brad Keselowski (Playoff) There are so many options in play at a superspeedway, but in the end, I went with the driver with one of the highest ceilings. I figure that if there is a 50 percent chance that my picks will wreck anyway, I might as well go with a driver who I know can win. Keselowski leads all active drivers with six superspeedway wins, and five of those have come at Talladega. He has also led laps in seven straight races here, leading 20-plus laps five times. I know he has the potential to win the race and finish as the top scorer. Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Driver Group Game Joey Logano (A) I decided to play it as safe as possible at a superspeedway race and go with Logano. With a series-best six Top 5s and the second most points scored in the last 10 superspeedway races, his blend of reliability and upside is unmatched. Logano has been particularly strong at Talladega, reeling off four straight Top 5s and winning three times in his last eight starts. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (B) He’s been involved in his