Per official game rules, because there was no qualifying held at Darlington Raceway this weekend, there will be no place differential points awarded in FOX Fantasy Auto. This definitely changes our strategy by quite a bit, as we’re focusing solely on finish points now. Luckily, there aren’t very many high-priced drivers in the FOX game this weekend, so it should be relatively easy to put together a decent roster. Without place differential points, however, the scores across the board are going to be generally low; anything above 150 points at Darlington on Sunday is going to be a good week.
Last week at Michigan, our gamble with Alex Bowman didn’t work out, as he had early mechanical issues and was several laps down before the #88 team got them figured out. Our week was salvaged with Brad Keselowski, though, who put up 54 total points. We ended up with a decent 158 FOX Fantasy Auto points at Michigan 2 and now sit in 554th place overall in the game and 3rd in our private league.
FOX Fantasy Auto Picks for the Darlington Southern 500
Kyle Busch ($9,400) – With his second bad finish in a row at Michigan last weekend, Kyle Busch’s salary took another dip here in FOX Fantasy Auto. However, at $9,400, he’s almost under-priced. As we’ve said quite a few times this week, Darlington is a track that commands the best out of every driver, and there probably isn’t any other driver in the Sprint Cup garage with as much potential talent as Kyle Busch. He won here at “The Lady in Black” way back in 2008, and while that is just one of Rowdy’s two career top 5 finishes here (out of eleven starts), he’s currently on a four-race streak of top 7 finishes here at “The Track Too Tough to Tame” and hasn’t ended up worse than 11th here since 2009. Expect a nice bounce back out of this #18 team here on Sunday night, and don’t be surprised if Kyle is challenging for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 win, either; in Practice #1 on Saturday, the #18 Toyota was just 16th-fastest on the speed chart, but Rowdy was 6th in terms of ten-lap average. In Happy Hour, he ended up 29th and 11th on those two charts, respectively. It seems like the #18 Toyota just gets better the longer the run goes, and unless you want to fade Kyle Busch this weekend, he’s almost too good to pass up at the $9,400 price point.
Denny Hamlin ($9,900) – Here’s another driver that is wildly under-priced this weekend. Darlington Raceway is by far Denny Hamlin’s best track on the Sprint Cup circuit, as he has averaged a finish of 6.5 over his ten career starts here. Denny went to victory lane here back in the 2010 Southern 500 and could very well grab a second career victory at “The Lady in Black” on Sunday night. In Practice #1 on Saturday, the #11 Toyota ranked 2nd on the overall speed chart with the 2nd-best ten-lap average as well, and in Happy Hour it was 9th on both of those two charts. In addition to finishing 3rd or better in three of the last four races here at Darlington, Hamlin also has a series-best average finish of 5.5 over the last six Sprint Cup races overall. There’s not really any more of a “for sure” pick in the field this weekend, and considering he’s the 9th-highest-priced driver in FOX Fantasy Auto this weekend, he’s definitely going to make our roster.
Kevin Harvick ($13,000) – With there being no points awarded for place differential in FOX Fantasy Auto this weekend, it makes it much easier to throw Kevin Harvick and his $13,000 salary on our roster for Darlington. The #4 Chevrolet will lead the 2016 Bojangles’ Southern 500 field to the green here on Sunday night and should be a contender for much of the race. Harvick has had one of the best cars here at “The Track Too Tough To Tame” over the last few years and has wound up finishing inside the top 5 in all three of those Southern 500s. That also includes his absolutely dominating performance here in 2014. Momentum-wise, the #4 team has wound up 6th or better in five of the last six Sprint Cup races overall, and they should easily make it six of the last seven here on Sunday night. In Practice #1 this weekend, Harvick was 11th-fastest, and in Happy Hour he wound up 19th on the overall speed chart. As far as ten-lap averages goes, “Happy” ended up 4th and 14th on those two charts, respectively.
Jimmie Johnson ($9,400) – One thing that can make you very successful in Fantasy NASCAR is going with certain trends before most other people have faith in them. Case in point: Jimmie Johnson. The biggest question surrounding the six-time champion is whether or not this #48 team really is “back.” Johnson wound up finishing 6th at Michigan last weekend, making it two top 10 finishes in a row for him for the first time since April. No, that’s not a typo. Speed-wise, the #48 Chevrolet has looked good this weekend, as Johnson quickly jumped to the top of the board in Practice #1 on Saturday morning and wound up 3rd-fastest in Happy Hour. In terms of ten-lap average, JJ was 1st and 3rd on those charts, respectively. Here at Darlington, Johnson has made seventeen career starts and has posted nine top 5s (52.9%) and twelve top 10s (70.6%). His overall average finish here is 9.1, which is 3rd-best among all active drivers. Other people may not be very confident with the #48 Chevrolet but we’ll gladly roll the dice with this three-time Darlington winner.
Chase Elliott ($8,000) – Yep, we know that the general rule is that you shouldn’t pick rookies at Darlington. However, Chase Elliott isn’t your typical rookie, and don’t forget that he did run in last year’s Southern 500. In that race, Chase qualified 22nd and ended up finishing 41st after getting several Darlington stripes. One way to look at that is that he already has one bad run here, so he knows what not to do this time around. Elliott will start from 11th here on Sunday night and really he just needs to finish the race to safely stay well above the Chase cutoff line. What we really like about the #24 team this weekend is the fact that they’re starting to get their groove back: Chase grabbed his 7th top 5 finish of the season at Michigan last weekend and has now finished 15th or better in four of the last five Sprint Cup races overall. That #24 Chevrolet also has pretty good speed this weekend, as Elliott was 7th-fastest in Practice #1 on Saturday morning and ranked 12th-best in Happy Hour. In terms of ten-lap average, Chase was 7th and 13th on those two charts, respectively. If you don’t want to gamble with the #24 this weekend, you could jump down and take Jeff Gordon with this roster spot, who will be a safer Fantasy NASCAR pick this weekend.
