Mother nature is trying to throw us through a loop this weekend as rain caused the cancellation of both qualifying and Happy Hour at Dover on Friday and Saturday. That means that the Sprint Cup Series teams got very little practice time this weekend, and most of the fastest laps put down during that first session were in qualifying trim. Therefore, we’re going to look at historical trends here at Dover when putting together our rankings this weekend, as well as how teams performed when we were last here in May.
Last week at Loudon, both Denny Hamlin and Jamie McMurray made the wrong choice to pit late in the race and it ruined our week. We ended up with just 239 points and our team is now in the 76th percentile. With that being said, we’re feeling a big bounce back here at Dover on Sunday.
Yahoo! A Group Pick and Final Rankings for Dover 2
We have Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson as our two A Group drivers this weekend, and the former is the clear-cut choice on Sunday. While we still think Jimmie Johnson could sneak into victory lane on Sunday, the #4 Chevrolet has been so good at this track as of late, and we never like to go against the most recent race winner. Harvick will start from 6th when the Citizen Soldier 400 goes green on Sunday and should be able to lead quite a few laps if he can get the track position. The #4 team was one of those that worked on race runs during Friday’s practice session and that should pay dividends on Sunday. We’re starting Kevin Harvick at Dover 2 and not thinking twice about it.
Matt Kenseth should be in the running for the win for the second week in a row. He also is the most recent race winner here at Dover and has finished 7th or better in five of the last six races at “The Monster Mile.” His teammate, Kyle Busch, showed a bunch of race-trim speed in both practice sessions this weekend and could lead the most laps on Sunday from that 3rd-place starting spot. Rowdy is a bit hit or miss here, though, so there’s some risk in taking him. Pole-sitter Brad Keselowski has a car good enough to finish top 5 this weekend but we don’t see him dominating the race. And as far as the A Group drivers go this weekend, those mentioned above are really the only viable options, in our opinion. The others may have top 10 potential but that’s it.
Final A Group Rankings: (1) Kevin Harvick, (2) Matt Kenseth, (3) Kyle Busch, (4) Jimmie Johnson, (5) Brad Keselowski, (6) Denny Hamlin, (7) Joey Logano, (8) Kurt Busch
Yahoo! B Group Picks and Final Rankings for Dover 2
We believe that all four of our B Group drivers have top 10 potential this weekend, which definitely isn’t a bad thing. For the record, our four guys are Martin Truex, Jr., Kyle Larson, Kasey Kahne, and Jamie McMurray. Now, with that being said, we think that Truex and Larson both have top 5 potential as well, but we’re in the same boat as most Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing players: is this the best race to use them strategically? We’re down to 3 starts remaining with Truex and 2 with Larson.
Truex starts on the front row this weekend and had one of the best cars here back in May but got caught up in a wreck. Still, he was able to finish inside the top 10, so that says a lot about the speed that #78 Toyota had. It didn’t look like Truex was as fast during the two practice sessions this weekend, but at the same time it’s hard to accurately analyze those because of the limited track time. Still, we view Martin as one of the drivers who could lead the most laps on Sunday, and because of that we think it’s probably best to start him this weekend.
Kyle Larson also has top 5 potential but it could take him a while to get up there. He’s a very safe Fantasy NASCAR pick here at Dover, though, and if you have 3 or more starts left with him, we think you should start him for sure. We don’t, so we’re leaning toward leaving him on the bench. In his place, we’re going to go with Kasey Kahne, who now has four straight top 10 finishes after his impressive run at Loudon last weekend. Kasey also has three straight results inside that mark here at Dover, and even though he will start back in 17th on Sunday, he has a car that can make it to the top 10 once again. So our two B Group starters are going to be Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex, Jr.
No other B Group driver is very reliable this weekend, in our opinion. Carl Edwards had a good car here back in May but will probably be points racing on Sunday and you can’t look past the fact that he hasn’t ended up better than 11th at Dover since the 2012 season. Ryan Newman is one driver to keep an eye on during the Citizen Soldier 400, as he showed a bunch of speed in both practice sessions this weekend. He’s been a Fantasy NASCAR disappointment pretty much every week this year, though, and he has just two top 10s in his last eleven starts here. Other than that, there really isn’t a great B Group option unless you’re hoping that this race turns into an attrition event. In that case, we wish you good luck.
Final B Group Rankings: (1) Martin Truex, Jr., (2) Kyle Larson, (3) Carl Edwards, (4) Kasey Kahne, (5) Jamie McMurray, (6) Ryan Newman, (7) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (8) Paul Menard, (9) Austin Dillon, (10) Tony Stewart, (11) Trevor Bayne, (12) Danica Patrick, (13) Clint Bowyer, (14) A.J. Allmendinger, (15) Aric Almirola, (16) Greg Biffle, (17) Casey Mears
Yahoo! C Group Pick and Final Rankings for Dover 2
We made a last-minute switch and put Jeff Gordon on our team for Dover 2 in place of Chase Elliott, with the reason being that we’re down to 2 starts remaining with the rookie and would like to save them. And if practice speeds are any indication, we probably made the right move. We still have Chase Elliott as our #1 C Group driver for Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400, yes, but Jeff Gordon has looked faster this weekend than any other time he has been in the #88 Chevrolet this year. We honestly think he could challenge for a top 10 finish on Sunday. And while we think Ryan Blaney also has top 15 potential this week, we’re more comfortable going with Jeff Gordon in the C Group here at Dover. This is another one of those picks where it’s a no-brainer in our mind.
Final C Group Rankings: (1) Chase Elliott, (2) Jeff Gordon, (3) Ryan Blaney, (4) Chris Buescher, (5) David Ragan, (6) Ty Dillon, (7) Landon Cassill, (8) Brian Scott, the rest
