Us Yahoo! Fantasy NASCAR players got a little bit of a break this weekend in the form of seeing practice before locking down–although we didn’t make any changes from our initial picks. With that being said, that can sometimes come back to bite you in the ass because you go against your gut feeling (it’s happened to us more than once this season). Still, it was nice to have an idea of the fastest cars before finalizing our roster this week, although it should be noted that the fastest cars don’t always finish up front here at Sonoma. There’s added pressure on the crew chiefs this weekend, not to mention the fact that the drivers have to deal with making left and right turns on Sunday. It should be a crazy race this week, and let’s not forget that next up we have the second Daytona race.

Looking back at Michigan, the Fantasy Racing Online Yahoo! team actually had a pretty nice score (310 points) despite having Chase Elliott–who finished 2nd–on the bench. As we near the halfway point of the season, our team is sitting in the 50th percentile, which is less than ideal, but we’re confident that we can make up ground moving forward.

Yahoo! A Group Pick and Final Rankings for Sonoma

Our pick for this whole week has been Kurt Busch in the A Group and we’re sticking with it. When you combine the notion that he is on pace to have the best season (average finish-wise) of his career, as well as the fact that he is one of the best road course racers in the Sprint Cup garage, it just makes sense. Kurt Busch wasn’t blazing fast on the speed charts during the practice sessions on Friday but the races at Sonoma are won by cars that have good speed over a long run, not just one lap. Kurt Busch likes his #41 Chevrolet this weekend and has four top 5 finishes in the last five Sonoma race. Game, set, match, we’re starting Kurt Busch this weekend with Brad Keselowski on the bench.

As far as the other A Group drivers, Jimmie Johnson is one of the safest bets here at Sonoma and should be in the running for a top 5. The same goes for Kevin Harvick, although his record here isn’t as stellar as Johnson’s seven-straight top 10s, plus Harvick’s bad qualifying effort continued on Saturday. Joey Logano should be a top 10 threat, and we still think Brad Keselowski is one to keep an eye on this weekend. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has a great race car for this Sunday’s event and he has been one of the better road course racers over the last couple of years. And the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas all have plenty of speed in their race cars here at Sonoma but none of them have a great history at this race track. Kyle Busch is probably going to be a contender on Sunday, but his terrible string of finishes lately is concerning.

Final A Group Rankings: (1) Kurt Busch, (2) Jimmie Johnson, (3) Joey Logano, (4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., (5) Kevin Harvick, (6) Kyle Busch, (7) Brad Keselowski, (8) Matt Kenseth, (9) Denny Hamlin

Yahoo! B Group Picks and Final Rankings for Sonoma

There’s so many solid sleeper options in the B Group this weekend that it makes for an excellent week to start save. We didn’t even think about putting any of the “best” B Group drivers on our roster this weekend, as we were more than satisfied rolling with A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, and Kasey Kahne. The thing about a race like Sonoma, though, is that there are so many variables going on and so many sleepers to choose from that it’s difficult to choose just one.

A.J. Allmendinger is one of the best road course racers in the Sprint Cup garage, and, in our opinion, really races the best when he flies under the radar–and that’s exactly what he did on Friday during the two practice sessions. The Dinger never really put down a blazing fast lap in either session, but he had a pretty good average lap time in that first practice and we think that’s a good sign heading into race day. Allmendinger has arguably had one of the top 3 race cars here at Sonoma over the last two years but hasn’t been able to get the finish. Will this weekend finally be the one where he comes home with his first top 5 in wine country? We hope so, and we’re starting him.

Choosing our second starter in the B Group is a little more difficult. Right off the bat we’re going to eliminate Kasey Kahne, though. He has three straight top 10 finishes here at Sonoma, but he hasn’t blown us away this weekend and we may need him down the stretch to make the math work on starts. So it’s down to Clint Bowyer or Tony Stewart.

Sonoma is Bowyer’s best track on the circuit and he has an average finish of 8.6 in his ten career starts here. However, he’s in junk equipment this season, and that has to be noted. Skill plays a huge role in the races here at Sonoma but you have to make sure your car stays together, too. Tony Stewart, on the other hand, has shown good speed as of late and is always considered a threat when the Sprint Cup Series stops at a road course. The safer route is to go with the #14 Chevrolet on Sunday, but the #15 Chevrolet has the potential to earn more points on race day. All things considered, because he qualified better, Tony Stewart is probably going to be our B Group starter alongside A.J. Allmendinger at Sonoma.

Looking at the rest of the B Group drivers, Carl Edwards has a great car this weekend and has truly been one of the better road course drivers over the last couple of years. He won the 2014 race here at Sonoma and has top 5 potential this weekend, but we think he’s much too valuable at other track types to start here on Sunday. Jamie McMurray is a nice option this weekend who showed consistent speed over the two practice sessions on Friday and has ended up 11th and 4th in the last two Sonoma races. Also we can’t forget about his teammate, Kyle Larson, who has looked just as impressive. It honestly wouldn’t surprise us if he Larson somehow got to victory lane here on Sunday, as we all know it’s not uncommon for a “surprise” victor to emerge. Martin Truex, Jr. has a very fast race car in Sonoma but has been in a slump as of late (excluding Charlotte) and doesn’t really have a consistent record at this track. Like Edwards, we wouldn’t waste a Truex start on Sunday, either.

Final B Group Rankings: (1) Carl Edwards, (2) A.J Allmendinger, (3) Martin Truex, Jr., (4) Kyle Larson, (5) Tony Stewart, (6) Clint Bowyer, (7) Jamie McMurray, (8) Paul Menard, (9) Kasey Kahne, (10) Ryan Newman, (11) Casey Mears, (12) Austin Dillon, (13) Greg Biffle, (14) Danica Patrick, (15) Aric Almirola, (16) Trevor Bayne, (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

Yahoo! C Group Pick and Final Rankings for Sonoma

If we could go back to Friday evening and re-do it all, we would have chose different C Group drivers. We decided to go with the safe route early on this week and put Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney on our Yahoo! team for Sonoma. The thing is, neither of them looked very sporty during the two practice sessions on Friday, and it was actually a couple of other C Group drivers that stole the show in terms of “underdog” plays for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. We had Michael McDowell as one of our deep, deep sleepers this weekend, and he showed plenty of promise during practice this weekend. He qualified 20th for Sunday’s race as well. It’s hard to trust a guy like that but if you’re in ultra start save mode right now, he’s probably your best bet. He ran 24th in the 2014 Sonoma race. We also thought Brian Scott looked decent in that #44 Ford this weekend, and he starts 22nd. As far as our two selections, it looks like Chase Elliott has gotten acclimated to this track a little quicker than Ryan Blaney, and the #24 Chevrolet starts better than the #21 Ford on Sunday, so we’re going with Chase this weekend–a move we will probably regret when we run out of starts later this year.

Final C Group Rankings: (1) Chase Elliott, (2) Ryan Blaney, (3) Brian Scott, (4) Michael McDowell, (5) David Ragan, (6) Landon Cassill, (7) Regan Smith, (8) Chris Buescher, (9) Patrick Carpentier, the rest

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After a weekend off for Father’s Day, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Sonoma Raceway out in California for the first road course race of the season. These events are usually pretty frustrating for Fantasy NASCAR players because of how they play out. As soon as the green flag drops on Sunday, the crew chiefs will be doing the math and playing the strategy card to try and out-smart the other teams. Sonoma is a big race track, and just because a car spins out doesn’t necessarily mean we will see a caution. Fuel mileage is a constant factor at these races and will probably come into play with the 2016 Toyota / Save Mart 350 as well.

Yahoo! A Group Picks and Ranking for Sonoma

Brad Keselowski (8 starts remaining) – We’re going with an off-sequence pick in the A Group this week at Sonoma because our second choice (below) is so solid. Brad Keselowski is a solid racer over at the other road course on the schedule (Watkins Glen), but that success hasn’t quite translated over to the west coast road course yet. It’s only a matter of time, though. BK has made six career starts here at Sonoma Raceway with a best result of 10th. However, there’s a few reasons why we like Keselowski as an “outsider” A Group pick this weekend. First is his success at Watkins Glen (three 2nd-place finishes in six starts) along with his overall success on the track as of late; in the last six Sprint Cup events, the #2 Ford is averaging a finish of 4.8, which is best in the series. The final reason to like Keselowski this weekend? He usually gets some of the best fuel mileage in the garage, and the races here at Sonoma are notorious for coming down to strategy and fuel. Like we said, we’re confident enough in our second A Group pick that we’re going to take a chance with Keselowski at Sonoma.

Kurt Busch (8 starts remaining) – At Michigan, the elder Busch brother came home with a 10th-place finish, and that had to feel like a second win for him with how he has performed at that track over the last few years. This week at Sonoma, however, Kurt should be in the mix for an actual win, as this is a very good race track for him. He’s finished 4th or better in four of the last five races here at Sonoma and in one of those races–2012 while with Phoenix Racing–he muscled his way home with a broken race car to finish 3rd. Looking at Kurt’s overall history at this track, he is very hit or miss, with seven top 5 finishes in fifteen career starts (46.7) compared to six finishes outside of the top 20 completely. With that being said, this #41 team is hitting on all cylinders right now with nine straight top 10 finishes and four results of 6th or better in the last five. You couldn’t convince us to leave Kurt Busch off of our roster for Sonoma if you tried. He’s the best A Group choice this weekend.

We wouldn’t waste a Kevin Harvick start at Sonoma. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is a interesting option this week, as you don’t really think of him as a road racer but he has finished 7th and 3rd in the last two Sonoma races. With how many bad finishes he’s had lately, though, momentum really isn’t on his side. The same goes for Kyle Busch, who now has four straight finishes of 30th or worse. He won this race last year, though, and that’s kind of how it is with Rowdy. If you want a “security” pick to fall back on this weekend, Jimmie Johnson is your man: he has six straight single-digit finishes at this track.

Pre-Lockdown A Group Rankings: (1) Kurt Busch, (2) Jimmie Johnson, (3) Kevin Harvick, (4) Joey Logano, (5) Brad Keselowski, (6) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., (7) Kyle Busch, (8) Matt Kenseth, (9) Denny Hamlin

Yahoo! B Group Picks and Ranking for Sonoma

Clint Bowyer (9 starts remaining) – Well, if you’re going to pick Clint Bowyer at any point this season, this is the week to do so. We’ve seen under-funded cars come away with decent finishes here at Sonoma before and Clint is one of the best road course racers in the garage. In fact, he has the best career average finish (8.6) at this track among all active drivers. In his ten career starts, Bowyer has went to victory lane once (back in 2012) and finished inside the top 10 eight times (80%). In his last five starts at Sonoma, Clint hasn’t finished worse than 10th and has ended up inside the top 5 in four of those races. One thing to note is that this #15 team hasn’t finished worse than 23rd in the last six Sprint Cup races, which is almost incredible when you consider where this team was at the start of this season. We’re all about saving starts in the B Group this season, and if you’re going to do that this week, Clint Bowyer is the best option.

Tony Stewart (9 starts remaining) – There’s plenty to like about Tony Stewart this week, and it starts with the speed in the #14 Chevrolet as of late. Smoke had a great run going to Pocono a few weeks ago but ran into issues and ended up finishing 34th, but his race at Michigan went just about as smoothly as he could have hoped for. Stewart qualified 3rd and ran in or around the top 5 all day long at Michigan before finally ending up 7th when the checkered flag flew. It was probably the most solid race we’ve seen out of Tony in the last year and a half, so that’s saying something. Now we’re heading to the serpentine track of Sonoma Raceway, a venue where Smoke has won twice in his illustrious career. In this race last year, he started 7th and finished 12th, but we bet he’ll run a little bit better this time around. Remember, Stewart still needs to win if he wants to compete in this year’s Chase, and this race might be one of the few that he legitimately has a chance of taking home the trophy.

A.J. Allmendinger (7 starts remaining) – The Dinger has burned fantasy owners here at Sonoma over the last two years with his pair of 37th-place finishes, but it’s really hard not to pick one of the best cars in the field on race day. When you take a step back and look at everything, Allmendinger has turned into a Marcos Ambrose type of driver when it comes to Fantasy NASCAR: you have to pick him when we stop at either Sonoma or Watkins Glen, and sometimes he’s a nice sleeper option on some of the other “normal” race tracks that the Sprint Cup Series visits (like his 2nd-place finish at Martinsville earlier this year). Realistically, the road course races are the #47 team’s only chance of actually making the Chase, but they have a tendency to over-do it, which can create problems on race day. Still, Allmendinger should be one of the favorites heading into the Toyota / Save Mart 350, and you can’t pass up that type of value in the B Group. In the four races here at Sonoma from 2009 to 2012, A.J. never finished worse than 13th.

Kasey Kahne (7 starts remaining) – When you compare all of the Sprint Cup organizations, Hendrick Motorsports probably brings the best cars overall out to Sonoma. So in an effort to save some starts of other B Group drivers, we’re going to go ahead and fill out our B Group picks with Kasey Kahne. He really wasn’t good here for the first part of his career–Kasey had a best finish of 23rd in his first five starts here–but he broke out at Sonoma in 2009 when he went to victory lane with Richard Petty Motorsports. That seems to be how a lot of drivers win at this track: unexpectedly. Kahne moved to Hendrick in 2012 and in the four races he has ran at Sonoma since then, he hasn’t ended up worse than 12th. In the last three, he has ended up between 6th and 8th in all of them. We might drop Kahne before lockdown this week in favor of a driver that could get us qualifying bonus points, but Kasey is a solid backup pick who should have a decent finish on Sunday.

Carl Edwards will be a contender in this year’s Toyota / Save Mart 350. However, there are so many other start save options that should be good on race day this weekend that we are fine with leaving the #19 Toyota off of our roster. Jamie McMurray has recently emerged as a nice road course racer, finishing 11th and 4th in the last two Sonoma races, but he has under-performed quite a bit as of late and we don’t like that. Kyle Larson is another guy to keep an eye on, as he has shown a lot of progress on this track type lately. We’re down to 5 starts remaining with him, though. The same goes with Truex. If you’re looking for another start save option, Greg Biffle has four top 10s in the last six Sonoma races, and an awesome sleeper pick in all Fantasy NASCAR leagues this weekend is Casey Mears, who has finished between 13th and 16th in three of the last four Sonoma races.

Pre-Lockdown B Group Rankings: (1) Carl Edwards, (2) Tony Stewart, (3) A.J. Allmendinger, (4) Clint Bowyer, (5) Jamie McMurray, (6) Kasey Kahne, (7) Kyle Larson, (8) Martin Truex, Jr., (9) Ryan Newman, (10) Greg Biffle, (11) Paul Menard, (12) Austin Dillon, (13) Casey Mears, (14) Aric Almirola, (15) Danica Patrick, (16) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (17) Trevor Bayne

Yahoo! C Group Picks and Ranking for Sonoma

It’s slim pickings in the C Group this weekend, so we’re just going to go with the two best options: Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. The younger drivers in this group have limited experience at these serpentine tracks, and the veterans in here all have unreliable equipment. That means in order for guys like Landon Cassill, Michael McDowell, and David Ragan to get a decent finish at Sonoma on Sunday, they’re probably going to need quite a bit of luck. We’ve seen it happen before, but it should be noted that the best performance that we’ve seen from the lower-tier Sprint Cup drivers and teams over the last two years has been David Gilliland’s 21st-place finish in 2014–and he’s not racing this weekend. You could try to start save this week with Scott or Buescher but we’d recommend keeping one of the better rookies (preferably Elliott) on your roster as a backup. Patrick Carpentier in the #32 Ford is about the only “ringer” worth possibly taking a shot with this weekend, although you shouldn’t expect much more than a 25th-place finish or so.

Pre-Lockdown C Group Rankings: (1) Chase Elliott, (2) Ryan Blaney, (3) Brian Scott, (4) Chris Buescher, (5) Michael McDowell, (6) David Ragan, (7) Patrick Carpentier, (8) Regan Smith, (9) Landon Cassill, (10) Matt DiBenedetto, the rest

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