TALLADEGA 1 - Preview

Ah the restrictor plate tracks. Basically, it's a week off for us in NASCAR Fantasy Land followed by a game of blindfolded darts on Sunday that count towards our overall championship total.

Looking through loop data and previous history here is of little importance, much like the practice sessions. In the end there is no telling who will survive the big wreck and who will get out front to lead the most laps, that's all in the hands of the drivers and almost impossible to predict. You will get to see the practice sessions on Friday before you lock down, so this will give you an opportunity if one driver or team looks especially fast on Friday to put them into your lineup.

So for this week, we're going 180 on what we normally do here on the blog. We're going to give you the list of drivers NOT to have in your lineup this weekend.

A-LIST:
Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch all must find your bench this weekend. Under no circumstances should you start any of these 3 drivers. The reason being is that out of the entire A-List, these 3 drivers have the best shot of getting 9-starts out of at other tracks. Johnson historically heats up later in the season, Edwards is a stud on the larger tracks this year, and Kyle Busch has always been impressive on the short and flat tracks. Starting Jimmie Johnson here and potentially getting a 30th-something place finish out of him when you could of got a Top 5 out of him elsewhere is fantasy racing suicide.

B-LIST:
Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman for sure are must-bench this weekend. And although Clint Bowyer will be a tempting pick, don't fall for it. You only have to think back a few days to Texas and his 2nd place finish. The NASCAR schedule is riddled with 1.5 mile tracks where you will have more than enough opportunities to get starts out of Bowyer. Newman has been impressive on the short and flat tracks over the years, and minus an off weekend at Texas, he's been stout on the larger tracks as well. These are the 2 guys I have pegged as for-sure 9-starters this season and they will not be on my team come Sunday.

In the B-List there is a 2nd-tier of drivers who are borderline on making the "do not start" list. These names include Juan Pablo Montoya and Joey Logano. JPM is really becoming more consistent and learning to not overdrive his race car into trouble, and he could end up being a 7-9 start guy this year. Even though Logano is having some of the worst luck in recent history, I do believe he will eventually break through a be a Top 10 contender, again being another 7-9 start guy.

C-LIST:
This is obvious as Paul Menard and David Ragan are huge red flashing lights on the "do not start" list. Both of these drivers will be much like Bowyer this weekend, tempting, but if you start them I will drive to you house and whack you on the head with a large stick. Both of these drivers are much better than the rest of the C-List competitors on almost all of the other tracks on the schedule, you simply can not risk using Menard or Ragan and having one of them end up in the fence.


Two other names that I am not big on this week are Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Trevor Bayne. Every Joe-Bob and Betty-Sue out there is going to have these 2 names etched in stone on their fantasy teams, which I don't like. If you start these 2 drivers with everyone else, you're in a no-win situation. They crash out, you lose points with 90% of the Yahoo League. They do well, you gain 0 ground on anyone else. This is the perfect opportunity to gain on the rest of your league by going off the beaten path.

With Junior being decent on the short tracks, and his 1.5 mile program improving, you can actually get value out of Junior elsewhere on the schedule. I'm not saying he's must-bench, but unless he's showing some dominance on Friday in practice, he will not be on my team come Sunday. Trevor Bayne had a great car at Daytona, but can he stay out of trouble at Talladega? History says absolutely not.


So, who do I like this week...

A-LIST RANKS: 29, 17, 14, 22, 16, 11

I am not worried about ECR engines this time around. Yes it bit us in the butt at Daytona but the team says they have the problem figured out, and I believe them. With all the changes they threw at the teams, almost on a daily basis, it was no surprise that there were failures. Harvick is a plate-track master and I like his chances on Sunday. I'm big on the Ford FR9 engines as well, I think they will once again shine and push guys to the front of the field. I like the momentum and the even-keeled temper of Matt Kenseth this week. Tony Stewart has been another great selection a plate tracks, but his performance at Daytona was dismal due to cooling issues. Kurt Busch had a sporty Dodge in Daytona, but this team has no momentum, bad communication, and I don't trust Kurt Busch to be even-tempered enough to stay out of trouble.

B-LIST RANKS: 1, 31, 43, 5, 9, 56, 00, 2, 4, 83...ect.

See above on the ECR and FR9 engines. McMurray and Burton were strong here before getting into crashes in the fall race and were strong at Daytona as well. Dinger is a pretty steady plate racer, and again, I like his Ford FR9 engine under the hood. Mark Martin gets consideration because he knows how to play it smart and stay out of trouble

C-LIST RANKS: 78, 47, 15, 34, 09

Broken record? See above for ECR engines under Regan's hood. Bobby Labonte has always been a decent pick on the plate tracks for his ability to stay out of trouble, his Daytona performance proved this once again. It's a pretty big drop off from there, I'm not big on Michael Waltrip and his part time team, likewise with David Gilliland, even with his FR9 engine I don't trust either the 15 or the 34 teams to provide fast pit stops all day (as there are many more pit stops with the smaller fuel cells). Landon Cassill remains in the 09, and even though James Finch has a good plate program, Cassill just doesn't have the experience.


For our team, we're going way out on a limb and letting the fantasy God's pick our team for us. Minus the guys who were on the do-not-start list, and the C-List which we chose since the fall off is so large, we put the rest of the A & B-List names in a hat and drew, this was the result:


A-LIST:
Kurt Busch (9 Starts Remaining)
Kevin Harvick (8 Starts Remaining)

B-LIST:
A.J. Allmendinger (9 Starts Remaining)
Marcos Ambrose (9 Starts Remaining)
Kasey Kahne (8 Starts Remaining)
Martin Truex Jr. (8 Starts Remaining)

C-LIST:
Bobby Labonte (8 Starts Remaining)
Regan Smith (7 Starts Remaining) 

Now I still hold the right to change these drivers out after Friday practice, but I'm going to do my best to let this time around be up to the higher powers and leave the teams alone.


Check back on Friday for our practice breakdown and our final lock-in team.