The Cup Series had their new practice and qualifying format and wow was it wild. The drivers had a tough time hanging onto the cars. Some of the best drivers in the sport spun out. The list includes: Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain and Aric Almirola. We did survive and the lineup scored 19 bonus points for qualifying. We are off to a good start to the weekend.
It is now time to set our starting lineups. We only have an allocation taken away from the drivers who are in our starting lineup. If you have a driver with 10 allocations on your bench, you will have 10 allocations left with that driver next week. You do get to keep the qualifying points for the drivers who are on your bench. So do not worry about starting a driver simply because he scored bonus points for qualifying.
Here is my starting lineup for the Wise Power 400…
Driver Group Game Team
Driver Group Game A Drivers
Kyle Busch (9): There is a lot to like about Busch Sunday, but it is not all roses. Busch leads every statistical category at Auto Club Speedway. He was also second-fastest in practice and he qualified third. He did say that his car was making a strange noise. I am not too worried about it because his crew chief told MRN Radio that they think they know what it is. I will roll the dice with Rowdy Sunday.
Group A Driver Rankings: 1) Kyle Busch 2) Denny Hamlin 3) Ryan Blaney 4) Chase Elliott 5) Kyle Larson 6) Martin Truex Jr. 7) Kevin Harvick
Driver Group Game B Drivers
Brad Keselowski (9):Keselowski has the second-best stats at Auto Club, behind Kyle Busch. The only question we had with Keselowski was if his car would have speed. The No. 6 car easily advanced to the final round or qualifying before Brad spun out in the final turn. Keselowski was eighth-fastest in practice. I plan to use William Byron and Tyler Reddick a lot, so I will save them for safer races and use Keselowski Sunday.
Alex Bowman (9): Bowman won the last race at Auto Club and he is one of the best drivers in the Cup Series at saving his tires over the long run. Bowman posted the fifth-fastest speed in practice. He said after practice that he liked the balance his car has. Bowman should have a good chance to finish in the top-10 at Auto Club.
Group B Driver Rankings: 1) Joey Logano 2) Alex Bowman 3) Brad Keselowski 4) William Byron 5) Tyler Reddick 6) Christopher Bell 7) Austin Dillon 8) Kurt Busch 9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 10) Bubba Wallace
Driver Group Game C Drivers
Austin Cindric (9): How hot is Cindric right now? He won the Daytona 500 last week and now he won the pole for Sunday’s race. All of the Team Penske cars looked fast. I made a mistake by taking Joey Logano out of my lineup. I believe in momentum, so I will take a chance with Cindric Sunday.
Group C Driver Rankings: 1) Austin Dillon 2) Erik Jones 3) Daniel Suarez 4) Cole Custer 5) Harrison Burton
*Stats from Driveraverages.com and career stats from Racing-Reference.Info…
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