The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will travel to Dover, Delaware to compete at the Monster Mile. Dover International Speedway is a 1-mile, high-banked (in the corners) racetrack that is very fast. The MENCS will be using the 750 HP engines, with the 2” splitter, 8” spoiler and no aero ducts. It is the same package used at Phoenix, Martinsville, Bristol and Richmond. Those races were pretty good and I expect the race at Dover to be exciting as well. The Gander RV 400 can be seen Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
The MENCS will be back to their regular schedule this week. The first practice is Friday at 11 a.m. ET (No TV). Qualifying is Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET (FS1). There will be two practices Saturday. The first is at 9 a.m. ET (FS1) and final practice is at 12 p.m. ET (FS1). There is also a Truck Series Race Friday (5 p.m. ET FS1) and an Xfinity Series race (Saturday 1:30 p.m. ET FS1).
My early week pick for the pole is Kyle Busch. He won the pole for the race at Bristol this season using the aero package which will be used Sunday. He also won the pole for the last race at the Monster Mile. Busch has qualified on the front row in 3 of the last 4 races at Dover. The No. 18 car should start up front this week.
Each week I use different stats in my model to create the best rankings possible to give you an edge on the completion. This week I used driver rankings from Dover, average finishing position at Dover, average running position at Bristol, driver rankings Bristol, average running position in the 3 races using the current aero package (Phoenix, Martinsville, Bristol and Richmond), Driver rankings in those three races and momentum over the last 6 races to determine the rankings.
Here are the early week driver rankings for Dover…
|
Driver |
| 1. Kyle Busch |
| 2. Martin Truex Jr. |
| 3. Joey Logano |
| 4. Kevin Harvick |
| 5. Chase Elliott |
| 6. Clint Bowyer |
| 7. Denny Hamlin |
| 8. Brad Keselowski |
| 9. Kurt Busch |
| 10. Daniel Saurez |
| 11. Ryan Blaney |
| 12. Aric Almirola |
| 13. Jimmie Johnson |
| 14. Kyle Larson |
| 15. Erik Jones |
| 16. Austin Dillon |
| 17. Ryan Newman |
| 18. Paul Menard |
| 19. Chris Buescher |
| 20. William Byron |
| 21. Ty Dillon |
| 22. Matt DiBenedetto |
| 23. Ricky Stenhouse |
| 24. Alex Bowman |
| 25. Daniel Hemric |
| 26. Darrell Wallace Jr. |
| 27. David Ragan |
| 28. Ryan Preece |
| 29. Michael McDowell |
| 30. Matt Tifft |
| 31. Landon Cassill |
| 32. Corey LaJoie |
| 33. Ross Chastain |
| 34. Gray Gaulding |
| 35. Bayley Currey |
| 36. Quinn Houff |
| 37. Timmy Hill |
* I will post my final driver rankings Saturday night.
**Stats from Driveraverages.com and NASCAR Media. Career stats from Racing-Reference.Info…
*** Photos from NASCAR Media
If you need any further advice with your team, look for me on Twitter @MrFantasyNASCAR
If you like Fantasy NASCAR, LIKE my Fantasy NASCAR Tips Page on Facebook