The NASCAR Cup Series will travel to Bristol Motor Speedway this week for some dirt track racing. This will be the third season for the Cup Series on the dirt at Bristol. The inaugural race was a mess with the mud clogging the grills of the cars. The racing was better last year. Now we will see if the third time is a charm at Bristol Bay. The Food City Bristol Dirt Race can be seen Sunday at 7 pm ET on FOX.
STRATEGY FOR BRISTOL
The Fantasy Live picks have been performing well for over a decade and this year is no different. The lineup would have been nearly perfect last week if William Byron did not get spun out at the end of the race. The picks are still outscoring 98.6% of the entries and the allocations are well planned out. I will do my best to keep the hot streak going Sunday.
The Cup Series was scheduled to have two practice sessions Friday and then four heat races Saturday. Mother Nature did not cooperate Friday, but the Cup Series was able to get the four heat races on Saturday. We will have to use the data from the previous dirt track races at Bristol and the data from Saturday’ heat races.
Here is my starting lineup for the Food City Dirt Race…
KYLE LARSON (7): I was planning on fading Larson this week and saving his allocations for more predictable races. He smoked the field in the heat races and now he starts on the pole. I just cannot fade Larson at a dirt track when he starts out front. I will find another track to save an allocation with the No. 5 car.
CHRISTOPHER BELL (9): Bell looked like he was shot out of a cannon when they waived the green flag to start his heat race. He passed roughly four cars and quickly went to the front. Bell scored 17 Stage Points and finished seventh in the Bristol Dirt Race last year. I would not be surprised to see Bell in Victory Lane Sunday.
TYLER REDDICK (8): It is tough to justify using an allocation with Reddick in such an unpredictable race, but he is too good to pass up this week. Reddick dominated the Bristol Dirt Race last year when he led 99 laps and finished second. Reddick should score a lot of points for your Fantasy Live lineup Sunday.
KYLE BUSCH (8): The rule in Fantasy NASCAR is to pencil in Busch for any race at Bristol. It does not matter if the race is on concrete or on dirt or if it is Kurt Busch or Kyle Busch. This family loves Bristol and they have had a lot of success in Thunder Valley. Busch won the Bristol Dirt Race last year and now he will be driving the car that finished second. I just cannot fade Rowdy at his best track, even if NASCAR put dirt on it.
CHASE BRISCOE (10): Briscoe is a good dirt track racer. His stats in the Bristol Dirt Race do not look great, but that is because he keeps getting dumped by careless drivers. Briscoe led 59 laps, won Stage 2 and looked like one of the best drivers in this race last year. I will take a chance with Tony Stewart’s car on a dirt track.
(GARAGE PICK) JOEY LOGANO (8): Logano was not the name that came to mind when NASCAR announced they were going to turn Bristol into a dirt track race, but he has been the best driver so far. Logano won the inaugural Bristol Dirt Race and he came back last year and finished third. Logano will be my insurance policy in the Garage Sunday.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on Twitter @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.