The Fantasy Live Playoff Game has eight races in the books and two races to go. My goal each season is to outscore 99% of the entries in both the regular season and the playoff games. We were able to do it in the regular season and the picks took a dip after the race at Homestead. Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. dominated the first two Stages at Homestead, but they had DNFs in the race. That is just bad luck. Hopefully our luck turns around and we can get back to outscoring 99% of the entries in the playoff portion of the Fantasy Live game.
FANTASY LIVE PLAYOFF STRATEGY
We need a strategy for these final two races. You cannot simply pick the best drivers this week and not think about the championship race at Phoenix. The four drivers who will race for the trophy next week will not earn Stage Points. So, do we use the playoff drivers this week or save them for Phoenix? I posted an article Wednesday explaining how to use out drivers. You can read it here: Fantasy Live Strategy for the Final Two Races
PRACTICE SPEEDS
The Cup Series had 20-minutes to dial in their cars for the race Sunday. Martinsville is a .526-mile short, flat track. The teams had plenty of time to make some long runs in practice. Traffic is an issue during practice at Martinsville. I driver can have a fast car, but it will be hard for that driver to climb to the top of the speed chart if he is stuck behind slower cars. We need to look at the single-lap speed, 10-lap average speed and the qualifying position for each driver. We want the drivers who are at the top of each of the speed and qualifying charts.
FANTASY LIVE LINEUP
MARTIN TRUEX JR. (4): Truex is a tough driver to trust right now. He has been a disaster in the playoffs this year, but the No. 19 team is still fighting for their championship lives. Truex finished third at Martinsville in April. He posted the fastest speed in his group late in practice and won the pole for the race. Everything is set up for Truex to score well in the Fantasy Live game Sunday.
DENNY HAMLIN (1): Hamlin has five wins at Martinsville on his resume, but hasn’t been to Victory Lane at this track since 2015 (17 races ago). Hamlin needs a good race since he is in a hole in the playoffs. Hamlin has averaged 123 laps led in his last five races at Martinsville. He also finished fifth at Martinsville last October and fourth last April. I will play Hamlin and hope he can bounce back this week.
BUBBA WALLACE (3): Wallace has finished half of the playoff races in the top-five and he has been one of the best drivers at Martinsville in the Gen-7 car. Wallace started 24th and finished eighth in this race last year. He started ninth and finished ninth at Martinsville in April. Wallace posted the seventh-fastest speed in practice and qualified sixth for the race. I will roll the dice with Wallace at Martinsville.
CHASE BRISCOE (5): Briscoe was awesome at Martinsville in April. He drove the car with a broken finger and he qualified fourth, led 109 laps, scored 15 Stage Points and finished fifth. He had the highest driver rating and the best average running position in the race. Briscoe has been the third-best driver in the Gen-7 car at Martinsville (behind Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney). Briscoe finished 5th, 9th and 9th in his three races at Martinsville in the Gen-7 car. The No. 14 car looks fast again, so I will take a chance with Briscoe Sunday.
KEVIN HARVICK (4): Harvick looked really fast at Martinsville in April. He had the fastest average green flag speed, led 20 laps, won Stage 2, but a slow pit stop forced Harvick to finish 20th. Harvick typically does not practice well and when he qualifies in the top-10, it means his car is really good. Jeff Gordon won the October race at Martinsville in his final season as a full-time Cup Series driver. Maybe Harvick can do the same.
GARAGE DRIVER: RYAN BLANEY (4): Blaney has been one of the best drivers at Martinsville in the Gen-7 car. He finished 4th, 3rd and 7th in the three races. Blaney had one of the fastest cars in practice. He needs to score Stage Points and finish in the top-10 in order to advance on points. I have plenty of allocations left with Blaney, so I hope I can sub him in for Denny Hamlin during the race, but we will see how it all plays out Sunday.
* I am out of allocations with WILLIAM BYRON, CHRISTOPHER BELL and BRAD KESELOWSKI
* KYLE LARSON destroyed the field at Phoenix in March, so I will save my last allocation with the No. 5 car for next week. I know he doesn’t get Stage Points, but he has the best chance to win the race.
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.
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