The 2018 MENCS will compete at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week. The races at this tracks tends to be more predictable then some of the other races on the circuit. Teams either hit on the setup or they are looking for speed in the Pennzoil 400.
Slingshot Fantasy Auto Contest finally got the league standings updated. Hopefully the game runs more smoothly for the rest of the season.
Your strategy needs to be focused on scoring position differential points. The game awards 2 points for every position a driver moves up in the race. You will not score well if you select all of the drivers who start up front Sunday.
Here are my picks for the Las Vegas….
Driver 1: Brad Keselowski $12,900 (Starts 8th)
Driver 2: Denny Hamlin $11,000 (Starts 19th)
Driver 3: Aric Almirola $9,500 (Starts 29th)
Driver 4: Ryan Newman $8,900 (Starts 25th)
Driver 5: Darrell Wallace Jr. $7,600 (Starts 26th)
Brad Keselowski has been the most dominant driver at this track the last three seasons and his practice speed was very fast. Keselowski ranked in the top 4 on the 10-lap, 15-lap and 20-lap speed chart. I like him to finish in the top 4 and I would not be surprised if he won this week.
Denny Hamlin has finished in the top 6 at Las Vegas the last 2 times he qualified outside the top 5. In 2015 Hamlin qualified 19th and finished 5th. He starts 19th Sunday and will have a good chance to finish in the top 5 again.
Aric Almirola was horrible in qualifying but they put Kevin Harvick’s setup in his car in final practice and the car came to life. Almirola should move up 15 spots this week and score 30 bonus points.
Ryan Newman has a 10th-place average finishing position in the last four races at Las Vegas. He should easily move up 10 spots this week and score 20 position differential points.
Darrell Wallace Jr. has a decent car this week. He ran inside the top 20 for most of the practice sessions and the No. 43 was 18th-fastest on the 10-lap speed chart. I like Wallace’s chances of moving up 8-10 spots this week and score 16-20 bonus points.
Good luck this week!
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