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NASCAR Fantasy Racing Preview: Chevy Rock n Roll 400 from Richmond

by Eric McClung, Special To NASCAR news, fantasy racing advice and statistics On Pit Row

Follow @ericmcclung on Twitter for NASCAR, IndyCar, golf and various other fantasy sports picks.

September 9, 2009 9:28 am CDT 1 Comment

Greetings On Pit Row readers.

The popular Richmond International Raceway is a flat, 3/4-mile D-shaped track. Its configuration is most similar New Hampshire, Martinsville and Phoenix. For fantasy purposes, the most recent races at these flat tracks were several months so do not take much stock on those results. However, all three of these tracks will hold Chase events; be mindful of the outcome of this week’s race as you look ahead to setting your fantasy lineups over the coming weeks.

As I mentioned on this week’s On Pit Row, I fully expect a strong performance from Kyle Busch. His Chase birth will come at the expense of the man of the bubble, Matt Kenseth. Ky le Busch dominates at Richmond, Kenseth was mediocre in the May race, much like he has been over the past several races.

The wild card is Brian Vickers, who has scored the most points over the last six races. But Vickers has never finished better than 24th in Richmond races in which he has not started from the pole.
Good luck this week and please leave your comments below.

Here’s an explanation of the highlighted text in the rankings.  Download a printer-friendly version here.

• Y! A/B/C - The top options in the Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing game by driver list.
• Strong qualifier - History of winning poles or qualifying inside the top-five.
• Good qualifier - History of qualifying inside the top-10.
• Value play - Good recent history at this week’s track. Drivers to consider as low-rent salary cap options or alternative options in allocation formats.

1. Jimmie Johnson… Strong qualifier. Last five Richmond races: three wins (started in fourth or better in each), 30th or worse in the other two (started 12th and 15th). Three-time winner (’07 sweep, won last year’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400) Y!-A1
2. Tony Stewart… Runner-up in May and in three of the last four Richmond races. Enters with a streak of 11 straight top-20 finishes at Richmond, average finish of 6.7 in that span. Three-time winnner (’99, ‘01, ‘02) Y!-B1
3. Kyle Busch… Average finish of 6.1 in nine career starts at Richmond, seven top-five finishes. Won in May, runner-up on three occasions. Y!-A2
4. Mark Martin… Average finish of 4.3 in the last three Richmond races. Won in ‘90. Y!-A3
5. Denny Hamlin… Strong qualifier. Seven career Richmond races: 4.9 average start, 9.6 average finish, led laps in all seven. Only one finish worse than 15th. Y!-B2
6. Jeff Gordon… Good qualifier. Enters with a streak of five top-10 finishes at Richmond, average finish of 6.6 in that span. Led laps in four of those five races. As started in the top-three in four of the last six Richmond races. Two-time winner (’96, ‘00) Y!-A4
7. Kasey Kahne… Started 18th, finished 19th in May. Average finish of 14.5 last year at Richmond. Won from the pole in ‘05. Y!-B3
8. Ryan Newman… Won 9/03 but average finish of 19.2 in the last five September races at Richmond– but average finish of 6.0 in six May races. Y!-B4
9. Kurt Busch… Started 17th, finished 12th in May. Finished 19th last year, DNF 5/08. Average finish of 7.0 in ‘07 at Richmond. Won in ‘05. Y!-B5
10. Brian Vickers… Won the pole in May, finished 15th. Won the pole as a rookie in ‘04, finished eighth– zero finishes better than 24th in eight races in between. Y!-B6
11. Greg Biffle… Finished 17th in May, 14th in both ‘08 races.
12. Juan Pablo Montoya… Finished a career best 10th in May. Average finish of 32.3 in four other career starts at Richmond. Y!-B7
13. Matt Kenseth… Finished 13th in May, 38th and 39th last year. Average finish of 12.0 in ‘07 races. Won in ‘02.
14. Clint Bowyer… Finished 18th in May. Won last May, finished 12th last September. Average finish of 10.6 in seven career starts.
15. Kevin Harvick… Strong value play. Finished 34th in May, snapping a streak of nine finishes of 12th or better. Average finish of 6.6 in that span. Won in ‘06.
16. Carl Edwards… Risky play. Started 37th, finished 26th in May. Average finish of 10.0 last year at Richmond.
17. David Reutimann… Finished a career-best ninth last year, led 104 laps. Started ninth, finished 28th in May. Y!-B8
18. Marcos Ambrose… Started 21st, finished 11th in May, first career start at Richmond. Finished 13th in last year’s September Nationwide race at Richmond. Y!-C1
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr…. Started 25th, finished 27th in May. Average finish of 9.6 last year at Richmond, led laps in each. Won in ‘06.
20. Joey Logano… Started 13th, finished 19th in May, first career start at Richmond. Average start of 2.5, finish of 6.5 in two Nationwide races at Richmond last year.
21. Sam Hornish Jr…. Weak play value. Finished a career-best sixth at Richmond in May. Average finish of 30.5 in ‘08 races. Seven IndyCar starts: two wins, 7.7 average finish. Y!-C2
22. Brad Keselowski… No career Cup starts at Richmond. Average finish of 24.5 in six Nationwide races, career-best fourth in May race. Y!-C3
23. Jeff Burton… Finished third in May. Average finish of 6.6 in last three Richmond races, started fifth in two straight. Career average finish of 14.6 in 30 career starts. Won in ‘98.
24. Casey Mears… Started 41st, finished a career best ninth in May. Last seven Richmond races: average finish of 13.8, excluding an accident last year.
25. Martin Truex Jr…. Started fourth, finished 22nd in May. Average finish of 10.5 last year at Richmond.
26. Jamie McMurray… Finished a career best seventh in May, 29th last year at Richmond. Did not finish on the lead lap in six races prior.
27. Bobby Labonte… Average finish of 19.2 over last five races at Richmond. Y!-C4
28. Reed Sorenson… Average finish of 21.1 in seven career starts at Richmond.
29. Regan Smith… Did not start May race. Average finish of 22.0 last year, first two career starts at Richmond.
30. David Ragan… Finished third at Richmond as a rookie (9/07), average finish of 24.0 in the three races since.
31. Patrick Carpentier… Did not start May race. DNF (accident) and 25-place finish last year, first two career starts at Richmond. Started fourth, finished third in ‘05 IndyCar race.
32. Max Papis… No career Cup starts at Richmond. Finished ninth (out of 12) in ‘05 IROC race.
33. AJ Allmendinger… Five career starts at Richmond: 31.6 average finish, zero top-20 finishes.
34. Elliott Sadler… Average finish of 27.2 in the last five Richmond races.
35. Robby Gordon… 19 career starts at Richmond: 29.7 average finish, only two finishes on the lead lap.
36. David Stremme… Started 11th, DNF in May. Average finish of 28.0 in seven career starts at Richmond.
37. Michael Waltrip… Average finish of 30.2 over last five races at Richmond.
38. Paul Menard… Average finish of 31.6 over last three races at Richmond.
39. John Andretti… Finished 32nd in May, first Richmond start since ‘07.
40. Scott Speed… Started eighth, finished 33rd in May, first career start at Richmond. Finished 27th in the Nationwide race.
41. Joe Nemechek… Average finish of 36.3 over last three races at Richmond.
42. Mike Bliss… Started sixth, finished 37th in May.
43. Tony Raines… Started 43rd, finished 41st in May.
44. Dave Blaney… DNF (accident) after eight laps in May.

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