They Said It, New Hampshire News and Fantasy Picks
By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
Chase Elliott is No. 1
NASCAR rolls into New Hampshire and drivers have no idea what to expect. With rain washing out qualifying, Chase Elliott will hold the pole for the Crayon 301. The tailwind is gaining behind Elliott, who has continuously made his way up the NASCAR points standings and is now the season long leader. He is eight points ahead of Kyle Larson who fell down the rankings when he elected to race the Indianapolis 500 and could not make it back to Charlotte before the rain wiped out any chance he could at least race a segment or more. Elliott looks to build on his No.1 spot in the standings.
Standings and What they Mean
With the Exception of Martin Truex Jr. who is in his final season of Cup competition, everyone in the top nine is in the playoffs because of victories achieved during the season.. Add Daniel Suarez and Austin Cindric who won but are not in the top 16, that makes ten drivers with wins this season. They are in and its a wrap. Their points total will determine their seed. Ross Chastain is in 10th place, -112 behind Chase Elliott. Add Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano, they wrap up your top 15. Kyle Busch sits in 16th place and is 25 points behind Logano. The best thing for any of these drivers is to win one of the final nine races before the playoffs start.
NASCAR is at the half way point of the season including the playoffs. Eighteen of the 36 races are in the books after this weekend and only nine races including New Hampshire before the playoffs start in Atlanta in September. Six of the nine races are at tracks two miles or more with only the Chicago Street Race, Richmond and Nashville being less than two mile tracks.
Who Needs a Great Weekend?
Any of the drivers who have not won a race this season.
Who Said It?
HOW DOES THIS CHANGE THE SEASON NOW THAT YOU’RE IN THE PLAYOFF? DOES IT CHANGE IT AT ALL, YOUR PREP FOR THE PLAYOFF? Ryan Blaney “I feel like winning last week was just, I wouldn’t say kind of pressure off, just kind of a little bit of relief of man, you know, finally got in the victory lane. I feel like we’ve been close a couple of times and I thought we had one won at Gateway and it didn’t work out for us and it was nice to string together a few good runs in a row there with Gateway and Sonoma.
They Said It- x2
HOW DO YOU HANDLE THESE NEXT FEW RACES TRYING TO MAKE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS? Joey Logano– “I mean, it doesn’t really change much. It just kind of puts you, honestly, in playoff mode a little bit sooner because you’re racing as if you’re in the playoffs, right? You’re not kind of clicked in to where you’re already in. You’re just racing to get playoff points anywhere you can, right? You can’t take as big of risks on certain things because you can’t afford last week to blow a tire. Can’t afford to do it. So it definitely adjusts some of your setup choices, some of the way you drive, some of the way you call the race in general. I mean it goes through your mind, it has to go through your mind. At the same time you still know what a win’s worth, so you gotta go out there and win the race.”
Fantasy Picks
When picking Fantasy at NASCAR.com, my picks are drivers who are a “Horse for the Course” meaning they need solid finishes at the track I am picking at and are tempered by how many picks I have for the driver left for the regular season. Using driveraverages.com, here are my picks for the New Hampshire race.
First, Its a bummer Kevin Harvick has retired. He was a beast at NH. Saying that, there are several other drivers that have been terrific starting with…
- Brad Keselowski. Keselowski has cooled off the last couple of Cup races but if you have at least four more regular season picks with BK, he has two top-five finishes at the track and another in the top-10. Next…
2. Martin Truex Jr. -Truex has not won in 2024, but Truex will be going all out to put the “will he make the playoff chatter” to rest. Truex should have a solid finish. Like Keselowski, he also has two- top five finishes and a third in the top ten.
3. Denny Hamlin loves New Hampshire. He has no top five finishes since 2021, but is very solid with all top ten’s.
4. Chase Elliott is on the pole for the race this weekend thanks to Mother Nature. Combine that with a top five finish and three top 20’s and is on a roll and Elliott could have a big weekend.
5. Christopher Bell has a great history at the track. He has won since 2021 and has a second top five finish in three races.
My dark horse and who to stay away from- below
My dark horse and who to stay away from
The Darkhorse- Joey Logano- Logano is from the New England area but a much better reason is Logano has run well at the track going well back before 2021. He has two top-fives in three races going back to 2021 and could pull an upset. If one of the drivers listed above has less than five appearances left, Logano could be your choice.
Better Luck Next Week
William Byron does NOT run well at New Hampshire. He has a lone top-20 in three races. Unless you have several starts left with him at NASCAR.com and you have a hunch, save Byron for Pocono, Michigan and Daytona.
RELATED: Track weather | Weekend schedule
Where to find the Race
The starting lineup for Sunday’s USA Today 301 (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) will be set per the NASCAR Rule Book. As a result, the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of series points leader Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green flag. Ryan Blaney, last weekend’s winner at Iowa Speedway, will share the front row in the second starting spot in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford.
The event is the 18th of 36 races scheduled on the Cup Series calendar. Nine races remain in the regular season before the postseason kicks off on Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Saturday’s Xfinity Series race is scheduled to get underway at 3:06 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, NBC Sports App and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net