Kyle Larson nabbed the Busch Pole Award before Saturday’s Bristol Night Race (6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Bristol Motor Speedway. That only further solidified his place in my Fantasy Live lineup. After two practice sessions and qualifying, we’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you make roster decisions for the 24th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of 2018. Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2.
RJ Kraft’s revised Fantasy Live lineup following practices and the lineup being set:
1: Kyle Busch
2: Kyle Larson
3: Chase Elliott
4: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
5: Aric Almirola
Garage: Jimmie Johnson
Cars to the rear: Austin Dillon (failed pre-race inspection three times)
PLAY NOW: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | How the new Fantasy Live works
MORE: Fantasy analysis for Bristol | Driver stats | Full lineup | 10-lap averages
Analysis: Busch, Larson and Stenhouse were part of my original lineup and nothing I’ve seen on Friday has me moving away from them. These are three of the best to have at Bristol and I will be sticking with them. Johnson was also initially in my lineup and I am keeping him in the garage. I realize the overall body of work in 2018 hasn’t been too great, but I am playing a hunch with “Seven-Time.” He qualified 13th and has scored the most points in the past three Bristol races. In fact, in his last four Bristol races, he has had an average starting position of 16.3 and an average finish of 5.5. I’ll roll the dice on those numbers.
Two lineup changes going into this race for me: Out are Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano. I didn’t like where they qualified and I expect track position to be big. Also, Bowyer has been a little off in recent weeks — no top 10s in the past six races. Logano seems to disappoint in some way every time I use or plan to use him, so I moving on from that play this weekend.
Going into my lineup are Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola. Elliott qualified second and when he has started inside the top four this season, he has by and large produced points. Throw in his stretch of four-straight top-nine finishes on the season and an average of 44.5 points over that span and it’s easy to see why he should be in your lineup. Taking Almirola because he tends to get stage points when he starts in the top 10 and he notched a sixth-place finish here in the spring. I considered Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney as well for this spot, but I like taking the less-flashy play, an under-the-radar move that could net me points others might not get. This and the Jimmie move are zagging where others might zig and I am OK with that.
As for the bonus picks, I’m expecting a Kyle and Kyle show with Larson taking Stage 1 and Busch taking Stage 2 and the win.