Fantasy Update: Last-minute Kentucky lineup advice

Posted on July 14, 2018July 16, 2018 by RJ Kraft

Martin Truex Jr. won the Busch Pole Qualifying Award and will start in the top position for Saturday’s Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kentucky Speedway. After two practice sessions and qualifying, we’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you go to make roster decisions for the 19th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of 2018. Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2.

To the rear: Kyle Larson (missed driver intros)
Editor’s note: Even with this news, Larson is staying in my lineup as my garage play.

RJ Kraft’s revised Fantasy Live lineup following practices and the lineup being set:
1: Martin Truex Jr.
2: Kevin Harvick
3: Kyle Busch
4: Brad Keselowski
5: Erik Jones
Garage: Kyle Larson

PLAY NOW: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | How the new Fantasy Live works
MORE: Fantasy analysis for Kentucky | Driver stats | Full lineup | 10-lap averages

Analysis: With eight races to go in the regular season, the gloves are off. No more saving uses. This is the last race at a 1.5-mile track until the playoffs, so it’s fantasy go time.

The Big 3 of Truex Jr., Harvick and Busch were locks for me from the get-go. Their numbers on intermediates over the past two years are ridiculous and they have been the three best cars all year. If you have the uses, like I do — entering Saturday night I have five uses left on Busch and Truex and three on Harvick — you HAVE to play them. I’m holding onto Larson, but shifting him to the garage since my other five drivers will make up the top five starting spots in Saturday’s field. Larson has scored the third-most points on 1.5-mile tracks this season and was the runner-up from the back at Kentucky last year. Let’s not forget, he started 18th at the last 1.5-mile track (Chicago) and finished second. Guess where he starts tonight? 18th.

Originally, I had Kurt Busch and Joey Logano in my lineup. Busch has had a respectable showing this weekend but I found an option that I liked better. The speed on the No. 22 just seems off here and his two Penske teammates have been faster so I am taking Logano out of my lineup as well. In place of those two, I am rostering Jones and Keselowski. Fresh off his Daytona victory, Jones has been fast so far this weekend, has the ninth-most points on 1.5-mile tracks and finished sixth here in 2018. Initially, I was trying to save Keselowski with just three uses left, but the 2 crew looks too good to bench. Combine that with his three wins here — in an every other year sequence of 2012, 2014, 2016 — and one could theorize that history and trends suggest it’s Kes’ time to shine. I like the 2012 champ at New Hampshire, Pocono and Watkins Glen as well, so I am going to have to sacrifice at least one of those if this decision works. Like I said earlier, it’s go time, so I will pay the piper on his usage sooner rather than later. Frankly, I’m OK with that.

On the bonus picks, I am splitting everything between the Big 3 with Truex in Stage 1, Kyle Busch in Stage 2 and Harvick for the win.

Posted on July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by Staff Report

SPARTA, Ky. – A spin didn’t stop Christopher Bell from the win in the ALSCO 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

The Joe Gibbs Racing rookie was going for the pole in the final round of qualifying and spun out before completing the lap.

Bell was forced to start from the rear of the field but recovered for his first win on the 1.5-mile track and his second of 2018.

“This is really special,” Bell said. “I keep making mistakes. I have to stop doing that to my team. They build really fast race cars and I made another mistake there in qualifying and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get back. But this Camry was good enough that I was able to get back around these guys.

“Hats off to Daniel Hemric. He’s been trying to get an Xfinity win for a long time. He’s been really close.”

Hemric, who passed Kyle Busch on Lap 143 and led eight laps, settled for second.

“I can’t make excuses,” Hemric said. “I should have gotten it done.”

Kyle Busch led a race-high 111 laps before finishing third. Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick, John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Truex, Paul Menard and Austin Cindric rounded out the top 10.

Busch took the lead from Custer, the pole-sitter, after just 14 laps and held a 3.218-second lead when he won Stage 1. Custer finished second followed by Nemechek, Matt Tifft, Cindric, Brandon Jones, Reddick, Allgaier, Hemric and Elliott Sadler. Bell moved up to 28th after the first lap and finished 14th in the first stage.

Busch retained the lead following service on pit road. Ty Majeski, who rolled off second, gained 14 positions with a two-tire pit stop. Custer, Nemechek, Cindric, Tifft, Brandon Jones, Menard, Reddick and Sadler completed the top 10 when the race returned to green for Stage 2 on Lap 52.

Majeski’s track position was short-lived after he slid up in to the wall on the restart exiting Turn 2. He dropped to 20th before pitting on Lap 57. Busch set sail with Custer, Cindric, Nemechek and Jones in tow. Reddick moved up to sixth, followed by Allgaier, Bell, Menard and Sadler.

Busch tagged the wall on Lap 64 but Custer couldn’t take advantage of the veteran’s rare mistake. Nemechek, however, passed Custer on Lap 71. He used the low line to take the point from Busch on Lap 80. The rookie driver held the lead by .396 seconds over Busch for his first Xfinity stage win. Custer finished third followed by Cindric, Jones, Allgaier, Bell, Menard and Hemric.

The final stage was rife with cautions. Busch retook the lead on pit road followed by Custer, Nemechek, Cindric, Allgaier and Bell. The third caution occurred when Josh Williams clipped Blake Jones in Turn 4 on Lap 99. Busch retained the lead followed by Custer, Allgaier, Bell, Nemechek, Brandon Jones and Hemric.

Entering Turn 2 on the Lap 104 restart, Nemechek slid into Brandon Jones and the No. 19 hit the wall to trigger the fourth caution. The Joe Gibbs Racing crew was forced to push Jones behind the wall.

“Gosh, one of our really good mile-and-a-half cars here,” said Jones, who finished 36th. “This has got to be a kill or be killed situation on these restarts.”

Busch elected to take the inside lane for the Lap 108 restart with Custer, Bell, Allgaier and Hemric in tow. Reddick, Tifft, Nemechek, Cindric and Menard rounded out the top 10. Bell grabbed second from Custer and closed in behind Busch. Hemric followed for third. Nemechek moved by Custer for fourth on Lap 125.

Majeski’s misfortunes continued on Lap 132 when he spun through the frontstretch grass to ignite the fifth caution. Busch retained the lead coming to the Lap 139 restart. A two-tire stop by the No. 5 JR Motorsports team allowed Michael Annett to move up to second. Nemechek lined up third, but lost power attempting to save fuel. He was forced to pit for a new battery and dropped to 21st, one lap down. Hemric moved up to third followed by Custer, Menard, Allgaier, Cindric, Tifft and Bell.

Annett slapped the wall on the restart. Hemric passed Busch for the lead coming off of Turn 2 on Lap 143. Allgaier moved passed the No. 18 Toyota for second on Lap 145. Tifft slid up into Sadler coming out of Turn 2 to bring out the sixth caution on Lap 146.

Hemric controlled the Lap 151 restart, but Allgaier moved to the lead on the outside coming through Turns 3 and 4. Joey Gase crashed to force the seventh caution of the night with 39 laps remaining in the race.

With a push from Bell, Allgaier pulled out to a three-car-length lead on the Lap 166 restart. Bell moved up to second while Hemric dropped to third. Busch, who dropped to eighth after pitting during the sixth caution, rebounded to fourth followed by Custer.

Allgaier held a .3-second lead over Bell with 20 laps to decide the contest. Bell went low coming to the line on Lap 184 for the lead. Hemric passed Allgaier for second while Busch moved in on the bumper of the No. 7 Chevrolet, eventually taking over third place.

Bell continued to pull away from Hemric with 10 laps remaining and extended his lead to .848-seconds for his third career win in the Xfinity Series.

“To be able to come from the back here at Kentucky, it just really shows how good of car we have,” Bell added. “This Rheem Camry was extremely good on the long run. Even on the short run too, I could fire off and have really good restarts, so I’m just thankful that everyone stayed behind me and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing believes in me, so it’s a dream come true to be racing in the Xfinity Series, let alone standing in Victory Lane one more time.”

Sadler, who finished 12th, leads the NXS standings on a tie-breaker over Hemric.

The Xfinity Series’ next race is scheduled for July 21 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Saturday’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart at Kentucky Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by Zack Albert

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tossed barbs right back at Kyle Busch on Friday, saying he didn’t smooth things over after their crash last weekend at Daytona because he was irritated by Busch’s public comments.

Stenhouse reached out to Busch for the first time since the two were involved in a contentious collision last weekend, leaning into the window of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota in between rounds of qualifying at Kentucky Speedway. The two chatted briefly, and Stenhouse elaborated on his reasoning in an interview with NBCSN.

“Ah, not really a change of heart. I just told him why I didn’t reach out. I felt like he ran his mouth enough on his radio and then after the race that I didn’t really have anything to say to him,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “I honestly feel like that I normally do reach out to people when I make mistakes, and I clearly made a mistake, but you know with him running his mouth I just felt like I didn’t really need to call him.

“So I just let him know that. I told him that I was like ‘Hey, you’re right, you do run a lot further up front, but pick and choose your battles wisely because you will have to deal with me sometime whether you’re lapping me or we get our cars better and we’re up there racing with you.’ I told him if he wanted to keep running his mouth, he can come over and do it around me and I’ll stop him for myself.”

Stenhouse was a central figure in multiple wrecks in last weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, including an incident that eliminated Busch before the end of the second stage. Busch was critical of Stenhouse’s aggressive tactics in that crash and the one that preceded it, a massive stack-up that involved more than half of the 40-car field.

Stenhouse accepted blame in his post-race remarks last Saturday night at Daytona, but Busch told reporters at Kentucky that his rival had taken no measures to mend fences. “You wipe out half the field and pretty sure there would be a pretty busy Monday for him, but there wasn’t, so apparently he just doesn’t care,” Busch said earlier Friday.

Stenhouse earned the 14th starting position for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM), just missing out on the final-12 cut for the final round. The early exit allowed Stenhouse to talk briefly with Busch at his car before making his way back to the garage.

Busch, a two-time Kentucky winner, continued in qualifying to snare the fifth starting spot for Saturday night’s race.

Posted on July 13, 2018July 14, 2018 by Staff Report

SPARTA, Ky. – Martin Truex Jr. didn’t need a dress rehearsal to put on a pole-winning performance at Kentucky Speedway on Friday.

His lack of mock qualifying runs in practice did not affect the ultimate result – his first Busch Pole on the 1.5-mile track.

The defending winner of the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart executed the fastest lap in Round 3 to win the pole for Saturday night’s race at the 1.5-mile track (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

For Truex, the pole was his fourth of the season, the most among Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competitors.

“It wasn’t a perfect lap by any means but it was good enough,” said Truex after posting a speed of 188.890 mph (25.588-seconds). “We worked in race trim the whole time and honestly, our qualifying run, we only got one in during practice and it wasn’t very good. We hit traffic.

“We really had to guess on the set-up for here. The first round, I was a little bit off. Some of it was driver, some of it was car. We put our heads together, came up with a plan and everybody stepped it up. It feels good. Starting up front is key, so that first pit stall will be good for here and hopefully, we can back up what we did last year tomorrow night. It’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be fun.”

Last weekend’s first-time winner Erik Jones was second, followed by Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Paul Menard. Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez and Aric Almirola completed the top 12 in time trials.

Harvick topped the first session with a speed of 187.859 mph. Jones, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Menard, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Bowyer, Newman, Blaney, Truex and Almirola completed the top 12 speeds. Chris Buescher was the first driver on the chart to run three laps in the first session but managed the 15th-fastest speed.

Truex posted a fast lap of 188.976 mph in Round 2 to lead the 12 drivers that advanced to the final round. Kyle Busch, Almirola, Keselowski, Jones, Newman, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Blaney, Menard and Suarez also advanced. With less than a minute to go in the round, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Austin Dillon made a second attempt but it was all for naught.

“The car hasn’t drove bad from time to time,” said Elliott, who will start 16th. “It just hasn’t drove as fast as we like. We’ll make it work.”

Four drivers failed to make a qualifying attempt because of trouble in pre-qualifying inspection. Those included Denny Hamlin, Matt DiBenedetto, Timmy Hill and Jesse Little — all of whom will start at the end of the 39-car field.

Seven-time series champ Jimmie Johnson will also have a starting spot deep in the field. He failed to advance out of the first of three qualifying rounds, and his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet will set sail from 27th place Saturday night.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on July 13, 2018 by NASCAR Wire Service

SPARTA, Ky. — Alex Bowman is living life on the bubble.

The driver of the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet is currently 15th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings.

But without a check in the win column, Bowman could be on the outside looking in for the Playoffs.

“There is definitely a good bit of pressure, obviously, that comes with it,” Bowman said. “Really, last week was probably the most pressure that I will see until we get to Indy if things keep going the way they have. Definitely in the back of my mind I was looking at the No. 95 car (Kasey Kahne) leading laps and some of the other guys up there, I was like, ‘Oh, this could get really bad for us.’ Glad it didn’t turn into too bad of a night for us, still got solid stage points and all that.”

Bowman led the Hendrick Motorsports contingent for the past two races — at Chicagoland Speedway and Daytona International Speedway. His 10th-place finish last Saturday was his third consecutive and seventh top-10 result since becoming the driver of the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet. Bowman’s 66 laps led this season also tops his three teammates.

MORE: Which young driver will win next?

“For me, it’s just we have to keep putting races together and keep running solid top 10 and hopefully that gets us there,” Bowman added. “Obviously, we would like to win before the cutoff, but I think we can do it on points we just have to keep moving in the right direction.

“We have kind of struggled to get stage points this year and that has really put us farther behind than I think we would be if we got stage points of how we finish. But we will just keep working at it and I think we can make it.”

After serving as the test driver for HMS, Bowman is well-versed with the systems on the Hendrick campus. His time spent with crew chief Greg Ives has been invaluable for getting up to speed. He feels the team is finally showing the consistency that was missing in the first half of the season.

“Working with Greg is a ton of fun,” Bowman said. “It’s been great working with him. I think we have been pretty solid. We have finally seemed to put races all the way together the last three weeks, not have any big mistakes and finished where we deserved to finish.”

Posted on July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by Brad Norman

SPARTA, Ky. — One of the most difficult turns on the circuit awaits drivers this weekend at Kentucky Speedway.

Just two years after new asphalt was put down, the elusive Turn 3 has forced drivers and teams to put in extra time focusing on how the cars handle the dynamic difference in banking between the ends of the track.

Even drivers who have found success in the Bluegrass State such as Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Erik Jones are challenged by Turn 3, one that will not ease up throughout the course of a race.

PHOTOS: Best of Kentucky

“It’s become more difficult since the repave,” Jones explained ahead of Friday’s opening practice. “When they reconfigured (Turns) 1 and 2, it made them a lot faster. You carry so much speed into Turn 3 and it looks like you’re taking a hard left in a parking lot because it’s so flat and so wide.”

The driver of the No. 20 Toyota took home his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series checkered flag last weekend at Daytona, and may be a contender in Saturday’s night race at Kentucky (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In six starts between the Monster Energy Series and Xfinity Series, Jones has three top-five and five top-10 finishes at the 1.5-miler.

“If you can get your car handling really well down there, and really hooking the line well, and getting in the corners secure you’re going to be in a pretty good spot,” Jones said. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Busch, who arguably is the best driver at Kentucky, has seen Victory Lane twice and has five top fives and six top 10s in just seven starts.

RELATED: Busch sounds off on Ricky

However, he acknowledges Turn 3 is not a turn you see outside of this track, providing another level of trouble if you don’t factor it into race strategy.

“It’s so much different here, Turn 3, than any other 1.5-mile we go to,” Busch said. “Normally other places you get to you start picking up a little bit banking before you get into the corner and here it’s so flat all the way down before you pick up the banking it just has its own characteristics and its own challenges that are tough to deal with.”

When asked what advice he could provide to help tame the turn, Busch made it simple: It’s up to you.

“How you interpret that corner or how you try to decipher that corner is what makes people good here, and I think how you can withstand some of the characteristics it gives you within your race car,” Busch said.

Posted on July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch says he is disappointed that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did not reach out following an incident between the two last week at Daytona International Speedway, then fired a shot at the Roush Fenway Racing driver when asked if he would race Stenhouse Jr. differently.

UPDATE: Stenhouse fires back at Busch

“He did not reach out,” Busch said Friday at Kentucky Speedway. When pressed with follow-up questions, he added: “I am disappointed that he did not. He wiped out half the field. I was pretty sure it’d be a pretty busy Monday for him. There wasn’t, so apparently he just doesn’t care.”

When asked if it changed how Busch, who has five wins this season, would race the No. 17, he quipped: “I can’t worry about people that far back in the field.”

Busch exited Saturday’s race at Daytona early following contact with Stenhouse Jr. Busch, Kurt Busch and others indicated they felt Stenhouse Jr. initiated both of the race’s early big wrecks.

Stenhouse Jr. later said it was simply aggressive speedway racing as he seeks a win to lock up a playoff spot.

“I was frustrated with myself causing crashes like that,” Stenhouse said after Saturday night’s race. “You don’t ever really want to do that.”

However, to Busch, reaching out to fellow drivers to apologize personally is a mindset not everyone shares in the garage. And he doesn’t expect one to come from the driver of the No. 17.

“If you don’t care, then don’t reach out you know,” Busch said. “If you did it purposefully, don’t reach out. But if you actually have some remorse, and you’re apologetic … I tend to reach out. When I make mistakes or when I do things that I feel like hindered other drivers than I always reach out and say something like ‘Hey man, hate I got into you, I’m sorry.’ … It’s not going to change the fact, but at least you took that step.”

Posted on July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by Staff Report

NASCAR’s newest first-time winner is showing some strong speed in Kentucky.

Fresh off his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win last weekend at Daytona, Erik Jones recorded the fastest lap in final practice ahead of Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Jones posted a lap at 187.748 miles per hour in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Just like opening practice earlier in the day, Ryan Blaney laid down the second-fastest time at a speed of 187.311 mph in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford. Kyle Busch was third-fastest in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (186.503 mph), followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (185.982 mph) and Austin Dillon (185.714 mph).

Next up for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is final practice at 2 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, followed by Busch Pole Award qualifying at 6:40 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App.

PRACTICE 1

Kyle Larson is showcasing the horsepower so far at Kentucky Speedway.

Larson topped the charts in opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice for Saturday night’s race (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sportd App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), laying down a lap of 185.867 mph in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet — the only driver to break the 185-mph barrier after running a mock qualifying lap.

RELATED: Opening practice results

Ryan Blaney finished second, flying around the 1.5-mile oval at a speed of 184.653 mph in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford. Blaney’s teammate, Joey Logano, posted the third-fastest time at 184.300 mph in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

A pair of Toyotas rounded out the top five, as Kyle Busch was fourth in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (183.955 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. was fifth in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota (183.892 mph).

Posted on July 13, 2018July 14, 2018 by Staff Report

On Friday and Saturday, NASCAR Digital will live stream the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series inspection process from a camera inside the Optical Scanning Station on our YouTube channel from 3:30-5 p.m. ET.

Bookmark our YouTube channel here to watch, or come back to this article, where we’ll embed the YouTube stream.

Cars go through inspection inside a black tent with a collection of 16 cameras and eight projectors attached to its inner structure. An additional camera is positioned below the vehicle to measure the underside.

Once a car rolls in, the projectors cast light in a series of lines and dots over the body to create a coordinate system for the cameras. In roughly 30 seconds, those cameras capture the measurements of those light patterns and create a 3-D heat map — also called a point cloud — that helps officials determine whether a car is in compliance.