Booger's Monday NASCAR Fantasy Update: Pocono (Summer Race) Edition

Axalta 'We Paint Winners' 400

Pocono Raceway

Long Pond, Pennsylvania

Sunday, June 5th, 2016 | 1PM EST

LIVE on FS1

Coca-Cola 600 Recap:

The Dick Trickle Fantasy team brought home 3rd place last night. Made a change to my lineup prior to the start that didn't work out well as Kasey Kahne ended up having a dreaded start and never was able to dig out of the hole. The race was dominated by Martin Truex Jr. and I wasn't surprised. By the far the fastest car this year was on the brink of busting through to get his first win. Without those pit road blunders and that close finish in the Daytona 500 he very well could have 3 or 4 wins this season. Kyle Larson has had a couple good weeks leading up to last nights race but was a non factor but ended up getting a decent 13th place finish. Joey Logano led 1 lap and finished 9th and the rookie Chase Elliot shrugged off an early pit road penalty to bring it home in 8th. But, the story of night was all Truex, leading 392 of 400 laps which is a Coke 600 record. He also broke the record of most miles led in one race by leading 588 miles of the 600. Thing is he could dominate again this weekend as the Sprint Cup series heads to Pocono the tricky triangle. So lets find out who my picks are this weekend as we head into the summer months.


Coca-Cola 600 Shiny Star Award- Chase Elliot


Elliot was my highest finisher last night, despite an early pit road penalty he shrugged it off. Everyone is wondering when Kyle Larson will get his first win, I'm wondering which of 2 rookies get their first win first. Elliot is the leading candidate.


Coca-Cola SURPRISE!! Award- Kyle Larson


For how well he ran All-Star weekend and coming of a 2nd place finish in the Xfinity race. Kyle Larson was really a non-factor in last nights Coca- Cola 600 but finished 13th.

Group A-

Denny Hamlin

Denny has more wins at Pocono then any other active drivers, four. His last of his four total wins came back in 2010 but since then in his last four summer races here he has a 10th, 4th, 8th and 5th place finishes. He qualifies well here only starting outside the top 15 once in all of his starts here. Look for him to run well and get a good finish.

Brad Keselowski

Keselowski has 1 win here, which came back in 2011. He finished 2nd in the fall race here last season. Keselowski is coming into this weekends race as one of the hottest drivers in the past month. In the month of May he scored an average finish of 6th had 4 top 10s 2 top 5s. He finished 5th in the Coke 600 and look for him to continue he consistency this week at Pocono.

WE2W4- Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and Joey Logano

Group B-

Kyle Larson

Though he was really a non factor in last nights Coke 600, which was a surprise to me because of how well he ran last week in the All-Star race and finished 2nd in the Xfinity race I'm sticking with the kid of Cali. In only 4 races at Pocono, Larson has an Avg. Finish of 9.00, 1 top5, and 2 top10s. His worst finish is 12th and finished 8th here last year. Look for Larson to keep that trend heading up.

Tony Stewart

Its been awhile since his last win at Pocono, 2009. But Smoke ran well here last fall finishing 9th. His last 4 summer races here, he has a 21st, 13th, 4th, and 3rd place finish. He may not make the chase this year but you know he is going to giver hell.

Martin Truex Jr.

Coming off his dominating performance at Charlotte it would be stupid not to pick this guy this week. He is also the defending race winner where he led 97 laps last June. He is going to be the one to beat and is my pick to win this week.

Ryan Newman

He has one win coming back in 2003 when he was with Penske Racing. Last summer he finished 39th, but was running well when he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Allmendinger and Newman were running for 7th place when AJ got loose underneath Newman sending the 31 car into the wall. Other then that blemish he has a 7th, 5th and 12th place finish here at this race.

WE2W4- Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle

Group C-

Landon Cassill and Brian Scott

Like I said last week I'm keeping Blaney and Elliot in my hip pocket while other guys might use them up right away. I may not win a lot of weeks in these summer months but it will be totally worth having those 2 rookies during the playoff months. Cassill and Scott are among the top 4 in that group behind the 2 rookies. But by all means if you want to go with Blaney and Elliot I don't blame you.

WE2W4- Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliot

Well there we have it. Another week in the books and putting some strategy into my game. I hope everyone had a good and safe memorial day weekend. Also congratulations to Alexander Rossi as the American rookie won the Indianapolis 500 yesterday afternoon. Thank you to all those who read this every week and for all the support. Please feel free to leave comments so I can make this blog the best it can be!

                                     GOD SPEED

           

                              BOOGER