Booger's Monday Fantasy NASCAR Update: Bristol Night Race Edition





Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race

Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tennessee | Saturday, August 20th, 2016

8:00 PM Est. | NBCSN

Bristol (Night Race):

 

After a week off the Sprint Cup Series is back on track this weekend for the famous Bristol Night Race. Personally my parents and I have been to this race twice (1999, and 2001). Everyone remembers the 1999 race where Dale Earnhardt spun Terry Labonte in turn 2 and the infamous quote, "I meant to rattle his cage" was born. Senior would go on to win that race, in 2001 a young Tony Stewart beat the likes of Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace.

This is the 2nd visit this season to Thunder Valley, the first go around did not go well for the Dick Trickle fantasy team, so we look to rebound this weekend.

Chase Elliot was the surprise of that early spring weekend, which he made his first visit to Bristol with the cup series and finished 4th. Carl Edwards started on the pole and led 276 laps enroute to victory that day.

Lets get to my picks for this weekends night race from Bristol, Tennessee.

Group A:

Matt Kenseth

Kenseth led 142 laps back in April, but finshed 36th due to a blown tire and hitting the wall while leading. He had engine trouble in last years Night Race. Last win here came in the 2015 Spring race. But with all this negativity, he finished 1st in 2013 and 3rd in 2014.

Joey Logano

Logano is the 2-time defending Bristol Night Race winner. He finished 10th in the spring race. The last 4 night races he has finishes of 8th, 5th, and 2 wins. Look for Logano to continue his strong hold on Bristol this weekend.

WE2W4- Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski

Sleeper pick- Kurt Busch

Group B:

Ricky Stenhouse Jr

Finished 16th in the spring race here, 21st in this race a year ago. Has a 2nd (Spring '14), 6th (Fall '14), and 4th (Spring '15). Stenhouse will be looking for a good run, as of now he is on the outside looking in at 20th when it comes to the chase.

Carl Edwards

Edwards dominated the Spring race leading 274 laps and finished 1st, also started on the pole. Last 5 Bristol races he has recorded finishes of 1st, 7th, 24th, 7th and 1st.

Jamie McMurray

McMurray finished 13th in the spring race, 11th in last years race. Finished 8th in the fall of 2014. He will also be looking for a good run to stay inside the top 16 in the points with only 3 races remaining till the chase.

Trevor Bayne

I have a hunch, right now Trevor is 3 points to the good in the last qualifying spot for the chase. He finished 5th here in the spring and 15th last fall.

WE2W4- Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman

Sleeper- Kyle Larson

Group C-

Jeff Gordon

I've been really surprised since his return to the car and not in a good way. I'm sure its hard to take a guy who was enjoying his retirement and put him into a car that's all but changed from last season and I don't care even if you are 4-time champ. This week I will be having a good backup.

Chase Elliot

In the case of Jeff not qualifying well or practicing well, I'm picking this rookie. He finished 4th in the spring race and looked really good in his first visit to Bristol in a cup car.

WE2W4- Ryan Blaney

Well, there we have it. Another week of picks and I only dropped from 1st to 2nd after Watkins Glen. I'm hoping I get those points back. We are unfortunately getting to the end of the season and that means summer is almost over. This is one of my favorite races of the year, in 2 more weeks is another one of my favorite races the Southern 500. Hope everyone has a good week and enjoy the race on Saturday!

UNTIL NEXT TIME....

GOD SPEED

BOOGER

Booger's Monday NASCAR Fantasy Update: Watkins Glen Edition

Cheez-It 355 at The Glen

Watkins Glen International

Watkins Glen, New York | Sun, August 7, 2016

Time: 2:30 PM EST | Live: USA

Pocono Recap:

Well this week I don't have much of a recap of the race because of the DVR. So I will fill you in on some things I gathered from Twitter and Facebook. Sunday's attempt at running the race was postponed due to inclement weather, and much of the same happened Monday. The start today was delayed a little while for a foggy mist, but the race got underway with Martin Truex leading the field to green. There was a competition caution at lap 15, all the leaders pitted, Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle stayed out to gain track position. On the first restart of the race, the pole sitter Truex blew a tire and hit the wall, and Paul Menard an early weekend surprise had transmission problems. Truex would finish a disappointing 38th and Menard finished 35th.

It was whirlwind of a day for Jeff Gordon, on lap 49 he received a too fast entering pit road penalty, and at some point during a late race restart one of his seat belts came undone. Gordon went on to say that he had hoped for the race to go back green to get back to the track position he lost having to pit to fix the seat belt issue. Gordon who is filling in for the 2nd straight week for Dale Earnhardt Jr, finished 27.

All season the experts of Fox and NBC have been wondering which of the two rookies (Chase Elliot and Ryan Blaney) would get their first cup wins, also wondering the same about Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson. I speak for myself when I say this, "Chris Buescher?" No idea that this was going to happen, was almost an easy bet to pick Larson or Elliot for how well they have been running, BUT Chris Buescher? Really? Chase Elliot who was caught up in a wreck with Joey Logano finished 33rd and Ryan Blaney finished 11th.

The day belongs to 23 year old Chris Buescher from Prosper, Texas. For a guy who sustained damage avoiding a wreck and cutting a tire to speeding on pit road, I'm sure victory was the last thought on his mind at one point today. Today's victory comes as a surprise because this victory is his first top 5 and top 10 finish of the season. Pit strategy and little help from mother nature put the defending NASCAR Xfinity Champion in hot pursuit of his first chase. He is 6 points out of the top 30 in points which is a requirement for the Chase.

For the Dick Trickle fantasy team it wasn't a win but it was a good day overall. And too all of you that had Chris Buescher over Jeff Gordon I tip my cap to you all. I went with Brad Keselowski (2nd) Kyle Larson (6th) Ryan Newman (12th) and Jeff Gordon (28). Got a little snake bit with the problems Gordon had but hey that happens, and who knows what would have had happened if they ran the full 160-laps. I maintained a strong hold on to the points lead and now lead by 59 points heading into Watkins Glen.

This weekend we turn right and left, as we head to the Watkins Glen International road course in New York. The Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship got a little tighter now that a guy not on everyone's radar winning a race. So lets find out who are my Award winners for Pocono and my picks for Watkins Glen

Pocono Bright Shiny Star- Brad Keselowski

Pocono SURPRISE!!! Award- Chris Buescher

Pocono Wreck(s) of the Day-

Group A-

Kyle Busch

In the 11 races he has been entered in here during his career, he has finished inside the Top 10 in 9 of the 11 events. That's a quite incredible stat. Finished 2nd here last season and also has 2 wins (2008-2013). Busch finished 7th at Sonoma in June and look for KyB to challenge up front all day.

Kevin Harvick

'Happy' finished 3rd in 2015 (led 39 laps) and 7th in 2014. Has 1 career win here at WGI back in 2006 when he was driving for RCR. Harvick finished 6th at Sonoma earlier this year and is poised for another good run as he makes his late summer push to the chase.

WE2W4- Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano

Sleeper- Denny Hamlin

Group B-

AJ Allmendinger

Despite the 24th finish here last year, the Dinger won the pole for that event and led 21 laps. Won his first Sprint Cup event here at WGI in 2014. Coming off a 14th place earlier this year at Sonoma, and a 14th today at Pocono, look for the Dinger to get himself locked into the Chase this weekend at the Glen.

Tony Stewart

How can you not go with Smoke this weekend at WGI? This will be his final career start there and he will be looking to go out in style as he did at Sonoma. 5 wins, 7 top 5's and 10 top 10's. In his 15 career stats, Smoke has qualified inside the top 15 in all of them. He will be tough to beat this weekend

Carl Edwards

Edwards finished 8th here in 2015 and 5th in 2014, has 1 finish outside the top 15 in 11 starts. Finished 4th at Sonoma.

Kyle Larson

Can Larson get that monkey of his back of being a first time winner and lock himself in for the chase this weekend? In the 2 races here at WGI he finished 12th last season and 4th in his rookie season. Earlier this season he finished 12th at Sonoma. Could you imagine the finish with a battle between AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Larson, this could be an epic race at the Glen.

WE2W4- Martin Truex Jr.

Sleeper- Jamie McMurray

Group C

Jeff Gordon

As of right now, no one knows if Jeff will be in the #88 this weekend or Dale Jr. or some other driver. According to Yahoo right now Jeff is not entered in the race, so make sure you check the NASCAR News. All signs turn to JG returning for his 3rd race as a fill in driver for Jr. And what a replacement, 4 wins at WGI but he hasn't faired well lately there. Just proceed with caution.

Regan Smith

Coming off a 3rd place finish at Pocono, that could be what a small market team needs to run better then they have all year. Hell, I may even plug Chris Buescher in later this week.

WE2W4- Chase Elliot and Ryan Blaney

Sleeper- Chris Buescher

Well, there we have it. Another week is in the books and a surprise winner. You know there has been a lot of people saying Buescher's victory should have an asterisks behind it because of the rain shortened event. A win is a win and stop complaining. Give credit where credit is due, he is a helluva talent, and one day we could see him behind the wheel of a big time ride. I always love when the underdogs of this sport can win races over the big name Hendrick, Gibbs, Penskes etc.

Just a little updated, next weekend is an off week for the cup boys. I'll be doing the recap of the Watkins Glen race and giving you my picks for the next 2 weeks after as I will be on vacation.

Thank you to everyone that reads this blog and continues supporting me in this. I'm still enjoying it and hope that one day I can learn more and more to achieve the ultimate goal of making it into the sport I love. As I am just North Dakota boy with a NASCAR dream.

         UNTIL NEXT TIME........

GOD SPEED

BOOGER

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