Fantasy NASCAR Racing

Fantasy NASCAR practice recap: Showtime Southern 500

May 7, 2011 @ 09:01:57

Known as the "Lady in Black" by many in the NASCAR community, Darlington Raceway has been causing headaches for drivers since the early days of the sport. However, Mother Nature showed Friday that even the "Lady" can be conquered. Rain washed out half of the opening practice session at the track and all of Happy Hour. As a result, fantasy owners won't have a lot of data to go on when making their lineup selections this weekend.

When the cars were on the track, Ryan Newman was the man to beat. He paced the field with a lap of 176.816 mph, and he has the career numbers at Darlington to warrant serious consideration this weekend. Although he has yet to win at the track, Newman has managed eight top-10s in 11 starts, including six top-five runs.

He was followed on the charts by Carl Edwards, who was the only other driver to top 176 mph in the practice. Kurt Busch, defending race winner Denny Hamlin, and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five. Edwards and Hamlin are the top fantasy options out of the group, especially Hamlin. No driver has a better average finish at Darlington than Hamlin, and he has never finished outside the top-15 at the track.

Despite the solid practice times, fantasy owners may want to avoid Kurt Busch this weekend. He cut a tire late in the session and slammed the wall. Busch will have to go to a backup car for Saturday's race, and with all the rain, the team didn't get a chance to dial in the new car.

Although fantasy owners can't completely ignore the practice speeds, the lack of track time means that many teams didn't get a chance to show their stuff. Some other big names that have had success at Darlington in the past that deserve to be considered are Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. All four are former winners at Darlington, and Gordon is riding a series-best seven straight top-five finishes at the track.

A few drivers that have struggled at the "Lady in Black" are Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer. Both drivers are enjoying a strong season, but both have been mediocre at best at Darlington. Fantasy owners will have to choose between their momentum and their history, but at a track as tricky as Darlington, momentum can be killed in a heartbeat.

Whenever rain washes out all or most of the practice session, teams are forced to fall back on previous setups. Drivers that have run well in recent years at Darlington should have an edge. Fantasy owners need to take that into account when setting their rosters.

First Practice Speeds (sorted by Best Lap)

Rk	Car	Driver	Team	Best Lap	Best Time	Laps
1	39	Ryan Newman	Tornados Chevy	176.816	27.812	14
2	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	176.296	27.894	19
3	22	Kurt Busch	Shell/Pennzoil Dodge	175.654	27.996	20
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Sport Clips Toyota	175.516	28.018	44
5	4	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Toyota	175.509	28.019	33
6	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	175.478	28.024	24
7	17	Matt Kenseth	Wiley X Eyewear Ford	175.178	28.072	21
8	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevy	175.153	28.076	17
9	29	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevy	174.892	28.118	18
10	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	174.724	28.145	30
11	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy	174.674	28.153	16
12	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger/AARP Chevy	174.432	28.192	9
13	33	Clint Bowyer	BB&T Chevy	174.358	28.204	14
14	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevy	174.235	28.224	21
15	9	Marcos Ambrose	Stanley Ford	174.037	28.256	15
16	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	173.583	28.330	30
17	18	Kyle Busch	Wrigley Doublemint Toyota	173.534	28.338	30
18	46	J.J. Yeley	Red Line Oil Chevy	173.045	28.418	5
19	00	David Reutimann	Aaron's Outdoors Toyota	172.930	28.437	19
20	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	AMP Energy Sugar-Free/National Guard	172.541	28.501	26
21	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	172.475	28.512	21
22	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's/KOBALT Tools Chevy	172.445	28.517	22
23	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	172.414	28.522	22
24	27	Paul Menard	Turtle Wax/Menards Chevy	172.366	28.530	35
25	66	Michael McDowell	K Love Toyota	172.287	28.543	6
26	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Toyota	172.233	28.552	17
27	5	Mark Martin	GoDaddy.com Chevy	172.209	28.556	36
28	50	T.J. Bell	Little Joe's Autos Toyota	172.185	28.560	12
29	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	172.004	28.590	20
30	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevy	171.998	28.591	30
31	30	David Stremme	EchoStor Technologies Chevy	171.932	28.602	5
32	60	Mike Skinner	Big Red Toyota	171.926	28.603	6
33	37	Tony Raines	Front Row Motorsports Ford	171.788	28.626	7
34	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Best Buy Ford	171.399	28.691	14
35	1	Jamie McMurray	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevy	171.041	28.751	18
36	38	Travis Kvapil	Long John Silver's Ford	170.910	28.773	15
37	81	Scott Riggs	Whitney Motorsports Chevy	170.780	28.795	5
38	09	Landon Cassill	Security Benefit/Thank a Teacher Today	170.768	28.797	31
39	47	Bobby Labonte	Lance/Tom's Snacks Toyota	170.720	28.805	31
40	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports Toyota	170.271	28.881	10
41	32	Ken Schrader	US Chrome Ford	169.783	28.964	21
42	36	Dave Blaney	Golden Corral Chevy	169.310	29.045	11
43	34	David Gilliland	Taco Bell Ford	168.984	29.101	6
44	92	Brian Keselowski	VoiceToday.org Dodge	167.779	29.310	11
45	71	Andy Lally	Interstate Moving Services Ford	166.919	29.461	12
46	7	Robby Gordon	Fast Five/Speed Energy Dodge	0.000	0.000	0

10-Lap Average Speeds (must run 10 consecutive laps)

Rk	Car	Driver	From Lap	To Lap	Avg. Speed
1	4	Kasey Kahne	2	11	171.805
2	11	Denny Hamlin	32	41	171.223
3	27	Paul Menard	21	30	171.030
4	5	Mark Martin	20	29	170.799
5	09	Landon Cassill	12	21	168.111

Author Bio

Brian Polking

Racing has been part of Brian's life ever since he can remember, and he spent his childhood at dirt tracks throughout Ohio and Kentucky watching his father race. NASCAR naturally became his favorite sport, and he has been following the Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series for most of his life. Brian majored in journalism and economics at Ohio State University and becoming a sports writer has always been his dream. Although he has covered everything from minor league baseball to the NCAA tournament, his passion has always been NASCAR. Brian has served as a NASCAR writer for a variety of sites, eventually becoming head editor of the NASCAR section for Fanball.com. His knowledge of NASCAR comes from his life-long love of racing, and he tries to add a personal touch to every article he writes. Brian is always up for talking NASCAR with anyone that wants to. Brian joined KFFL's team in 2011.