first look at richmond

The drivers we highlighted had a good week at Bristol.  We were very high on both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson and, if you had them both, you probably did very well.

One other note before moving to Richmond.  To repeat something we talked about when this website began, the whole point of this is to help people better understand the concepts that lead to success in fantasy Nascar games.  That is why we have multiple updates throughout the week highlighting drivers who have had past success at the track, who look good in practice, and who are on a roll going into the race.  That is why we talk about strategies for building long term success -- such as reducing our exposure at plate races and when there is too much uncertainty like Texas two weeks ago.  That is why, when we talk about lineup ideas, we say why we want a guy in the lineup or why we are thinking of fading what might otherwise be a popular pick.  In the end, we want people to use this information to do their own analysis and make their own lineup decisions.  You're the one pressing the Enter button on your entries.  If you're just coming here to cut and paste a lineup we talk about, you're doing it all wrong.

Onto Richmond.  It's a Saturday night race so we have an off schedule this week.  All the meat of our work is jammed into Friday.  There are two practices during the day Friday with qualifying in the early evening on Friday.  The Cup race is then on Saturday night.  The Xfinity race is Friday night.  Given this schedule, we'll be posting our initial driver list by sometime Wednesday.  Then we'll update everything late Friday or early Saturday with final thoughts and our top targets.  So please check back soon.

Until then, think about these things:

• Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch are the only drivers with 4 consecutive Top 10 Richmond finishes.
• Last year, Logano won the Spring race at Richmond, but was given a post-race penalty that meant he could not use the win for Playoff eligibility.  He didn't win again last season and missed the Playoffs.
• Last Spring at Richmond, Fords finished in 4 of the Top 5 spots and 6 of the Top 9.  However, the Toyota of since-retired Matt Kenseth led the most laps (164).
• More to come later.