Articles
Chase Elliott Could Be The Weak Link At Las Vegas
Chase Elliott has not fared too well at Las Vegas. That includes a couple of crashes and several car and driver errors the past few seasons. There is one interesting quirk though. Elliott does have the speed and particularly earlier in these races. He has led 20 or more laps during this span. The No. […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoKyle Busch Positioned For Some Success At Las Vegas
Though Kyle Busch has had somewhat mixed results at Las Vegas, his car is in a position for improvement this time around. His car has been better with sixth and third-place results in the last two appearances from the tri-oval. The 1.5-mile track shows an overall Busch consistency with a 7.66 average finish. That comes […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoJoey Logano Is Risky Heading To Las Vegas
Joey Logano has had a rough 2021 on most intermediate tracks. Both of his wins at Las Vegas happened during the early-season race. The summer/fall version has been less kind to Logano and Team Penske. The No. 22 car finished 14th in 2020. Also, even earlier this year, a ninth-place result had some scratching their […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoBrad Keselowski Knows Urgency Is High In Las Vegas
Brad Keselowski settled for second place earlier in 2021 in Las Vegas. He started from the tenth position, led 27 laps, and narrowly missed out on the victory. The Team Penske driver likes intermediate tracks a lot. He has had five wins on intermediate courses since 2018 and has the best average finish in that […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoAlex Bowman Part Of Possible Hendrick Vegas Resurgence
Alex Bowman begins Sunday's race from Las Vegas from the seventh position. During the Spring race, the No. 48 driver had several issues which resulted in him finishing two laps down. Sure, there is a reason this might happen again. However, Bowman was one of the fastest cars last week during the final stages at […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoDenny Hamlin A Bit Risky For Las Vegas Race
Denny Hamlin has been a factor in all three races so far during the playoff chase. That included a win at Darlington, a near-win at Richmond, and a top ten at Bristol. Each race had one common theme for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. He led a significant chunk of laps. Overall, the No. 11 […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoKevin Harvick Finding Speed In Time For Las Vegas
Kevin Harvick came into the chase under fire. He still is but for different reasons. Harvick had a run-in with Chase Elliott at Bristol but he led 71 laps. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver wound up second at the end of the race. Consider his Las Vegas track record and maybe the issues of the first […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoMartin Truex Jr. Figures To Be In The Mix At Las Vegas
Martin Truex Jr. was one of the more consistent drivers during the first three races of the chase. He finished fourth at Darlington, seventh at Bristol while winning at Richmond. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has six top-ten results in his previous seven races at Las Vegas. Furthermore, that includes a win and an average […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoWilliam Byron Finding His Form Bodes Well For Vegas
William Byron saved his playoffs with a top-five finish at Bristol. Arguably, the next three races lend themselves to better results ahead. This starts with Las Vegas where Byron ended up eighth earlier in the year. He led 25 laps in that race as well. While winning is not likely, Byron just needs that consistent […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoRyan Blaney Should Contend At Las Vegas
Ryan Blaney starts from the second position this Sunday night for the South Point 400 from Las Vegas. Some may forget that Blaney finished in the top-five during the first race earlier this season. Will Blaney win? That does seem unlikely. Will he contend? That is more likely for the Team Penske driver. Blaney got […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoKyle Larson A Favorite Once More At Las Vegas
Kyle Larson is the best driver from a wins and laps led standpoint this year. The Hendricks Motorsports Racing team has been dominant, but especially Larson. The No. 5 car has been incredible with a 5.83 average finish and five top-10s in his last six races at Las Vegas. Larson is also starting from the […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoRobert Thomas Signs Bridge Contract With St. Louis
Robert Thomas signed a new two-year deal with the St. Louis Blues late on Tuesday night. This was so he could get into training camp without the contract being a lingering issue. The deal pays the forward an AAV of $2.8 million. Thomas had a bit of a down year with just three goals and […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoRasmus Dahlin Signs Three-Year Contract With Buffalo
Rasmus Dahlin will be in training camp for the Buffalo Sabres after signing a three-year deal Wednesday morning. The defenseman signed for an AAV of $6 million. He is just 21-years old but under Don Granato has made strides despite COVID last season. Dahlin began to average close to 25 minutes average time on ice […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoKirill Kaprizov Inks New Five-Year Pact With Minnesota
Kirill Kaprizov signed a five-year deal with the Minnesota Wild early Tuesday evening. The contract will pay him $9 million per season. Kaprizov almost hoped for a deal like this from the beginning. He even walked away from an eight-year deal with similar dollars over the summer. Little of that matters now as the Calder […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoElvis Merzlikins Signs Five-Year Extension With Columbus
The Columbus Blue Jackets and Elvis Merzlikins agreed to a five-year extension on Tuesday. Merzlikins will get paid an AAV of $5.4 million. He went 8-12-5 last year for the Blue Jackets with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. The goaltender followed up a brilliant rookie season with a solid second act. […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoMichael McDowell Eliminated At Bristol After Rough Night
Michael McDowell got into the playoff chase behind a win at the very first race of the season -- the Daytona 500. After that, McDowell had a few good results but little else. The No. 34 Ford crashed out in the season finale at Daytona and then crashed again at Darlington. That got him off […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoKurt Busch's Chase Ends At Bristol
Kurt Busch was another case where the No. 1 car never really got going in any of the three playoff races. His 19th place finish at Bristol just cemented his fate and elimination from the playoff chase. The older Busch started great with a sixth at Darlington. However, he crashed early (after 40 laps) at […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoTyler Reddick's Playoff Run Ends At Bristol
Tyler Reddick, like Aric Almirola, just could not get into the top 10 in any of the first three playoff races. As a result, he was eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend. Normally finishing 18th, 15th and 12th is pretty good. However, the No. 8 car was down near the bottom of the standings […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoAric Almirola Eliminated At Bristol
Aric Almirola was one of four eliminations from the playoff chase over the weekend after the Bristol race. The No. 10 car finished 18th on Saturday. The problem was that though Almirola was consistent over the previous seven races. Finishing 16th, 14th, and 18th when starting 12th in the chase did not help matters. It […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoAlex Bowman Delivers Top-Five at Bristol
Alex Bowman needed a result that did not seem as automatic as some believed. The No. 48 car did find a way to charge forward when it counted. Bowman was just 14th after Stage 1 and 15th after Stage 2. He made up quite a bit of time in the end as he ran out […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoRyan Blaney Sneaks Into Fourth Place at Bristol
Ryan Blaney lurked around most of the night. The Team Penske car then led 45 laps, out of almost nowhere. In the end, he battled back to a fourth-place result on Saturday night as he was sandwiched between William Byron and Alex Bowman. Blaney holding off Bowman was an interesting subplot over the final laps […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoWilliam Byron Surprises Many, Finishes Third at Bristol
William Byron had to feel like deja vu was coming once again. He was starting 14th and was out of the playoff Round of 12 coming into the night. Byron was only tenth after Stage 1 and briefly had fallen out of the top ten during Stage 2. It looked like time was not on […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoKevin Harvick Rides Rough to Second at Bristol
Kevin Harvick raced like vintage Kevin Harvick. Yes, it ruffled some feathers like Chase Elliott's but the result was a second-place finish at Bristol on Saturday. It was only the slightly faster No. 5 car of Kyle Larson that kept Harvick's Stewart-Haas ride from victory. Harvick was sandwiched between two Hendricks Motorsports cars as William […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoKyle Larson Does It Again at Bristol
Kyle Larson let every other NASCAR driver know who is the top favorite for this year's NASCAR playoff chase. It was not enough the No. 5 car was leading the playoff points race. Larson punctuated the first three races by winning the short-track Round of 16 finale at Bristol. He passed Kevin Harvick in a […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoNASCAR DFS Prop Picks for 9/18 - PrizePicks
Hello once again everyone! We hit the Bass Pro Shops Night Race from Bristol Motor Speedway this week and another edition of NASCAR DFS on PrizePicks. Now, that means our new friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS props site […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoNASCAR DFS Prop Picks: Bass Pro Shops Night Race - Monkey Knife Fight
Saturday night features the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway from Bristol, Tennessee. Monkey Knife Fight has an extremely easy fantasy point system: 0.1 points for each lap led and then a set amount of points for their position (20 for 1st place, 19 for 2nd place, 18 for 3rd, and […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoErik Jones A Good Possibility At Bristol
Erik Jones has nearly won the race at Bristol several times. The No. 20 car just has it when it comes to the short track. The 2017 race where he led 260 laps is still talked about today as he just barely missed out on a win. Last season, Jones finished fifth and third on […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoDaniel Suarez Could Surprise At Bristol Again
Daniel Suarez likes the short tracks but particularly Bristol. Before car issues snuffed his effort out last summer, Suarez was in the top-15 once more on the short track. He finished in the top 20 in every single race prior. Expect that trend to continue on Saturday. Suarez starts in 21st but should move up […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoAustin Dillon Not An Optimal Choice At Bristol
Austin Dillon just missed out on the playoff chase and now starts 18th at Bristol on Saturday night. Despite not leading a single lap, Dillon has fared well on the 0.533-mile course with seven top-15 results in his previous nine races. It is odd how consistent he has been at Bristol without leading one lap. […]
Chris Wassel 3 years agoRoss Chastain Making Nice Push In Time For Bristol
Ross Chastain did not race at Bristol in 2020 and his limited history in a slower car makes those results almost irrelevant. He has raced great at Darlington and Richmond with third and seventh place results. If not for the crash at Daytona, Chastain would have finished in the top ten for three straight races. […]
Chris Wassel 3 years ago