How to Choose Drivers in Fantasy NASCAR

Fantasy NASCAR often isn’t as time-consuming or intense as fantasy baseball or football, but it has its own challenges. With a little research, however, it’s easy to learn and a fun way to experience the sport. Play against your family and friends for bragging rights, and choose drivers wisely if you want to rule the track.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Sign up for a fantasy NASCAR game (see Resources). Play with friends or strangers, but it’s more fun when you choose a group that’s on the same competitive level as you. It’s no fun to commit to a 40-race season with competitors who lose interest after a few weeks.
2. Read about how your league will operate. In many leagues, you will be allotted a number of points of dollars. Drivers may be assigned values, or driver might be auctioned off between you and your competitors. Also, some leagues pit owners against one another each week, with the league winner the one who wins the most weeks. Other leagues determine a season winner by the total points your driver rack up.
3. Research the drivers. Find out how well they’ve done in recent years and what tracks they excel on. This is easier for a NASCAR fan, but many newspapers, websites and magazines publish fantasy NASCAR guides or season previews that will help you out.
4. Draft one of the top-ranked drivers. This driver should excel at most tracks and will be the centerpiece of your team, but don’t spend all your cash in one place. You’ll need a balanced team to win your league.
5. Pick another strong driver next. In large leagues, the cream of the crop might be gone, but you can choose a steady driver that you can depend on. Pay particular attention to how well the drivers do on midsized tracks. Eight tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit are 1.5-mile tracks. Six tracks are between 1 and 1.5 miles, and one track is 2 miles.
6. Choose a driver who excels in short races, super speedways or road races if your other drivers are lacking in any of those areas.
7. Take a risk on an up-and-coming driver if you feel confident with your top picks. You can always keep him on the bench.
8. Write down your drivers’ strengths and weaknesses. That way, if one driver does poorly on road races or at a particular track, you will remember to take him out for that race. Pay attention to tracks that are similar to one another.