2009 Fantasy Rankings 24. Casey Mears

Fantasy Power Average*: 24.52
Wins: 0
Top-fives: 0
Top-10s: 4
Top-15s: 12

The economy may yet be the undoing of Casey Mears in 2010 and that is a shame because this mid-range driver was finally beginning to gel with his Richard Childress Racing team. Like most of the drivers from that stable, he had an up and down year, but starting with the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire, he showed remarkable consistency. In the final 10 races of the year, he finished on the lead lap eight times and improved his average finish by more than two positions over the first 26 events of the 2009 season.

Mears never cracked the top five and came close only twice with a sixth in the Michigan Carfax 400 in August and a seventh at Lowe's in October, which meant that he probably flew under the radar screen for most of the year. But he was often a good utility to driver that could be used to stretch your salary cap and allow you to load up on marquee drivers.

The best trait of Mears in 2009, however, was his ability to coax the car to the end of a race. He was one of only three drivers listed as running at the end of all 36 events alongside Juan Montoya and David Reutimann, so fantasy owners had a reasonable expectation that he would get every position out of the car that it was capable of giving.

*The Fantasy Power Average is a formula that consists of a driver's finishing result plus other intangibles such as average running position, laps in the top 10, speed in traffic and quality passes. Each intangible is "expressed" as a finishing position (e.g. the driver with the most laps in the top 10 is given a hypothetical first-place finish), so the lower the number, the greater the strength.

25. Joey Logano

Montoya wins NH Happy Hour

Juan Montoya completed his sweep of fast times with another first in Happy Hour. His lap of 130.376 mph was joined by the fastest time on Friday (132.485), the fastest time in Saturday morning (130.131) and the pole for the Sylvania 300 (133.431).
If that were not enough: Montoya also had the quickest average speed of 128.337 during 39 laps in Happy Hour.

Our View This is just too good to overlook, but fantasy owners know all too well that the race is a living organism and trouble can strike at any time.
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Official tweets from the track

Hamlin wins NH Sat. am practice

Races are won during long runs and Denny Hamlin posted the quickest average speed of 128.303 during 43 laps.

Our View Hamlin was our pre-weekend favorite and his fourth-place qualification effort and this practice only confirms our opinion.

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Official tweets from the track

Montoya fastest in NH Sat. am practice

Juan Montoya posted the single fastest lap in the morning practice session for the Sylvania 300 with a speed of 130.131 mph. This proves his pole winning run on Friday was not a fluke.

Our View You are seeing a lot of Montoya's name this weekend. Expect him to keep his strength into the race and record a solid top-10 finish.

His average speed wasn't bad either. With a 128.208 during 33 laps, he landed third on the grid.

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Yahoo! Qualification Story – New Hampshire

The Chasers are getting off to a strong start by qualifying in the top five positions. Can they keep up the pace? Our opinion is available in this week's Yahoo! qualification story (.pdf).

Cope, Bean going home from New Hampshire

Derrike Cope and Dexter Bean had the two slowest cars in New Hampshire qualification and will be the ones heading to the house early.

Our View No surprises here. Those two drivers were also the slowest in practice.

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Montoya wins New Hampshire pole

Juan Montoya took his second career pole at New Hampshire with a speed of 133.431. His previous fastest lap came at Talladega SuperSpeedway this April.

Our View Back in April, he slipped to a 20th-place finish, but the plate tracks are more about track position and the drafting pack. Montoya could be a sleeper this week on the short, flat track that requires many of the same skills as a road course.

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Montoya tops New Hampshire practice 1

Juan Montoya jumped to the top of the leaderboard at New Hampshire Motor Speedway late in the first practice session, with a speed of 132.485 mph.

Our View Montoya could be a sleeper on any given week. He ran consistent in the last 10 races of the regular season, but had to be conservative. Starting this week, the bit should be out of his mouth.

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Yahoo! New Hampshire Preview

While the media focuses on 12 drivers during the next 10 weeks, fantasy owners will be looking for some great values outside that group. So will we in this week's Yahoo! preview (.pdf).

MWR confirms Tryson

According to a tweet from @MartySmith, Michael Waltrip Racing has confirmed that Pat Tryson will be the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. next year in the Cup series.

Our View It remains to be seen if the short time status of Tryson will affect Kurt Busch's Chase efforts. Follow the No. 2 team with some caution.

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