Atop The Pit Box

Race Recap & Standings Denny Hamlin dominated the Michigan race and emerged as the undeniable fantasy winner, while drivers like Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece acted as massive anchors for their teams with poor performances. For the season overall, Tyler Reddick and Hamlin continue to completely distance themselves from the rest of the league, leading a top five that also features Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Daniel Suarez. On the other end of the spectrum, Josh Berry and Connor Zilisch remain stuck at the absolute bottom of the driver rankings, with Berry failing to finish inside the top 25 for eight consecutive races.Swaps & Playoff Bubble Fantasy managers were highly active this week, executing a surprising 15 total roster swaps. In the standings, Twin Tokers 2 and Mother's Meatloaf saw massive 159-spot surges over the last month, while Team Swayze suffered a catastrophic 201-spot drop out of the playoff picture. On the playoff bubble, 3 Laps Away :( managed to sneak right onto the cutline into 100th place. Pocono Preview & Picks Looking ahead to the next race at Pocono, the hosts expect historically lower fantasy scores, noting that past averages typically sit between 54 and 78 points. Denny Hamlin, who is going for his third straight win at the tricky triangle, was highlighted as a major driver to watch alongside Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski. Wrapping up the episode, the hosts locked in their weekly podcast picks with a "Battle of the Chases," as Justin selected Chase Briscoe and Josh rolled with Chase Elliott.

In this week's episode of Atop the Pit Box, Josh and Justin open with a heavy heart, reflecting on the tragic loss of Kyle Busch and detailing how the league rules will handle fantasy points and remaining swaps for the 21 teams still carrying him on their rosters.Transitioning to the track, the guys recap the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, discussing Daniel Suarez's huge win in the Spire Motorsports car and its massive impact on the fantasy standings. They highlight the fantasy winners and losers of the week, including Chase Elliott's painful first DNF of the season.The standings saw a massive shakeup this week, highlighted by a rookie team taking the #1 overall spot. Josh and Justin also break down the biggest risers and fallers, dive into the latest driver trends, and tackle a brutal Commissioner's Dilemma concerning a regretted William Byron-to-Chase Elliott swap.Finally, the hosts look ahead with a preview of Nashville, make their weekly head-to-head picks, and officially set the stakes for the season's loser punishment—having to wear the winner's favorite driver apparel to an upcoming race

Josh and Justin are back after a race that felt a lot like the season itself: fine, but not quite fireworks. Chase Elliott took the win at Texas and Denny Hamlin finished second — which, as Josh cheerfully points out, is exactly how he wants every race to go. Justin is... less thrilled, but mostly because he was busy moving into a new house.On the fantasy side, Justin's winner is Daniel Suarez — quietly putting up a P6 at Texas, now the 11th-best fantasy driver in the league, owned by just 14 teams. Josh's winner is Ryan Blaney, who bounced back with a P10 after some self-inflicted pit road chaos (three missed gears, but who's counting). On the loser side, Christopher Bell leads the race, gets taken out, and finishes dead last — his bad-luck run continuing into a seventh consecutive race without a single-digit score. Josh's loser is Ty Gibbs, who dropped from 3rd to 9th in the driver standings after back-to-back 30-plus point weeks following seven straight single-digit scores.The big storylines: Kyle Larson is now the 13th-best fantasy driver, and Justin is openly considering dropping him. The top 9 teams in the league don't have Larson on them — Denny Hamlin is on every single one. Jeffrey Bona 2 jumps into first place for the first time all season, fueled by Elliott, Reddick, and Hamlin. Tool Hangers drops from 1st to a three-way tie for 2nd after Christopher Bell's disaster. And the new "Commissioner's Dilemma" segment debuts, putting Justin on the hot seat about whether Tool Hangers should swap Bell for Chase Elliott.In the picks contest, Josh wins for the fourth straight week — Buescher (P5) beats Byron (P8) — and he immediately takes SVG for Watkins Glen. Justin, ever the strategist, counters with Connor Zilich and explains his long game. The score sits at 9-4.Looking ahead to Watkins Glen: SVG is the obvious favorite (1.5 average finishing position at the track), Buescher could genuinely contend, and Tyler Reddick — the league's runaway top driver at 2.5 points per race — is good on every single style of track.

We're a little late getting this one out — apologies for the delay — but Josh and Norton are back to recap what turned out to be a two-part Kansas recording after some brutal connection issues forced them to restart mid-episode. Tyler Reddick wins for the fifth time this season, and his average fantasy points per race somehow dropped again to 1.1 — the guys marvel at what his final number looks like if the wheels ever fall off. Josh makes him the Fantasy Winner while Norton gives the nod to Denny Hamlin, now up to second best fantasy driver with three straight single-digit scores. Fantasy Loser is Ryan Blaney, who hit Allmendinger on pit road and had his worst finish since Daytona at a track Penske typically owns. SVG gets the other nod as the Trackhouse struggles become impossible to ignore.The top 10 is remarkably stable — only two teams swap in and out — with 2Z Designs back on top for the fifth time this season and JLAS Racing climbing to second. The guys spotlight Chase Briscoe's back-to-back top 5 finishes as a vindication of their "don't give up on him" stance, and Ty Gibbs now sits third in the driver standings with seven straight single-digit fantasy scores. Daniel Suarez gets some long-overdue credit, running $7 above his original value with only 12 teams owning him. The Pizza West bet on Busch vs. Bowman is not looking good for Josh — Kyle Busch just posted his worst fantasy result of the season at P35, and Norton notes Austin Dillon is outrunning him.Kansas snapped the two-week swap drought with 12 moves, pushing the season total past last year's record. Most notable: three Logano-to-Reddick swaps, two Chastain-to-Gibbs swaps, and a deep dive into the Shox 8's McDowell-to-Zane-Smith move that the guys aren't sure will pay off. Best swap of the season holds at Bowman-to-Gibbs at +137 points; worst is still Gibbs-to-Buescher at -72. Looking ahead to Talladega, Josh takes Carson Hocevar (first use for either) and Norton rides Brad Keselowski. Josh leads the series picks 6-4.

Josh and Justin open with a season-retrospective question — knowing what they know now, what would they have done differently? The answers: Reddick on everything, ditch Zilisch, and maybe think twice about Briscoe. From there, they recap a snooze-fest at Martinsville where Chase Elliott wins via pit strategy, Denny Hamlin dominates and finishes second (after walling Blaney), and Tyler Reddick posts his worst finish of the season — a P15 — while somehow still holding the top fantasy driver spot at a whopping 1.7 average points per race. The guys crown Elliott the Fantasy Winner and split the Fantasy Loser between Bubba Wallace (two straight weeks in the 30s, dropping from 2nd to 12th best fantasy driver) and Ty Dillon, who brings home dead last — with a fun reveal that the other Ty Dillon owner, Team Piston Cup, is actually sitting in the playoffs at 87th. The standings see a first-time shakeup at the top as rookie Rit Racing claims first place, while former leaders 2Z Designs and JLAS Racing tumble to 5th and 6th. The track set a new Martinsville record with a 49-point average — nearly the all-time low at any track. Swap talk highlights 17 more this week (83 total, closing in on all of last season), including two teams making the puzzling decision to drop Chase Elliott for Reddick and Blaney. Best swap of the season holds at Bowman-to-Gibbs (+85 points, worth 179 standings spots). Looking ahead to Bristol after the bye week, Norton takes Christopher Bell with the pit box advantage and Josh counters with Denny Hamlin. Series picks are now tied 4-4. They close with a PSA: starting April 20th, recording moves to Tuesdays because golf league.

Denny Hamlin put on a masterclass at Las Vegas, and fantasy teams with him are finally feeling it. Josh and Norton are back to break down a race that rewarded the patient and punished the impatient — five weeks in, the cream is officially rising to the top.The guys dig into a top 10 that got completely reshuffled, with four new teams crashing the party — including Tool Hangers and K-Stud making their top 5 debuts on the strength of the Hamlin-Byron-Elliott trio. Meanwhile, the teams holding onto struggling low-value drivers like Shane Van Gisbergen (dead last, 36 fantasy points) are now staring at some tough decisions.Swap mania has officially hit the league. 22 swaps in a single week — more than half the season's total — driven largely by Alex Bowman's vertigo situation. Josh also makes his own swap live on air (Zilisch for Byron), and Norton barely keeps a straight face when he realizes the "listener question" was coming from his co-host all along.Plus: RFK Racing is quietly becoming a fantasy powerhouse, Bubba Wallace is the most underrated player in the game at only 23 ownership teams, Brad Keselowski continues his quietly impressive top-10 streak, and the Connor Zilisch reality check is getting harder to ignore. Josh leads the season picks challenge 4-2, and both hosts make their calls for Darlington — a race the drivers are already calling a potential tire-shredding nightmare.atopthepitbox.com | #ATPB #NASCAR

Josh and Norton break down the first road course of the NASCAR season at COTA, where Tyler Reddick scores his third straight win, holding off SVG and Christopher Bell in a surprisingly dominant performance from Reddick.They discuss the state of road courses in NASCAR, driver fatigue issues, and several cooling suit failures that impacted the field.On the fantasy side, Ty Gibbs, Michael McDowell, and Reddick headline the winners, while Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman anchor the losers. The new top 10 features a big shakeup, including 2Z Designs jumping from outside the top 100 to the overall points lead. Major movers include Scooby Doobies (+214) and Refuse to Lose (–194).The hosts also analyze early-season swaps, surprising overperformers like Ty Dillon, and struggling premium picks. Looking ahead to Phoenix, they outline key track stats, highlight drivers poised for strong runs (Bell, Larson, Blaney), and make their picks: Justin takes Kyle Larson, while Josh selects Ryan Blaney.

Josh and Norton break down the massive growth of the Atop the Pit Box FantasyNASCAR League, including a record 403 entries and 63 rookies joining for 2026. They dive into roster trends-like Kyle Larson's league-leading ownership and Ryan Preece's surge as the most popular mid-tier pick-before recapping Daytona, highlighting fantasy winners and losers, and previewing next week's race at Echo Park Speedway. The episode also covers website updates, league payouts, and listener questions to kick off the season.

Now that NASCAR has announced its championship format, Josh and Nort break down what this means for our fantasy league.

Josh and Norton launch season 9 with rule tweaks, strategy talk, playoff unknowns and the debut of a brand new live standings app that takes the league to the next level. Check us out at: https://atopthepitbox.com

Josh and Norton break down the thrilling Kansas race, debate whether Denny Hamlin's controversial finish with Bubba Wallace was hard racing or just another excuse. They also crown the fantasy winners and losers of the week, review the movement in the league's top 10 standings, and preview the upcoming race at the Roval.

Josh and Nort are back to recap the first race of the playoffs at break down all the fantasy playoff stats and standings.

Josh and Nort discuss the race at Richmond, break down the updated fantasy standings and stats and preview the regular season finale race at Daytona.