Sure, lots of people are picking guys like Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch as favorites heading into the 10-race NASCAR Cup playoffs.
But on Tuesday’s NASCAR America, NASCAR On NBC analysts Dale Jarrett and Steve Letarte came up with a couple of surprises when it came to choosing “sleeper picks” that could go several rounds, if not all the way to the Championship 4 round.
First, here’s DJ on why he’s picking Kurt Busch: “He won the Daytona 500. He’s seeded 12th. He’s been running extremely well, much better over these last five or six races. I think he’s the driver you pay attention to because they’ve found something that’s going to put them there.”
And here’s Steve on why he’s picking Ryan Blaney as his sleeper: “Ryan Blaney is the driver I feel is going to continue much farther into the playoffs than people expect. I think he’ll easily get out of the Round of 16 and ... get into the Round of 8.”