Fantasy NASCAR Racing

season as they were only able to post a season best finish of third with ten Top 10's.  The following season saw Lambert break through and get his first win at the Cup Level.  Newman had been a Top 10 car most of the day; never contending for the win.  A yellow flew with just a hand full of laps to go and Lambert decided to gamble and only take two tires.  The move got Newman out of the pits first and Newman was able to hold off a snarling pack of cars who took four tires and get the win.  Newman and Lambert remained together at RCR for the 2018 season. But, the entire RCR organization had a disappointing season.  Austin Dillon won the season opening Daytona 500 and it would be the only win for either driver.  Newman didn't even post a Top 5 and only had nine Top 10's.  Lambert has been paired with Newman since 2014 and they have only visited victory lane once in that time.  Disappointed with the seasons lack of performance, Newman decided to leave RCR at the end of the year and go drive for Jack Roush in 2019. Lambert will remain at RCR and head the efforts of rookie Daniel Hemric.  Daniel had a typical Rookie season as he took a while to get his legs under him and start being competitive.  The first half of the season wasn't much to talk about; but he did have a seventh place finish at Texas; and had his first career Top 5 at Talladega.  He posted a seventh at Pocono and won his first pole at Kansas.  Hemric went on to win 2019 Rookie of the Year honors in the Cup Series.  Even though he won Rookie of the Year; RCR let him go to provide a seat for Xfinity driver Tyler Reddick. When Hemric was released, Lambert announced he would be leaving RCR to go back to work for Roush.  In 2020 he  lead up the efforts of Chris Buescher who was also coming back to Roush.  Buescher had driven the previous couple season for JTG Daugherty Racing.  Buescher and Lambert didn't have a much better season in 2020 than what Lambert and Hemric in 2019.  They started off the season with a third place finish at Daytona, and that would be the highlight of the year.  They only combined for one other Top 5 and had eight Top 10's finishing 21st in points.  They duo was back together again in 2021 to see if they could improve on their first year together.  Like many others, Buescher got caught up in “the big one” in the season opening Daytona 500.  They had a good run the next week finishing eleventh on the Road Course at Daytona.  At Atlanta, a few weeks later they had a great run and finished seventh.  Most finishes were between 10th and 15th; with 13 of them.  Five weeks before the end of the season, Lambert and Scott Graves swapped spots.  Graves had been the crew chief for Ryan Newman all season.  Both worked for team owner Jack Roush.  Newman had a poor season, and things didn’t improve when Lambert came over.  JR Motorsports hired Lambert and paired him with Noah Gragson for 2022.  They had a championship caliber season but didn't win the title.  They started off on fire with a third at Daytona, the next two races at Fontana and Las Vegas they finished second.  They broke through for the first win the very next race at Phoenix.  The next month they were in victory circle again, this time at Talladega.  At Pocono they picked up their third win, and they went on a roll; winning fours races in a row; Darlington, Kansas, Bristol and Texas.  In the Chase they finished no worse than tenth in any race; winning at Homestead; and easily advanced to the final race for the Championship.  In that race, they ran well, but were no match for Ty Gibbs, as he won the race and the Championship. Gragson finished second in both.  Gragson has been hired to drive full time in the Cup series for Petty GMS Racing in 2023.  Lambert went along to call the shots for him.  The duo started out the season together, and as with the other Legacy Motor Club car; had their struggles.  They finished 12th at Atlanta; and that was their only run inside the top 20 of 21 races.  On August 5, NASCAR and LMC suspended Gragson indefinitely for violation of Section 4.4.D. of the NASCAR Rule Book, which concerns member conduct, after Gragson liked an offensive meme related to the murder of George Floyd on social media.  The next week, Gragson requested to be released from his contract with LMC so he could focus on the reinstatement process.  Mike Rockenfeller ran the three road races; while Josh Berry ran two.  Carson Hocevar ran eight events; and finished inside the top 20 five times.  Hocevar was so impressive, having never driven a Cup car before, that it opened a lot of peoples eyes.  LMC decided to hire him to drive the #42 in 2024 and work with Lambert.