NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Bank of America Roval 400

Track Length: 2.28 miles

Number of Turns: 17

Change in elevation: 35 feet

Banking in Corners: Varying from 2 to 24 degrees

Banking on Straights: Varying from 0 to 5 degrees

Race Distance: 248.52 miles (109 Laps)

Stages: Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 25), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 50), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 109)

Can Martin Truex Jr. win three in a row? Will Erik Jones conclude his championship bid with a whimper or a win? These and other story lines will play out this weekend as the Monster Energy Cup Series runs a home race at Charlotte Motor Speedway at a slightly tweaked "Roval." The backstretch chicane has been widened by 22 feet and features an additional runoff area to allow for more passing opportunities.

Although we don't know exactly how this will all play out, one thing is for sure, the racing will not lack nail-biting excitement particularly for those four drivers on the verge of elimination:

2019 Top 10 NASCAR Cup Series Road Course Driver Averages

Driver	Sonoma	Watkins Glen	Avg. Finish
Martin Truex Jr.	1	2	1.5
Ryan Blaney	3	5	4.0
Denny Hamlin	5	3	4.0
Matt DiBenedetto	4	6	5.0
Erik Jones	8	4	6.0
Kyle Busch	2	11	6.5
Kevin Harvick	6	7	6.5
Kyle Larson	10	8	9.0
Aric Almirola	9	12	10.5
Kurt Busch	13	10	11.5

SOURCE: MRN.com

Driver Averages at Road Courses in Recent Races (since Feb 2017)Dr 

Driver	Avg Fin	Wins	Rating
Denny Hamlin	7.3	0	97.2
Kevin Harvick	7.4	1	102.1
Clint Bowyer	7.9	0	88.8
Kurt Busch	8.0	0	94.4
Martin Truex Jr.	8.3	3	126.9
Kyle Busch	9.3	0	107.1
Chase Elliott	10.0	2	113.8
Ryan Blaney	10.3	1	91.3
Alex Bowman	11.0	0	81.5
Erik Jones	12.7	0	84.1
Daniel Suarez	13.3	0	80.7
Jamie McMurray	14.0	0	88.4

SOURCE: www.driveraverages.com

Recent Road Race Winners:
Chase Elliott, Watkins Glen International (August 4, 2019)
Martin Truex Jr., Sonoma Raceway (June 23, 2019)
Ryan Blaney Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (September 30, 2018)
Chase Elliott, Watkins Glen International (August 5, 2018)

Recent Road Race Pole Winners:  
Chase Elliott, Watkins Glen International (August 4, 2019)
Kyle Larson, Sonoma Raceway (June 23, 2019)
Kurt Busch, Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (September 30, 2018)
Denny Hamlin, Watkins Glen International (August 5, 2018)

The Likely Suspects: There is a bit of the unknown here at The Roval due to the tweaks on the backstretch chicane, but I think these drivers will run well: Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch, and Kyle Larson.

My 2 Cents:  My no-brainer pick is a tie between Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson. My next picks are Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman. I am out of Clint Bowyer starts, but if you're not switch out Bowman for Bowyer. I'll round out my team with Matt DiBenedetto and Daniel Hemric.

My Final Four: Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney Kurt Busch and Matt DiBenedetto.

Second-look driver: This week's second-look driver is Clint Bowyer. Clint needs to perform well at the Roval to advance into the next playoff round. He currents sits 14 points behind 12th-place William Byron. Bowyer has finished in the Top 10 in four of the last five races, and has 13 Top 10 finishes on the season, with a best showing of runner-up at Texas in April. Four of his Top 10 showings have been on upcoming Playoff tracks. He finished third in the inaugural Roval race last year and has a Monster Energy Series road course victory at Sonoma in 2012.

Last week's second-look driver, Jimmie Johnson is now credited with a 10th-place result at Richmond due to the disqualification of the fourth place finisher Erik Jones. Johnson started 10th on the grid and ran inside the Top 10 most of the race. During the early laps of Stage Two he battled for fifth place. During the Final Stage he missed his pit stall and ended up in 18th after his pit stop. His 10th place finish was the best amongst his Hendrick Motorsports teammates.

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your picks by 8 a.m. ET on Friday, September 27th and your final picks by 2:30 p.m. ET on race day Sunday, September 29th.

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D’Agostino wields fantasy-racing superpowers. Each week, Carol researches statistics and combs through her personal racing notes to provide fans with fantasy racing advice in NASCAR Fantasy Fusion, a column she has written for Skirts & Scuffs since October 2011. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. This year she joins the NASCAR Expert Picks panel at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. When she isn’t crunching numbers, you’ll find Carol in business meetings or hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat.