NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Road-course racing at Daytona

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course launches the first of seven road-course races at seven different tracks this season, the most ever completed in one season on road courses for the Cup Series.

Three road-course tracks new to the 2021 Cup Series schedule are: Circuit of The Americas, a 3.426-mile road course in Austin, Texas, on May 23; Road America, a 4.048-mile road circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on July 4; and Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.439-mile road course, on Aug. 15.

This week's pick strategy:
Resist the temptation to load up your team with road-course ringers. Thanks to road-race masters like Boris Said and Ron Fellows, who mentored many drivers, the skills gap between Cup drivers and race-course ringers has closed. In my opinion, the advantage is now with Cup drivers who have road-course acumen plus have the experience of racing other Cup drivers week in and week out.

 

TOP 15 NASCAR Cup Series Road Course Driver Averages

	Driver	STS	W	T5	T10	T15	T20	AVG ST	AVG FIN
1	Martin Truex Jr	7	2	5	7	7	7	5.1	3.3
2	Chase Elliott	7	5	6	6	6	6	5.6	6.6
3	Kevin Harvick	7	0	2	5	6	7	10	8
4	Denny Hamlin	7	0	3	4	6	7	9.3	9.6
5	Kyle Larson	5	0	0	3	5	5	3.8	10.2
6	Alex Bowman	7	0	1	3	7	7	14.6	10.4
7	Kurt Busch	7	0	1	4	6	7	17.6	10.9
8	Erik Jones	7	0	3	5	6	6	17.7	11.1
9	William Byron	7	0	0	4	4	5	7.9	13.3
10	Brad Keselowski	7	0	1	2	4	7	12.9	13.3
11	Ryan Blaney	7	0	3	4	5	5	15.3	14
12	Chris Buescher	7	0	1	1	3	7	17.9	14.9
13	Aric Almirola	7	0	0	2	4	5	12.7	15
14	Tyler Reddick	2	0	0	0	1	2	17	15
15	Matt DiBenedetto	7	0	1	2	4	5	20.6	15.4

 

SOURCE: frcs.pro
Includes last seven road-course race 2018-2020

 

Recent Road Race Winners (2018-2020)

Chase Elliott, Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, October 11, 2020

Chase Elliott, Daytona Road Course, August 16, 2020

Chase Elliott, Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, September 29, 2019

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

Martin Truex Jr., Sonoma Raceway, June 24, 2018

 

SOURCE: NASCAR

Top 10 Daytona Road-Course Driver Ratings

Chase Elliott……………………….. 135.3

Martin Truex Jr……………………. 126.5

Denny Hamlin……………………… 116.0

William Byron……………………… 102.3

Joey Logano………………………… 86.3

Michael McDowell………………….. 85.7

Erik Jones……………………………. 85.7

Alex Bowman……………………….. 84.8

Kurt Busch…………………………… 84.7

Aric Almirola…………………………. 78.5

Note: Driver Ratings based on the inaugural 2020 Daytona Road Course

SOURCE: NASCAR

 

The Likely Suspects: Look for these road-race masters to put on a show on Sunday: Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Matt DiBenedetto, Erik Jones, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Chris Buescher.

No-Brainer Pick: Chase Elliott

My Final Four: Chase Elliott, William Byron, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell.

Second-look driver: This week’s second-look driver is Chris Buescher. Chris had an impressive run in last year’s inaugural road-race at Daytona. He started 21st on the grid, and finished fifth. It was Chris’ his first-ever Top 5 on a road course in the Cup Series, and Jack Roush’s first Top 5 on a road course since 2014. Chris earned an average finish of 10.7 in six road course events in the Xfinity Series with one win and four Top 10s.

Last week's second-look driver, Christopher Bell, had an eventful race last week, and not all in a good way. Christopher started fifth on the grid and led a good part of Stage 2 (32 laps), and ultimately finished in 16th. Unfortunately, he was involved in the early Lap 14 Big One when he made off-center contact with the rear bumper of Aric Almirola‘s No.10 car, sending Almirola spinning near the front of the field and causing a huge 17-car pile-up. Christopher was able to continue, but other drivers like Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman, Erik Jones, and David Ragan weren't so lucky.

 

Points to Ponder:

• Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Chase Elliott won the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at the Daytona Road Course on August 16, 2020.
• Chase Elliott leads all active drivers in NASCAR Cup Series road course wins with five victories.
• Denny Hamlin finished runner-up in the inaugural race last year.
• The most laps led at last year’s Daytona Road Course race was 34 laps by Chase Elliott.
• Last year’s Top 10 finishers were: 1. Chase Elliott, 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Martin Truex Jr., 4. Jimmie Johnson, 5. Chris Buescher, 6. Clint Bowyer, 7. Kaz Grala, 8. William Byron, 9. Joey Logano, 10. Michael McDowell.
  

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your final picks by 3:00 p.m. ET on race day Sunday, February 21st.

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 15 years. She launched  NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pours through statistics and combs through her personal notebooks to arm fans with analysis and picking strategies that will leave their friends wondering how they got so smart. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. She is also part of the distinguished NASCAR Expert Picks panel at frcs.pro. formerly called Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet.

 

When she isn’t wielding her fantasy-racing superpowers, you’ll find Carol hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat or executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.