NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Round of 12 cut off race at the ROVAL™

Track Size: 3.67-kilometers / 2.32-miles

Track Type: Road Course

Number of Turns: 17

Elevation Change: 35 degrees

Race Length: 109 laps / 400 kilometers / 252.88 miles

Stage 1 and 2 Length: 25 laps (each)

Final Stage Length: 59 laps

Elimination races are pretty dramatic by nature. The only Playoff driver not sweating bullets is Chase Elliott, last week's winner at Talladega. Oh yeah, and he happens to be pretty good at road races. Statistically, three non-Playoff drivers have won the sixth race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but more importantly, in six seasons, the winner of the that sixth race has gone on to win that season's championship - once at Kansas Speedway, three times at Martinsville Speedway and twice at the ROVAL™. Hmm. Well. this should be fun. Stay tuned.

SOURCE: NASCARMedia.com

 

NASCAR Cup Series Drivers' Statistics for the last 5 races
(Road courses only, All track lengths)

ROVAL™ Race Winners:
2021 Kyle Larson
2020 Chase Elliott
2019 Chase Elliott
2018 Ryan Blaney

The Likely Suspects: This is our fifth race at the Charlotte Road Course, also known as ROVAL™. An elite group of drivers has emerged as masters of this challenging course: Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Joey Logano.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick is a tie between Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. My next picks are Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, William Byron, and Brad Keselowski. I'll round out my team with Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger.

My Final Four: Chase Elliott, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Michael McDowell.

Second-look driver: This week's sleeper pick is William Byron, whose Playoff hopes looked to be dashed as a result of the penalty assessed from the Texas caution mishap with Denny Hamlin. But he now sits 14 points above the elimination line thanks to having his penalty amended so that he received only a $100,000 fine, but no loss of points. Although William has never won at a road course, his driver rating at the ROVAL™ is 109.9, the third-best in the field. He has earned two Top 10s and one pole here at the ROVAL™ and holds the series record for running 358 Laps in the Top 15 (82.1%).

 

Points to Ponder:

• Chase Elliott leads all active drivers in NASCAR Cup Series road course wins with seven, followed by Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Kyle Larson who are tied with four wins each.
• Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney lead all active drivers in Top-5 finishes at the ROVAL™ with two each.
  
• Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney lead the NASCAR Cup Series in Top-10 finishes at the Charlotte Road Course with two each. 
• Chase Elliott leads the series in average finishing position at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course with 5.000 in four starts. 
• William Byron leads the NASCAR Cup Series in laps led at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course with 80 laps led in four starts (18.6%).

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your initial picks by 8 a.m. on Saturday, October 8th and your final picks at 2 p.m. ET on race day Sunday, October 9th.

 

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 16 years. She launched  NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pores 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