NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Non-playoff spoilers vs. road course elites at the ROVAL
SOURCE: NASCAR.com
Top 5 Average Finishes Among Active Drivers in Gen 7 Car
Track Size/Type: 2.28 Mile Asphalt Road Course
Number of Turns: 17
Elevation Change: 35 degrees
Race Length: 109 laps / 248.52 miles
Stage 1 and 2 Length: 25 laps (each)
Final Stage Length: 59 laps
Last week, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. let the field know that he may not be a Playoff driver, but he really knows his way around superspeedways. Stenhouse's Talladega win was his fourth in his Cup Series career, and his second win at Talladega. His first win victory at the track in 2017 was also his first Cup Series win.
This weekend's race at the ROVAL™ is the final road course race of the season and is a cutoff race which will determine which eight among the 12 remaining playoff-eligible drivers will move onto the next round. Currently, the four drivers with precarious positions below the bubble are Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, and Chase Briscoe. Which teams will master the new Turns 6 and 7 and make the fewest mistakes this week? Stay tuned.
This Week's Pick Strategy: Since turns 6 and 7 are a complete unknown, I'm going heavy on drivers who I think can score me some qualifying points and I'll go heavy on Chevys and the best road racer below the bubble. And of course, on road courses you can't pass on superior road course racers Shane van Gisbergen and AJ
Allmendinger.
Active Drivers with Most Top 10s
By Race (2019-2023)
Both with 4 - Alex Bowman and Joey Logano
By Race (2019-2023)
Both with 4 - Alex Bowman and Joey Logano
All with 3 - Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch
Active Drivers with Most Top 5s
By Race (2019-2023)
Kyle Busch - 3
All with 2 - Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and AJ Allmendinger
Active Drivers with Most Top 5s
By Race (2019-2023)
Kyle Busch - 3
All with 2 - Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and AJ Allmendinger
2 Races: 2022 and 2023
AJ Allmendinger (2.5)
Kyle Busch (3.0)
Christopher Bell (8.0)
William Byron (9.0)
Joey Logano (11.5)
ROVAL™ Race Winners:
2023 AJ Allmendinger
2022 Christopher Bell
2021 Kyle Larson
2020 Chase Elliott
2019 Chase Elliott
2018 Ryan Blaney
AJ Allmendinger (2.5)
Kyle Busch (3.0)
Christopher Bell (8.0)
William Byron (9.0)
Joey Logano (11.5)
Last Year's Pole Winner: Tyler Reddick
2023 AJ Allmendinger
2022 Christopher Bell
2021 Kyle Larson
2020 Chase Elliott
2019 Chase Elliott
2018 Ryan Blaney
The Likely Suspects:
My ROVAL™ masters include: Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Alex Bowman.
My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick is a tie between Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick. My next picks are William Byron, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, and Alex Bowman. I'll round out my team with Shane van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger.
My Final Four: Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, and Shane van Gisbergen.
Second-look driver: This week's sleeper pick is Kyle Busch. Busch is a pretty decent road racer, and particularly good at the ROVAL™. Busch leads the Cup Series in Top 5 finishes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course with three. Since the debut of the Gen 7 car in 2022, Busch has earned an average finishing position of 3.0.
Enjoy the race!
Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 17
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.
My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick is a tie between Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick. My next picks are William Byron, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, and Alex Bowman. I'll round out my team with Shane van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger.
My Final Four: Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, and Shane van Gisbergen.
Second-look driver: This week's sleeper pick is Kyle Busch. Busch is a pretty decent road racer, and particularly good at the ROVAL™. Busch leads the Cup Series in Top 5 finishes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course with three. Since the debut of the Gen 7 car in 2022, Busch has earned an average finishing position of 3.0.
Points to Ponder:
- The NASCAR Cup Series made its track debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in 2018, and the event was won by Ryan Blaney driving a Team Penske Ford. Sunday's race will be the third race in the Gen 7 car.
- All five previous winners in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course are active, led by Chase Elliott with two wins (2019, 2020).
- Five of the six races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course have been won from a starting position inside the top 10 (83.3%) – the lone exception is Chase Elliott’s victory from the 19th starting spot in 2019.
- A total of four different organizations have won a NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, led by Hendrick Motorsports with three wins (2019, 2020, 2021). The others are: Kaulig Racing (2023); Joe Gibbs Racing (2022); and Team Penske (2018).
- Four different active drivers have finished runner-up in the six NASCAR Cup Series races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course: Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron.
- Kyle Busch leads the Cup Series in Top 5 finishes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course with three.
- Alex Bowman and Joey Logano lead the NASCAR Cup Series in Top 10 finishes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
- Alex Bowman leads the NASCAR Cup Series in average finishing position at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course with 6.400 in five starts.
- Chase Elliott leads the NASCAR Cup Series in laps led at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course with 109 laps led in six starts.
Remember,
if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your initial picks by 1 p.m.
on Saturday, October 12th and your final picks at 2 p.m. ET on
race day Sunday, October 13th.
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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.
NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Non-playoff spoilers vs. road course elites at the ROVAL
Reviewed by Carol D'Agostino
on
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Rating:
