NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta

 

Track repaved in 2022
 

After all the talk about the strength of the Fords last week, in the end, when it counted...literally when the dust cleared...it was William Byron's No. 24 Chevy in Victory Lane. It was William's second consecutive Daytona 500 win and his 14th career Cup Series victory. At 27, William becomes the youngest driver with multiple Daytona 500 wins. For Hendrick Motorsports entries and the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop, it was the 10th Daytona 500 victory.

 

Many race teams will be licking their wounds as we roll into Atlanta this weekend. Among them are Kyle Busch, who finished 34th after getting caught up in Joey Logano's lane switch gone bad on Lap 186. We got to see the angry, snarky Kyle Busch in the post-crash interview, and he may just be a little more motivated this weekend at a track where he races well. We'll also get to see Kyle race in the Craftsman Truck Series race on Saturday. Typically that works in Kyle's favor on Sunday. This should be fun!

This Week's Pick Strategy:   
Think Chevys and Fords when picking your roster this weekend. I don't see the Toyotas having much to offer for the race unless Ty Gibbs has a fast car. I am going to load up my roster with drivers from my "Likely Suspects" list. I'll also factor in one or two drivers like Joey Logano or Brad Keselowski who aren't afraid to take a leap of faith on strategy. New tires or saving fuel most likely won't come into play, so doing something that others don't will be important. The first and fifth positions have yielded the most winners of any position on the grid, so I will be watching qualifying carefully.

 

Drivers with Most Top 10s:

By Race and Track (From 2019 to 2024; includes 10 races)

Both with 8: Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch
Daniel Suarez - 6

Both with 5: Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski

All with 4 - Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Chris Buescher

 

   SOURCE: NASCAR Media

 

Top 10 Active Drivers with Best Average Finishes Since the Repave (2022)

Ryan Blaney          7.2

Daniel Suarez       7.3

Chase Elliott          8.6
AJ Allmendinger  9.5
Austin Cindric     12.0
Ross Chastain     12.0
Kyle Busch           13.0

Justin Haley        13.3
Joey Logano       13.7

Erik Jones            14.7

SOURCE: frcs.pro

Last Year's Pole Winner: Michael McDowell

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Daniel Suarez

The Likely Suspects: My Atlanta elite drivers include Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, and Austin Cindric.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is a tie between Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch. My next picks are Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and Austin Cindric. I will complete my roster with Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley.

My Fabulous 5 (Drivers most likely to finish in the Top 5):
Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and Austin Cindric.

NASCAR Fantasy Live Line Up: 

Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJloie, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch. In the garage: Chase Elliott.

        Featured Match Ups: Logano over Byron, Busch over Suarez, Blaney over Bell, and Cindric over Briscoe.

Second-Look Driver: This week's sleeper pick is Corey LaJoie. Corey led 19 laps and was in the hunt for the win last week until the final lap. Atlanta is arguably his best track on the circuit, so it may be a great opportunity for redemption. Corey has earned Top 5s in his six starts on the new reconfiguration.

Last year, he finished 13th after starting 32nd on the grid, and in 2023, Corey finished fourth after starting 31st. His 2022 run was quite memorable as he went head to head for the win with NASCAR's most popular driver Chase Elliott, but wrecked on the final lap. 

 

Points to Ponder:

• Team Penske leads the series in poles at Atlanta with 10, followed by the Wood Brothers win 9.
• A total of nine different manufacturers have won a NASCAR Cup Series pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway, led by Ford with 34 poles followed by Chevrolet with 25.
•  The most prolific starting positions in the field are first and fifth – both have produced more wins (16) than any other starting position.
• Joey Logano (2023, 2024), William Byron (2022, 2023), Brad Keselowski (2017, 2019) and Kyle Busch (2008, 2013) lead all active NASCAR Cup Series winners at Atlanta Motor Speedway with two victories each.
  
• Daniel Suarez (2023, 2024), Brad Keselowski (2018, 2023), Kyle Busch (2020, 2021) Kyle Larson (2017, 2021) and Ross Chastain (2022, 2022) lead all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers with two runner-up finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway each.
• Kyle Busch leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in Top 5 finishes at Atlanta with 10 and in Top 10 finishes with 15. He also leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in laps led at Atlanta with 558 in 28 starts. 
  
• The Hendrick Motorsports organization has the most wins at Atlanta in the NASCAR Cup Series with 17 victories, followed by Wood Brothers Racing with 12, and Joe Gibbs Racing with 11.
  
• Nine different manufacturers have won in the NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta, led by Chevrolet with 44 victories and followed by Ford with 35.
•  Ryan Blaney leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in average finishing position at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a 10.0 in 13 starts.

If you are playing NASCAR Fantasy Live, remember to make your picks by 2:55 p.m. EST on race day on Sunday, February 23rd. Don't forget to select your bonus matchups.

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 18 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.