NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart

 

Despite a rain-delayed start to last week's Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono the fans got their money's worth and then some as Chase Briscoe held off teammate Denny Hamlin for Briscoe first win of the season and first win with his No. 19 team at Joe Gibbs Racing.

The win was Briscoe's third career Cup win and made him the 11th different driver to punch his ticket to the Playoffs. Briscoe led a race-best 72 of 160 laps in what ended up as a masterclass on how to save fuel and win the race. After completing an impressive burnout, the No. 19 finally ran out of fuel as it entered Victory Lane. While Chase has lots of momentum going into this race weekend, you'll probably want to fade him on your fantasy roster.

This Week's Pick Strategy:   
Keep it simple this week. Think Fords, particularly Penske Fords, and sprinkle in some proven masters at the track formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway, like Daniel Suarez, and another EchoPark elite Chevy driver like William Byron.

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 (2022-2025)

Ryan Blaney              5.0.
Kyle Busch                8.7
AJ Allmendinger      11.0

Austin Cindric          11.3
Chase Elliott             11.4

Daniel Suarez           12.2
Carson Hocevar        12.3

Ross Chastain           13.0
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  13.8

Michael McDowell   13.8 
SOURCE: frcs.pro

Last Year's Race Winner: Joey Logano

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

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is Ryan Blaney. My next picks are Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, and Christopher Bell. I will complete my roster with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carson Hocevar.

My Fabulous 5 (Drivers most likely to finish in the Top 5):
Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, and William Byron.

NASCAR Fantasy Live Line Up: 

Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJoie, Carson Hocevar, and William Byron. In the garage: Ryan Blaney.

        Featured Match Ups: Busch over Keselowski, Logano over Bowman, Larson over Reddick, and Chastain over Jones.

Second-Look Driver: This week's sleeper pick is Ross Chastain. Ross is developing a sneaky-good repertoire at EchoPark. In his last seven Cup starts here, he earned two Top 3s, two Top 5s, and four Top 10s for an 11.4 average finish. This record ranks Ross fifth in the last seven EchoPark races just one spot behind his Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suarez. Ross starts 34th on the grid tonight, and is a great pick to score place differential points in games like DraftKings.

 

Points to Ponder:

• The most prolific starting positions in the field are first and fifth – both have produced more wins (16 each) 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 Cup Series winners at EchoPark 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 EchoPark 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 16. He also leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in laps led at EchoPark with 623 in 31 starts. 
  
• The Hendrick Motorsports organization has the most wins in the NASCAR Cup Series with 17 victories, followed by Wood Brothers Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing tied with 12 wins each.
  
• Nine different manufacturers have won in the NASCAR Cup Series at EchoPark, led by Chevrolet with 45 victories and followed by Ford with 36.
•  Ryan Blaney leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in average finishing position at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a 9.571 in 14 starts.

If you are playing NASCAR Fantasy Live, remember to make your picks by 6:55 p.m. EST tonight. 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.