NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Desperate and Determined in Daytona

 

I am still smiling when I think about last week's dominant win by Austin Dillon at Richmond Raceway. Austin drove a much lower line on the track than the rest of the field and it was a thing of beauty to watch. It was kind of like Jimmie Johnson in his heyday driving Martinsville. You couldn't help but be in awe of the mastery. Besides that it was awesome redemption. 

Austin—both Dillons, for that matter—runs well at superspeedways. I'm thinking we'll get another new winner for this race. Stay tuned.

This Week's Pick Strategy: I am going heavy on Chevys and Fords for my roster. I'll go with two to three reliable speedway drivers who know how to push or be pushed, and then fill in with winless drivers who are less likely to make ill-advised moves. That is not an easy task on a superspeedway, but veteran drivers are going to be your best bet this week. Good luck.

Active Drivers with Most Top 10s Since 2022
By Race
Kyle Busch - 3

All with 2: Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, and Cody Ware

By Track
Kyle Busch - 4
All with 3- Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, and Christopher Bell
All with 2- Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, Cody Ware, AJ Allmendinger, and Noah Gragson

 

Active Drivers with Most Top 5s Since 2022 
By Race
All with 1 - Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, 

Christopher Bell, Cody Ware, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, and Noah Gragson

By Track
Christopher Bell - 3
All with 2- Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, and Alex Bowman, 

 

Last Year's Pole Winner: Michael McDowell

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Harrison Burton

The Likely Suspects: These drivers have a real knack for Daytona: Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Cody Ware, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney,  and Noah Gragson.

 

My 2 Cents: This week's no-brainer pick is Joey Logano. My next picks are Kyle Busch., Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, and Denny Hamlin. I will round out my team with Alex Bowman and Brad Keselowski.

My Fabulous 5 (Drivers most likely to finish in the Top 5):
Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Alex Bowman.

NASCAR Fantasy Live Line-Up:
Cody Ware, Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski, with Bubba Wallace in the garage. Featured Match-ups: Austin Dillon over Buescher, Bowman over Reddick, Busch over Preece, and Keselowski over Gibbs.

 

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Cody Ware. Cody is one of the 20 desperate and determined drivers below the cutline who can only make the Playoffs by winning on Saturday night. Remember, the requirement of being in the top 30 in points was removed in 2023.

The 29-year-old from Greensboro, North Carolina, finished fourth in last year's race, his career-best result. Since 2022, Cody has earned one Top 5 and two Top 10s. He could become the sixth driver of the last eight NASCAR Cup Series Daytona summer races who got their first win of the season here at the Coke Zero Sugar 400

“We always seem to do well at Daytona every time we go there, but I think even more so in the summer, so why not us?” said Ware about his chances in this year’s race. “I don’t know what it is about the night race, whether it’s the heightened aggression of the field and being able to capitalize on it even more than in the Daytona 500, but I’d say we have just as good a shot as anybody to win on Saturday night.”

Points to Ponder:

• Chase Elliott (Feb. 2016, Feb. 2017, and July 2018) and Alex Bowman (Feb. 2018, Feb. 2021 and Feb. 2023) lead all active series drivers in poles at Daytona with three each.
• Denny Hamlin (Feb. 2016, Feb. 2019, Feb. 2020) leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in Daytona wins with three. 
• For five of the last seven NASCAR Cup Series summer races at Daytona, the win was that driver's first of the season.
• A total of 26 of the 156 NASCAR Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway have been won from the pole or first starting position (16.8%) – the most proficient starting position in the field. 
• Hendrick Motorsports has the most wins at Daytona in the NASCAR Cup Series with 17. 
• Kyle Busch leads all active drivers in runner-up finishes at Daytona with five (2025, 2019, 2016, 2007, 2006).
• Denny Hamlin leads all active Cup Series drivers in Top 5 finishes at Daytona with 11.
• Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch leads all active Cup Series drivers in Top 10 finishes at Daytona with 12 each. 
• John Hunter Nemechek leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in average finishing position at Daytona with a 9.800 in five starts. 
• Denny Hamlin leads all active series drivers in laps led at Daytona with 682 laps led out of 6,544 laps completed (10.8%) in 39 starts. He is ranked eighth on the all-time list.

Remember, if you're playing NASCAR Fantasy Live, make your final picks by 7:25 p.m. EST on Saturday, August 23. Don't forget to select your bonus match-ups.

 

Enjoy the race!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.