NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol

Track Size/Type: 0.875 Mile – Asphalt Paved Oval
Number of Turns: 4
Degrees of Banking Turns: 12-14 degrees (progressive banking)
Degrees of Frontstretch: 10 degrees
Degrees of Backstretch: 4 degrees 

 

Last week's Brickyard 400 did not disappoint. You gotta love double overtimes. Bubba Wallace sure did as he earned his third Cup Series win, and his first crown-jewel victory. He got to kiss the bricks and became the first Black driver to win a major race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval. 

Bubba executed perfectly in the closing laps beating the best in the business -- Kyle Larson. The victory broke Bubba's 100-race winless streak. His last win came on September 11, 2022, at Kansas Speedway. 

Bubba is pretty decent at flat tracks, but I wouldn't be surprised if Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, and Chase Briscoe have a bit of an edge this weekend as they did Goodyear Tire Test back in August. 

This Week's Pick Strategy: This week I'm picking my roster based on elite flat-track drivers and adding in drivers who race well at Super Speedways. The corners at Iowa Speedway are super fast so that skill will come in handy. Since we have a new tire this year and the track has another year of wear from the partial repave, I'll pay lots of attention to practice and qualifying.

 

Last Year's Pole Winner: Kyle Larson

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Ryan Blaney

 

Active Drivers with Most Top 10s at Similar Flat Tracks* 

2022-2025 - 16 races

All with 12 - Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Joey Logano
Christopher Bell - 10
Chase Elliott - 9
All with 8 - Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, and Chase Briscoe
Both with 7 - Bubba Wallace and Brad Keselowski

 

Active Drivers with Most Top 5s at Similar Flat Tracks* 

2022-2025 - 16 races
Kyle Larson - 10
Denny Hamlin - 9
All with 6 - Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell
Ryan Blaney - 5

*Includes Martinsville Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Richmond Raceway
SOURCE: frcs.pro

Last Year's Top 10: 1. Ryan Blaney, 2. William Byron, 3. Chase Elliott, 4. Christopher Bell, 5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 6. Joey Logano, 7. Josh Berry, 8. Alex Bowman, 9. Daniel Suarez, 10. Brad Keselowski.

2024 Most Laps Led: Ryan Blaney with 20 laps led (57% of his laps completed).

Other items to note from Last Year: The race was won from the second-place starting position (outside front row) and the winner came from Team Penske (Ford).

The Likely Suspects: I expect these drivers to run well this weekend: Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is Ryan Blaney. My next picks are William Byron, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman. I will complete my roster with Brad Keselowski, and Josh Berry.

My Fabulous 5 (Drivers most likely to finish in the Top 5):
Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Joey Logano.

NASCAR Fantasy Live Line Up: 

Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski, and Chase Elliott.  In the garage: Christopher Bell.

        Featured Match Ups: Wallace over Chastain, Elliott over Bell, Stenhouse Jr. over Berry, and Blaney over Byron.

 

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your final picks by 3:25 p.m. EST on Sunday, August 3. 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.