NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Bank of America ROVAL 400

 

    SOURCE: NASCAR.com

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

 

Chase Elliott earned his second win of the season at Kansas Speedway last Sunday, and his second Cup Series win at the track. Now Chase doesn't have to worry about making it to the Round of 8, but can that No. 9 team make some noise here at the ROVAL™ to let the field know they are ready to secure their second Cup Series Championship? Stay tuned.

 

This Week's Pick Strategy: Everyone needs a bit of luck today when picking their fantasy rosters. There will be some teams playing the points game, racing for those stage points, while the rest of the field playing the long game for the win. I am not overthinking my picks this week. I am sticking with the road course masters, drivers who manage their tires well, and those drivers who always seem to pull out a great run when their backs are against the wall.

 

Active Drivers with Most Top 10s
(2019-2024) 6 Races
Joey Logano - 5

All with 4 - Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Alex Bowman

All with 3 -Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, and 

Chris Buescher 

Active Drivers with Most Top 5s
(2019-2024) 6 Races
Both with 4 -Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch 
All with 2 - William Byron, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, and AJ Allmendinger

 

Top 5 Average Finishes Among Active Drivers in Gen 7 Car

3 Races: 2022 to 2024 
AJ Allmendinger 3.7 
Christopher Bell  6.0 
Kyle Busch 6.3 
William Byron  7.0 
Shane van Gisbergen 7.0 
Tyler Reddick 8.3. 

 

ROVAL™ Race Winners:
2024 Shane van Gisbergen
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: Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Ryan Blaney.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick is a tie between Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Elliott. My next picks are Christopher Bell, William Byron, Joey Logano, and AJ Allmendinger. I'll round out my team with Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs.

My Fabulous 5 (Drivers most likely to finish in the Top 5):
Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson.

NASCAR Fantasy Live Line-up: 
Shane van Gisbergen, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, and Ty Gibbs, with Kyle  Larson in the garage. Featured Match-ups: SVG over Allmendinger, Wallace over Hamlin, Briscoe over Chastain, and Reddick over Cindric.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Ty Gibbs. Ty starts third on the grid this week, and is a decent road-course racer. This year he has ranked in the Top 10 on overall speed, long-run speed, passing and restarts in 2025. The No. 54 car has run inside the Top 10 in more than half of all laps on road courses in 2025, earning fifth-best in the series.  

 

Points to Ponder:

• Six of the seven races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™ have been won from a starting position inside the top-10 (85.7%) – the lone exception is Chase Elliott’s victory from the 19th starting spot in 2019.
• Joey Logano leads the NASCAR Cup Series in Top 10 finishes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™ with six. 
• Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch lead the Cup Series in Top 5 finishes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™ with three each.  
• Alex Bowman leads the NASCAR Cup Series in average finishing position at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™ with 6.400 in five starts.
• Kyle Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series in laps led at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™ with 122 laps led in six starts.
• Four different active drivers have finished runner-up in the seven NASCAR Cup Series races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™: Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron.
• Alex Bowman leads the NASCAR Cup Series in average finishing position at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™ with 6.400 in five starts.

Remember, if you're playing NASCAR Fantasy Live, make your final picks by 2:55 p.m. EST TODAY! Don't forget to select your bonus match-ups.

 

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 she may be executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland's Eastern Shore.