NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Chase desert survival at Phoenix

Chase Briscoe sure gave us all something to cheer about last weekend as we returned to the Charlotte Oval. Chase not only won back to back races in the Chase, but treated us all to the second-closest finish in Charlotte Motor Speedway history over his JGR teammate Christopher Bell. While that is impressive, it's not just the driver who is turning in peak performances. 

The No. 19 pit crew completed the three fastest pit stops of the race, including the one on Lap 207 that put Briscoe ahead of Bell, where he stayed for the final 61 laps, winning the race by 0.029 seconds. NASCAR is a team sport and a championship winning team requires a near-perfect pit crew. 

Is there enough time for the No. 19 team to make big enough gains to contend with Kyle Larson? Briscoe did leap two spots last week. This is getting interesting ...

 

This Week's Pick Strategy: Phoenix Raceway has been Team Penske's playground and I expect this weekend to be no different. When picking my fantasy roster this week, I will go heavy on Penske drivers and pick one or two potential non-Chase drivers with spoiler potential. I will round out my team with drivers who get can earn me bonus qualifying points. Track position is key at Phoenix so after practice and qualifying, I will fine tune my roster based on speed, car balance, and who I think can manage those long green runs the best. Good luck with your roster.

 

Active NASCAR Drivers with Most Top 10s at Phoenix Raceway:
By Race  2022-2025 (4 Races)

Both with 4 -Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson

All with 3 - Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and William Byron 

 

Active NASCAR Drivers with Most Top 5s at Phoenix Raceway:
By Race  2022-2025 (4 Races)
Ryan Blaney - 4
Both with 3 - Joey Logano and Kyle Larson

 

Active NASCAR Drivers with Most Top 10s at Phoenix Raceway: 

By Track 2022-2026 (9 Races)
Ryan Blaney - 8
Kyle Larson - 7

Both with 6 - Christopher Bell and William Byron

All with 5 - Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher

Active NASCAR Drivers with Most Top 5s at Phoenix Raceway: 

By Track 2022-2026 (9 Races)

Ryan Blaney - 8
Kyle Larson - 6
Christopher Bell - 4
All with 3 - William Byron, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, and Chris Buescher

Last Year's Pole Winner: Denny Hamlin

 

Last Year's Race Winner: Ryan Blaney

The Likely Suspects: My Phoenix go-tos are Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is Ryan Blaney. My next picks are Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, and Ross Chastain, I will round out my team with Corey Heim and Daniel Suarez.

My Final Four: Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, and Corey Heim

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Ross Chastain. Ross has been running better in the last handful of races (or at least gets mentioned once or twice during a broadcast). Phoenix is Ross' 12th best track. In his last seven races here since 2023, Ross has earned one win, one Top 5 and two Top 10s for an average finish of 14.6. Will we see a watermelon smash at the Start/Finish line this weekend? Stay tuned.  

Points to Ponder:

• The first and third starting positions are tied for the most proficient starting position in the field, producing more winners than any other starting positions with eight each. The most recent was William Byron’s win in 2023 from the third starting position.
• In total, 14 different organizations have won at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series, led by Hendrick Motorsports with 13 victories. Rounding out the top five active Cup Series organizations with multiple wins are Joe Gibbs Racing with nine, Team Penske, and RFK Racing with seven each, and Richard Childress Racing with six.
• This weekend, nine of the 32 NASCAR Cup Series Phoenix Raceway winners are active, led by Joey Logano (2024, 2022, 2020, 2016) with four wins, followed by Ryan Blaney (2026, 2025), Christopher Bell (2025, 2024), and Denny Hamlin (2012, 2019), with two each, followed by Ross Chastain (2023), William Byron (2023), Chase Briscoe (2022), and Kyle Larson (2021), and Chase Elliott (2020) with one win each. 
• Ryan Blaney leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in runner-up finishes at Phoenix with four second-place finishes.
• Denny Hamlin leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in Top 5 finishes at Phoenix Raceway with 18 and also in Top 10s at Phoenix with 25.
•  Kyle Larson (24 starts) leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in average finishing position at Phoenix Raceway with a 10.042. 
• Joey Logano leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in laps led at Phoenix Raceway with 1,169 laps led in 35 starts.

If you are playing Driver Group Game, remember to make your initial picks by Saturday, October 17th at 4:30 p.m. ET  and your final picks by 3 p.m. ET on race day, Sunday, October 18th.

 

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 19 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.