Daytona 500: Fantasy NASCAR “Front Runner” Picks

Jimmie Johnson – If you’re not cheating you’re not trying. You can’t question their not trying hard this year. In 2006 when they were last caught cheating before the Daytona 500 they visited victory lane in the “Great American” race. Since then in the Daytona 500 they’ve finished 39th, 27th, 31st, 35th and 27th. If you’re in an allocation league do not pick Johnson. With those cool racing stripes I think it might just be worth the risk. (Yahoo A Driver)

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Jamie McMurray – Some drivers have knack for plate racing and Jamie McMurray is one of them. McMurray is a two-time winner at Daytona and both of those wins were before the two car tandem era. McMurray looked very good in the Bud Shootout and that should translate for the Daytona 500. (Yahoo B Driver)

Kurt Busch– The only difference between Kurt Busch being a Front Runner and an Elite Top Tier driver at Daytona is his team. I highly question how good Finch Racing is in a number of areas. How good are their cars (Hendrick C stuff in my opinion), how good is the pit crew, and how good is the crew chief. The answer to all of those questions are, probably not the best. They didn’t even have a seat in their Shootout back up car so their obviously not deep in the resource department. He’s always near the front of the pack at NASCAR’s most famous track though. In the last four races at Daytona he has the best average running position in the series (10.8). He’s also tied for first in terms of accumulating the most points per race in this time span (33 points per race). (Yahoo B Driver)

Brad Keselowski – Brad Keselowski finished 15th last summer at Daytona but all of his other finishes are 29th or worse. His track record at Talladega is quite impressive and since the repaving Daytona is essentially a more narrow Dega. He’s a smart driver and that will take him far. In the Shootout his stragtegy was hanging back and this does provide protection for fantasy racers to a degree. (Yahoo A Driver)

Greg Biffle – In the last seven races at NASCAR’s most historical track Biffle only has one finish better than 18th (finished 3rd in the 2010 Daytona 500). I think this year the #16 Ford will be very strong in the Daytona 500. At Daytona’s sister track (Talladega) only Clint Bowyer has scored more points than him in the last six races. (Yahoo B Driver)

Matt Kenseth – I’ve always liked Kenseth at Daytona even before he won the 2009 Daytona 500. Since 2005 he’s finished in the top ten eight times and in every year since then he’s finished in the top ten at least once. In last July’s Daytona race he pushed David Ragan to his first career win.

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