Daytona 500 – Fantasy NASCAR Mid Pack Predictions

Michael Waltrip – Michael Waltrip will be driving the #66 MWR entry in the Daytona 500. This team is the remnants of the old #56 Martin Truex Jr. team. The 66 car is better than some of Waltrip’s other recent rides in the Great American Race. At Daytona Waltrip is a three-time winner. He’s won two Daytona 500′s (2001 & 2003) and one July race (2002). In last years Daytona 500 he drove the 26 car and finished 22nd. In July he drove his own #55 and finished 5th. In his next most recent race here in the #55 car (July 2012) he finished 9th. At Talladega Michael Waltrip has been very good recently despite what his record shows. Last spring at Dega in the #55 he finished 4th. Don’t underestimate Waltrip on this track type. He has a knack at the art of drafting and he’s more than capable of getting a good result in the Daytona 500. (Yahoo C Driver)

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Kasey Kahne – Kasey Kahne had a rough season on restrictor plate tracks last year. On this track type between the four races he scored a grand total of 31 points and had a 36.5 average finish. Part of the reason for his lack of success was that he crashed in three of the four races. In the one race he didn’t crash he lost the draft early in the event and went a lap down. In half the races on this track type Kyle Busch took him out with a bump draft. One of those bump drafts gone bad was in the 2013 Daytona 500. In that race Kahne was running near the top five early but Kyle Busch bump drafted him and caused an early “Big One”. Heading into the race many garage insiders thought he had the best Hendrick car. In the summer race Kahne was a contender for the win and ran near the front of the pack for much of the race. With about 5 laps to go he was leading the inside groove around Daytona but Johnson got into Ambrose and then 9 car got into Kahne. As a result Kahne wrecked and got heavy damage. Since 2010 at Daytona Kahne has three top seven results. Notably all of those have come in the summer race. The average finish of his non-top ten results over this stretch is 30.4. His last finish better than 25th in the Daytona 500 was in 2008. (Yahoo A Driver)

Make sure you read: Daytona Top Tier Elite Picks, Daytona Front Runner Rankings, Daytona Scouting Report (2013 Daytona 500), Daytona Scouting Report (2013 July), PROS Rankings – 2013 Daytona 500, PROS Rankings – 2013 July, All of our driver previews

Martin Truex Jr. – Martin Truex Jr. had a good car in both Daytona races last season but finished poorly twice. In last year’s Daytona 500 with 25 laps remaining he was running in 2nd but then he had some sort of problem. In the 500 he started back in the pack but he worked his way up through the field pretty smoothly. Around lap 50 he cracked the top ten and he ran there until he had his problem. When the checkered flag waved he finished 24th. In July it appeared that he had a top twelve car but on lap 98 he was involved in an accident that parked him for the rest of the race. Overall at Daytona Truex has a 22.5 average finish and has only had a top ten result once. One strength of his recently has been leading at the mid-point. He’s taken home that bonus money in two out of the last three years. At Talladega last season Truex finished 7th and 8th. In 7 of the last 8 races at that venue he’s finished 13th or better. In the 2014 Daytona 500 Truex Jr. will be making his debut in the 78 car. I would consider this is horizontal change of employers. (Yahoo B Driver)

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