Daytona Busch Clash Fantasy NASCAR Confidence Rankings/ Predictions

1) Chase Elliott (Starting – REAR of the field. Will be scored from 7th) Chase Elliott is the premiere road course racer in NASCAR and in the Daytona Busch Clash he’ll be the favorite. Elliott easily raced his way to victory lane last summer, and currently Elliott has 4 straight road course wins. Over those four races, Elliott led or was tied for leading the most laps in every single race. Last summer en route to victory lane at the Daytona Road Course, Elliott had the best Total Speed Ranking, had the best average running position (3.2), the best driver rating, led 52.3% of the race (34 laps), ran the most Fastest Laps (18) and ranked as the 3rd Fastest Driver Late In A Run. If there wasn’t a late caution, Elliott would’ve won the race by a huge margin. With 11 laps to go before the final caution came out, Elliott had a 10.5 second lead over second place Denny Hamlin. Elliott has one advantage on much of the Daytona Busch Clash field. Just last week he took part in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. With no practice, that’s a huge advantage. Last fall at the Charlotte Roval, Elliott was tied for leading the most laps (27) and in the final quarter he ranked as the fastest driver on the track. On Tuesday Elliott will be starting in 7th. When he raced his way to victory lane last summer he also started 7th. NOTE: Chase Elliott will start in the rear of the field. It certainly depresses his dominator potential, but other than that I’m going to keep things largely the same. Keep in mind he’s crashed while leading at a road course in the past and recovered to win. Although Phoenix is obviously very different and this race is a lot shorter, he started in the rear of the field there last fall and won. It’s certainly a setback and I can understand making changes. I’m going to choose to not overreact to this news.

(DraftKings $10,500 / FanDuel $13,000 )

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2) Martin Truex Jr. (Starting – 18th) Martin Truex Jr. will be tough to beat in the Daytona Busch Clash. Truex is an elite road course racer and is the most recent driver on this track type to win who isn’t named Chase Elliott (Sonoma 2019). Last year at the Daytona Road Course, Truex had a great performance and if he didn’t get a speeding penalty while leading late in Stage #2, he probably would’ve had something for Elliott. In the race, Truex finished 3rd, led 10 laps, had the 2nd best Total Speed Ranking and in 3 of the 4 quarters he ranked as the fastest driver on the track. In quarter #3 following his speeding penalty which put him back in traffic, was the lone segment he wasn’t the fastest. In terms of speed late in a run, Truex ranked #1. I’ll also note, if Truex didn’t pit late in Stage #1 he would’ve won that Stage. Last fall at Charlotte, Truex finished 7th. At road courses since Watkins Glen 2017, Truex Jr. has 3 wins, a 4.2 average finish, 6 results in the top 3 and the only race he finished outside the top 7 is when Jimmie Johnson spun him out in the final turn at the Charlotte Roval while leading in 2018! (DraftKings $10,000 / FanDuel $12,500 )

3) Denny Hamlin (Starting – 3rd) Denny Hamlin will be a factor in the Busch Clash at Daytona. Last summer at this serpentine track, Hamlin had a great afternoon and was one of the standout performers. In the race Hamlin finished 2nd, won Stage #2, led 16 laps and had a 5th place average running position. In terms of speed analytics, Hamlin ranked as the 2nd Fastest Driver Late In A Run and his Total Speed Ranking was the 3rd best. In 3 of the 4 quarters he ranked in the top 3 in terms of overall speed, and in the 4th quarter when the trophy was on the line he ranked as the 2nd fastest. (DraftKings $9,600 / FanDuel $12,000 )