The Super Low Tier – Charlotte Roval
Joey Hand – Joey Hand is a road course ringer that Rick Ware Racing is bringing in to drive the #52 at the Roval. Supposedly, he’ll be piloting Stewart-Haas Racing equipment, so I guess there’s hope if you want to roll the dice. Since he’ll be in a more competitive situation then other drivers of this tier, I’ll be optimistic and view him as a mid to high-twenties driver. He’s never driven a Cup car, so there will definitely be a learning curve.
Scott Heckert – Scott Heckert is a road course ringer who’s being brought in the pilot the #78 that BJ McLeod typically drives. Heckert has driven this car twice in 2021 on this track type and he’s come home with results of 26th (Sonoma) and 28th (Daytona RC). Among drivers of this tier, that’s respectable.
Justin Haley – At Indy, the most recent road course visited, the wildness was off the charts and Justin Haley finished 8th. Don’t read into that any in terms of performance. In his other road course starts this year minus COTA where he had problems his average finish is 28th.
Garrett Smithley – Garrett Smithley appears to be one of the better super low tier drivers and in 4 of his last 5 races on this track type he’s finished between 27th to 32nd. For this tier, that’s good. At the Charlotte Roval, Smithley only has one start and in 2019 he finished 36th.
Josh Bilicki – This year at road courses over the six combined events, Josh Bilicki has a 28.2 average finish. I’ll note, that’s inflated by him finishing 18th due to the wildness at Indy. On Sunday, I’m going to view him as a high-twenties to low-thirties driver.
Quin Houff – At the Charlotte Roval, look for Quin Houff to be a low to mid-thirties driver. In 5 of his 8 races on this track type he’s finished between 32nd to 36th. This year at road courses minus Indy where the wildness was off the charts (22nd), and Daytona RC where he completed just 3 laps (40th), Houff has a 34th place average finish. Last year at the Charlotte Roval in his lone race here, Houff finished 28th.
Cody Ware – Cody Ware hasn’t fared well at road courses. He finished 25th at the Daytona Road Course earlier this year, but in his other seven starts on this track type he’s finished 31st or worse. This will be Ware’s Cup debut at the Roval, and you can pencil him in as a low to mid-thirties driver.
Timmy Hill – Timmy Hill will be back in action on Sunday driving the #66 Toyota. This will be the slowest car in the field, and Hill will be reliant on attrition to advance in the running order. Wildness happens at road courses, so he certainly has potential to advance from his 39th place starting position. This year at road courses, Hill has raced twice and has results of 27th (Indy) and 29th (Daytona RC). At the Roval, Hill has raced in all three events and his results are 38th (2020), 30th (2019) and 38th (2018). On Sunday, I would look for Hill to be a low to mid-thirties driver.
