Darlington Fantasy NASCAR Mid Pack Predictions

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Darlington Fantasy Spin – A lot can go wrong at Darlington, so Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will be incredibly risky. He’s had problems in nearly every 2022 race, so it’s not hard to see something go wrong for him this weekend. That said, he’s been about 20th place good recently at Darlington and over the last three races he’s finished between 17th to 20th. If Stenhouse can have an incident free race, I would look for him to finish around 20th. I’ll note, his runner-up at Dover was extremely encouraging.
Darlington Track History – As you just read, Ricky Stenhouse has finished between 17th to 20th over the last three Darlington races. Additionally, over those events, Stenhouse has an 18.7 average finish and a 19.3 average running position. Last fall, Stenhouse was clearly a high-teens performer. In the race he finished 17th, had a 17.7 average running position, was the 19th Fastest Driver Late In A Run and had the 21st best Total Speed Ranking. In spring 2021, Stenhouse finished 20th, had a 23rd place average running position and had the 17th best Total Speed Ranking. In 2020, Stenhouse finished better in each new Darlington race, but keep in mind the bar started in the basement. In fall 2020, Stenhouse finished 19th, had an 18.4 average running position and his Total Speed Ranking was tied for being the 15th best. In Darlington #2 2020, Stenhouse started in the back (39th), finished 25th, had a 27.7 average running position and ranked as the 26th Fastest Driver Late In A Run. In race #1 2020, Stenhouse didn’t even complete a lap and finished 40th after crashing on the opening lap.

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Bubba Wallace
Darlington Fantasy Spin – At Darlington, I can’t say I’m expecting much out of Wallace. Over his seven starts minus fall 2020, he’s finished between 16th to 26th every race and has a 21.5 average finish. On Sunday, I think he’s a high-teens to low-twenties performer.
Darlington Track History – Last year at Darlington, Bubba Wallace was consistent and had a pair of 21st place finishes. Last fall en route to his 21st, Wallace had an 18.7 average running position, was the 20th Fastest Driver Late In A Run and had the 24th best Total Speed Ranking. In spring 2021, Wallace finished 21st, had a 22.4 average running position, had the 16th best Total Speed Ranking and was the 11th Fastest Driver Late In A Run. In fall 2020, Wallace had his worst Darlington finish and came home 38th. In the race, Wallace spun around lap 180 while running around 30th, and then not much later his race was over due to transmission problems. Performance wise, I think Wallace looked about mid-twenties good for much of the race. In the two spring Darlington races that year, Wallace had results of 16th and 21st.

Austin Cindric
Darlington Fantasy Spin – At Darlington, I would view Austin Cindric as a mid to high-teens driver. He might have a little upside, but I think that’s a fairly safe projected finish range.
Darlington Track History – Austin Cindric was solid in the Xfinity series at “The Track To Tough Too Tame.” Over his last five starts minus last spring where he had problems his average finish was 7.25. Last fall, Cindric had his best Darlington race and finished 3rd. In spring 2021 he led 34 laps but had problems and finished 30th. In 2020, Cindric’s results for the season were 12th and 4th.

Justin Haley
Darlington Fantasy Spin – At Darlington, I would view Justin Haley as a mid to high-teens driver. The #16 team has generally run well in 2022 and in 7 of the last 9 races he’s finished between 11th to 17th.
Darlington Track History – At Darlington in Cup, Justin Haley has two starts under his belt in the #77, and neither were good last year. Last fall, Haley finished 25th and in the spring he finished 28th. Those were just two un-notable clunker results. Last year in the lower series, Haley had results of 4th and 14th.

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