Daytona Fantasy NASCAR Confidence Rankings / Post Qualifying Predictions
On Saturday night under the lights, NASCAR will be racing at Daytona! The Daytona summer race is always one of the wildest races of the season, and with it being the regular season finale, the “Wild factor” will get dialed up another notch. This will be drivers last chance to make the Playoffs by getting a win and getting in. If there’s no new winner, Blaney and Truex will advance to the post-season via points.
This weekend, no practice sessions were held for Daytona and qualifying was rained out. Here’s a look at the Daytona Summer 2022 Starting Lineup.
Daytona Summer 2022 Fantasy NASCAR Rankings
1) Chase Elliott
Start 2nd / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Daytona Breakdown – On Saturday night under the lights, you can count on Chase Elliott to be a contender. Elliott’s been one of the best at Daytona in recent races, he’s arguably been the best in the Next Gen at superspeedways, and the #9 team is hot. There’s really nothing to not like about him and you can be confident he’ll be racing hard. In 2022 in the Next Gen at superspeedways, Elliott is the only driver who’s 4 for 4 at finishing in the top ten and over the combined events his average finish is a series best 6.0. At Atlanta, the most recent superspeedway visited, Elliott put on a display of domination en route to victory lane (led 96 laps and won the two opening Stages). At Daytona, Elliott has never raced his way to victory lane in a points paying race, but he’s come close and over the last four races, Elliott has 2-runner-ups, a series best 5.5 average finish and he’s the only driver who’s 4 for 4 at finishing in the top ten. In this year’s Daytona 500, Elliott didn’t have an incident free race, but he finished 10th when the checkered flag waved. Last summer, Elliott had a great performance. In the race he won Stage #1, finished just outside the top ten in Stage #2, was the leader with 5 laps to go, but then near the end he was involved in an accident. Elliott was able to continue, and he finished 8th when the checkered flag waved. Additionally, Elliott earned the best driver rating, led the 2nd most laps (36) and had the best average running position (8.0). In last year’s Daytona 500, Elliott had a great car and finished 2nd. Additionally, Elliott finished 4th in Stage #2, had an 8.1 average running position and was running in 5th at the start of the final lap. In summer 2020, Elliott pushed Byron to victory lane and of course finished 2nd.
DraftKings $10,500 / FanDuel $14,000 / DK Betting Odds To Win +1000 (Friday Evening)
2) Bubba Wallace
Start 30th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium
Daytona Breakdown – At Daytona, Bubba Wallace will be a factor and on Saturday night he should be on your short list of favorites. Wallace has back-to-back runner-ups here and in 3 of the last 4 races at big superspeedways he’s finished in the top two, and that includes a win last fall at Talladega. At Daytona, Wallace has performed at a high-level and minus the 2021 and 2019 Daytona 500’s where he’s had misleading results, Wallace has an 8.9 average finish. Over the last four Daytona races, Wallace’s 6.8 average finish ranks as the 2nd best. In this year’s Daytona 500, Wallace finished 3rd in Stage #2, finished 2nd overall, led 12 laps and had a 10.2 average running position. Last summer, Wallace had a great evening and once again finished runner-up. Additionally, Wallace finished 9th in Stage #2, led 8 laps and was running in 9th at the start of “Over-time.” In last year’s Daytona 500, Wallace had standout speed but finished an asterisk mark 17th. In the race, Wallace started in the rear of the field, finished 7th in Stage #1, 3rd in Stage #2 and was running in 10th on lap 175 before he made an unexpected pit stop on lap 179 for having a loose wheel. Leading up to that Daytona 500, Wallace finished 2nd in his Duel 150. In summer 2020, Wallace finished 5th. On Saturday night, don’t be surprised if Wallace has a dedicated “Wing Man” in Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs.
DraftKings $7,800 / FanDuel $12,500 / DK Betting Odds To Win +1200
Further Recommended Reading – Daytona Projected Finish Ranges, DraftKings Daytona Playability Value Chart, FanDuel Daytona Playability Value Chart
3) Denny Hamlin
Start 19th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Daytona Breakdown – Denny Hamlin is the premiere performer at Daytona and on Saturday night, you better believe this 3-time winner will be a factor. In this year’s Daytona 500, Hamlin looked great but finished an asterisk mark 37th. In the race, Hamlin started 30th, was up to 5th on lap 62, but then the very next lap, Keselowski caused a “Big One” in which Hamlin was caught up in the carnage ending his afternoon. Last summer, Hamlin was strong, but was involved in multiple accidents which led to him finishing a misleading 13th. In the race, Hamlin led 7 laps and finished 2nd in Stage #1. Then in Stage #2 on lap 77, Hamlin was involved in a multi-car accident and got damage to his nose. Hamlin rebounded and was up to 2nd on lap 156 (4 to go), but then on lap 157 he was involved in another multi-car accident. In last year’s Daytona 500, Hamlin was the class of the field. In the race, Hamlin won Stage #1, won Stage #2, led a race high 98 laps but finished a misleading 5th. The final pit cycle which was manufacturer driven cost him the race. Just prior to the final pit cycle, Hamlin was the leader. In 2020 at Daytona, nobody was better. In summer 2020, Hamlin had a great car and finished 3rd. In the race, Hamlin was the leader at the start of over-time, but Byron and Elliott hooked up together and powered past him. In the 2020 Daytona 500, Hamlin finished 1st, won Stage #2 and led a race high 79 laps. I’ll note, there’s a good possibility that I think Hamlin might take on “Wing Man” duties for some of his Toyota teammates.
DraftKings $9,600 / FanDuel $13,000 / DK Betting Odds To Win +1200
