Darlington #2 2022 Fantasy NASCAR Mid Pack Predictions
Justin Haley
Darlington Fantasy Spin – At Darlington, look for Justin Haley to be his typical high-teens to low-twenties self. In the last six non-superspeedway races heading into the weekend, Haley’s finished between 17th to 21st, and that’s a trend I can believe in.
Darlington Track History – This spring at Darlington, Justin Haley finished 3rd, but that’s a fool’s gold result that was aided by attrition. In the race, Haley had a 21.2 average running position and the 22nd best Total Speed Ranking. With 33 laps to go until the scheduled distance, Haley was back in 16th, and keep in mind a fair amount of attrition already happened before that. Last year at Darlington in the less competitive #77, Haley had results of 25th and 28th.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Darlington Fantasy Spin – At Darlington, look for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to likely finish within a few deviations of 20th. In 3 of the last 4 races here, he’s finished within a deviation of 3 from that digit. Finishing around that range also matches up with the #47 teams’ weekly level of performance right now.
Darlington Track History – This spring at Darlington when the #47 team had a mini-hot streak, Stenhouse finished 8th. That said, the attrition rate was high and in the race, Stenhouse had a 17.1 average running position and the 17th best Total Speed Ranking. Personally, I would just view that as an attrition aided good result, even though he did run well late. 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 summer 2020, Stenhouse finished 19th.
Cole Custer
Darlington Fantasy Spin – Cole Custer has a pretty abysmal track record at Darlington with him finishing 22nd or worse in 4 of his 6 starts, but there is a glimmer of hope in his track record and in the last two fall races he’s come home with results of 11th and 12th. That said, I would view Custer as a high-teens to low-twenties driver and hope for the best.
Darlington Track History – Cole Custer has finished well in the last two summer night races, so there’s hope for those willing to roll the dice. This spring, Custer was a dud and finished 26th. Additionally, Custer had a 23.2 average running position and the 24th best Total Speed Ranking. I’ll note, Custer was involved in an accident on lap 260, but shortly before that on lap 248 he was running in 21st, so ultimately, I don’t think it impacted his result too much, even though it was a DNF where he finished 33 laps down. Last fall at Darlington, Cole Custer came home 11th. That said, his average running position was 20th, his Total Speed Ranking was 25th and his speed late in a run was 16th. He did consistently run around the low-double digits in closing time, so I won’t take it away from him. In spring 2021, Custer crashed early and finished 36th. In the race, Custer was running in 26th on lap 80, and then at the time of his demise shortly after the start of Stage #2 he was running in 30th. His Total Speed Ranking for the afternoon was the 29th best. In summer 2020, Custer finished 12th.
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