Las Vegas Fantasy NASCAR Mid Pack Predictions

Ty Gibbs
Las Vegas Bottom Line – At Las Vegas, Ty Gibbs is a fantasy prospect who’ll have question marks, but ultimately, I think it’s best to view him as a high-teens driver. Last year at high-speed 1.5-mile tracks, we didn’t see anything good out of Gibbs and over his three incident free races at tracks of this length, Gibbs had results of 18th, 22nd and 22nd. That said, he’s now piloting the #54, and there’s no question this car will be set up for him, and was that the case in 2022? I don’t know. One thing I definitely know is that JGR cars were fast last year at Las Vegas and were contenders to win both events. At Auto Club, Gibbs finished 16th. 
Las Vegas Track History – Last fall at Las Vegas, Ty Gibbs had a forgettable afternoon in the #23 and finished 22nd. In the race, Gibbs had a 21.7 average running position, the 21st best Total Speed Ranking and the 22nd best Green Flag Speed. Last year in the lower series at Las Vegas, Gibbs finished 4th in the fall and in the spring he raced his way to victory lane.

Michael McDowell
Las Vegas Bottom Line – Las Vegas hasn’t been a bright spot for Michael McDowell and in recent races he’s typically been a high-teens to low-twenties driver. This weekend, I would look for him to finish around that range again, but I would lean towards the higher end of that range.
Las Vegas Track History – Las Vegas hasn’t been a place of great success for Michael McDowell and in 4 of the last 5 races he’s finished between 17th to 21st, and the one outlier was an ugly 27th. Over those five combined events, McDowell has a 21.0 average finish and a 20.0 average running position. Last fall, the #34 was high-teens good and when the checkered flag waved, he finished 19th, had an 18.1 average running position and ranked 23rd for Total Speed Rankings and Green Flag Speed. In spring 2022, McDowell was very uncompetitive and finished a clunker 27th. In the race, McDowell had a 21.2 average running position and had the 24th best Total Speed Ranking. In the three races prior to that, McDowell had results of 21st, 17th and 21st.

Ryan Preece
Las Vegas Bottom Line – Ryan Preece is somewhat of an unknown at Las Vegas in the #41, but I think he might have teen’s potential if he has an incident free race. This is another, “Watch and learn” weekend for me out of him.
Las Vegas Track History – At Las Vegas, Ryan Preece has finished in the teens in 2 of his last 3 races. Back in fall 2021 when he last raced here, Preece finished an uninspiring 28th. In the two Las Vegas races prior to that, Preece had finishes of 15th and 19th.