Darlington Fantasy NASCAR Mid Pack Predictions
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 5 races here, he’s finished within a deviation of 3 from that digit and the other two results were clear outliers. Last year, both of his results were historic outliers.
Darlington Track History – Last fall at Darlington, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a short race and finished 35th. I don’t know exactly what happened but on lap 49 he was running in 17th, but then somehow on lap 67 he was literally a few laps down in 32nd. I’m just choosing to imagine he got into the wall, but something clearly happened. Later on lap 172 when he was six-laps down, he slammed into the wall hard and it marked the end of his race leading to his 35th. In spring 2022 when Darlington was visited, Stenhouse had a hot streak ensuing and he 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. In fall 2021, 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.
Justin Haley
Darlington Fantasy Spin – At Darlington, look for Justin Haley to finish in the 20’s. At best, Haley has a high-teens ceiling. The #31 team isn’t running well, and I don’t think it’s going to change this weekend.
Darlington Track History – At Darlington, Justin Haley might have fantasy tease potential courtesy of a 3rd last spring, but don’t get suckered into that. Overall at Darlington in 3 of his 4 races, Haley’s finished 19th or worse. Last fall, Haley was about a 20th place driver. In the race, Haley finished 19th, had a 22.1 average running position and had the 24th best Total Speed Ranking. Last spring, 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. In 2021 in the less competitive #77, Haley had results of 25th and 28th.
Ryan Preece
Darlington Fantasy Spin – At Darlington, Ryan Preece has finished 20th or worse in 4 of his 6 starts, but he had his best result when he most recently raced here (12th), so I guess there’s hope. That said, I’m just bracing myself for a 20’s out of him this weekend.
Darlington Track History – At Darlington minus 2020 #2 where he had an engine failure, Ryan Preece has a 19.2 average finish. Back in fall 2021 when he most recently raced here, Preece finished 12th and had a 15.3 average running position. In 2021 #1, Preece finished 25th. In his other three starts minus his engine failure his results were 17th, 20th and 22nd.
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