Daytona Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Chase Elliott
Daytona Fantasy Spin – Chase Elliott is facing a must-win situation at Daytona and my gut feeling is that he’ll run extremely well and flirt with victory lane at some point but at the end, his evening will likely end on a wrecker. In terms of “Performance” at superspeedways, Elliott has been stout and since 2022 on this sub-track type minus this year’s 500 and last summer’s race where he crashed like just about everybody else, Elliott has 2 wins (Dega 2022 #2 and Atlanta 2022 #2) and a 7.3 average finish.
Daytona Track History – At Daytona, Chase Elliott has never raced his way to victory lane in a points paying race, but he’s come close and over the last six races minus this year’s 500 and last summer, Elliott has 2-runner-ups and a 5.5 average finish. In this year’s “Great American Race”, Elliott was running in 13th on lap 116 but then on lap 118 he was involved in a multi-car wreck which marked the end of his race leading to his 38th. Last summer, Elliott had one of the best cars but crashed in the rain which led to his 29th. In the race, Elliott led the most laps (31), finished 2nd in Stage #1, was running in 6th on lap 134, but then on lap 137 he was caught up in the “Rain Big One.” In last year’s Daytona 500, Elliott didn’t have an incident free race, but finished 10th. In the race, Elliott finished 10th in Stage #1, but then at some point in Stage #2 he had contact with Larson which led to a long pit stop during that Stage caution. With 10 to go, Elliott was even collected in a multi-car wreck. In summer 2021, 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 the 2021 Daytona 500, Elliott finished 2nd. In summer 2020, Elliott also finished 2nd.

AJ Allmendinger
Daytona Fantasy Spin – At Daytona, don’t overlook AJ Allmendinger. Allmendinger’s only raced at Daytona once since 2018, but he currently has a series best 5-straight top tens and his average finish over his streak is 6.0. On Saturday night, Allmendinger will be operating in “Hail Mary” mode, so buckle up if you’re picking him because he’ll be “all in for the win.”
Daytona Track History – At Daytona, AJ Allmendinger has been clicking off good results and over his last five races, his average finish is 6.0. In this year’s Daytona 500 in his first race here since 2018, Allmendinger finished 6th. In 2018 when he next most recently raced here, Allmendinger swept the top ten with results of 3rd and 10th. In 2017 his finishes were 3rd and 8th. Last year in the lower series at Daytona, Allmendinger had results of 2nd and 3rd.

Austin Dillon
Daytona Fantasy Spin – Austin Dillon, last summer’s winner and the 2018 Daytona 500 champion will be a solid option on Saturday night. Dillon is facing a “Must Win Situation” and there’s no question he’ll be going all out and won’t be afraid to drive thru people to get the “W.” In this year’s season opening Daytona 500, RCR cars were very competitive at the end, until things went south. When it comes to superspeedway racing prowess, I would say Dillon ranks in the top third of the field in terms of talent.
Daytona Track History – Daytona has been a good track for Austin Dillon. He’s a two-time winner and since 2014, Dillon’s finished in the top ten 47% of the time, in the top sixteen 63% of the time, and only five times has he finished lower than 19th, and in one of those he was crashed while leading. In this year’s Daytona 500, it looked like Austin Dillon would push the #8 to victory lane but a late caution while running in 2nd led to him getting shuffled out of line and then wrecking during the overtime #1 restart which led to his 33rd. For most of the race until the trophy was on the line, you never really seen Dillon. Last summer, Dillon didn’t have the best car, but that didn’t stop him from reaching victory lane. In the race, Dillon led 10 laps, finished 10th in Stage #2 and then of course crossed the finish line in first. In the final Stage, Dillon was running in 8th on lap 124, but then that very lap he was involved in an accident which didn’t appear to do hardly anything to the #3. Then about 10 laps later, the “Rain Big One” ensued and Dillon dodged the carnage. Then after the “Rain Big One” with three laps to go, Dillon moved Cindric out of the way for the win. In last year’s Daytona 500, Austin Dillon was a dud and finished 25th. Dillon isn’t listed in any accidents, but I think he had to be involved in an early one because he was a lap down early and never ran well. In 2021, Dillon was a top five contender in the summer but crashed at the end (17th) and in that year’s 500 he finished 3rd.

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