Las Vegas Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Ty Gibbs
Las Vegas Fantasy Outlook – At Las Vegas, Ty Gibbs doesn’t have a good result on his resume over his three starts, but don’t overlook him. Gibbs looked solid last fall despite what you’ll see in the results column and in 2023 over the six races held at high-speed 1.5-mile tracks, Gibbs ranked 15th in terms of Total Speed Rankings.
Las Vegas Track History – At Las Vegas, close your eyes when you look at Ty Gibbs results column. He’s 3 for 3 at finishing 22nd or worse and has a 26th place average finish. Last fall, Gibbs had his worst Las Vegas result and finished 34th but you can get out an asterisk mark for that result due to multiple problems. “Performance Wise”, I would say Gibbs was a low double-digit performer. In the race, Gibbs started 11th, finished around 17th in Stage #1, finished around 13th in Stage #2, was up to 11th on lap 214 (53 to go) but then two laps later he blew a right front tire and lost a wheel. Then later to add insult to injury on lap 241, Gibbs had another tire issue and made an unexpected pit stop, but he was three laps down in 33rd at that time anyways, so you can’t say that hurt him. In terms of Total Speed Rankings for the afternoon, Gibbs ranked 13th. In spring 2023 en route to a 22nd, Gibbs had a 24th place average running position and the 20th best Total Speed Ranking. In fall 2022 when he subbed for Kurt Busch, Gibbs also finished 22nd.

Erik Jones
Las Vegas Fantasy Outlook – At Las Vegas, Erik Jones will have dark horse potential to come home with a top ten for those looking to roll the dice. Jones looked great and shown potential at intermediates to close out the 2023 season, but the #43 team will face a learning curve as this will be their first race in a Toyota. Last year at high-speed 1.5’s, Jones had the 16th best Total Speed Ranking but note in 2 of the 3 Playoff races he ranked in the top 7 in terms of speed. At Las Vegas, I’m going to view Erik Jones as a teens driver.
Las Vegas Track History – At Las Vegas, Erik Jones has had some success, just not much recently and in 4 of the last 5 races he’s finished 19th or worse. Last fall, Jones finished 28th but that’s an asterisk mark result. On lap 65 while running in 15th, Jones had a flat tire which dropped him off the lead lap and back into the 30’s. After that, his competitive afternoon was over. In spring 2023, Jones finished 19th, had a 14.7 average running position and had the 17th best Total Speed Ranking. In fall 2022, Jones started way back in 22nd, had a 14.1 average running position but raced his way up to an 8th place finish. Closing out the race, the #43 was at its best and over the final quarter of the race, they ranked as the 7th fastest car on the track. In spring 2022, Jones was poised to finish around 7th, and he was running in that position with 4 to go, but then the next lap he had a flat tire and spun which led to his asterisk mark 31st. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Jones ranked 14th, with his speed over the segments being 18th, 10th, 12th and 12th. In the three Las Vegas races prior to that, Jones had results of 26th, 10th and 8th.

Daniel Suarez
Las Vegas Fantasy Outlook – Look for Daniel Suarez to be solid at Las Vegas. I wouldn’t look for him to have a flashy performance but in the Next Gen over the last three, Suarez is 3 for 3 at finishing between 10th to 16th, has a 13.7 average finish, a 14.9 average running position and the 12th best Total Speed Ranking. Last year at high-speed 1.5’s over the combined races, Suarez had the 18th best Total Speed Ranking. On Sunday, I would view him as a mid-teens driver with marginal upside.
Las Vegas Track History – As you just read, Daniel Suarez has been solid at Las Vegas in recent races. Last fall, Suarez started 36th and then parlayed it into a 15th place finish. Suarez didn’t do anything flashy and just ranked 21st in terms of Total Speed Rankings, but he slowly creeped up thru the running order over the course of the afternoon. Additionally, Suarez ranked 15th for Speed Late In A Run and over the final quarter of the race he ranked 15th in terms of speed. In spring 2023, Suarez finished 10th, was running in 10th before the late caution, had the 10th best Total Speed Ranking and had a 13.6 average running position. In fall 2022, Suarez was a top five contender but finished an asterisk mark 16th. In the race, Suarez started 6th, led 31 laps, finished 3rd in Stage #1, 3rd in Stage #2 but then in the final Stage on lap 239 while battling Tyler Reddick for 4th he spun into the grass following close hard racing. Additionally in the race, Suarez had an 8.9 average running position, ranked 5th for Total Speed Rankings, 6th for Green Flag Speed and 2nd for Speed Late In A Run. In spring 2022, Suarez crashed on lap 92 while running in the mid-teens which led to his 37th.

Make sure you read the full spectrum of our Las Vegas Fantasy NASCAR Rankings

Top Tier Elite Picks > Front Runners Rankings > Mid Pack Predictions > Low Tier