COTA Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks

Tyler Reddick
COTA Fantasy Outlook – At COTA, defending champ, Tyler Reddick will be the favorite. Reddick’s an elite road course racer and last spring, Reddick had the field covered and easily raced his way to victory lane. In 2023 at road courses over the combined races, Reddick had the 2nd best Speed Ranking and for the season minus Chicago and Sonoma his average finish was a stellar 4.8. At COTA, look for Reddick to be a top five performer who’ll be a factor to win.
COTA Track History – The road to victory lane likely goes thru Tyler Reddick at COTA. In the “Lone Star State”, Reddick’s been a standout performer. Reddick smoked the field last year and overall, he’s 3 for 3 at finishing in the top ten and has a 5.0 average finish. Over the combined COTA races in the Next Gen, Reddick has the best Speed Ranking. Last spring, Reddick smoked the field en route to victory lane, despite doing a three pit stop strategy which turned out to be inferior. In the race, Reddick earned the best Driver Rating, led the most laps (41), ran the most fastest laps and he had a 3.7 average running position, despite pitting an extra time compared to much of the field. In terms of speed stats, Reddick ranked #1 for Total Speed Rankings, #1 for Green Flag Speed and then ranked 2nd for Speed Late In A Run. In 2022, Reddick was one of the best and consistently ran near the front. In the race, Reddick started 4th, had a 4.6 average running position, led 2 laps and then finished 5th. Take note, those 2 laps led were laps 66 and 67 of the 69-lap race. In terms of speed stats, Reddick ranked 2nd for Total Speed Rankings and ranked 8th for speed late in a run. In 2021, Reddick had a strong showing and finished 9th, despite his race not being incident free. On lap 40 while he was running in 5th, he spun which dropped him back to 24th. Considering there was only 13 laps run under green following that, that’s impressive and his rally back up thru the field was legit. Additionally, Reddick started on the pole, finished 3rd in Stage #2 and had a 14.5 average running position.

William Byron
COTA Fantasy Outlook – At COTA, look for William Byron to unload fast and be a factor. Last year, Tyler Reddick was the class of the field, but William Byron was the “Best Of The Rest.” In 2023 at road courses, Byron ranked as one of the best. Byron raced his way to victory lane at Watkins Glen in impressive fashion, finished 2nd at the Charlotte Roval the most recent road course visited, had the 2nd best Track Type Average Finish (8.2) and he had the 3rd best Road Course Track Type Total Speed Ranking. At COTA, look for Byron to be a top five contender who’ll be a factor to win.
COTA Track History – At COTA, William Byron has been strong. Byron was a stopwatch standout last year en route to a 5th and over the combined races his average finish is a solid 9.3. Last year, Tyler Reddick had the field covered, but William Byron gave him a run for his money. In the race, Byron won the pole, had a race best 3.0 average running position, earned the 2nd best Driver Rating, led the 2nd most laps (28) and then finished 5th when the checkered flag waved. In terms of speed stats, Byron had the 2nd best Total Speed Ranking, the 3rd best Green Flag Speed and then ranked 4th for Speed Late In A Run. In 2022, the #24 was solid. In the race, Byron finished 12th, had the 12th best Total Speed Ranking and had a 16th place average running position. I’ll note, Byron even got a speeding penalty when he did his pit strategy pit stop right before the end of Stage #1. In 2021, Byron finished 11th which is remarkable when you take into account on lap 14 while he was battling for 5th, he had contact with Matt DiBenedetto which resulted in the #24 getting notable damage to his right rear quarter panel. That issue dropped him all the way back to 38th during the Stage #1 caution while his team did repairs, but he battled back. In terms of speed late in a run, Byron ranked 8th.

Chase Elliott
COTA Fantasy Outlook – 7-time road course winner, Chase Elliott will be tough to beat at COTA. Elliott won the inaugural race in the rain, and looked stout in 2022 when he last competed. Last year at road courses minus Watkins Glen, Elliott went 4 for 4 at finishing in the top ten and had a 4.8 average finish. Also, for the 2023 season at road courses (minus Chicago), Elliott had the 7th best Speed Ranking. With a healthy Elliott behind the wheel of the #9, look for him to be a top five contender who’ll be a factor to win.
COTA Track History – Chase Elliott has performed at a high-level at COTA. Elliott won the inaugural race in the rain and overall, he’s 2 for 2 at finishing in the top 4 with a 2.5 average finish. Last year, Elliott missed the race due to injury. In 2022 which marked the first Next Gen race at a road course, Elliott got better and better as the race progressed and finished 4th. In that race, Elliott had the 7th best Total Speed Ranking, but take note that over the 3rd and 4th segments of the race, Elliott ranked 5th in terms of speed. In 2021, Elliott came up clutch in the rain. Elliott may not have had enough gas to go the scheduled distance but make no mistake he had the best car. In the race, Elliott finished 2nd in Stage #2, had an 8.5 average running position and led 5 laps. Additionally, Elliott ranked #1 in terms of speed late in a run.

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