Dover Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Daniel Suarez
Dover Fantasy Outlook – Daniel Suarez is a more than capable mid-tier performer who should be on your radar at Dover. Suarez crashed early last spring but in the two races prior to that in the #99, Suarez had an 11.5 average finish. Overall at Dover minus 2020 where he drove the junk #96 and last year where he crashed early, Suarez has finished in the top 14 every race and has a 9.4 average finish. On Sunday, look for Suarez to be a low double-digits to mid-teens driver.
Dover Track History – Daniel Suarez has performed at a high-level at Dover and it ranks among his best tracks. Last year, Suarez might’ve had a good car, but his race was so short I wouldn’t recommend having any real takeaways. In the race, Suarez started 15th, was up to 9th on lap 32 but then on lap 35 he got into the wall hard which marked the end of his race, leading to a 35th. In a post-DNF interview, Suarez said he had a tire go down. In 2022, Suarez was OK. In the race he finished 14th, had a 16.1 average running position and had the 20th best Total Speed Ranking. I’ll note, Suarez didn’t have an incident free race and on lap 333 while running in 12th, he spun which brought out a caution. In 2021, Suarez had one of his best afternoons of the year. In the race, Suarez finished 9th, had a 14.3 average running position, had the 16th best Total Speed Ranking and take note that over the final 100 laps, Suarez had the 10th fastest car on the track.

Erik Jones (OUT DUE TO INJURY)
Dover Fantasy Outlook – At Dover, look for Erik Jones to have a solid showing. “Performance Wise”, I think he’s realistically a low double-digit to mid-teens driver but to be safe, I would lean towards the higher end of that range. In the Next Gen, Jones is 2 for 2 at finishing in that range with his average finish being 13th, and his Next Gen Speed Ranking being 15th.
Dover Track History – Erik Jones has had some strong runs at Dover and in 6 of his last 8 starts he’s finished in the top 16. Last year, Jones finished 16th, had a 16th place average running position and had the 20th best Total Speed Ranking. In 2022, Jones finished 10th, had a 13.2 average running position and had the 12th best Total Speed Ranking. In the two races prior to that, Jones had back-to-back clunker 22nd’s. In his seven Dover starts prior to that, Jones had an 11.7 average finish.

Chase Briscoe
Dover Fantasy Outlook – At Dover, Chase Briscoe might come into play. Briscoe has three starts on his resume here, but he’s been pretty hard to trust. Briscoe finished a solid 13th here in 2022 but in his other 2 he’s finished in the 30’s. One attribute that I do like about Briscoe is that he’s hot and since Phoenix his 11.6 average finish is tied for being the 6th best. On Sunday, I’m going to view Briscoe as a teens driver.
Dover Track History – Last year at Dover, Chase Briscoe didn’t look good and didn’t have an incident free race and finished 30th. In the race, Briscoe had a 28.6 average running position and his Total Speed Ranking ranked 33rd. In the race, Briscoe started 6th, fell all the way back to 29th on lap 170 but then shortly after that on lap 190, he was on pit road making an unexpected pit stop after getting into the wall hard and knocking out his toe. In 2022, Briscoe closed out the race strong and finished 13th. That said, Briscoe wasn’t that great for much of the race. In the event Briscoe had a 21.6 average running position and the 23rd best Total Speed Ranking. I will note though, the #14 got faster as the race progressed and his speed over the segments were 27th, 26th, 19th and then 14th. In 2021 in his debut, Briscoe had a tough afternoon. On the last lap of Stage #1 while he was running in 19th and trying to stay on the lead lap, he drove too hard into the corner and slammed into the wall hard. The damage was heavy, and it doomed him to a 35th place finish.

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