North Wilkesboro All-Star Race Fantasy NASCAR Confidence Rankings / Post Heat Predictions
On Sunday night, get ready for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. Prior to last year, North Wilkesboro was last visited by the Cup series back in 1996. New for 2024 at this historic track is that it’s been repaved (last prior repave was in 1981) and NASCAR has two tire options this weekend. There is the standard tire (Primary), and new Option tire (Rain tire compound but on race slicks). The option tire is faster, but it wears out quicker than the primary tire.
On Friday, NASCAR held an extended practice session for North Wilkesboro which gave teams time to try both sets of tires and tune up. Make sure you check out our All-Star Practice Notes and All-Star 10,15,20,25 and 30 Lap Average Speed Cheat Sheet Heat Chart.
Here’s the North Wilkesboro Starting Lineup/ Qualifying Results.
North Wilkesboro All-Star Fantasy Rankings
1) Denny Hamlin
Start 11th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium
All-Star Outlook – Denny Hamlin will be tough to beat in the All-Star Race. Hamlin’s one of the premiere performers at shorter-flat tracks and then when you factor in his 2024 form, there’s no doubt he’ll be a factor. This year at shorter-flat tracks, Hamlin has the best Total Speed Ranking over the combined races, the best Driver Rating, the best Average Running Position (6.2) and his 7.7 average finish ranks as the 2nd best. In practice, Hamlin was happy with the tire situation this weekend and ranked #1 overall in terms of 25 and 30 lap averages.
All-Star Track Record Breakdown – Denny Hamlin was a disappointment in last year’s All-Star Race and finished 13th. In the race, Hamlin ran great early, logging laps in the top five but in the second half of the race he just hovered within a few deviations of 10th. In addition to finishing 13th, Hamlin had a 7.5 average running position, earned the 10th best Driver Rating and had the 11th best Total Speed Ranking.
DraftKings $10,500/ FanDuel $13,000
Further Recommended Reading = All-Star Projected Finish Ranges, DraftKings All-Star Scoring Projections, FanDuel All-Star Scoring Projections
2) Joey Logano
Start 1st / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
All-Star Outlook – Polesitter, Joey Logano has had a tough season, but I think he’s primed to be a contender in the All-Star Race. Logano isn’t afraid to get rough and the #22 team is always more than willing to get aggressive with pit strategy. There are also more variables to like about him. Logano tested here earlier in the year, the #22 was one of the best cars in last year’s All-Star Race and at Martinsville, Logano finished 6th, had the 7th best Total Speed Ranking and led 84 laps. At Richmond which is the most recent race with the new low-down force rules package, Logano finished 2nd. Among All-Stars, Logano ranked 5th overall in terms of 15, 20 and 25-lap averages.
All-Star Track Record Breakdown – Joey Logano really liked his car in last year’s All-Star Race and likely had one of the best cars so don’t let his 10th fool you. In the race, Logano was in 4th at the time of the midpoint caution, but he then got an uncontrolled tire penalty which sent him to the back and he just wasn’t able to fully bounce back. In the race, Logano ranked 6th for Green Flag Speed, had the 7th best Total Speed Ranking and his average running position was 7.7.
DraftKings $8,800/ FanDuel $10,500
3) William Byron
Start 13th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium
All-Star Outlook – William Byron will be a factor in the All-Star Race. I view Martinsville as arguably having the most correlation and this spring at “The Paper Clip”, Byron led 88 laps and raced his way to victory lane despite starting mid-pack. This year with the new low-down force rules package, Byron has the 3rd best Total Speed Ranking and minus Phoenix where he ran well but had a misleading result his average finish is 4th. Another key advantage Byron has on much of the All-Star field is that he to.ok part in testing on the new surface earlier this year.
All-Star Track Record Breakdown – William Byron finished 20th in last year’s All-Star Race but don’t read too much into that finish. Byron ran well early and was in 8th on lap 45, but then shortly after that he made a green flag pit stop that dropped him off the lead lap and you could essentially stick a fork in him at that point. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Byron ranked 9th.
DraftKings $10,000/ FanDuel $11,500
