Gateway WWT Raceway Front Runner Rankings

Bubba Wallace
Gateway Fantasy Spin – At Gateway, look for Bubba Wallace to be a top ten contender. Wallace was a top ten contender last year and in 2024 at shorter-flat tracks, Wallace has the 12th best Track Type Total Speed Ranking and a 14.5 average finish, which I’ll note underrates him since he was a top five contender at Richmond but finished a misleading 13th.
Gateway Track History – Bubba Wallace has an ugly resume on paper at Gateway with his average finish being 28th but I’ll note he’s 2 for 2 at getting asterisk mark results. Last year, Wallace was sporty but finished a misleading 30th. Late in the race on lap 236 while running in 11th, Wallace had a brake failure and crashed which led to his 30th. In the race, Wallace had the 13th best Total Speed Ranking and a 14.8 average running position. In 2022, Wallace finished 26th but I’ll note that’s a misleading result. “Performance Wise”, I think he was realistically about a mid-teens driver, but his race wasn’t incident free. On lap 88 he was running in 14th, but then shortly after that during a restart on lap 101 he was spun. Wallace didn’t appear to hit anything but after that he never ran nearly as well. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Wallace ranked 28th but take note his speed over the segments were 15th (incident free), 28th, 29th and then 30th.

Josh Berry
Gateway Fantasy Spin – If you’re looking for a dark horse at Gateway, don’t overlook Josh Berry. The #4 team is heating up and starting to click off good results and Berry finished 11th at Richmond which is the most recent shorter-flat track visited. Over the last five races heading into the weekend, Berry’s 11.6 average finish ranks as the 6th best in the series. On Sunday, I wouldn’t be surprised if Berry flirts with a top ten.
Gateway Track History – Josh Berry has never competed at Gateway on the Cup level.

Ross Chastain
Gateway Fantasy Spin – At Gateway, look for Ross Chastain to be a top ten contender but I wouldn’t get any more bullish than that. The #1 isn’t exactly clicking off top tens at the moment (Charlotte was his first top ten since COTA) so it’s hard to have high expectations. That said, Chastain ran well for much of the race last year, was strong in 2022 and this year at shorter-flat tracks, Chastain finished 6th at Phoenix which has the most correlation and his Track Type Total Speed Ranking ranks 15th.
Gateway Track History – Last year at Gateway, Ross Chastain finished 22nd. In the race, Chastain started 8th, finished 8th in Stage #1, finished 9th in Stage #2 but then he seemingly just dropped off over the last Stage, leading to his poor result. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Chastain ranked 11th but take note his speed ranking over the segments were 9th, 9th, 11th and then 28th. I think that tells the story of his afternoon pretty well. In 2022, Chastain had a hot rod that was likely one of the best cars but he “Chastain’ed” Hamlin and Elliott and that impacted his afternoon. In the race, Chastain started 10th, got into Hamlin on lap 65 that sent the #11 into the wall making him really mad. Then around lap 101, Chastain got into the back of Elliott which sent him spinning. Then during an ensuing restart, Elliott got into Chastain and then the #1 got slightly into the wall. Then right after that, Hamlin held him up for a couple of laps which actually put him in danger of not meeting minimum speed and clearing the caution clock. When the checkered flag waved, Chastain finished 8th and had the 11th best Total Speed Ranking. If he would’ve drove a clean race, he might’ve just been a factor to win.

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