Fantasy NASCAR Asterisk Mark Report – Sonoma

Denny Hamlin – Denny Hamlin was a clear-cut top ten performer last year at Sonoma but he finished last! In the race, Hamlin started on the pole, led 33 laps, had the 6th best Total Speed Ranking but late in the race on lap 91 while running in 10th, Hamlin got into the wall and crashed which doomed him to his poor result. I’ll note, Hamlin was running in 2nd prior to the first caution that came out on lap 50 and it shuffled him back to 13th via others pit strategy.

Michael McDowell – Michael McDowell finished 7th last year at Sonoma, which is a great result, but I would also argue it’s an asterisk mark finish. During the late Denny Hamlin caution, McDowell had a really bad pit stop that dropped him from 3rd back to 13th, so he had to rally hard late and make passes. Additionally, McDowell had the 3rd best Driver Rating and a 6.7 average running position. In terms of speed analytics, McDowell ranked 3rd for both Total Speed Rankings and Speed Late In A Run.

Tyler Reddick – Last year, Tyler Reddick was a top ten performer but finished a misleading 33rd. In the race, Reddick had the 10th best Total Speed Ranking, Ranked, 10th for Speed Late In A Run, finished 6th in Stage #1 but late in the race on lap 96 while running in 4th, Reddick had a flat tire and also got a short cutting the track penalty at the same time which doomed him to his poor result.