Las Vegas Pennzoil 400 Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks

Kyle Larson
Las Vegas Fantasy Outlook – Kyle Larson is a super-elite performer at Las Vegas and in the Pennzoil 400, the road to victory lane likely goes thru him. At “Sin City”, Larson has won 2 of the last 3 races and in the Next Gen minus last fall and fall 2022, he’s finished in the top 2 every race and has a 1.5-average finish. Going back to 2017 minus fall 2022 (Wallace crashed him), Larson has a stellar 4.9 average finish. Last year at high-speed 1.5’s, Larson won twice but “Performance Wise”, he might’ve just been good enough to win them all, but trouble often kept him out of victory lane.
Las Vegas Track History – Kyle Larson has been elite at Las Vegas. Larson’s a 3-time winner and in the Next Gen, Larson has the best Total Speed Ranking and a 3.4 average finish minus fall 2022. Last fall, Larson looked pretty good, but his afternoon was anything but incident free and he finished an asterisk mark 11th. In the race, Larson started 5th, damaged his nose at some point in Stage #1, finished 10th in Stage #1, pitted twice during the Stage #1 caution, then in Stage #2 under green, Larson made a lengthy pit stop and then the following lap, he pitted again, which now had him two laps down, which makes his 11th pretty remarkable. In terms of speed, Larson didn’t lack and ranked #1 for Speed Late In A Run and ranked 6th for Total Speed Rankings. Last spring, Larson had the field covered and put on a display of domination. In the race, Larson won Stage #1, won Stage #2, led 181 laps, earned a near perfect driver rating, had a 1.7 average running position and of course finished 1st. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Larson ranked #1. In fall 2023, Larson once again smoked the field and raced his way to victory lane. In the race, Larson won Stage #1, won Stage #2, won the race, led 133 laps and earned a near perfect Driver Rating. In terms of speed stats, Larson had the best Green Flag Speed, the 2nd best Total Speed Ranking and ranked 4th for Speed Late In A Run. In spring 2023, Larson should’ve won but a late caution denied him certain victory (finished 2nd). In the race, Larson finished 2nd in the two opening Stages, led 63 laps, had a 2.2 average running position and ranked 2nd for Total Speed Rankings.

Christopher Bell
Las Vegas Fantasy Outlook – Look for Christopher Bell to be a contender at Las Vegas as he vies for his 4th straight win. Bell’s a super-elite high-speed 1.5-mile track performer who was a standout last fall, so there’s no doubt he’s poised to be a factor. At Las Vegas in the Next Gen, Bell has the 3rd best Total Speed Ranking and his Next Gen average finish minus last spring and fall 2022 is 4.75. Last year at high-speed 1.5’s, Bell was stout and over the last four races, Bell had 1-win, a 4.0 average finish and a 3.5 average Speed Ranking.
Las Vegas Track History – Christopher Bell has performed at an elite level at Las Vegas and in the Next Gen, Bell has had the best Total Speed Ranking in half the races but take note all of those were in the fall. Since 2023 minus last spring, Bell’s average finish is 3rd. Last fall, Bell was the class of the field, but Logano’s fuel strategy took home the trophy. In the race, Bell finished 2nd in Stage #1, won Stage #2, led 155 laps, had a 2.5 average running position, earned the best Driver Rating and then finished 2nd. In terms of speed stats, Bell had the best Total Speed Ranking and ranked 3rd for Speed Late In A Run. Last spring, Bell likely had one of the best cars, but multiple problems derailed his afternoon and led to him finishing 33rd. In the race, Bell started 10th, but then problems started right off the bat for him basically and on lap 10, Bell had fallen back to 18th with a shredded tire which damaged the #20. Bell somehow rebounded from that and finished 10th in Stage #1. Then in Stage #2, while he was running around 14th, he spun on lap 156 and brought out another caution which doomed him to his 33rd. In 2023, Bell swept the top five with his average finish being 3.5. In fall 2023, Bell won the pole, led 61 laps, had a 2.6 average running position and finished 2nd when the checkered flag waved. If the race were a few laps longer, he probably would’ve won. In terms of speed stats, Bell had the best Speed Ranking and ranked #1 for Speed Late In A Run. In spring 2023, Bell finished 5th but I’ll note he was in 13th with 4 to go before a late caution, so he definitely benefitted from that.

Tyler Reddick
Las Vegas Fantasy Outlook – Look for Tyler Reddick to be a contender at Las Vegas. Reddick was a standout last spring, was stout last fall and in recent races he ranks among the best. Over the last seven Las Vegas races minus last fall, Reddick’s average finish is 7.3 and he’s only once finished lower than 8th. Last year at high-speed 1.5-mile tracks, Reddick was tied for having the 3rd best Track Type Total Speed Ranking and for the season minus Kansas (1 & 2) and Las Vegas #2 his average finish was 3.3.
Las Vegas Track History – Tyler Reddick has been elite at Las Vegas. Reddick might’ve just been the best last fall, he finished runner-up last spring and in 5 of the last 7 races he’s finished in the top 8. In the Next Gen, Reddick ranks 3rd in terms of Speed and his average finish minus last fall is 7.6. Last fall, Reddick had a rocket. In the race, Reddick started 2nd, won Stage #1, led 9 laps but then early in Stage #2 he was collected in the “Big One”, leading to his 35th. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Reddick ranked 2nd. Last spring, Reddick started 18th, finished 2nd in Stage #1, finished 2nd in Stage #2 and then finished 2nd overall. In terms of speed stats, Reddick was the fastest driver late in a run and had the 2nd best Total speed Ranking. I’ll note, during the Stage #1 caution, Reddick had a slow pit stop that dropped him from 2nd back to 16th. In fall 2023, Reddick finished 4th in Stage #1, finished 9th in Stage #2, had a 9.5 average running position and then finished 8th. Over the four races prior to that, Reddick had results of 15th, 6th, 7th and 6th.

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