Darlington Goodyear 400 Fantasy NASCAR Confidence Rankings / Post Practice Predictions
On Sunday, NASCAR will be racing at Darlington for the Goodyear 400! Darlington is a unique 1.33-mile egg shaped oval where tire wear is high, and the driver is a difference maker. Pit strategy will consist of 4-tires every pit stop.
On Saturday, practice was held for Darlington. Teams had 25 minutes, and keep in mind teams have different agendas. Make sure you check out our Darlington Practice Notes, Darlington Practice Speeds and 10-lap averages, Darlington 10,15,20,25 and 30 Lap Average Speed Cheat Sheet Heat Chart and Darlington Group Speed Rankings.
Here’s Darlington Qualifying Results/ Starting Lineup.
Darlington Fantasy NASCAR Full Field Rankings
1) Denny Hamlin
Start 3rd / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Darlington Outlook – Denny Hamlin is a super-elite performer at Darlington and in the Goodyear 400, the #11 will be fast and Hamlin will be a factor. At “The Lady In Black”, Hamlin’s a 4-time winner who’s finished in the top five 52% of the time, in the top ten 72% of the time and his 8.2 average finish is the best in series history (among drivers with 10 or more starts). In the Next Gen, Hamlin’s had asterisk mark finishes in 4 of the 6 races but yet he still has the 3rd best Driver Rating, the 3rd best average running position, the 4th best Next Gen Speed Ranking and the 5th best average finish. Last summer, Hamlin was arguably the 2nd best but finished an asterisk mark 7th. Additionally, Hamlin was tied for having the best Total Speed Ranking, ranked #1 for Speed Late In A Run and earned the 4th best Driver Rating. Last spring, Hamlin finished 4th, despite having what was an “Off-race” by the #11 competitive standards. In the race, Hamlin had an 8.3 average running position and the 10th best Total Speed Ranking. In summer 2023, Hamlin was the class of the field but finished an asterisk mark 25th. In the race, Hamlin won Stage #1, won Stage #2, led a race high 177 laps but in the last Stage while leading (just before the green flag pit cycle), Hamlin had a loose wheel and made an unexpected pit stop, which doomed him to his misleading result. In terms of speed stats, Hamlin had the 3rd best Total Speed Ranking. In spring 2023, Hamlin finished 12th but personally, I wouldn’t read into his afternoon too much since he got into the wall fairly early. In 2022, Hamlin finished 2nd in the fall and was a top five contender in the spring but finished an asterisk mark 21st. In 2021, Hamlin had finishes of 1st and 5th.
DraftKings $10,100/ FanDuel $13,000
Further Recommended Reading = Darlington Projected Finish Ranges, Darlington Quick Rankings, DraftKings Darlington Scoring Projections, FanDuel Darlington Scoring Projections
2) Kyle Larson
Start 19th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Darlington Outlook – Kyle Larson’s a super-elite performer at Darlington who’ll be tough to beat in the Goodyear 400. Larson’s a recent winner (summer 2023) and in many of the recent races, he’s been a contender. In the Next Gen, Larson has the 3rd best Total Speed Ranking, the 4th best Driver Rating and “Performance Wise”, he’s been a factor to win 3 of the last 4 races. Last summer, Larson was the class of the field but finished 4th, after losing the lead shortly after a late restart. In the race, Larson won Stage #1, won Stage #2, led 263 laps, had a 2.0 average running position and earned the best Driver Rating. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Larson ranked #1. Last spring, Larson was a top five contender but finished an asterisk mark 34th. In the race, Larson won Stage #1, finished 5th in Stage #2, led 15 laps but then in the last Stage his afternoon went south. On lap 235 while running in 3rd, Larson got into the wall hard and then immediately came to pit road. Later on lap 253 while running in 6th, Larson had a flat tire and crashed. In summer 2023, Larson finished 3rd in Stage #1, finished 2nd in Stage #2, had a 4.5 average running position, earned the best Driver Rating, had the best Total Speed Ranking, led 55 laps, and of course raced his way to victory lane. In spring 2023, Larson had quite a few problems but his last was when he crashed during a late restart while battling for the lead which led to an asterisk mark 20th. In practice, Hamlin didn’t post a sexy extended lap average but late in a run, his lap speeds were just as fast as anybody. In practice, Larson had the 4th best 25 and 30-lap averages.
DraftKings $10,500/ FanDuel $14,000
3) Tyler Reddick
Start 7th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Darlington Outlook – Tyler Reddick will be tough to beat at Darlington. Reddick’s been a factor in many of the recent races, he was arguably the best last spring and in 3 of the last 6 races he’s finished in either 2nd or 3rd. In the Next Gen, Reddick ranks 2nd in terms of Total Speed Rankings and minus the last two spring races where he’s had asterisk mark results, his average finish is 4.25. Last summer, Reddick had a “Flu Race” but he kind of just faded back as the evening went along. In the race, Reddick finished 10th, had a 6.1 average running position and earned the 5th best Driver Rating. Last spring, Reddick was the class of the field. In the race, Reddick started on the pole, finished 4th in Stage #1, won Stage #2, led 174 laps but then finished an asterisk mark 32nd after colliding with Chris Buescher on lap 264 while battling for the lead. In terms of speed, Reddick had the best Total Speed Ranking. In fall 2023, the #45 was fast and Reddick finished runner-up. In the race, Reddick started 3rd, finished 2nd in Stage #1, finished 4th in Stage #2, had a race best 2.6 average running position and led 90 laps. In terms of speed stats, Reddick ranked 2nd for Total Speed Rankings and then 3rd for Speed Late In A Run. In spring 2023, Reddick finished 9th in Stage #1, finished 11th in Stage #2, was running in 8th on lap 278 but then during the ensuing restart, he was collected in the carnage which led to his asterisk mark 22nd. In 2022, Reddick had results of 2nd and 3rd. In practice, the #45 had great long run speed.
DraftKings $10,200/ FanDuel $13,500
