Watkins Glen Go Bowling At The Glen Fantasy NASCAR Mid Pack Predictions / The Low Tier

John H Nemechek
Watkins Glen Fantasy Outlook – John H Nemechek shows speed from time to time at road courses, but he’ll be a hard driver to trust. Nemechek was nothing more than mid-pack last year and this year at road courses he’s been all over the board with results of 22nd (COTA), 6th (Mexico), 15th (Chicago) and then 28th (Sonoma). In terms of Track Type Total Speed Rankings this year, Nemechek ranks 24th. Heading into the weekend, I would just view him as mid-pack and hope for the best.
Watkins Glen Track History – Last year at Watkins Glen in his only start, Nemechek was mid-pack. In the race, Nemechek finished 21st, had a 20th place average running position and ranked 24th in terms of Total Speed Rankings.

Bubba Wallace
Watkins Glen Fantasy Outlook – I’m not expecting anything too great out of Bubba Wallace at Watkins Glen, but I do think he’ll finish in the top half of the field (AKA, likely high-teens). At “The Glen”, Wallace has a 23.3 average finish and overall, in 5 of his 6 starts he’s finished 17th or worse. This year at road courses, Wallace ranks 17th in terms of Track Type Total Speed Rankings and his average finish is 21.5.
Watkins Glen Track History – Bubba Wallace doesn’t have a good track record at Watkins Glen. In the Next Gen over the three, Wallace ranks 26th in terms of Next Gen Speed Rankings. Last year, Wallace had a pretty un-notable afternoon. In the race, Wallace finished 17th, had a 26.6 average running position and ranked 30th in terms of Total Speed Rankings. In 2023, Wallace started 12th, finished 8th in Stage #1, finished 9th in Stage #2, had a 10.3 average running position and then finished 12th. In terms of speed stats, Wallace ranked 9th for Total Speed Rankings and 11th for Speed Late In A Run. In 2022, Wallace didn’t run well and DNF’ed due to “Suspension issues.” “Performance Wise”, Wallace was likely a mid 20’s performer if he didn’t have problems. For the afternoon his Total Speed Ranking was 26th. In the three races prior to that, Wallace had results of 23rd, 28th and 25th.

Zane Smith
Watkins Glen Fantasy Outlook – Zane Smith had a great Watkins Glen debut last summer and finished 5th but I can’t say I think a repeat is in the cards. This year at road courses, Smith has a 26.3 average finish and ranks 31st in terms of Track Type Total Speed Rankings. Heading into the weekend, I think it’s best to just have mid-pack expectations.
Watkins Glen Track History – Last year at Watkins Glen in his old ride, Zane Smith finished 5th. Additionally, Smith earned the 8th best Driver Rating and had a 14.1 average running position. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Smith ranked 10th and over the final quarter of the race, he fielded the 3rd fastest car on the track. I’ll also note, being a non-Playoff driver in this race like him was an advantage since he was able to do the pit strategy which plays to the best finish.

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