COTA DuraMAX Grand Prix Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks

Shane van Gisbergen
COTA Fantasy Outlook – At COTA, the road to victory lane goes thru Shane van Gisbergen. Last year at road courses, SVG won them all, except for COTA, so this race will likely have special attention for the #88 team, and he’ll be looking to curb stomp the competition and put on a display of domination. Last year at road courses over the combined races, SVG had 5-wins, a 1.8 average finish, a 2.9 average running position, the best Driver Rating by a huge margin and had a 1.2 Track Type Average Speed Ranking.
COTA Track History – Last year at COTA, SVG was strong but just wasn’t at his best late. In the race, SVG had the 2nd best average running position (3.9), led the 2nd most laps (23), earned the 2nd best Driver Rating and then finished 6th when the checkered flag waved. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, SVG ranked 2nd but take note his speed over the segments were 1st, 1st, 6th and then 6th. In 2023, SVG finished 21st but I wouldn’t read into that result since his race wasn’t incident free. In the race, SVG was caught speeding on pit road on lap 26 while running in 9th and then later when he rebounded back up to 13th on lap 41, he lost first gear. Despite his problems, he still managed to have the 13th best Total Speed Ranking.

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Christopher Bell
COTA Fantasy Outlook – Defending COTA winner, Christopher Bell will be tough competition at COTA. Bell’s been elite and in the Next Gen over his three incident free races, Bell’s had results of 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Additionally in the Next Gen, Bell has the 5th best Driver Rating and the 7th best Speed Ranking. Last year at road courses, Christopher Bell was elite and was also the only driver not named SVG to have won. Over the combined 2025 road course races, Bell had the 2nd best average finish (6.2), the 2nd best Track Type Total Speed Ranking and the 2nd best Driver Rating.
COTA Track History – Christopher Bell has been strong at COTA and in the Next Gen minus 2023 when he crashed, Bell has a 2.0 average finish and a 5.3 average Speed Ranking. Last year, Bell came up clutch and outraced Busch and Byron at the end to take home the trophy. In the race, Bell started 19th, finished 9th in Stage #2, led 8 laps, had a 6.7 average running position and of course finished 1st when the checkered flag waved. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Bell ranked 5th but take note his speed over the segments were 12th, 5th, 3rd and then 1st. In 2024, the #20 was a rocket and Bell raced his way to a runner-up finish despite using what proved to be inferior pit strategy since the race lacked cautions. In the race, Bell had the fastest car late in a run, had the 3rd best Total Speed Ranking, earned the 3rd best Driver Rating and had a 6.5 average running position (skewed by pit strategy). If the race would’ve been a few laps longer, there’s a good chance Bell likely would’ve won. In 2023, Bell was a top ten contender, but his race was far from incident free, and he was involved in a late crash, leading to a 31st. In 2022, Bell finished 3rd.

Connor Zilisch
COTA Fantasy Outlook – Connor Zilisch made his Cup debut last year at COTA and this time around, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Zilisch gets win #1. Zilisch is a road course racing phenom and in 2025 in the Xfinity series on this track type, Zilisch had 5-wins, a 1.7 average finish and he went a perfect 7 for 7 at finishing in the top five. One of those wins was at COTA and last year in the lower series he started 1st, finished 1st, earned the best Driver Rating and led 26 laps.
COTA Track History – Last year at COTA, Connor Zilisch made his Cup debut, and it was anything but uneventful. In the race, Zilisch started 14th but then on lap 1 in turn 1, he was involved in some of the mayhem that ensued which led to a cut tire and then an unexpected pit stop on lap 2. That put Zilisch behind for the rest of the opening Stage. On lap 25 for the Stage #2 restart, Zilisch was in 30th and he climbed up to about 14th when Stage #2 ended. On lap 49 before the restart for the final Stage, Zilisch was in 14th but then on lap 50, Daniel Suarez spun out and then Zilisch ran into him and then into a tire barrier which marked the end of his race, leading to a 37th. In terms of “Performance”, there’s no doubt he was top ten good. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Zilisch ranked 7th with his speed over the two segments he competed being 3rd and 13th (short 2nd segment, I would read into that 3rd a lot more).

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Top Tier Elite Picks > Front Runners Rankings > Mid Pack Predictions & The Low Tier