Texas Wurth 400 Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Joey Logano
Texas Fantasy Outlook – 2-time and defending Texas winner, Joey Logano will be a driver to watch. He’ll be risky if you have high expectations but a “Wild” track like Texas is tailor made for him. At Texas in the Next Gen, Logano’s tied for the 2nd best average finish (8.8), has the 7th best Driver Rating and ranks 13th in terms of Next Gen Speed Rankings. In terms of the results column in the Next Gen, he’s 3 for 4 at finishing in the top 11. Going further back, Logano’s finished in the top 11 in 12 of the last 15 races. This year at high-speed 1.5’s, Logano finished 15th at Las Vegas but then at Kansas he stunk it up to the tune of a 30th. Heading into the weekend, I would view him as a teens driver who’ll have upside.
Texas Track History – Joey Logano is a 2-time winner at Texas who’s consistently finished well over an extended period of time. Last year, Logano grinded out a win and came up clutch late. In the race, Logano started 27th, finished Stage #1 in 19th, finished Stage #2 in 9th and then continued grinding his way to the front over the final Stage to take home the trophy. Additionally, Logano earned the 6th best Driver Rating, led 7 laps, had the 8th best Total Speed Ranking and ranked 8th for Speed Late In A Run. In 2024, Logano had a solid afternoon and dodged trouble. In the race, Logano started 20th, had a 15.9 average running position, led 14 laps and then finished 11th. In terms of Speed Analytics, Logano had the 12th best Total Speed Ranking and ranked 13th for Speed Late In A Run. In 2023, Logano was a dud and finished 21st. In the race, Logano had a 23.4 average running position and the 28th best Total Speed Ranking. In 2022, Logano was strong and finished runner-up. In the race, Logano finished 3rd in Stage #1, finished 8th in Stage #2, had a 9.4 average running position and led 15 laps. In terms of speed stats, Logano ranked 2nd for speed late in a run and had the 9th best Total Speed Ranking. Over the last 40 laps to close out the race, Logano consistently ran in 2nd. In 2021, Logano was poised to finish around 10th, but on lap 298 while he was running in 10th his engine blew up. From the race, I’ll note his Total Speed ranking was the 8th best. In the 4 races prior to that, Logano had results of 4th, 10th, 3rd and 4th.

Austin Cindric
Texas Fantasy Outlook – Austin Cindric should have a solid showing at Texas. Cindric has been running better and clicking off good results and at Kansas, which is the most recent comp track visited, Cindric started deep in the field but raced his way to a 12th place finish (17th best Speed Ranking). At Las Vegas the other high-speed 1.5-mile track visited this year, Cindric finished 19th (14th best Speed Ranking). At Texas, Cindric has an ugly track record, but he looked stellar last spring until his afternoon went south in the last Stage.
Texas Track History – At Texas in the Next Gen, Austin Cindric ranks 26th in terms of speed, 20th in terms of Driver Rating and has a 23rd place average finish. Over the last three, he’s finished around the mid 20’s. Last year, Cindric looked like one of the best but finished an asterisk mark 25th. In the race, Cindric started 3rd, won Stage #1, led 60 laps, was running in 7th on lap 198 but then he pitted early during a green flag pit cycle only to get burned by a caution on lap 219. That dropped him back in the 20’s and then on lap 246, he crashed in a multi-car wreck when Keselowski crashed, dooming him to a 25th. Additionally, Cindric had a 10.2 average running position, ranked 10th for Speed Late In A Run and had the 14th best Total Speed Ranking. To highlight his speed over the segments, he ranked 3rd, 8th, 14th and then 29th. In the two races prior to that, Cindric had ugly showings of 25th and 27th. In 2022, Cindric finished 9th in Stage #1, finished 7th in Stage #2 and then finished 15th when the checkered flag waved. Late in the race on lap 298 while running in 5th, Cindric spun himself out to avoid an accident.

Corey Heim
Texas Fantasy Outlook – Corey Heim will be returning to action in the Lone Star State in the 23XI #67 and I would view him as a teen’s driver who’ll potentially compete for a top ten. Kansas is a comp track and a few weeks ago at that 1.5, Heim finished 15th and had the 11th best Total Speed Ranking.
Texas Track History – Corey Heim has never competed at Texas on the Cup level. Last year in the Truck series, Heim led 96 laps and raced his way to victory lane.

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