Fantasy NASCAR Asterisk Mark Report – Iowa 2025
Austin Cindric – Austin Cindric finished 12th last year at Iowa, which is a good finish but “Performance Wise’, he was a top five contender but inferior pit strategy in the last Stage led to his misleading result. In the race, Cindric started 4th, finished 2nd in Stage #1, finished 3rd in Stage #2, led 20 laps but then in the last Stage, which was full of cautions to start, he eventually had to pit from the lead which dropped him from 1st back to 28th on lap 268, so he had to race hard to semi bounce back. In terms of speed stats, Cindric ranked 4th for Total Speed Rankings and then 5th for Speed Late In A Run.
Chase Elliott – Chase Elliott finished 14th last summer at Iowa but I’ll note that result slightly underrates him and is the product of inferior pit strategy in the last Stage. In the race, Elliott led 11 laps, had a 10.8 average running position (6th best), had the 6th best Total Speed Ranking and earned the 7th best Driver Rating. I’ll note that Elliott was one of just a few drivers who pitted during the final caution around lap 281 and that dropped him from the top five back to about 25th, so he had to race hard to rebound.
Kyle Larson – Last year, Kyle Larson started 3rd, finished Stage #1 in 6th, finished Stage #2 in 12th, was in 14th on lap 256 but then during a caution shortly after that in the last Stage, he pitted and not many came in which dropped him to 30th. From that point on, I don’t think he ever again cracked the top 20 and then ended up finishing 28th overall. Additionally, Larson had a 13.7 average running position and ranked 12th in terms of Total Speed Rankings.
Denny Hamlin – Last year, Denny Hamlin didn’t seem to like his car, and his race wasn’t incident free. In the race, Hamlin started 11th, finished Stage #1 in about 11th, finished Stage #2 in about 17th and then early in the last Stage on lap 221 while running in 18th, he was spun. I’ll note, the last Stage was full of cautions, and it had Hamlin up to 8th on lap 286 but from that point on, he basically slowly dropped back in the running order to his 24th. Perhaps he was saving fuel to explain it, since some were. Additionally in the race, Hamlin had a 13.3 average running position and ranked 17th for Total Speed Rankings.
