Darlington Cook Out Southern 500 Fantasy NASCAR Front Runner Rankings

Corey Heim
Darlington Fantasy Outlook – 2-time 2026 winner, Corey Heim shouldn’t be overlooked at Darlington. Heim has never raced here on the Cup level, but I have no doubt he’ll be competitive. That said, Heim has two teammates in the Chase, so the #67 might be a little bit on the back burner, so there’s slight risk. Heading into the weekend, I think Heim has a great chance to be a top ten contender.
Darlington History – In the Truck series at Darlington, Corey Heim has back-to-back wins. Last year, Heim led 28 laps en route to victory lane and then in 2024 he led 65 laps.

Erik Jones
Darlington Fantasy Outlook – Erik Jones is a 2-time winner at Darlington who you don’t want to overlook. There’s “Horses for courses”, and Darlington is a track where he’s just capable of performing at another level. The driver can be a difference maker here, so he’ll have upside compared to most other weekends. Heading into the weekend, I would view Jones as a teens driver who has a good chance to finish in the top ten.
Darlington History – Darlington ranks as Erik Jones best track. Jones is a two-time winner, has a 12.6 average finish and in 59% of his starts he’s finished in the top ten. Currently, Jones has back-to-back top tens with his average finish being 6.5 over the last two. Overall in the Next Gen era, Jones ranks 10th for Speed, 12th for average finish (14.9) and 13th for Driver Rating. This spring, Jones didn’t have an incident free race but still finished 10th. In the race, Jones started 24th, finished 15th in Stage #1 but then early in Stage #2 while battling Hamlin for 11th, they had contact and Jones spun (didn’t hit anything). Somehow that only dropped him back to about 19th, but he battled back to finish 10th. In terms of Speed stats, Jones ranked 10th for Speed Late In A Run and then 12th for Total Speed Rankings. Last summer, Jones ranked among the best. In the race, Jones finished 3rd in Stage #2, had the 3rd best average running position (8.5), earned the 4th best Driver Rating and then finished 3rd overall. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Jones ranked 3rd and over the final quarter of the race, the #43 was the fastest car on the track. In terms of Speed Late In A Run, Jones ranked 2nd. Last spring, Jones had a 17.7 average running position and then finished 17th.

Josh Berry
Darlington Fantasy Outlook – Josh Berry will have dark horse upside at Darlington. The #21 team is hot with five straight top 10’s; he’s more than capable of delivering and his track record is also quite bad, which will scare people away and boost his out of sync potential. In the Next Gen at Darlington, Berry has a 25.8 average finish (34th best) but ranks 13th in terms of Next Gen Speed Rankings, despite all of his really bad results. Heading into the weekend, I would view him as a teens driver who might just flirt with a top ten if he can avoid trouble.
Darlington History – Darlington hasn’t been kind to Josh Berry when it comes to the results column and he’s 4 for 6 at finishing in the 30’s with a 25.8 average finish. This spring when the #21 team was struggling, Berry was just mid-pack. In the race, Berry started 26th, had a 23.9 average running position and then finished 17th. In terms of speed analytics, Berry ranked 14th for Speed Late In A Run and then 17th for Total Speed Rankings. Last summer, Berry finished 38th after crashing on the opening lap. In spring 2025, Berry was a top ten contender, but he finished an asterisk mark 36th. In the race, Berry started 24th, finished around the mid-teens in Stage #1, finished 5th in Stage #2, was running in 5th on lap 194 but then he had contact with Reddick and crashed. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Berry ranked 10th. In summer 2024, Berry was strong but finished an asterisk mark 31st. In the race, Berry started 15th, finished 9th in Stage #1, finished 7th in Stage #2, was up to 5th on lap 327 but then shortly after that following a restart, Berry did an aggressive move and a “Big One” then ensued, leading to his poor result. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Berry ranked 4th. In spring 2024, Berry had a great performance and finished 3rd after starting 33rd. In terms of speed stats, Berry ranked 3rd for speed late in a run and had the 11th best Total Speed Ranking.

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