The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series is off and running. Hopefully your Fantasy NASCAR picks were able to “survive” Daytona. Do not get too confident if you scored well. It is not going to get any easier in California.
The WISE Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway is going to be one of the toughest races of the season to predict. The Cup Series has not competed in Fontana since 2020 and now we have a new car with a new aero package. The Cup Series will use a high horsepower, lower downforce package at all tracks (except the Superspeedways and at Atlanta). The cars will have 670 HP and a 4-inch spoiler. That is a lot different from the 550 HP package used at Michigan last year (Michigan is the most similar track to Auto Club). This package has not been tested at a two-mile oval (the size of Auto Club Speedway), so the teams have no idea what to expect this week.
So how do we handicap this race? I typically used the stats from the last two or three years at a track. I am going deeper into the stats this year. I am using the driver’s career stats at Auto Club and Michigan (the other two-mile oval on the schedule). I am also using some of the data from the test session at Chartlotte since that was the only test using the aero package that will be used Sunday.
Driver Rankings for Auto Club
I will update these rankings after the team’s practice and the field is set through qualifying. It will be important to diversify your lineups in games where your lineup needs to be set before practice (The Driver Group Game). I would select drivers from different manufactures and then see who has the speed in practice. This is not a good race to put all of your eggs in the Ford, Chevy or Toyota camp. We just do not know which team will have the speed right now, but here is my best guess based on the stats and test sessions…
| Driver |
| 1. Kyle Busch |
| 2. Kyle Larson |
| 3. Chase Elliott |
| 4. Denny Hamlin |
| 5. Joey Logano |
| 6. Ryan Blaney |
| 7. William Byron |
| 8. Martin Truex Jr. |
| 9. Kevin Harvick |
| 10. Brad Keselowski |
| 11. Kurt Busch |
| 12. Tyler Reddick |
| 13. Alex Bowman |
| 14. Austin Dillon |
| 15. Christopher Bell |
| 16. Austin Cindric |
| 17. Aric Almirola |
| 18. Erik Jones |
| 19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 20. Chris Buescher |
| 21. Chase Briscoe |
| 22. Bubba Wallace |
| 23. Daniel Suarez |
| 24. Cole Custer |
| 25. Harrison Burton |
| 26. Ross Chastain |
| 27. Daniel Hemric |
| 28. Ty Dillon |
| 29. Michael McDowell |
| 30. Corey LaJoie |
| 31. Justin Haley |
| 32. Todd Gilliland |
| 33. Landon Cassill |
| 34. Cody Ware |
| 35. Josh Bilicki |
| 36. B.J. McLeod |
* These rankings will be updated after the final practice
Good Luck This Week!
If you need any further advice with your team, look for me on Twitter @MrFantasyNASCAR
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