Early Week Driver Rankings for Daytona

The MENCS will compete at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400. This will be the third race of the season on a superspeedway track. Anything can happen in this race so trying to predict the outcome of the race is impossible. All we can do is look at the data from previous races on the restrictor-plate tracks and select the drivers with a history of bringing their cars to the finish line in one piece. These rankings are based on the results of the last eight races on superspeedway tracks (2 seasons).

Each week I use different stats in my model to create the best rankings possible to give you an edge on the completion. This week I used the driver’s rating on superspeedways, average finishing position on superspeedway, average running position on superspeedways, driver ratings at Daytona, average finishing position at Daytona and quality pass % on superspeedways (we want drivers who know how to side-draft off other cars).

My early week pick for the pole is Alex Bowman. He won the pole for the Daytona 500 and Hendrick Motorsports has been very good at setting up their cars to win the pole on the superspeedways. The No. 88 car has won the pole in 3 of the last 4 races on the superspeedways (Bowman at Daytona, Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega and Daytona last year).

Here are the early week driver rankings for Daytona…

* I will post my final driver rankings after qualifying Saturday night.

*Stats from Driveraverages.com and career stats from Racing-Reference.Info…

If you need any further advice with your team, look for me on Twitter @MrFantasyNASCAR

If you like Fantasy NASCAR, LIKE my Fantasy NASCAR Tips Page on Facebook