The 2024 NASCAR Cup Season has made its way to the final race of the season. It is now time to crown the 2024 champions, but before I get into the Fantasy Live picks for the championship race, I want to say THANK YOU!!! My goal every year is to provide you the best picks and teach you a little bit about how to be a better Fantasy NASCAR player. I appreciate you giving me the chance to be your “Fantasy NASCAR Crew Chief.” The 2024 season is almost complete and I already cannot wait for the 2025 season. Now onto Phoenix…
2024 SEASON RESULTS
This has been one of my best seasons ever in the Fantasy Live game. My picks have outscored 99% of the entries for 12 consecutive seasons (since 2011). The picks did it again this year. They rank 41st out of 352K entries. We need one more good race in order to climb even higher in the overall standings and remain at the top of our league standings. I will do my best this week to ensure that happens.
CUP SERIES PRACTICE
This is championship weekend and that means NASCAR needs a Championship schedule. The Cup Series had a 50-minute practice session and then they were able to make adjustments before qualifying Saturday afternoon. This is how the schedule used to be and it is refreshing to see this schedule back for the races at Phoenix.
NASCAR had this same practice schedule last year. I looked at how the practice speeds compared to the race speed. It really compared well. Nine of the drivers who posted top-10 speeds on the 10-lap average speed chart finished the race last year in the top-11. The drivers at the top of the 10-lap average speed chart should finish up front Sunday.
Here are the practice speeds for the Championship Race…
FANTASY LIVE STRATEGY
The four drivers competing for the championship (RYAN BLANEY, WILLIAM BYRON, TYLER REDDICK and JOEY LOGANO) are going to get a lot of help this weekend to run up front. They got to pick the four top pit stalls and the drivers will all of the notes from the other teams from their manufacturer. The four championship drivers WILL EARN Stage Points Sunday; so we want as many of these drivers in our lineups as possible. I know some of you do not have the same allocations left that I do, so I will try to give you some other options this week.
FANTASY LIVE PICKS FOR PHOENIX
MARTIN TRUEX JR. (1): I have been burned by Truex more than any driver in the Cup Series this year, but I still have not learned my lesson. Truex posted the second-fastest speed in practice and then he went out and won the pole. This is his last race, so of course he is going to be motivated to win. This may be the last time I ever get a chance to play Truex in Fantasy NASCAR, so I will give it one last ride. I just hope it doesn’t end up in the wall…AGAIN!!
JOEY LOGANO (2): “Big Race Joey” is back in the championship four. That should not surprise anyone. He has made the championship four in every even year since 2014. Logano has been great when he is racing for a championship at Phoenix. He won the last two races at Phoenix when he was racing for the Bill France Trophy and he led the most laps and qualified on the front row. Logano shows up when there is a lot to race for. His team had three weeks to prepare their car for this race. Logano will be good Sunday.
KYLE LARSON (1): Larson has been one of the best drivers at Phoenix. His average finishing position in his last 11 races in the desert it 7.5. That is a large sample size with a lot of positive results. Larson had the best non-playoff car in practice. If a non-playoff driver is going to win the race Sunday, it should be Larson.
TYLER REDDICK (3): Reddick has a great chance to win Sunday. He led the most laps, score 19 of the 20 Stage Points and finished 10th at Phoenix last March. The only reason why he did not win the race is because he got into the fender of his boss (Denny Hamlin) at the end of the race. Joe Gibbs Racing dominated that race in March. The Toyota’s dominated that race in March. Reddick looked the worst of the championship drivers, but that probably is top-five in the race Sunday.
TYLER REDDICK (3): Reddick has a great chance to win Sunday. He led the most laps, score 19 of the 20 Stage Points and finished 10th at Phoenix last March. The only reason why he did not win the race is because he got into the fender of his boss (Denny Hamlin) at the end of the race. Joe Gibbs Racing dominated that race in March. The Toyota’s dominated that race in March. Reddick looked the worst of the championship drivers, but that probably is top-five in the race Sunday.
CHRISTOPHER BELL (1): Bell has been the best driver on the short, flat tracks that are similar to Phoenix. He won the March race at Phoenix, won again at New Hampshire, finished 4th at Iowa, 7th at Gateway and 6th in both races at Richmond. Bell has an average finishing position of 4.1 at these tracks and the No. 20 car has averaged 70 laps led per race. Bell is going to be tough to beat Sunday at Phoenix.
(GARAGE PICK) RYAN BLANEY (3): Blaney limped into the playoffs last year and then he got hot at the end of the season. He won the race at Martinsville and then won the championship at Phoenix. The 2024 season looks like a rerun for Blaney. He had a decent regular season, got hot in the playoffs and won at Martinsville to advance to the championship race. Can he win back-to-back championships? Blaney posted the fastest speed, but he got loose in turn two in qualifying. His car has a lot more speed then where he qualified Saturday. Blaney is almost a lock to run up front Sunday.
* If you are out of allocations and need to know which driver to use Sunday, simply look at the Driver Rankings for the CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.