The NASCAR Cup Series will travel back to WWT Raceway (Some call it Gateway Motorsports Park) after their inaugural races at the track last year. The Cup Series will join the Truck Series right outside of St. Louis Missouri this weekend. The Xfinity Series will have a standalone event at Portland International Raceway. The tracks will start to heat up over the summer and so will the racing as the teams position themselves for a spot in the playoffs. Here is the NASCAR schedule for this weekend…
NASCAR SCHEDULE
NASCAR STRATEGY
The Cup Series race at WWT Raceway will be the toughest to predict. Team Penske dominated much of the race in St. Louis last year. The Hendrick Motorsports did not have any driver finish in the top-10. Now the Cup Series will return to the track and the cars are different. The Cup Series will use the intermediate track aero package this week. Team Penske has really struggled in this aero package until the Coca-Cola 600 last Monday. The Hendrick Motorsports have dominated many of the races using this aero package. So, what should we focus on this week? The stats from last year’s race at WWT Raceway, or the stats this season using the intermediate track aero package? It is tough to tell until we see the cars on the track Saturday for practice. I am leaning towards what has happened at WWT Raceway last year and combining it with what we saw on the short flat tracks this year (Phoenix and Richmond).
The race at WWT Raceway last year was the first for the Cup Series. The teams did not have any data to work with and it showed. Six drivers were able to lead over 20 laps and the most laps led were 66 from Kyle Busch. There were eight cautions for wrecks (most of the cautions were caused by Ross Chastain). It seemed like the drivers moved around in the field more in this race than in other races on the schedule last year. That likely had a lot to do with the teams working on different setups throughout the race. We may see one team dominate this week, if they are able to hit on the right setup for the Enjoy Illinois 300.
You can watch the extended highlights of the last year’s race at WWT Raceway here: NASCAR Race Rewind
STATS FOR WWT RACEWAY
How do we handicap the race at Enjoy Illinois 300? I am using the data from last year’s race at WWT Raceway and combining it with the data from the races at Phoenix and Richmond (other flat, oval tracks). The Cup Series will use the intermediate track package this year so I will use the data from race at Dover since it is similar in size (not banking) and the Cup Series used the same aero package at the Monster Mile.
Here are the stats from the races at WWT Raceway (2022), Phoenix, Richmond and Dover…
The Cup Series has been dominated by Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing this year. I need to use my allocations wisely with the drivers from those teams. We will have a lot more data to work with after practice Saturday, so selecting drivers for the Fantasy Live and the One & Done contest should not be a problem. We need to select our drivers for the Driver Group Game before the cars are on the track. This race is tough to predict, so I will save my top drivers from HMS and JGR (William Byron, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin) for more predictable races. I will use some other drivers from their teams and combine them with the drivers who were good at WWT Raceway last year.
EARLY WEEK PICKS FOR WWT RACEWAY
ONE & DONE PICK: RYAN BLANEY
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS: CHRISTOPHER BELL, RYAN BLANEY, MARTIN TRUEX JR., KYLE BUSCH, ALEX BOWMAN, KEVIN HARVICK, TY GIBBS, COREY LAJOIE
FANTASY LIVE PICKS: MARTIN TRUEX JR., KYLE BUSCH, CHRISTOPHER BELL, RYAN BLANEY, JOEY LOGANO (GARAGE) KYLE LARSON
* I will be watching DENNY HAMLIN, WILLIAM BYRON, ROSS CHASTAIN, and KEVIN HARVICK in practice. They could end up in the Fantasy Live lineup this week.
Good luck this weekend!
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