The Cup Series will finally make its debut at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWT Raceway) this week. This is a new track for the Cup Series but it isn’t new for NASCAR. The Xfinity Series competed at WWT Raceway from 1998-2010 and had some very exciting races (google the finish between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski in 2010). The Truck Series has been competing outside of St. Louis since 1998, so there are a lot of drivers in the field this week that have some experience at WWT Raceway
The race at a new track means a new schedule for the Cup Series this week. The teams will get 50 minutes to work on their setups on Friday before they qualify the cars Saturday. This extra track time should give us enough data to make some good picks for out Fantasy NASCAR teams this week. Here is the schedule at the WWT Raceway…
DRIVER RANKINGS FOR WWT RACEWAY
World Wide Technology Raceway is not like any track on the current schedule. It is a 1.25 odd-shaped track. One end of the track has wide corners like Phoenix and the other end has tighter corners Richmond. It is going to be difficult for the crew chiefs to find a good balance in their setups so their cars can navigate both ends of the track with a lot of speed. I was skeptical when NASCAR announced WWT Raceway was being added to the schedule because the Truck Series racing hasn’t be great at this track. The Gen-7 car has produced some exciting racing this year so I will not judge this track until after Sunday’s race.
So how do we handicap this new track? We cannot simply say it is just like another track on the Cup Series schedule, but we can combine the data from other flat tracks to get an idea of which drivers will be fast this week. I used the stats from the races at Phoenix and Richmond to compose most of the Driver Rankings. I also believe in momentum so I used the date from the last three races (Charlotte, Kansas and Darlington) as well.
There are nine drivers in the field who have wins at WWT Raceway. Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski won at this track in the Xfinity Series. Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer and Justin Haley won in the Truck Series at WWT Raceway. These drivers all received a bump in my rankings this week. Harvick is the only driver to win in both the Xfinity and Truck Series at WWT Raceway.
Here are my Driver Rankings for the Enjoy Illinois 300…
| Driver |
| 1. Kyle Busch |
| 2. William Byron |
| 3. Ryan Blaney |
| 4. Christopher Bell |
| 5. Ross Chastain |
| 6. Chase Elliott |
| 7. Chase Briscoe |
| 8. Kyle Larson |
| 9. Joey Logano |
| 10. Tyler Reddick |
| 11. Martin Truex Jr. |
| 12. Denny Hamlin |
| 13. Kevin Harvick |
| 14. Alex Bowman |
| 15. Daniel Suarez |
| 16. Kurt Busch |
| 17. Erik Jones |
| 18. Austin Dillon |
| 19. Aric Almirola |
| 20. Austin Cindric |
| 21. Bubba Wallace |
| 22. Chris Buescher |
| 23. AJ Allmendinger |
| 24. Brad Keselowski |
| 25. Cole Custer |
| 26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 27. Justin Haley |
| 28. Harrison Burton |
| 29. Michael McDowell |
| 30. Ty Dillon |
| 31. Todd Gilliland |
| 32. Corey LaJoie |
| 33. Landon Cassill |
| 34. J.J. Yeley |
| 35. Josh Bilicki |
| 36. Cody Ware |
| 37. B.J. McLeod |
* These rankings will be updated Saturday after qualifying
Good Luck This Week!
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