NASCAR One & Done Picks for Daytona

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This is it… The race Saturday night is the last chance for the Cup Series drivers to secure a spot in the 2020 playoffs. The races at Daytona are always wild, but this could be the craziest race we have ever seen on this high-bank Superspeedway. There is a lot on the line so I expect more bumping and banging than we usually see at this track. It should be fun to watch. The Coke Zero 400 can be seen Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

Last Race: Rolling the dice and using Austin Dillon as my pick Sunday was the right decision. Dillon finished ninth and had one of his better races of the season. I should have use him in the games where I can use a driver more than once. Clint Bowyer ran the entire race in the top 10 but faded to 16th at the end of the race. I was expecting more from the No. 14 team.

 

Here are my picks for the Coke Zero 400

Pick Driver Once

Pick Driver Twice
Race Driver Result Race Driver

Result

Daytona

David Ragan 4th Daytona Ricky Stenhouse 20th
Las Vegas Ross Chastain 27th Las Vegas Joey Logano

1st

Auto Club

Ryan Blaney 19th Auto Club Ryan Blaney 19th
Phoenix Kevin Harvick 2nd Phoenix Kevin Harvick

2nd

Darlington

Brad Keselowski 13th Darlington Brad Keselowski 13th
Darlington Erik Jones 5th Darlington Erik Jones

5th

Charlotte

Martin Truex Jr. 6th Charlotte Martin Truex Jr. 6th
Charlotte Alex Bowman 31st Charlotte Alex Bowman

31st

Bristol

M. DiBenedetto 31st Bristol Kurt Busch 7th
Atlanta Clint Bowyer 20th Atlanta Chase Elliott

8th

Martinsville

Aric Almirola 33rd Martinsville Brad Keselowski 3rd
Homestead Tyler Reddick 4th Homestead Jimmie Johnson

16th

Talladega

Corey LaJoie 16th Talladega Aric Almirola 3rd
Pocono 1 William Byron 14th Pocono 1 Erik Jones

38th

Pocono 2

Cole Custer 17th Pocono 2 Denny Hamlin 1st
Indianapolis Justin Allgaier 37th Indianapolis Aric Almirola

3rd

Kentucky

Kyle Busch 21st Kentucky Kyle Busch 21st
Texas Jimmie Johnson 26th Texas Ryan Blaney

7th

Kansas

Kurt Busch 9th   Kansas Chase Elliott 12th
Loudon Matt Kenseth 37th   Loudon Kyle Busch

38th

Michigan

Joey Logano 8th   Michigan Joey Logano 8th
Michigan Bubba Wallace 21st   Michigan Alex Bowman

36th

Daytona

M. McDowell 10th   Daytona Jimmie Johnson 4th
Dover Christopher Bell 22nd   Dover Martin Truex Jr.

2nd

Dover

Austin Dillon 9th   Dover Clint Bowyer 16th
Daytona Ty Dillon ?   Daytona Ryan Newman

?

Darlington

  Darlington
Richmond  

Richmond

Bristol

  Bristol
Las Vegas  

Las Vegas

Talladega

  Talladega
Charlotte  

Charlotte

Kansas

  Kansas
Texas  

Texas

Martinsville

  Martinsville
Phoenix  

Phoenix

 

Drivers left to use: Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Ryan Preece, Daniel Saurez, and Brendan Gaughan

 

My One & Done Pick for Daytona: Ty Dillon

I have a feeling that a driver outside the top 20 in the point standings is going to find his way to Victory Lane Saturday night. Why not Ty Dillon? Dillon has been pretty good at Daytona in his career. He crashed in the Daytona 500 in February but he finished 4th, 6th and 6th in his prior three races. Dillon also finished 12th at Talladega in June. I will roll the dice with lucky number 13 this week.

Ryan Newman was involved in a horrific crash at Daytona in February. I am not concerned that Newman will be gun-shy this week. Newman said, “I had that race won so I look at it as… this track owes me one now.” Newman has been one of the most consistent drivers at Daytona. He has finished 9th, 5th, 14th, 8th, 8th and 5th at Daytona since 2016. That is the best average finishing position of any driver in the field Saturday night.

 

Good luck this week!

Follow me on Twitter @MrFantasyNASCAR