The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competes at Daytona International Speedway this week. Allocations are becoming more important now that the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has complete 16 races. This is a good week to save your allocations with the top drivers in the Yahoo Fantasy Auto Racing Game (Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez.) These drivers all have a good chance of running well Saturday night but the risk is not worth the reward. Save them for more predictable tracks.
Here are my picks for the Coke Zero 400…
GROUP A
Joey Logano (7): The Fords have been saying that they will all hookup together and race front for the first two Stages. I like the Team Penske drivers to lead this pack. Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have eight restrictor-plate track wins on their resumes. I went with Logano over Keselowski because Logano has been a little better at Daytona and Keselowski has been a little better at Talladega. I think they will both be up front at the end of the race Saturday night.
GROUP B
Austin Dillon (7): The best way to select your fantasy team at a restrictor-plate track is to select drivers who are “safe” picks. That means selecting drivers who do not crash. Dillon is very good at staying out of trouble in these races and bringing his car home in one piece. Dillon has never crashed the No. 3 at Daytona. I hope I didn’t just jinx him. Fingers crossed!
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (8): Stenhouse won the race at Talladega and he is a good option to save allocations with the more popular drivers this week. Stenhouse qualified 4th and finished 5th in this race last year. The Fords plan to work together this week since they can run the entire Stage on a tank of fuel. Stenhouse will have Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Trevor Bayne to work with Saturday night. I like his chances to finish up front this week.
GROUP C
Michael McDowell (8): Has become a good restrictor-plate track driver. His average finishing position in his 5 races with Leavine Family Racing at Daytona is 15.6. McDowell is another driver who likes to run up front to avoid trouble. McDowell had an average running position of 13.1 in the Daytona 500. That was 10th best. McDowell is a good pick starting from the 23rd starting position.
Good luck this week!
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