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Well, it has been quite awhile since there has been any positive news for sports fans or anyone really in terms of things turning back to normal. However, Nascar is trying to change that with the sport expected to be return on May 17th! Obviously, there are much bigger things than sports right now! With that said, maybe some Nascar in our lives can help to distract us from the Coronvirus and everything that comes with this crisis. I would personally like to send my thoughts and prayers to anyone affected by this dangerous virus!
With all of that said, we are gonna turn our attention to Darlington for the return of Nascar! I am super excited about this and just getting back into the flow of doing research each week. I know there's a chance that this return may not last, if things don't go as planned. But hopefully everything will go smoothly and we get to see some Nascar through November! Without further delay, let's get rolling into Today's content!
Darlington Preview -
#1-Kurt Busch: Kurt Busch had a rough start to the 2020 season (before the Conronvirus) with finishes of 25th or worse at both Daytona & Las Vegas. However, he rebounded at Cali and Phoenix with a pair of top 10 finishes, though. And Darlington is a pretty good track, too. Over the past two races at Darlington, he has compiled 6.5 average finish with 7.4 average running position and 109.5 driver rating. He ranked 5th , 4th and 4th among those categories. In 4 of his last 5 races at Darlington, he has finished 7th or better and has compiled a driver rating above 102 in all four races.
#2-Brad Keselowski: Keselowski is really good here at Darlington and he has posted 4 top 10 finishes in his last 5 races here. In 3 of those 4 races, he has compiled 3 top 5 finishes. Including back to back top 5 finishes in the past two seasons here. In the past two seasons at Darlington, he has been the best driver in the series overall. In the past two races here, he has compiled a series-leading 3.0 average finish (series-best) with 5.9 average running position (series-best) and 116.9 driver rating (series-best). Interesting note? He was ranked 9th in terms of Average fast laps with just 15.5. In 11 career races, he has posted 10.7 average finish with 7 finishes in the top 12! He has only 4 career top 5 finishes to his name here, but over the past 5 seasons he is trending in the right way. 3 of his 4 top 5 career finishes all came in the past 5 seasons!
#3-Austin Dillon: Dillon is pretty underrated overall at Darlington, as he holds 12.5 average for his career mark in 6 races. Small sample size, but he is a legit sleeper based on past history. However, he has mix results in 2020 so far. He had finishes of 12th at Daytona and 4th at Las Vegas. He had finishes of 24th at Cali and 36th at Phoenix. Let's look a little closer to Las Vegas' race, shall we? At Las Vegas, he held 13.4 average running position and 89.7 driver rating in that event. They ranked 10th and 11th, respectfully. Not too bad! At Darlington, he has been a really good performer overall. In 4 of his 6 career races, he has finished 12th or better. Including 3 of his last 4 races, too. Over his last 4 races here, he has posted finishes of 10th, 16th, 4th and 12th. He was impressive in 2017, to be honest! He was really good that season overall in general and most of his best races came during the 2017 season. So no suprise, his best career performance (so far) was during the 2017 season.
#4-Kevin Harvick: Just like any other track that we go to, Harvick will be one of the drivers to beat. At Darlington, he's among the elite in the sport and this really shouldn't come as a suprise to anyone. He enters Darlington with 7 straight finishes in the top 10 at this track. In 6 of his last 7 races at the track, he has finished in the top 5. In his last two races here, he has finished in the 4th position. During those two races, he has compiled 4.0 average finish with 8.5 average running position and 102.6 driver rating. Over the past two seasons, he's ranked 2nd (in average finish), 5th (Average running position) and 7th (in Driver Rating). So he's not Kevin Harvick (according to our high standards for him), but he has been still pretty damn good! In the first four races this season, he had no finishes worse than 9th and led over 60 laps t both Las Vegas and Phoneix.
#6-Ryan Newman: It has been awhile since I seen a crash like Ryan Newman's at the Daytona 500 and was as worried as I was at that moment. I legit had doubt that we would see Ryan behind the wheel. But he only has recovered from his injuries, but will be back behind the wheel of a Cup car here at Darlington. I wouldn't call this his best track, but he's a savy vet. However, he owns a 12.7 averae finish in 21 career races at Darlington. Newman and consistency goes hand-in-hand. He has been considered a stable option for years in the Fantasy Nascar community and we welcome him back with open arms. From 2013 to 2017 (5 races span), he posted 4 top 10 finishes with no finishes outside of 8th-10th place. The past few seasons has been more of a struggle, though. As he has posted finishes of 23rd and 19th over his past two races at Darlington!
#9-Chase Elliott: I have shit on the Hendrick cars a lot over the past few seasons (Elliott has been the only one I really been high on), but I think HMS gonna be really good in 2020 and Darlington is one of those places they all could do well at. They ran well in 2019 at Darlington, but none of them really got the finish that they deserved in the end. Still 19th isn't what he should had got. He was never a contender for a top 5 finish, but I say latter part of the top 10 or just outside of that at worst.
#10-Aric Almirola: So far in 2020, I have some questions about Aric Almirola. He has mix results for the most part. He had impressive speed in practice almost in all of the races, but it hasn't always translated to results. At least not the results that practice indicated and that's the biggest thing with this race package. Practice means a lot less than it use to and we kinda gotta trust the race data we got these drivers. At the same time, we all have a habit of taking the on-track data very seriously. As we learn more about this race package, we will undoubtly find a better balance. Aric did finish well at both Cali and Phoenix. Both races ending in top 10 finishes, if that makes anyone feel better about him? How has Aric faired at Darlington in his career? Well, he hasn't posted a top 10 finish in 8 career starts. Not ideal, but he has a career-best finish of 11th, though. In his last two races here, he has finishes of 14th and 17th. In 2019, he really struggled and finished 17th. He held 59.0 driver rating for that event, which is second-worst mark of his cup career at Darlington.
#11-Denny Hamlin: Hamlin is a stud at Darlington and his 2019 results is not what he should had gotten. In stage 3, he got in a big wreck and finished 29th. He swept the top 5 in both stage 1 and stage 2. From 2010 to 2017 (I will exclude 2014 - year of his crash at Cali; off-year for him after that), he posted 7 straight top 6 finishes. Including 5 top 3 finishes, with his last coming in 2017. Hamlin is just simply good at this track and I really cannot find a reason to hate anything about him at Darlington. Hamlin started off the season with a win at the Daytona 500, then had pair of average results with 17th at Las Vegas and 20th at Phoenix. He also posted 6th place finish at Cali, though. See a trend? Great finish, bad finish, great finish, followed by bad finish. If that holds true, then he's due for a strong race a Darlington!
#12-Ryan Blaney: My biggest question heading into the season was weather or not Ryan Blaney could put together any kind of good consistency!? The answer so far is no, but he has a lot of speed in his car through 4 races. In 2018, he had a similar issue in the #12 car. He also started 2018 off with impressive amount of speed, but he couldn't put together consistent results. There has never been question about his talent, but becoming a consistent finisher/contender is what stopping him from being a top notch fantasy option! Darlington isn't a great track for him, though. In 5 career races at Darlington, he has no finishes better than 13th and no better driver rating better than 76.9. Guys, that's his best driver's rating and that's not good. In his last two races at Darlington, he has compiled 14.0 average finish with 76.4 driver rating and 16.4 average running position.
#14-Clint Bowyer: I have some serious doubt about Clint Bowyer, like I do with every Stewart Haas driver, not named Kevin Harvick. Clint is a lot like Ryan Blaney, but with less upside. Very inconsistent, but he is capable of knocking out a top 5 or top 10 finish. However, it seems like it comes out of nowhere with him. Look at his finishes in 2020: 6th,12th, 23rd and 5th. The man is all over the board! Darlington is a so-so track for him, too. He finished 6th in 2019 here, which marks his career-best finish at this racetrack. It also marked his first top 10 finish at Darlington, since 2007. In 2007, he scored his first top 10 finish in 9th place. From 2012 to 2014, he had three straight finishes of 11th or 12th. So he is capable of being a servicable fatnasy option at Darlington. But history says he won't repeat last season's result, though. Prior to finishing 6th in last season's race, he had 4 straight finishes of 17th or worse. I am not very high on Clint Bowyer for many reasons!
#18-Kyle Busch: Rowdy is probably the best driver here at Darlington and not enough people talk about that. In his last 10 races here, he hasn't finished worse than 11th. And he led 118 laps on his way to 3rd place finish in last season's event here. In 2 of his last three races here, he has finished in the top 3. Kyle is so damn good at pretty much everywhere and he should be considered one of the heavy favorites to win. Fun fact about Kyle Busch? He has never won at Darlington, despite holding a career average finish of 11.1. I will be honest, I would had never guessed that with all of the success that he had has here! Kyle Busch is my early pick to win at Darlington!
#19-Martin Truex Jr: Truex Jr is good as pick in the field, even though he doesn't get enough respect here at Darlington. He's better than his numbers indicate here at this track. He has had issues which led to misleading finishes. In his last three races, he still compiled 11.3 average finish with 9.6 average running position and 108.9 driver rating. His driver rating ranked 4th in the series in those 4 races. 3rd, if you only count drivers whom started all 4 races. Regardless, he's very good here at Darlington. Back in 2016, he actually went to victory lane in the #78 car. I will have my eyes on the #19 car, when the green flag does indeed waves.
#20-Erik Jones: Erik Jones wasn't a great fantasy option through 4 races in 2020, as he only has one top 10 finish and that was literally a 10th place finish at Cali. Otherwise? 18th at Daytona, 23rd at Las Vegas and 28th at Phoenix. He was someone before the season that I thought would be really good in 2020 or not so good. So far, it seems to be on the bad side. Erik Jones is a talented dude, but seems like sometimes he fail to live up to his teammates, though. I mean, look who his teammates are? Kyle Busch, 2-time Cup Champ. Martin Truex Jr, former Cup champ. Denny Hamlin, the most successful non-chamapion in the sport. That's some high standards to live up to. At Darlington, he has been great, though. In 3 career starts, he has finishes 1st, 8th and 5th. He went to victroy lane in last season's race here. In those 3 races, he has compiled 4.7 average finish with 7.6 average running position and 110.8 driver rating. How does that stack up to the competition? He ranked 1st, 5th and 2nd to other drivers in the series.
#22-Joey Logano: I am high on Joey Logano here at Darlington and not sure if he will be on everyone's radar for Darlington. Since joining Penske (5 races), he has posted 3 top 5 finishes and 2 finishes outside of the top 10. Logano probably isn't the flashy fantasy option at Darlington, but he is just one of those guy who will challenge for the win regardless the track. He doesn't have the recent success of his teammate (Brad Keselowski), but I have a feeling he gonna be an underrated fantasy option.
#24-William Byron: I been higher on the HMS group in 2020 more than I expected them to and I think Byron is the most underrated driver of the four. He's a lot better at Darlington than his first two races indicates. He was a top 10 contender in both races so far in his career, but resulted in misleading finishes. He has had some stout showings in 2020, too. Byron never get credit he deserves on most weekends, but I think he's one of those guys with sneaky good upside. He has some questions like any young driver, but I am probably bigger on him than most are entering the Darlington. If he runs well on Sunday, I say play him in the second Darlington's race!
#48-Jimmie Johnson: I have been very rough on Johnson over the past couple seasons overall, but he is starting to come back around to me, though. He was running well in last season's race here at Darlington, but got into a wreck. Before that, you could easily say that he was a contender for a top 5 finish. He actually won the first stage of that event and probably was on his way to at least a top 10 finish. I don't fully trust him, but he has ran well on other intermediae tracks in 2020. Not saying much since they aren't real similar in any form, but I take that over nothing. With that said, I am using his performance last season more than 2020 data, though.
#88-Alex Bowman: Bowman has been a strong performancer on the intermediate tracks in 2020. Darlington isn't comparable to any other track, but these chevys seem to be better than they were in 2019 to start off the season. So far in his career, he has not finished in the top 15 at Darlington. Good news? His finish and driver rating has improved in every single race! In his last race, he finished 18th and posted 79.6 driver rating. He has a real chance to improved upon both of those numbers this weekend at Darlington! I say his highest upside is somewhere in the top 10, but realistically I say he finish somwhere 8th and 14th.
***All stats are rom DriverAverages.com and FRCS.PRO
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
Well, it has been quite awhile since there has been any positive news for sports fans or anyone really in terms of things turning back to normal. However, Nascar is trying to change that with the sport expected to be return on May 17th! Obviously, there are much bigger things than sports right now! With that said, maybe some Nascar in our lives can help to distract us from the Coronvirus and everything that comes with this crisis. I would personally like to send my thoughts and prayers to anyone affected by this dangerous virus!
With all of that said, we are gonna turn our attention to Darlington for the return of Nascar! I am super excited about this and just getting back into the flow of doing research each week. I know there's a chance that this return may not last, if things don't go as planned. But hopefully everything will go smoothly and we get to see some Nascar through November! Without further delay, let's get rolling into Today's content!
Darlington Preview -
#1-Kurt Busch: Kurt Busch had a rough start to the 2020 season (before the Conronvirus) with finishes of 25th or worse at both Daytona & Las Vegas. However, he rebounded at Cali and Phoenix with a pair of top 10 finishes, though. And Darlington is a pretty good track, too. Over the past two races at Darlington, he has compiled 6.5 average finish with 7.4 average running position and 109.5 driver rating. He ranked 5th , 4th and 4th among those categories. In 4 of his last 5 races at Darlington, he has finished 7th or better and has compiled a driver rating above 102 in all four races.
#2-Brad Keselowski: Keselowski is really good here at Darlington and he has posted 4 top 10 finishes in his last 5 races here. In 3 of those 4 races, he has compiled 3 top 5 finishes. Including back to back top 5 finishes in the past two seasons here. In the past two seasons at Darlington, he has been the best driver in the series overall. In the past two races here, he has compiled a series-leading 3.0 average finish (series-best) with 5.9 average running position (series-best) and 116.9 driver rating (series-best). Interesting note? He was ranked 9th in terms of Average fast laps with just 15.5. In 11 career races, he has posted 10.7 average finish with 7 finishes in the top 12! He has only 4 career top 5 finishes to his name here, but over the past 5 seasons he is trending in the right way. 3 of his 4 top 5 career finishes all came in the past 5 seasons!
#3-Austin Dillon: Dillon is pretty underrated overall at Darlington, as he holds 12.5 average for his career mark in 6 races. Small sample size, but he is a legit sleeper based on past history. However, he has mix results in 2020 so far. He had finishes of 12th at Daytona and 4th at Las Vegas. He had finishes of 24th at Cali and 36th at Phoenix. Let's look a little closer to Las Vegas' race, shall we? At Las Vegas, he held 13.4 average running position and 89.7 driver rating in that event. They ranked 10th and 11th, respectfully. Not too bad! At Darlington, he has been a really good performer overall. In 4 of his 6 career races, he has finished 12th or better. Including 3 of his last 4 races, too. Over his last 4 races here, he has posted finishes of 10th, 16th, 4th and 12th. He was impressive in 2017, to be honest! He was really good that season overall in general and most of his best races came during the 2017 season. So no suprise, his best career performance (so far) was during the 2017 season.
#4-Kevin Harvick: Just like any other track that we go to, Harvick will be one of the drivers to beat. At Darlington, he's among the elite in the sport and this really shouldn't come as a suprise to anyone. He enters Darlington with 7 straight finishes in the top 10 at this track. In 6 of his last 7 races at the track, he has finished in the top 5. In his last two races here, he has finished in the 4th position. During those two races, he has compiled 4.0 average finish with 8.5 average running position and 102.6 driver rating. Over the past two seasons, he's ranked 2nd (in average finish), 5th (Average running position) and 7th (in Driver Rating). So he's not Kevin Harvick (according to our high standards for him), but he has been still pretty damn good! In the first four races this season, he had no finishes worse than 9th and led over 60 laps t both Las Vegas and Phoneix.
#6-Ryan Newman: It has been awhile since I seen a crash like Ryan Newman's at the Daytona 500 and was as worried as I was at that moment. I legit had doubt that we would see Ryan behind the wheel. But he only has recovered from his injuries, but will be back behind the wheel of a Cup car here at Darlington. I wouldn't call this his best track, but he's a savy vet. However, he owns a 12.7 averae finish in 21 career races at Darlington. Newman and consistency goes hand-in-hand. He has been considered a stable option for years in the Fantasy Nascar community and we welcome him back with open arms. From 2013 to 2017 (5 races span), he posted 4 top 10 finishes with no finishes outside of 8th-10th place. The past few seasons has been more of a struggle, though. As he has posted finishes of 23rd and 19th over his past two races at Darlington!
#9-Chase Elliott: I have shit on the Hendrick cars a lot over the past few seasons (Elliott has been the only one I really been high on), but I think HMS gonna be really good in 2020 and Darlington is one of those places they all could do well at. They ran well in 2019 at Darlington, but none of them really got the finish that they deserved in the end. Still 19th isn't what he should had got. He was never a contender for a top 5 finish, but I say latter part of the top 10 or just outside of that at worst.
#10-Aric Almirola: So far in 2020, I have some questions about Aric Almirola. He has mix results for the most part. He had impressive speed in practice almost in all of the races, but it hasn't always translated to results. At least not the results that practice indicated and that's the biggest thing with this race package. Practice means a lot less than it use to and we kinda gotta trust the race data we got these drivers. At the same time, we all have a habit of taking the on-track data very seriously. As we learn more about this race package, we will undoubtly find a better balance. Aric did finish well at both Cali and Phoenix. Both races ending in top 10 finishes, if that makes anyone feel better about him? How has Aric faired at Darlington in his career? Well, he hasn't posted a top 10 finish in 8 career starts. Not ideal, but he has a career-best finish of 11th, though. In his last two races here, he has finishes of 14th and 17th. In 2019, he really struggled and finished 17th. He held 59.0 driver rating for that event, which is second-worst mark of his cup career at Darlington.
#11-Denny Hamlin: Hamlin is a stud at Darlington and his 2019 results is not what he should had gotten. In stage 3, he got in a big wreck and finished 29th. He swept the top 5 in both stage 1 and stage 2. From 2010 to 2017 (I will exclude 2014 - year of his crash at Cali; off-year for him after that), he posted 7 straight top 6 finishes. Including 5 top 3 finishes, with his last coming in 2017. Hamlin is just simply good at this track and I really cannot find a reason to hate anything about him at Darlington. Hamlin started off the season with a win at the Daytona 500, then had pair of average results with 17th at Las Vegas and 20th at Phoenix. He also posted 6th place finish at Cali, though. See a trend? Great finish, bad finish, great finish, followed by bad finish. If that holds true, then he's due for a strong race a Darlington!
#12-Ryan Blaney: My biggest question heading into the season was weather or not Ryan Blaney could put together any kind of good consistency!? The answer so far is no, but he has a lot of speed in his car through 4 races. In 2018, he had a similar issue in the #12 car. He also started 2018 off with impressive amount of speed, but he couldn't put together consistent results. There has never been question about his talent, but becoming a consistent finisher/contender is what stopping him from being a top notch fantasy option! Darlington isn't a great track for him, though. In 5 career races at Darlington, he has no finishes better than 13th and no better driver rating better than 76.9. Guys, that's his best driver's rating and that's not good. In his last two races at Darlington, he has compiled 14.0 average finish with 76.4 driver rating and 16.4 average running position.
#14-Clint Bowyer: I have some serious doubt about Clint Bowyer, like I do with every Stewart Haas driver, not named Kevin Harvick. Clint is a lot like Ryan Blaney, but with less upside. Very inconsistent, but he is capable of knocking out a top 5 or top 10 finish. However, it seems like it comes out of nowhere with him. Look at his finishes in 2020: 6th,12th, 23rd and 5th. The man is all over the board! Darlington is a so-so track for him, too. He finished 6th in 2019 here, which marks his career-best finish at this racetrack. It also marked his first top 10 finish at Darlington, since 2007. In 2007, he scored his first top 10 finish in 9th place. From 2012 to 2014, he had three straight finishes of 11th or 12th. So he is capable of being a servicable fatnasy option at Darlington. But history says he won't repeat last season's result, though. Prior to finishing 6th in last season's race, he had 4 straight finishes of 17th or worse. I am not very high on Clint Bowyer for many reasons!
#18-Kyle Busch: Rowdy is probably the best driver here at Darlington and not enough people talk about that. In his last 10 races here, he hasn't finished worse than 11th. And he led 118 laps on his way to 3rd place finish in last season's event here. In 2 of his last three races here, he has finished in the top 3. Kyle is so damn good at pretty much everywhere and he should be considered one of the heavy favorites to win. Fun fact about Kyle Busch? He has never won at Darlington, despite holding a career average finish of 11.1. I will be honest, I would had never guessed that with all of the success that he had has here! Kyle Busch is my early pick to win at Darlington!
#19-Martin Truex Jr: Truex Jr is good as pick in the field, even though he doesn't get enough respect here at Darlington. He's better than his numbers indicate here at this track. He has had issues which led to misleading finishes. In his last three races, he still compiled 11.3 average finish with 9.6 average running position and 108.9 driver rating. His driver rating ranked 4th in the series in those 4 races. 3rd, if you only count drivers whom started all 4 races. Regardless, he's very good here at Darlington. Back in 2016, he actually went to victory lane in the #78 car. I will have my eyes on the #19 car, when the green flag does indeed waves.
#20-Erik Jones: Erik Jones wasn't a great fantasy option through 4 races in 2020, as he only has one top 10 finish and that was literally a 10th place finish at Cali. Otherwise? 18th at Daytona, 23rd at Las Vegas and 28th at Phoenix. He was someone before the season that I thought would be really good in 2020 or not so good. So far, it seems to be on the bad side. Erik Jones is a talented dude, but seems like sometimes he fail to live up to his teammates, though. I mean, look who his teammates are? Kyle Busch, 2-time Cup Champ. Martin Truex Jr, former Cup champ. Denny Hamlin, the most successful non-chamapion in the sport. That's some high standards to live up to. At Darlington, he has been great, though. In 3 career starts, he has finishes 1st, 8th and 5th. He went to victroy lane in last season's race here. In those 3 races, he has compiled 4.7 average finish with 7.6 average running position and 110.8 driver rating. How does that stack up to the competition? He ranked 1st, 5th and 2nd to other drivers in the series.
#22-Joey Logano: I am high on Joey Logano here at Darlington and not sure if he will be on everyone's radar for Darlington. Since joining Penske (5 races), he has posted 3 top 5 finishes and 2 finishes outside of the top 10. Logano probably isn't the flashy fantasy option at Darlington, but he is just one of those guy who will challenge for the win regardless the track. He doesn't have the recent success of his teammate (Brad Keselowski), but I have a feeling he gonna be an underrated fantasy option.
#24-William Byron: I been higher on the HMS group in 2020 more than I expected them to and I think Byron is the most underrated driver of the four. He's a lot better at Darlington than his first two races indicates. He was a top 10 contender in both races so far in his career, but resulted in misleading finishes. He has had some stout showings in 2020, too. Byron never get credit he deserves on most weekends, but I think he's one of those guys with sneaky good upside. He has some questions like any young driver, but I am probably bigger on him than most are entering the Darlington. If he runs well on Sunday, I say play him in the second Darlington's race!
#48-Jimmie Johnson: I have been very rough on Johnson over the past couple seasons overall, but he is starting to come back around to me, though. He was running well in last season's race here at Darlington, but got into a wreck. Before that, you could easily say that he was a contender for a top 5 finish. He actually won the first stage of that event and probably was on his way to at least a top 10 finish. I don't fully trust him, but he has ran well on other intermediae tracks in 2020. Not saying much since they aren't real similar in any form, but I take that over nothing. With that said, I am using his performance last season more than 2020 data, though.
#88-Alex Bowman: Bowman has been a strong performancer on the intermediate tracks in 2020. Darlington isn't comparable to any other track, but these chevys seem to be better than they were in 2019 to start off the season. So far in his career, he has not finished in the top 15 at Darlington. Good news? His finish and driver rating has improved in every single race! In his last race, he finished 18th and posted 79.6 driver rating. He has a real chance to improved upon both of those numbers this weekend at Darlington! I say his highest upside is somewhere in the top 10, but realistically I say he finish somwhere 8th and 14th.
***All stats are rom DriverAverages.com and FRCS.PRO
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
