Welcome to Timerssports
About 10 years ago to the date (maybe a little more or less), I was preparing content for the 2013 season and the 2013 Daytona 500! That was believe it or not a full decade ago! It's really crazy how fast times fly by, but here we are entering the 2023 season. I am very disappointed in myself for not being able to produce much content the last few years, but I really hope to be better on that in 2023! I think what makes this website so popular is my content will always be free to my loyal readers. Now, that isn't a shot at any sites out that charges their readers for their content, as there are some amazing Fantasy Nascar website out there and I would recommend checking some of them out. But to me, that what always been an appealing factor to people. The fire content on here certainly helps out as well!
Onto to more important issues, though. Such as today's picks for the Daytona 500! I really debated if I were gonna post any content this weekend because Daytona and Talladega are such crapshoot! But with working night shift and having to be awake, I figured why not! With that being said, anyone says they know what gonna happen is lying to you. So how do we go about making picks? We look at past data and trends like we do at any other track. While the race will be unpredictable, there are certain drivers that run well enough consistently to avoid bad luck! We are gonna need some good luck today, but it never hurt to select a few drivers that know how to race these kind of races. That should be the plan for today for success! Folks, we grab some coffee (or beer in my case) and let's roll into 2023 season!
5 drivers to target:
Austin Cindric - Folks, he's a freaking stud here at Daytona! It don't matter the series, he has a knack for running well at places like this and trust me it's a talent. Some guys are really good in the draft and Austin qualifies as one of them. In his short sample cup career, he has 6.3 average finish at Daytona with 2 Top 5 (1 win - last year Daytona 500) finishes already. Since 2020, he also holds the best driver rating of 93.4 at Daytona. In 5 career starts at Daytona and Talladega, he has produced 3 top 10 finishes and 5 top 21 finishes. In 3 starts at Daytona, he has finishes of 1st, 3rd and 15th.
Ryan Blaney - Blaney is one of those guys that will make or break your lineups most likely! He will likely finish in the top 10 or wreck out. Almost every time we come to Daytona or Talladega, that what it seems like we are getting from him. In his last 12 starts on superspeedway tracks, he has produced an 10.1 average finish with 7 top 10 finishes. That is the highest average finish and most top 10 finishes among drivers whom started every race since 2020.
Bubba Wallace Jr - Bubba Wallace has a knack for running up front at these races and while he don't always finish in the top 5, he also has a knack for having a safe floor as well. As fantasy players, we LOVE that. In his last 12 races at Daytona and Talladega, he has compiled a whopping 11(!) Top 20 finishes with 4 of them ending in the top 5. So he isn't always finishing up front, but he probably won't kill your fantasy lineup either, though.
Austin Dillon - Austin Dillon always has loved Daytona, I don't know what it is about this place that brings out the best in him. He won here last August, but he has a history of being really good at the Daytona 500 from a consistency standpoint overall. He finished 25th in last season's Daytona 500 and that is his worst career finish at this event (since being in the #3 car). In 2014, he finished 9th. After that? 14th, 9th, 19th, 1st, 16th, 12th and 17th. So even when he doesn't finish up in the top 10, he is still giving you some consistency with his incredible high upside
Chase Elliott - Elliott been hit or miss in his career on superspeedways, but at Daytona it been a hit lately. In 4 of his last 5 races here at Daytona, he has compiled top 10 finishes. He is a great drafter and usually we will find him at the front. I think the downside to picking Elliott is almost everyone will be picking him as he is one of the most popular picks this weekend. With that said, if he wrecks then you are pretty safe as everyone else will go down as well. There is not much to really hate about Elliott this weekend. If you are in a limited start league, then I might pass on him, though as he holds more value in next 35 races.
3 drivers I would avoid:
Denny Hamlin - I am sure Hamlin will be a popular pick this weekend, but I am here to tell you that Hamlin is a great drafter and went on an amazing run for 3-4 years at these type of tracks, but lately it hasn't been a fun time with Hamlin. In 5 of his last 7 races, he has finished 13th or worse. In 4 of those races, he has finished 18th or worse. In that same span, he has only produced one top 5 finish. Over Denny's last 3 Daytona races in that span, he has finishes of 13th, 25th and 37th. He is an amazing talent and I think he is capable of winning this event, but personally I might just back off him this weekend with his recent trend of bad luck at these events
Brad Keselowski - Another big name driver that has kinda stunk up the stats sheets (terms of final finishes) and while final finishes isn't everything. It is something, as certain drivers has a knack for finding bad luck. Brad Keselowski is one of the most aggressive drivers in the series and that is a big problem because he is too aggressive sometimes. Would it surprise you that Brad only has 4 top 10 finishes in his last 20 races at either Daytona or Talladega? In 4 of his last 6 races overall has ended in 23rd or worse. In his last 7 races at Daytona, he has produced 4 finishes of 35th or worse. Not saying we will see Brad be in a big wreck, but the numbers say it is likely!
Joey Logano - Logano find himself in the thick of things very often, but he also find himself not finishing these events because he pushes the issues far too often. Need proof? In 11 of his last 12 races at superspeedway races, he has failed to finish in the top 10. He has just one top 10 finish and that was a 3rd at Talladega a few years ago. Going back to Daytona 2018, Joey has finished outside of the top 10 in 8 of 9 races. While 5 of those 9 races ended outside of the top 20 as well. There are better options this weekend!
Hopefully my thoughts are helpful with your picks today! Best of luck everyone!
Thanks for reading,
Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com
Twitter - @Garryy12
