2 months agoRichmond Raceway has never really been a great track for Michael McDowell during his Cup Series career, but there's hope on the horizon. Over the last year, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team has improved greatly on the short, flat tracks, including a sixth-place finish here at Richmond last season and an eighth-place finish at Phoenix earlier this year. When you consider that McDowell's career average finishes are 30.1 at Richmond and 28.3 at Phoenix, those are definitely big improvements. This weekend, McDowell qualified 31st for the Toyota Owners 400 race despite being 14th-fastest in practice. His track record at "The Action Track" leaves a lot to be desired (McDowell has just one top-20 finish in his last 11 starts here) but the No. 34 Ford showed pretty good speed on practice and McDowell has solid place differential upside because of his starting position, so his $7,000 price tag on DraftKings makes him a safe target for cash lineups.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Driver Averages
2 months agoAustin Dillon used to hate coming to Richmond Raceway. "I sucked there at the beginning of my career. I dreaded going there," he once said. But that's not the case anymore. Now, Richmond is one of the best tracks on the circuit for the Richard Childress Racing driver, as he has finished 11th or better in seven of the last ten races at "The Action Track." Now the question becomes, can we expect a good finish out of Dillon this weekend? The No. 3 Chevrolet was 12th-fastest during practice on Saturday and Austin qualified 22nd for this weekend's Toyota Owners 400. With him being in the weird price spot of $6,800 on DraftKings this weekend, Austin Dillon makes for a sleepy tournament pick for this weekend's Toyota Owners 400 based on his track history and upside.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Motorsport
2 months agoDon't be surprised if Todd Gilliland runs decent in the Toyota Owners 400 this weekend. Last year at Richmond Raceway, Gilliland finished a career-best 15th in the spring race, which is impressive considering his other three Cup Series results at this track have been 25th, 27th, and 25th. During media availability earlier this week, Gilliland stated, "We had a pretty solid run in last year's spring race, so that's the standard for this weekend." The No. 38 Ford was just 28th-fastest in practice on Saturday morning and but he went out and qualified sixth for this weekend's race, which was a major improvement. Although Gilliland does have some sleeper potential on Sunday night, his ceiling is likely a mid-teens finish at best, and he should be avoided in DFS contests due to his high starting position.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Speedway Digest
2 months agoWe're just six races into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and we already have a two-time winner, as William Byron put on a dominating performance at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. Byron's No. 24 Chevrolet was the fastest car in practice, qualifying, and the race at COTA. He led 42 of the 68 laps in the race, posting the fastest Green Flag Speed and the best Average Running Position. After the race, the Hendrick Motorsports driver stated, "Just super thankful to have this opportunity. It's just a lot of fun to win races, and it's really difficult, too." Byron now has six wins over the last 36 Cup Series races, the most of all drivers.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoIt ended up being another solid race day at Circuit of the Americas this past weekend for Ty Gibbs, who wound up finishing third after running near the front all day. His No. 54 Toyota was third-fastest in Green Flag Speed during the race and Gibbs ranked second-best when it came to Average Running Position. The sophomore Joe Gibbs Racing driver now has three top-five finishes over the past four races and has five consecutive top-10s. He is second in the points standings for the Cup Series. Now the series heads to Richmond, where Gibbs walked away with finishes of ninth and 15th in the two races there last season.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Fox Sports
2 months agoChris Buescher finished eighth in Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuits of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, TX. Despite being his fourth top-10 finish of the season, it was a rather uneventful day for the Texas native in the Lone Star State. Perhaps the biggest story coming out of the race is that Buescher finished with 48.45 DraftKings points, the sixth highest on the slate. While these results were not enough to earn him an appearance in the optimal lineup, he did return over 6x value on his $7,800 salary, which is considered a good play for the 25.96% that rostered him in DFS. Next up for the Cup Series is an Easter Night race at Richmond Raceway, a track Buescher won at last summer.
--Adam Erhardt - RotoBallerSource: Racing-Reference.info
2 months agoOn Sunday afternoon, Kyle Busch finished ninth in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuits of the Americas, marking his second top-10 finish of the season. While a top-10 finish would normally be a topic of conversation, that is not why everyone is talking about Kyle Busch exiting the weekend. In turn one of lap 40, Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell went for the same spot on the track, leading to contact that spun Busch's No. 8 Camaro. Despite rebounding from the incident, the former Cup Series champion was clearly frustrated with his former teammate, resulting in a confrontation between the two. Although the microphones did not capture the entire conversation between the two, we did hear Busch warn Bell that retaliation was coming. While cooler heads may prevail, this is a situation to monitor moving forward, as it could impact Bell's value for DFS heading to Richmond and beyond.
--Adam Erhardt - RotoBallerSource: Jayski.com
2 months agoJustin Haley had another strong run at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, qualifying 13th and crossing the finish line in 17th. The No. 51 Ford was 18th-fastest in Green Flag Speed during the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix and ranked 11th-best in Average Running Position. However, during post-race inspection, Haley's car was found to be too light and he was disqualified from the event. Due to the DQ, Haley will be credited with a 39th-place finish for the race. The statement from Rick Ware Racing regarding the disqualification was simply, "The car was just too light in post-race inspection."
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Bob Pockrass
2 months agoMartin Truex Jr. had an eventful day at COTA. There was that problem on Lap 1. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver recovered enough to rack up eight points from Stage 2. Other than that, Truex Jr. led two laps. He fell back outside the Top 10 late before sliding back in at the end of the 68 laps. Simply, Truex Jr. has not had the best of seasons. However, his 51 stage points overall help him lead in points despite zero wins. Again, the No. 19 car does have four Top 10 finishes and has led a total of 124 laps. Truex Jr. and his Toyota figure to be in contention at Richmond on Easter Sunday. He has a win and five top ten results in six races there.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoA.J. Allmendinger started 14th on Sunday at COTA. The Kaulig Racing driver survived a little bit of attrition and managed to finish sixth on the road course. Allmendinger never led a lap and could not keep up with the contenders like William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs. Allmendinger did not contend for the stage points. After all, he drives part time at the top level while racing full-time in the Xfinity Series. He wa closer to winning that race until a late mishap. Sixth is better than a DNF at least.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoBecause of his blockbuster Supercars career, his Chicago Street Course win, and his Xfinity Series near-miss on Saturday, NASCAR analysts likely had overinflated expectations for Shane van Gisbergen's race at Circuit of the Americas. He won at Chicago largely because none of the then-NASCAR Cup Series regulars had experience there and he had vastly more experience racing in the rain, which is often regarded as a great equalizer in identifying road racing talent. However, COTA is a track where the NASCAR drivers had much more experience, and this year SVG drives for Kaulig Racing, which has much slower cars than Trackhouse Racing did last year. SVG came down to earth in this weekend's event, with a career-worst 20th-place finish after a course-cutting penalty and losing a gear. He will almost certainly win more road races in NASCAR, but he will probably need more NextGen experience before he regularly dominates them.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough Ross Chastain tends to struggle at many of the other road courses (particularly the rovals), he has consistently been a master at the Circuit of the Americas, where he now has a career average finish of 4.0 despite posting his worst-ever finish of seventh in the race on Sunday. Although Chastain faded in the second half of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, he was very strong overall, as he passed William Byron for the lead on a lap 34 restart (making him the first driver to pass Byron for the lead all season) before Byron retook the lead on lap 44 shortly before both drivers pitted. Chastain outran his finishing position somewhat, as he ranked fourth in average running position, fifth in speed, and sixth in driver rating, giving him probably his best run of the season to date.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoChristopher Bell used an offbeat pit strategy to his advantage and finish second at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday. While most drivers pitted immediately before the pits closed in Stages 1 and 2 so they would inherit the lead after the erstwhile leaders pitted under caution, Bell waited until Stage 2 to ensure he would only need two pit stops. Although William Byron passed Bell early in Stage 2, Bell went on a furious final stint in the final Stage, including setting the race's fastest lap on lap 51, to slice his deficit from over fifteen seconds to less than one second at the end; he ranked second to his teammate Ty Gibbs in speed. The race did not come without controversy, though, as he spun out Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch early in the race. Busch confronted him after the event, but that shouldn't take away from Bell's electrifying final stint.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months ago23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick finished in the fifth position during Sunday's EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. During Sunday's race at COTA, Reddick was expected to compete as one of the favorites and ran in the Top 5 through the first stage. Although pit strategy would shuffle him through the field and score stage points at the end of the first stage, Reddick steadily ran around the Top 5 most of the day until the end. Reddick led one lap and remains as one of only three drivers to collect top-10 finishes in each COTA race while gathering his third consecutive top-5 finish at the site this week. The driver of the No. 45 Toyota now has three top-10 finishes this season and led in each of the last four Cup events. As the Cup Series next heads to Richmond, Reddick is searching for his first top-10 finish there despite leading 81 laps and winning the first stage in his last appearance there.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoIn Sunday's EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, Chase Elliott placed 16th after an underwhelming performance. Although the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet started from the Top 10, he would struggle to remain there and did not capture any stage points. Despite running between the Top 15 and towards the latter part of the Top 10 most of the day, Elliott would catch a penalty for cutting the course on lap 39. Despite making up some of the track position, Elliott would never fully recover, reaching as high as the Top 15 before fading to 16th, his worst finish at COTA in three starts. With a lackluster finish for NASCAR's active wins leader at road courses, Elliott remains one of only three drivers to place in the Top 20 after all six races so far this year. Elliott will look to rebound at Richmond, where he finished in the Top 15 in each of the last 11 Cup events there.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
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