daytona part two

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Pic from Nascar.com

With cars hitting the track today, I wanted to cover a few more drivers to target for the Daytona 500.

• Clint Bowyer -- Clint finished second in the most recent Daytona race in July 2017.  Dating back to 2013, he has finished in the Top 10 in six of ten races.  And he has completed all the laps in seven of those ten races.  This is a strong plate track profile.
• Denny Hamlin -- Hamlin has struggled lately at Daytona, finishing 17th, 17th and 24th in the last three races.  But the five race stretch before that was amazing.  Hamlin won the Daytona 500 in 2016.  And leading up to that were finishes of 3rd, 4th, 6th and 2nd.  So, he had a string of five Daytona races where he finished in the Top 6.  That flags him as a target to win the race each time out at Daytona.
• Austin Dillon -- Like Hamlin, Austin Dillon struggled at Daytona in 2017, with finishes of 19th and 36th.  But coming into 2017, Dillon had one of the better Daytona records.  He finished all the laps in the six prior Daytona races and finished in the Top 10 in five of those six races.  What an amazing scene it would be if the #3 were back in Victory Lane at Daytona.
• Trevor Bayne -- Here's a dark horse and contrarian pick to consider.  Bayne won the Daytona 500 all the way back in February 2011 while driving for the Wood Brothers.  Since joining Rousch Fenway in 2015, he has a mixed Daytona record.  But it is one to consider if you're looking for a lower owned driver.  He has three Top 10 finishes in the last five Daytona races and he has finished all the laps in five of the last six races.

As I mentioned in another post, guys like Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are always going to be strong choices.  However, it usually doesn't make sense to use them at plate tracks because of the draft equalizer and the likelihood of getting caught up in "the big one".  They simply don't have the same advantages over the field that they have at other tracks.  Especially in leagues where you can use a driver only a limited amount of times during the season, I would shy away from the top championship contenders at Daytona where luck (and being in the wrong place at the wrong time) play such a big role.

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