The NASCAR Cup Series is in Watkins Glen this week for the second playoff race of the year and the first time Watkins Glen has been in the playoffs. Watkins Glen is a true road course and we should have a good amount of data to go off of with so many road courses on the Cup schedule now. We have a lot of drivers that run well on road courses and qualifying results really made things interesting for strategy and track position this week. Teams also got extra practice this week as each group had two sessions instead if the usual one and we expect there to be high tire wear in the race.
Potential Dominators
Shane Van Gisbergen
Tyler Reddick
Michael McDowell
Ross Chastain
Martin Truex Jr.
SVG is in the race this week to get some more experience in the Cup car and he automatically will be in the conversation of top contenders this week on the road course. He had top 5 speeds in lap averages throughout his runs in practice and starts towards the front. He should be up there contending for the lead throughout the race. Reddick starts a little farther back in 16th so he has some place differential points to get as well, but he was one of the fastest cars in practice. He had the best 5 and 10 lap averages in practice and should be a top contender this week as we have seen him be one of the best drivers on road courses in recent years. I love McDowell for this race as he was really happy with his car and said he has incredible long run speed. He has had good runs here before and I think he could be one of the best cars at Watkins Glen. Chastain is a bit of a surprise this week but he came in with speed and looked good in practice. He had one of the fastest cars in lap averages in practice and went out and got the pole. He will have the chance to lead early and play what strategy he wants to play with the track position they have. Truex is one of the guys that Chastain will have to battle early as Truex starts outside of him in 2nd. Truex was one of the best cars in his group in practice which had the slower track when they went out. We should have a lot of tire wear this week and he is one of the best on high wear tracks so I think he will be great on the long run. He should have a chance this week to get a win in his final season.
Place Differential
Kyle Larson
Christopher Bell
Chris Buescher
Ryan Blaney
Larson has never qualified outside the top 10 at Watkins Glen and today he starts back in 20th. He was fast in practice and is always a top contender on road courses. He should move forward and have top 5 potential with upside to be a contender for the win. Bell is another who has a lot of good results on road courses and runs good on them. He was in line with the fast drivers in his group and even had better lap averages than Truex on 10 and 15 lap averages. He starts back in 17th and should be able to move forward in the race. Buescher has finished top 10 at Watkins Glen the last two races here and was solid in practice. I would expect him to have that potential again this week and he starts back in 24th giving him a good amount of place differential potential for the race. Blaney starts way win the back in 30th. He has some inconsistencies at road courses but he finished 9th here last year and is a good flier play for place differential points since he starts so far back.
Cheap Options
Todd Gilliland
Bubba Wallace
Justin Haley
Ryan Preece
Gilliland will be a popular play this week as he starts almost dead last and has had a lot of good runs at road courses. For a lot of the big place differential plays the most important factor is keeping their car clean and getting track position throughout the race. I think Gilliland will be a lot better in the race and is a top place differential option. Speaking of big place differential plays, Wallace and Haley are two drivers starting outside the top 30 and have big place differential potential. Wallace has improved greatly in the last few years on road courses and should have top 20 potential. Haley is a solid road racer and should have top 20 potential as well. Any of these drivers starting towards the back will have potential to be a good play if they miss any carnage that might happen and use strategy to get track position by the end of the race. Preece is a high risk play as he starts up in 21st and generally would only have top 20 upside on road courses. But I do think he could be a useable low owned tournament option as he had good long run speed in practice. He was towards the top of the chart in his group on 15 lap averages. He is a risky play but he could help differentiate a lineup over some of the obvious cheap place differential plays.
High Risk Low Owned Tournament Option
Austin Cindric
Cindric is a great road racer in his career and had speed in practice. He was the best car in his group, having better lap averages than Truex, Bell, Byron, and others in his group. Since he did look so good in practice he could get a good amount of ownership in DFS contest, but he starts up in 5th which could make him lower owned than he should be. With so many potential dominators and place differential options, he could be the driver being overlooked this week. He is a good value at his salary if he can stay up front and any dominator points would be a huge plus.
Follow Rounders_Sports on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rounders_sports/
Follow Rounders_Sports on X: https://x.com/Rounders_Sports
Σχόλια