Daytona 500 Fantasy Picks
Daytona 500 Pole Pick (Fantasy Live) February 8, 2020 February 18, 2020 FantasyRacingTips Fantasy Live Picks The NASCAR Cup Series will set the front row for the 62 nd of the Daytona 500 Sunday. The legendary Monster Energy Series Daytona 500 race in 2020 will be held for the 62nd time. Pilots have to go 200 laps on a super speedway 2.5 miles long. About 300,000 spectators and a multimillion-dollar television audience will follow. The legendary Monster Energy Series Daytona 500 race in 2020 will be held for the 62nd time. Pilots have to go 200 laps on a super speedway 2.5 miles long. About 300,000 spectators and a multimillion-dollar television audience will follow. NASCAR Expert Picks for the Daytona 500 Denny Hamlin leads Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., and Kyle Busch during practice for the Daytona 500 on February 8, 2020 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fl. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire). Daytona 500 Fantasy NASCAR Top Tier Elite Picks Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Denny Hamlin – Defending Daytona 500 champion, Denny Hamlin will be tough to beat in “The Great American Race.” Hamlin’s a standout performer in the Daytona 500, and in 5 of the last 6 he’s finished in the top 4.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season is here and Fantasy Live is back in action! Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will lead the field to green for Sunday’s running of the 62nd Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Is the JTG Daugherty Racing newcomer worthy of a lineup spot? What about fellow front row starter Alex Bowman? RJ Kraft offers up his race-day lineup and bonus picks below.RJ Kraft race-day lineup for Daytona 500:
Fantasy Alarm
1: Joey Logano
2: Matt DiBenedetto
3: Aric Almirola
4: Erik Jones
5: Austin Dillon
Fantasy Nascar Daytona 500 Picks
Garage: Ryan Newman
Just missing the cut for me: Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell and William Byron
RELATED: Lap averages, practice results and more Fantasy preview coming into Daytona
Analysis: The fantasy season is a marathon not a sprint and the 10-race use limit can loom large later in the year, so that as well as the unpredictability of superspeedway racing has me going with a set strategy. One anchor or star pick and then a host of mid-tier drivers that have solid superspeedway resumes. My only absolutely here is I am completely avoiding Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin. They are far too valuable at too many tracks in the regular season and I am not going to burn a use for them at Daytona. Hamlin was one play I did briefly consider but given that the rules package is by and large similar to the one that he, Busch and Truex dominated with at times for much of 2019. I want to save those usages.
Logano is my ace for this one and I realize the play here might cost me down the line. He’s been too strong in Speedweeks and is too good at superspeedway racing for me to pass on the use here. Almirola joins my lineup after an impressive Speedweeks and my desire to go heavier on the Fords in my lineup. DiBenedetto has a solid Daytona history (three top 10s and led the most laps in this race last year) as does his new team in the Wood Brothers. Jones is a bit of an under-the-radar play when it comes to superspeedways, but he won the Clash. I wanted to have a Toyota in my lineup and I was avoiding the aforementioned JGR trio. Dillon has had solid Daytona numbers his entire career and was extremely race-y in this package last year.
As I wrote earlier this week, Newman is the ideal garage pick. He’ll run in the back for much of the race, but with five laps to go, he’ll be in the top 10 and you be thanking his patience instead of cursing his lack of stage points. My main risk is a lack of Chevrolets outside of Dillon and that is something I will weigh on race-day morning one last time.
Bonus picks: Byron to win Stage 1, Hamlin to win Stage 2 with Logano and Ford for the race and manufacturer win.
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