BJ priced like he's 40% to DNF. Could be accurate given recent performance.
My initial DNF research shows Talladega pretty close to Daytona, but some recent years that have run cleaner than Daytona ever does + 40hp and drag reduction in package probably decreases it. Seems like the optimals here recent years have looked like the Daytona lineup you posted earlier.
Since 2010, average # who DNF:
Total: 6.6, Daytona: 12.2, Talladega: 11.0
Since 2016, average DNF:
Total: 5.4, Daytona: 14.1, Talladega: 12.3
I was looking at some super speedway data and one thing I found interesting: mid-race position is actually a better predictor of DK points than starting position.
people at the front in the mid-race are more likely to score less points. So when we are considering starting position for tomorrow we should also consider who tends to move up from the back a lot.
I looked historically through SS and other types of tracks and I'm a little worried about these guys:
Christopher Bell. Everyone is going to play him in cash but he tends to try and get to the front fast. I'd play him in cash just because everyone will so game theory, but he could be a good tournament fade/under weight options.
Michael McDowell - same. He likes racing in the front and tries to move up.
Ricky Stenhouse - I'm personally going to have a lot of him in tournaments, but he's always moving up.
Bell/Gaughan/Ty/Preece looked good to me for cash options. Not exactly sure where I wanna go from there though. For tournaments going to try and gauge ownership tomorrow morning and pivot to other guys in the back. If we're chasing PD points from crashes a couple starting pts or slightly better car shouldn't matter too much -- closer to a bi-modal distribution for player points.
Seems like the touts are on Truex to crash tomorrow but haven't seen the prop anywhere. Will prob play him in some tournaments hoping for another Hayley-esque performance
Bell/Gaughan/Ty/Preece looked good to me for cash options.
That's where I'm leaning as well. Do you guys have a preference in the Gase/Smithley/Yeley/Houff/Hill area or am I best off closing my eyes and randomly picking one?
Think I may end up with Chase/DiBene/Gaughan/Suarez/Ty/Bell for cash but you probably want to fade me, most things I post turn to mush it seems . I think I prefer Smithley and Hill if you're going for all guys from the back
I think Hill will be higher owned and at worst he gets 40th which I think is still positive? Maybe 1 point.
Smithley has a higher floor but I think Hill has a better chance to avoid wrecks (after he crashed yesterday). Either one is fine IMO. They're both just going to ride around in the back. Personally I'm going Smithley and Hill. Smithley's main issue is his car. It could break before the "big one".
Talladega is more of a strategy race. You should be losing most of the race and then when the accidents happen you'll be in a good place. XFinity yesterday was different. All the back guys started riding in the middle and then when the big accident happened they all got destroyed.
CUP there's a big differential in equipment and skill between those 30-40 guys and everyone else. The 30-40 guys can't compete and that's actually what we want. People just riding around on the bottom of the track laps down. They'll pick up insane place differential when everyone crashes.
For tournaments probably want 1-2 guys up front who can win but cash all back guys and leave tons of salary on the table.
he's in the 78. usually bj mcleod drives the 78 and gives the 77 to other drivers (he owns both).
the last time the 78 raced was atlanta and the clutch blew on the first lap. Instead of going back to his usual car, BJ decided to drive the 77 instead. Makes me think they got a sponsor for the 78, know its ****, and just putting someone in there to get the sponsor money. BJ McLeod is super cheap and it seems like something he would do.
he's starting high, but I looked through the Talladega data and by midrace he's almost always in the 30s. He intentionally drops to the back early on and makes his moves late. Could be a good candidate to avoid a wreck.
How many guys from the middle 12-25 is too many? Seem to pivot there a lot for ownership but maybe a lot of them will be in the pack for a crash and need them to hang back.
i 150'd both FD and DK and what I did is I took 6 drivers, made combos of 2 (15 combos) and made 10 lineups with each with 3-4 back guys and 0-1 middle guys. set max ownership for those groups at 30% except gaughan put it at 50
middle good guys: stenhouse, newman, dillon, jones, aric
lets win that 250k. The ownership numbers were interesting yesterday. All back guys super owned vs. Daytona when it was the opposite. Daytona's more casual. I don't think a lot of people are getting hype for Talladega. So I went to try and build a lot of uniques. Probably crash and lose 3k (I had 53 tickets tho! That I got for only $321 investment). Had 62/100 uniques yesterday but only could get a couple in top 500.