DFS NASCAR: Camping World 500 Track Breakdown

The West Coast swing continues for NASCAR this week as the Monster Energy Cup moves to the valley of the sun and races at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday. P.I.R brings to bear the first 1-mile layout of the season and the low-banked turns that comes with that distance. So expect speeds to be slower than what we normally see. The last several races have averaged speeds of just over 100 mph.  A key thing to notice is the complete lack of passing that historically happens in the desert with Kevin Harvick leading the field in positional differential over the last 28 races and is third in the last four with a mark that hovers around +6.

Let’s have a look at those numbers, shall we.

Track Data

Top Drivers at Phoenix Historically

Top Drivers on 1-mile Tracks

Drivers to watch this week:

Kevin Harvick: Another week and here he is again in this section. I know it must be old but what can you do when he’s the best driver in the field at this track once again? In the last four races, Harvick has two wins and four top-fives in that span; his worst finish is fourth. He also is far and away the leader in laps led with 506 of the 1248 total run, run out in the front of the pack. At $11,100 in Draft Kings he may be very hard to work into lineups consistently.

Joey Logano: Logano is $600 cheaper than Harvick this week, as the second most expensive driver, but isn’t that far behind him statistically. He has a win, two top-fives, and three top-10s in the last four contest at P.I.R. Logano is also second in laps led with 93 spent in front. He has the fourth best average finish in the desert over the last two years as well.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has the best positional mark in the field this week at 6.67, though it’s over three races instead of four. He is also third in laps led with 76 over those three in addition to finishing between second and fourth in each race. In the last three year’s worth of 1-mile tracks he has seven top-fives in 11 races, which is a remarkable percentage. However the only concern with Kyle is what he will do if/when he runs into Logano on the track after their post-race scuffle last week.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Jr.’s season has been sputtering so far after missing the second half of last season but now the schedule heads to a track he has been very good at of late. He has a win and two top-five finishes in the last three races he’s run there, the other finish was a 43^rd place DNF. Jr. is fourth in laps led with 56 under his belt. Historically he has finished 14 times in the top-10 out of the 28 races he has run at Phoenix overall. At $8,500 in Draft Kings and $22.00 in NASCAR Fantasy Live, he could be worth a shot based on practice and qualifying results.

Aric Almirola: Almirola is a more modestly priced driver than the others on this list, but he still offers potential. He owns a sterling +6.5 positional differential, second best in the field, and has a top-10 to his credit in the last two years. Almirola is a top-15 driver a 1-mile layouts since the start of 2015, which isn’t bad given his salary on both sites.