DFS NASCAR: Cheez-It 355 Track Breakdown

This Sunday brings the second road race of the season in NASCAR as the Chevys and Fords and Toyotas come rumbling into upstate New York and Watkins Glen International. “The Glen” is a far different track than that of Sonoma Raceway as there are fewer turns and it’s built for faster speeds. In Sunday’s field, there are 12 drivers with position differentials better than +7 which should come in handy when picking out the six we want to put in the lineups for race day.

Here’s a look at the data:

*With this week being a road race, the Top-15 drivers section represents historical data from Watkins Glen International.

Drivers to watch this week:

A.J. Allmendinger- Always known more as a road course driver than anything else, this may very well be his week to shine through. Allmendinger is still looking to definitively punch his way into the Chase and given his history at the track, including a win; two top-fives; four top-10s and the most laps led in the last two races, he figures to be in a good spot come Sunday to be a staple of a lineup at $9,900.

Joey Logano- Logano is the defending champ at The Glen, having led only the final lap in last August’s race after starting 16^th. He has a similar history at the track to the aforementioned A.J. Allmendinger though he does only have that one lap led. At $9,500 this week and coming off a string of very solid races, wrapped around the two he crashed out of, he is worth the money in either lineup, depending on qualifying spot.

Matt Kenseth- Kenseth is the owner of one of the best positional differentials on the track having finished in the top-10 both of the last two races despite starting an average of 17th. That being said however, he hasn’t exactly done well with leading laps here with just three to his credit in his 16 races at the track. He had a bad showing at Pocono, in the weather shortened race after being up front before a late pit stop costing him, but Kenseth did have three very solid races prior to that including a 101 point race at Loudon.

Greg Biffle- At a +15.5, he has the best positional mark in the field over the last two races and has shown he can move successfully through the field at Watkins Glen. At $7,700 he is a very good mid-level salary option to bolster a roster before next week’s break in the schedule. In recent weeks he has been coming on strong and put together a 41-point performance at Sonoma earlier in the year.

Danica Patrick- Sitting towards the bottom of the price list, as she generally is, she is a solid-enough pick to recommend this week. She has a +13.5 differential at The Glen and is capable of a top-20 finish even when she doesn’t qualify well. At a bargain-friendly price of $6,100 and averaging 27 points a week, she is hard to turn down when needing to save money.