Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Each week as part of OnPitRoad.com’s Pick ‘Em Fantasy Pick Pool, each competitor is required to pick three drivers that they believe will do well in that weekend’s event. Here is a breakdown of the picks for this week, and some reason that could explain why these picks were made.
Brandon Feeney and Ronald Costigan picked Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Daytona 500 will mark Chase Elliott’s first ever Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway. He won Saturday’s XFINITY race, and will start the big race from the pole. Though outside of winning Saturday’s event, he had only one other top-five XFINITY finish at Daytona.
Jimmie Johnson has won at Daytona on three previous occasions.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shown the most speed thus far during speedweeks and enters arguably as the top-favourite of the bunch. He picked up the win in the first Cam-Am Duel on Thursday night, and driving the car that he drove to four restrictor plate top-two finishes last year.
Ashley McCubbin picked Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson
Kevin Harvick has won at Daytona on two previous occasions.
Denny Hamlin won the Sprint Unlimited last Saturday night, finished second in his Cam-Am Duel and is the only driver who has speed and capability to challenge Earnhardt thus far for position on track.
Jeni Harris picked Matt Kenseth, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott
Matt Kenseth has won at Daytona on two previous occasions.
Ryan Blaney has ran well at Daytona previously, posting a sixth and a eighth place in a pair of truck starts. Wood Brothers Racing also knows how to pull the surprise with a rookie, with Trevor Bayne winning the Daytona 500 in 2011.
Justin Tucker picked Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Joey Logano is the defending Daytona 500 Champion and won two restrictor plate races last season. He also has finished second in each of the events that he has competed in thus far during Daytona Speedweeks.
Robert Hill picked Casey Mears, Paul Menard and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Casey Mears has emerged as a restrictor plate stand-out despite driving for the single-car Germain Racing team. Mears has an average finish of 16th with four top-10s in his past nine starts for the sixth best average finish of drivers over the past 10 races at Daytona.
Paul Menard has posted three top-10s in his last 10 starts at Daytona.
Parker Ledger picked Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Tim Johnston picked Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson.
Steve Love picked Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch
Brad Keselowski has posted two top-fives and three top-10s in his last 10 starts at Daytona, and is a past winner at Daytona’s sister track Talladega.
Kurt Busch has posted three top-fives and four top-10s in his nine starts at Daytona.
Alex George picked Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and Chase Elliott
David Ragan knows how to make magic happen with a small team, taking Front Row Motorsports to a win at Talladega Superspeedway a couple years ago. Now he tries to make the same style of magic happen with BK Racing. Ragan is also a past winner at Daytona with Roush Fenway Racing.
Wally Wilson picked Brian Vickers, Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Brian Vickers has posted a single top-five in his past four starts at Daytona, but notably is a past winner at Talladega Superspeedway.
Paul Wilson picked Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kyle Busch won the series championship last year, has a previous win at Daytona and won his Cam-Am Duel on Thursday night at Daytona.
Think you can pick better than our pool members? Comment with your three drivers that you think will do well in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
