It’s here, it’s finally here! The start of the 2018 season and the 60th running of the Great American Race. Daytona always brings a great start to the season with the most famous track in auto racing combined with the drama that is ever-present at a restrictor plate race.

For starters Daytona International Speedway is a 2.5-mile tri-oval that has banking in the turns of 31 degrees, aka steep, and tri-oval banking at 18 degrees. Known as the world’s center of racing, it is the birthplace of the sport and it kicks off the season every year with the 500. The calmness invoked in that description belies the chaotic happenings on the track during the race.

In order to reduce speeds, NASCAR has instituted a restrictor plate at both Daytona and Talladega that is essentially a governor for the engine. The issue with this is that it produces a lot of side-by-side pack racing at speeds over or near 200mph. When cars go that fast in a group of 40, it makes them very unstable and susceptible to being spun around without any contact actually being made between cars. Plate races are known for “the big one,” a crash takes out several, some times double-digit, cars and thus is the issue with picking these races. Focusing on drivers that have a history of driving up front most of the race, or riding around in the back is often a good strategy here and don’t be afraid to leave a lot of money on the table to fill out your lineup. Just remember the chart in the track breakdown piece that shows how many cheap drivers produced massive point totals.

Over the last 14 races at Daytona overall the average starting spot of the winners has been 11th. Just 52% of the winners at Daytona all time have started fifth or better. Those stats are shocking and far different from any other track, except Talladega, another plate track.

Getting to Sunday’s race, there are several high value drivers based on upside, starting position, and salary and I have broken down a lot of them here. These are my favorite plays for the week, but I am always available to answer a question about any driver not talked about below on twitter @theselzman or in the NASCAR forums on the site.

Stacks

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