Dale Earnhardt, Jr. makes a good pick for Daytona

This weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series goes restrictor-plate racing at the Daytona International Speedway for a 400-mile race, the Coke Zero 400.

Obviously when you think if drivers who have been dominant at restrictor plate tracks, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. comes to mind.

But in his last restrictor plate race, which was at Talladega earlier this season, Earnhardt had car issues that caused him to finish 39th out of 40th in the pack.

But just think. Earnhardt won that exact Talladega race in 2015. Plus, Daytona is one of Earnhardt's better tracks, where he has won two Daytona 500s  (2004 and 2014), along with two Coke Zero 400 victories (2001 and 2015).

The 2001 victory (The race was sponsored by Pepsi back then, called the Pepsi 400) is possibly one of Earnhardt's most memorable victories to date, where his father, Dale Earnhardt passed away in a wreck in the last lap of the Daytona 500 that February.

The win was a great one for the Earnhardt family, as it was evident of how emotional Earnhardt was in victory lane at the same track his father lost his life at earlier in the year.

But Earnhardt's 2015 Coke Zero 400 victory was a bit scary, as a huge wreck occured behind the leaders that caused Austin Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet to fly off the race course and into the catchfence.

Dillon exited the car unhurt after many people rushed to the car to make sure he was okay.

But let's get into our analysis of what we're trying to say.

Earnhardt has four-career Sprint Cup wins at Daytona, and he is definitely one of the drivers that we wouldn't hesitate to pick for our fantasy NASCAR team for any restrictor-plate race.

Elliott's good XFINITY road course stats apply for Sonoma? Let's analyze

This weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Sonoma Raceway for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday.

Picking drivers for fantasy NASCAR can be tough at road courses because of the fact that certain drivers don't run as well on road courses than they do on oval tracks.

But we're looking at one rookie that may be able to help you.

That would be Chase Elliott.

Elliott has yet to run a road course in Sprint Cup, but his XFINITY road record is impressive. He has Top-10s in all six starts and four top fives in the series at road courses.

None of those were Sonoma,but that still can be applied in saying that those road course experiences can help Elliott at Sonoma this weekend.

We called Elliott an "optional" pick in the title of this piece because this is his first start at Sonoma in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but tie will only tell how he performs in that start.

Fantasy Notebook: XFINITY Series heads to Iowa

By @GucciardoJoey.

The NASCAR XFINITY Series heads to Newton, Iowa's
Iowa Speedway this weekend.

NEWTON, IA – This Sunday, the NASCAR XFINITY Series stars will battle it out in the American Ethanol E15 250 at Iowa Speedway. I am here to give you the best fantasy NASCAR advice for the XFINITY Series for that race.

Although flagship daily fantasy sports sites like DraftKings and FanDuel only offer NASCAR in the Sprint Cup Series, I am here to give you some notes that you can use for the the XFINITY Series on a site that does offer XFINITY Series fantasy, like the games on NASCAR's official website.

KESELOWSKI TIME IN NEWTON?

Brad Keselowski has been very dominant at Iowa in the past two years. Although in that span he has only ran in one NXS race at the track, he did win it. His driver average at Iowa since then has been 149.5. In that race, he led 146 laps and started second.

Keselowski is entered for the race at Iowa this weekend, so expect him to have an affect on the winner of this race.

TIFFT OUT, HORNISH IN

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Tuesday a driver change for the race. 

Under recommendations from his doctor, Matt Tifft will sit out for the event as he undergoes treatment for a disc condition in his back, as reported via a team release from the organization.


Instead, Sam Hornish Jr. will sit in the driver's seat of the No. 18 Toyota for the 250-lap event.

In that same two-year span I referenced with Keselowski above, Hornish had ran two races at Iowa and won one of them. His average finish at the track in that span has been 137.2.

JONES WITH THE TOP-10'S

Once again, in that same two year span at Iowa, Erik Jones has one Top-5 and one Top-10 finish at Iowa. He also had one pole in those two years.