NASCAR 36 For 36: Daytona Picks

NASCAR recently announced the release of an all-new survivor game, called NASCAR 36 for 36. I'll break down the rules and how to play and provide some insight into who to pick for the Great American Race. Once the Daytona Duels are over on Thursday and the field is finalized, I'll provide my NASCAR Fantasy Live picks for that specific game.

General Notes about Daytona

As we all know, the Daytona 500 is somewhat of a crapshoot. Over the past ten years, an average of 26.8 cars have been involved in crashes at Daytona, meaning that nearly 2 out of 3 cars entered in the Great American race will be caught up in a wreck, when scaled to a 40-car field.

Add this to the fact that we haven't seen a repeat winner at the 2.5 mile oval in the Next Gen car, and you have a recipe for a very unpredictable 2025 Daytona 500. Now, let's get into the rules of this new game!

NASCAR 36 for 36 (Survivor)

The 2025 season marks the first year of the NASCAR 36 for 36 survivor game that is now accessible to the public--previously, only NASCAR journalists participated in 2024. The rules are simple:

• Pick a driver for each of the points-paying races in the season. Only full-time chartered Cup Series drivers are eligible.
• You can only pick a driver once (as there are 36 chartered teams).
• Normal NASCAR scoring rules apply. This included any accumulated stage points and finishing position points during the race.

What the Stats Say

Let's take a look at the top eight full-time drivers at Daytona in the Next Gen era by average finish (2022-2024).

Overall Strategy

Seeing as though every driver will need to be selected, the most obvious play here is to chose "lower-tier" teams here, and attempt to save the more competitive tracks where aero or handling may be more imperative to success. We also have a pseudo-superspeedway coming up in the immediate future at Atlanta Motor Speedway that currently has me leaning towards a similar strategy for next weekend.

Let's go over my top-three picks for the race, and three drivers to avoid.

1. Cody Ware (third-best average finish at Daytona in Next Gen era)

Cody Ware is my ideal pick. Although we know Rick Ware isn't exactly the most competitive team on the grid, Ware seems to hang around and avoid the Big Ones that plague everyone else. His potential upside here is much greater than the majority of the season, where I don't think he'll be able to finish in the top 20 in a "traditional" race. There are a couple of issues that I have with Ware but I can ignore them for the time being: 1. Even though the stats don't show raw speed, if he does stay near the back of the pack for the majority of the race, he could lose the draft and ultimately go a lap down. 2. I don't expect Ware to score any stage points throughout the race (as he has failed to do so in all of his Next Gen starts), but these races usually have a much closer points distribution once people start ultimately wrecking out. The main goal here is to not necessarily maximize points, but to survive and have a decent points day.

Long story short, if you're looking for someone to be there at the end when it counts, Ware is your guy.

2. Zane Smith (13th in all three Cup starts at Daytona)

It's hard to gauge how Smith will perform in his first full-time season in the Cup Series, but his consistency at Daytona is something to be desired. Ford has a 50% win rate at Daytona in the Next Gen era, and Smith has shown that he can hang with the big dogs in the past. He has finished on the lead lap in all three Cup starts at the track. Front Row also seems to have a good speed at these types of tracks, especially after their technical alliance with Penske in 2024. An honorable mention here is also Todd Gilliand, but I feel better saving him for Atlanta next weekend where he led 58 laps in the spring race last year.

3. John Hunter Nemechek (fourth-best average finish at Daytona in Next Gen era)

John Hunter Nemechek is a very underrated candidate to pick for Daytona. He has finshed in the top 15 at both 2024 Cup races at Daytona, as well as 2 11th-place finishes in 2020 at the venue, his only other starts. Nemechek also has two top-10 finishes at Talladega in 2020. I don't expect him to be a contender for the win for most other races on the calendar, so this is a good opportunity to use him.

Other honorable mentions: Riley Herbst (only top-tens (2) have came at superspeedways in Cup racing), Bubba Wallace (best average finish in Next Gen era).

Drivers to Avoid

Denny Hamlin (Avg Finish: 27.0 in last 6 Daytona starts, 2nd-worst among active drivers)

Although Denny Hamlin is a 3-time Daytona 500 champion, his recent success has been something to be desired in the Next Gen era. After winning three times at the venue in the Gen 6 era in 2016, and back-to-back in 2019 and 2020--Hamlin has not been able to achieve any top-ten finishes in the Next Gen car, and has a best finish of 17th, which came during the 2023 Daytona 500.

Evidently, the configuration of the Next Gen cars are a stark contrast to the low-drag Gen 6 counterparts, and Hamlin has seemed to fail to adapt to the new package. Reportedly, today's superspeedway package has a much higher horsepower output (estimated in the 500s) to compensate for the large amount of drag the cars produce.

Now don't get me wrong, I believe Hamlin has lots of potential to win this race, but considering his success at tracks like Richmond, I feel better saving him for later in the season.

Kyle Larson (Avg Finish: 24.3 in last 6 Daytona starts, only 1 lead-lap finish)

It's no suprise to anyone that Larson isn't a favorite at Daytona, as he has yet to win at a drafting track in his Cup career (11 full-time seasons). Here are his stats at the three superspeedways in the Next Gen era:

He has only one top-10 finish in his last six starts at the track, netting a best finish of 11th in the 2024 Daytona 500. In this game, Larson's talent is much better utilized at a venue that requires more driver skill.

Tyler Reddick (Avg Finish: 26.3 in last 6 Daytona starts, only 2 lead-lap finishes)

Although Reddick has picked up a win at a superspeedway in Cup competion at the 2024 spring Talladega venue, his potential upside, much like Larson, is much better utilized elsewhere, like at COTA or Pocono (average finish of 3.7 and 3.3 in Next Gen racing). He has only been able to lead the race for 13 laps in his last six starts at Daytona, coming in 2022 where he finished second, and three out of his last four trips to Daytona have resulted in DNFs.

Disclaimer

In my ten or so years of experience watching superspeedway racing, one thing is for certain: anything can happen, especially as I've seen a trend of drivers becoming more daring and desperate in the closing laps to do anything they can to win.

After all, the Daytona 500 is the most prestigious race on the calendar and winning in today's racing culture means more than anything else.

With this in mind, sometimes the best picks are gut instincts, rather than statistics. I hope this article has helped you in some way, and I wish you the best in your NASCAR 36 for 36 survivor game!