NASCAR Finish Line: Analyzing Groups 2 and 3 for the Daytona Road Course

NASCAR Finish Line, a free-to-play gaming app from Penn National Gaming, is back with the resumption of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. Each week, there will be six groups of five drivers for the upcoming race. Users will predict which driver will finish first among each of the six groups and then the overall race winner and second-place finisher for a chance to win $25,000 if all eight scenarios are correctly selected. Last weekend's two races at Michigan International Speedway produced a jackpot winner in each race. RELATED: Download NASCAR Finish Line The second of six groups for this Sunday's race at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course (3 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) consists of Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer. The third of six groups consists of Aric Almirola, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson and Matt DiBenedetto. This will be the first Cup race on the 14-turn, 3.61-mile course, so we don't have past races here to fall back on. Instead, for a stats look at each driver, NASCAR.com has compiled the career percentage of top 10s in road-course starts, the 2019 average finish on road courses, the average finish at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval -- the closest comparison run so far -- and the average finish in the last five races of 2020 to get a sense of who has been good of late this season. A point system has been assigned, starting with one point for the best finisher and counting up to five points for the worst finisher. Those numbers were then added up. The lowest total signifies the strongest driver (green), and the highest total represents the weakest driver (red). GROUP 2

Driver	Percentage of top 10s in road course starts	2019 avg. finish on road courses	Avg. finish at Charlotte Roval	Avg. finish in last five 2020 races	Total
Ryan Blaney	60 percent (6 in 10) (1)	Avg. finish: 5.3 (1)	Avg. finish: 4.5 (2)	Avg. finish: 17.8 (5)	9
Joey Logano	46 percent (11 in 24) (4)	Avg. finish: 18.7 (5)	Avg. finish: 10.0 (3)	Avg. finish: 11.0 (3)	15
Brad Keselowski	41 percent (9 in 22) (5)	Avg. finish: 10.7 (2)	Avg. finish: 18.0 (5)	Avg. finish: 10.6 (1)	13
Kurt Busch	53 percent (21 in 40) (3)	Avg. finish: 14.3 (4)	Avg. finish: 12.5 (4)	Avg. finish: 10.8 (2)	13
Clint Bowyer	57 percent (17 in 30) (2)	Avg. finish: 11.7 (3)	Avg. finish: 3.5 (1)	Avg. finish: 15.2 (4)	10

GROUP 3

Driver	Percentage of top 10s in road course starts	2019 avg. finish on road courses	Avg. finish at Charlotte Roval	Avg. finish in last five 2020 races	Total
Aric Almirola	11 percent (2 in 19) (5)	Avg. finish: 11.7 (3)	Avg. finish: 16.5 (4)	Avg. finish: 9.0 (1)	13
William Byron	33 percent (2 in 6) (2)	Avg. finish: 15.3 (5)	Avg. finish: 20.0 (5)	Avg. finish: 16.8 (3)	15
Alex Bowman	30 percent (3 in 10) (3)	Avg. finish: 10.0 (2)	Avg. finish: 3.0 (1)	Avg. finish: 22.0 (5)	11
Jimmie Johnson	50 percent (19 in 38) (1)	Avg. finish: 13.3 (4)	Avg. finish: 8.5 (2)	Avg. finish: 18.6 (4)	11
Matt DiBenedetto	17 percent (2 in 12) (4)	Avg. finish: 7.0 (1)	Avg. finish: 12.0 (3)	Avg. finish: 16.2 (2)	10

The stats say the Group 2 pick comes down to Blaney or Bowyer. Bowyer has been wildly inconsistent this year, but road courses have been a strength for him in his career. On the other hand, Blaney won the first race at the Charlotte Roval. In Group 3, it's a tight battle among DiBenedetto, Johnson and Bowman. The numbers slightly favor DiBenedetto -- he was the best in the group in 2019 on road courses and he has finished better of late than the Hendrick Motorsports duo. Make sure to get your picks for all the groups as well as the first- and second-place finishers in the NASCAR Finish Line app before the race at the Daytona Road Course.