Fantasy Update: Bell best among Toyota’s Roval hopefuls

Throughout the 2022 season, many story lines have remained the same at road courses. Trackhouse Racing is strong, Tyler Reddick is merciless and Toyota has struggled. Those all remained true after Saturday’s practice and qualifying session – even with Ross Chastain slipping up – at the Charlotte Roval. Enter Joey Logano, who won his third pole of the season and first on a road course since 2011. RELATED: Starting lineup for Sunday | Set your Fantasy Live lineup Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup: Starter 1: Chase Elliott Starter 2: AJ Allmendinger Starter 3: Daniel Suárez Starter 4: Austin Cindric Starter 5: Tyler Reddick Garage pick: William Byron NEXT IN LINE: Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell MORE: Updated race-day odds RISING: Much has been made of Toyota’s struggles on road courses during the 2022 season. But one thing has remained the same: Christopher Bell leads the camp with speed when turning left and right. That proved to be true once again on Saturday at the Roval, with Bell starting eighth while his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates will start 19th on back. The one concern for fantasy players using Bell should be that he’s only concerned about winning and could forego stage points. It’s been more than 11 years since Joey Logano won his last pole on a road course (Sonoma, 2011), but the No. 22 Ford will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday. Logano ranked fourth in practice as well and has consecutive top-10 efforts on road courses in the Next Gen, including a third-place outing at Watkins Glen. FALLING: Entering the final round of qualifying, Ross Chastain was sitting pretty, guaranteed to start inside the top 10. But on his warm-up lap, the No. 1 Chevrolet went off course in Turn 5 and smacked the tire barriers. The Next Gen car is extremely durable, but the Trackhouse team will have to repair the left-front fender and will have to drop to the rear. With Chastain’s Cinderella-type season, it wouldn’t be surprising if he has a strong rebound on a track type he’s performed well at in 2022. In last year’s Roval race, Cliff Daniels had to throw just about everything but the kitchen sink to repair the No. 5 car during the race. So, the fact that Kyle Larson will line up 18th on Sunday shouldn’t be too concerning. But with Larson winning the last road-course race at Watkins Glen, it seems like he’s third-best out of the Hendrick Motorsports camp thus far in Charlotte. FEATURED MATCHUPS Chase Elliott vs. Kyle Larson: Because of their recent battles on road courses, I thought this would be another case of oneupmanship between the HMS teammates. But with Elliott’s track record at the Roval, it’s awfully hard to bet against the No. 9 team. Since he will only be going after the race win, Elliott should be in your lineup. [pickup_prop id="28260"] Christopher Bell vs. William Byron: Throughout his Cup career, Byron has shown glimpses of speed at road courses. And even though he has just one top-10 finish on road courses in 2022, he’s likely going to chase stage points on Sunday, just 14 points above the playoff cutline entering the race. Bell, however, will be solely going after the checkered flag and is a realistic threat to win. These two cars looked to be the best from their respective teams, but the advantage should go to Byron, even if he doesn’t finish higher than the No. 20 car after 109 laps. [pickup_prop id="28309"] Austin Cindric vs. Chase Briscoe: After his qualifying performance, Briscoe was upset with himself, believing he left a couple of tenths on the table. Cindric was steady, as he has been all season on road courses. Because of his starting position and the fact that he has four top 10s in five road course races this year, Cindric is the choice. [pickup_prop id="28311"] Daniel Suárez vs. Joey Logano: This is about as even as it can get, with Suárez and Logano starting in the first two rows. From COTA to now, Logano has shown great improvement on road courses in the Next Gen car. Suárez, though, has been one of the front-runners all season on these tracks, with a trio of top-five efforts. I’d give the nod to Suárez; plus, it allows for you to save Logano for an upcoming event. [pickup_prop id="28312"]