Introducing “36 for 36,” a season-long friendly competition that mixes the excitement of the NASCAR Cup Series season with a dose of strategy.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: Once a pick is made, the player can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
This contest demands strategic foresight as pickers earn points based on the performance of their chosen cars each week. The most points earned over the Cup Series season wins, requiring players to carefully plan their picks, considering factors like track types and driver performance. Opting for underdogs at unpredictable drafting-heavy tracks like Daytona and saving top performers for crucial playoff races could be key strategies.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by a weekly group vote of fans on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers? (Hivemind, assemble!)
Race 1 of 36: Daytona
Ah, Daytona! There’s nothing like that new-season smell. Our pickers have a fresh slate of 36 cars for the first race of the season — who will they choose first? Remember, each picker will select each car exactly once throughout the year. So, these selections aren’t necessarily picks to win the “Great American Race” — rather, they’re cars our pickers have chosen with the year-long scope of the game in mind.
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 15, Riley Herbst
Dustin: “Daytona is an equalizer, and Herbst has an excellent track record on superspeedways in four Cup Series starts. In his series debut in last year’s Daytona 500, he overcame an early spin entering pit road and finished 10th. He backed up that performance in August with a fast car, even making a late move to try to win the first stage. Ryan Blaney also gave Herbst credit for pushing the No. 12 car to the win at Talladega last fall. Herbst is a solid underdog choice this weekend.”
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 10, Noah Gragson
Steve: “There’s something to be said about the excitement of a new team and the biggest race of the year that I think plays into the persona of Noah Gragson. Gragson has won at Daytona in the Xfinity Series, and it’s the site of his best Cup finish (fifth in the 2022 summer race), so he understands his way around the draft. Nobody knows how Stewart-Haas Racing will fare on the bulk of the schedule this year – they went winless last year, after all – so, to me, it’s not worth keeping a question mark on the board. Ready to start off this season with a perfect 10.”
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 21, Harrison Burton
Cameron: “Wood Brothers Racing is still chasing win No. 100, and there would be no better venue to reach the milestone than Daytona. Burton may not be the first name that comes to mind to be at the front of the field, but he’s led laps in both of his starts in the Daytona 500. The third-year driver will enter 2024 with a chip on his shoulder and I genuinely believe he could make enough noise to score a strong finish.”
r/NASCAR Community: No. 15, Riley Herbst
The NASCAR subreddit went with Riley Herbst as the first community-chosen 36 for 36 pick of the season, receiving a majority of votes in the weekly voting thread on Reddit. Herbst’s No. 15 outranked Justin Haley (No. 51) and Austin Dillon (No. 3) as popular choices, but the latter two will be used in later weeks – the people have spoken.
u/Blue8844: “I’m going with this… Riley has showed he can drive on the plate tracks, and will be about 1/6 tracks I’d even consider picking the 15 on.”
u/Mr-T14: “This is the right thinking. Honestly, any one of the 40 drivers has a relatively equal shot at being in a wreck OR running in the top 10. It’s not smart to burn a regular from a top team like Dennis when he’s much better used at Richmond for example”
u/LeapsFrog: “As the only r/NASCAR Fantasy Champion I endorse this pick.”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared at Daytona as we begin the season-long 36 for 36 journey.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!