NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Dover Motor Speedway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they 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.
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 think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Current Standings:
Rank Name Points Behind
T-1 Steve Luvender 284 —
T-1 Dustin Albino 284 —
3 Cameron Richardson 235 -49
4 r/NASCAR Community 219 -65
Race 11 of 36: Dover
Last week was a hot-and-cold Talladega for our pickers. A bad day for Justin Haley led to just three points earned for Cameron Richardson and the r/NASCAR community. Steve Luvender’s selection of Todd Gilliland added 29 points after the No. 38 finished in eighth place, preserving the points lead after 10 races. The big winner was Dustin Albino, who jumped up to second in the standings thanks to 32 points earned from Harrison Burton’s top-10 finish with some stage-point cherries on top.
How will our panel handle Dover? The high-banked concrete mile is unlike anywhere else on the NASCAR circuit, and it’s time for pickers to get strategic about who to pick as the season nears the one-third mark and fewer selections remain available.
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 19, Martin Truex Jr.
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 21, Harrison Burton
Points earned last week: 32 (10th-place)
Total season points: 233 (second place)
Dustin: Truex’s numbers speak for themselves at Dover. In the last seven Dover races, he has scored a pair of victories and three runner-up finishes. Dating back to 2016, he has nine top fives over a 12-race span. In one of the three races, he didn’t crack the top five; he was spun by Ross Chastain while battling for third on the final lap. Next Gen car or not, Dover is among Truex’s best tracks – and it’s hard to imagine that changing this weekend.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 47, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Steve’s pick last week: No. 38, Todd Gilliland
Points earned last week: 29 (eighth-place finish)
Total season points: 279 (first place)
Steve: I managed to escape Talladega with a pretty good day courtesy of Todd Gilliland, but Dustin’s recent rise up the standings has me sweating a bit. Still, I’m going with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for Dover. The No. 47 posted a 15th-place and second-place finish in the last two outings at the Monster Mile after qualifying in the top 15 in both races — some above-average performances that I’m always seeking out in this game. While the option of burning a William Byron, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr. pick seems tempting, I’m hopeful Stenhouse can deliver a monster performance Sunday so I can extend my points lead to 11 weeks.
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 47, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Cameron’s pick last week: No. 51, Justin Haley
Points earned last week: 3 (34th-place finish)
Total season points: 214 (third place)
Cameron: Well, Talladega didn’t go according to the plan, but here’s to a bounce-back week at the Monster Mile. Stenhouse finished runner-up on the concrete at Dover in 2022 and was a respectable 15th there last year. His fourth-place result at Talladega is a season-best for him through 10 races through 2024, so the No. 47 team also has a huge spark of momentum returning to a track where they are more than capable of scoring another top-10 result.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 1, Ross Chastain
r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 51, Justin Haley
Points earned last week: 3 (34th-place finish)
Total season points: 210 (fourth place)
Hold on to your melons! The r/NASCAR community voted Ross Chastain as this week’s pick.
What Redditors said in the voting thread:
u/Jack_On_The_Track: “I’m banking on Ross securing another Top 5 (not that I have money)”
u/SeattlePassedTheBall: “3rd and 2nd in the next gen car here, this is my pick.”
u/Quasar_24: “I think we can start making the safe plays. Let’s do it!”
(Happy Reddit Cake Day, u/Quasar_24!)
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared at Talladega as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.
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!