With the All-Star Race now over and done, it’s time to get excited again for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series. The action resumes this weekend at the Nashville Superspeedway, with Kyle Larson looking to extend his win streak. That’s surely going to be easier said than done, especially with some drivers with longer odds lurking behind the scenes and planning to pull off a big win.
Almirola has zero NASCAR Cup Series race wins to date this season, but he just won the All-Star Open Race over the weekend, so that gives him a nice momentum heading to Tennessee. He also finished eighth in the All-Star race (main). Another reason why you should not ignore Almirola is that he has an average finish of 15.18 in 44 intermediate tracks races since February 2018. Furthermore, Almirola hasn’t finished worse than fifth in all of his last three races on intermediate tracks, going third at Indianapolis in July 2020 and fifth and second in two races at Pocono in June 2020.
Buescher is still searching for his first win of the season, but he’s been someone who’s been performing well over his last several races. Including his third-place finish in the All-Star Open Race, Buescher has cracked the top 10 in four of his last seven starts. Overall, he has four top 10s in NASCAR Cup Series races this year. He has won before on an intermediate track (2.5-mile), which he did during the 2016 Pennsylvania 400. Buescher has a trio of top 10s in 15 career starts on an intermediate track.
It’s turning out to be another disappointing season for Jones, but there’s still plenty of chance for him to win a race and make the playoff cut. Moreover, he’s been doing better in his last few starts, having finished inside the top 16 in all of his last three NASCAR Cup Series races. It’s also worth mentioning that he has a 14.93 career average finish in intermediate track races across 58. starts. That includes 12 top 5s and 28 top 10s.
