Bluegreen Vacations 500: Power Rankings

Race Information

Race: Bluegreen Vacations 500
Laps: 312
Date: November 10^th
Venue: ISM Raceway
2018 Winner: Kyle Busch (3:10:20)
Broadcast: NBC

Track

ISM Raceway opened in 1964. It runs at 1 mile low bank asphalt track with turns curving between 8-11 degrees. Home to two races, the desert is surrounded by Estrella Mountains. The introduction of a dog-leg coupled with bumping up the angle slightly on two turns to allow for more side by side racing due to the speed around the turns and multi-grooves.

Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

Power Rankings

The Favorites

Denny Hamlin (ninth selection this year) — He has four finishes in the top 5 in the playoffs, he has won the pole position in a bunch of these (leading me to believe he has the fastest car) and he has a strong history here where he has finished inside the top 10 each of the last three years here.

Kyle Busch (tenth selection this year) — I’m using my last start for Kyle Busch diligently with the 2nd last race of the year. Kyle has not finished outside the top 5 here the last three years and he won here earlier this year.

High Risk/High Reward

Daniel Suarez (sixth selection this year) — With a top 10 finish each of the last two years, Daniel is quite comfortable at ISM Raceway, with four finishes outside the top 30, he is NOT comfortable with playoff racing.

William Byron (fourth selection this year) — He has four top ten finishes in the playoffs so far and he has a decent one year sample size with a 12th place finish here last year when he raced as a rookie. I’m taking a flier here.

The Dark Horse

Ryan Newman (sixth selection this year) — Ryan has finished in the top 12 here the last two years, he was 12th here earlier this year and he is coming off back to back top 15 finishes at Martinsville and Texas.

2019 Results

Favorite: Avg Finish 13th (35th Percent)
High Risk/High Reward: Avg Finish 12th (32nd Percent)
Dark Horse: Avg Finish 16th (43rd Percent)