NASCAR Cup GFT AI Driver Rankings after the Shriner’s Childrens 500 at Phoenix Raceway

14 March 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

AVONDALE, AZ — The data story coming into the Shriner’s Childrens 500 at Phoenix Raceway was all about Ford winning Pole position for the first 3 points paying NASCAR Cup races — but not converting those fast qualifying times into wins. Chevrolet powered teams won those races with Willam Byron (Hendrick Motorsports) at Daytona, Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse) at Atlanta, and Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports) at Las Vegas. The Toyota teams looked strong in pre-season with Denny Hamlin’s win at The Clash in LA, and both Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell winning at The Duals at Daytona. But the wins that pay points (Drivers, Manufacturer, and Owner) were all Chevy. That all changed Sunday at Phoenix with Hamlin’s dominate pace in practice and earning pole along with JGR teammate Christopher Bell’s victory. Here is how our GFT algorithms worked out the math:

Updated Go Full Throttle Driver Rankings after Phoenix

Go Full Throttle NASCAR AI Driver Rankings following the Shriner’s Childrens 500 on March 10, 2024 at Phoenix Raceway (Image Credit: GFT Digital)

Who is UP and who is DOWN?
Moving up 8 spots was Sunday’s winner Christopher Bell raising from P25 to P13 in the GFT AI NASCAR Driver Rankings.

Christopher Bell Driver Profile (Image Credit: nascar.com)

Not surprising the second biggest move up the GFT rankings was “Big Tex” Chris Buescher, up 6 spots from P27 to P21 on his 2nd place finish at Phoenix.

Chris Buescher Driver Profile (Image Credit: nascar.com)

Also moving up the rankings was 23IX / Toyota driver Tyler Reddick who finished 10th but collected significant Stage points as did battle in the top 5 most of the race Sunday.

Falling 5 spots in the rankings was Daniel Suarez (from P6 to P11) after a 13th place finish where he, along with most of the Chevrolet teams, struggled to break into and/or maintain position in the top 10. Chase Elliott started P3 with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Willam Byron starting P5, but both struggled to hold pace with the Toyotas and Fords, ultimately finishing 18th (Byron) and 19th (Elliott). Christopoher Bell and TRD boss David Wilson both noted that Hendrick Motorsports and the Chevrolet teams “clearly missed it on the set-up” and went on to say they expect the Chevy teams “will figure it out and be much better” in the Fall Championship race at Phoenix.

Christopher Bell takes questions on from the media during the post-race press conference in the Media Center at Phoenix Raceway (Image Credit: Bob Francis, Gail Francis, GFT Digital)

JGR Owner Joe Gibbs, TRD David Wilson, and №20 Toyota Crew Chief Adam Stevens at the post-race press conference in the Media Center at Phoenix Raceway (Image Credit: Bob Francis, Gail Francis, GFT Digital)

Updated GFT NASCAR CUP SERIES Box Score

Reminder that our AI models need every bit of on track racing data we can get to train and tune the algorithms, so we pull in all on track data including the exhibition races The Clash and The Duals.

Updated Go Full Throttle NASCAR Fantasy Live Box Score after Phoenix

The GFT AI bot playing in the TMD NASCAR league of NASCAR Fantasy Live, scored a season high of 202 points this week, even with Bell not in our lineup!

Even with the GFT AI Bot’s best points total so far this season, our rank fell to 288 out of 4,501 players placing us just outside of the top %5, now at 6.39% vs all other players.