Week 17 GFT NASCAR AI Driver Rankings: Elliott P1, Chastain P2, Kyle Busch moves up to P3 after WWTR

6 June 2022
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY — Illinois 300: A new track for the NASCAR Cup Series and the Gen 7 car was a big test for the Go Full Throttle NASCAR AI Driver Ranking models with very little data to work with. We did leverage the data from COTA with some weighting adjustments, but our predicted winner Ross Chastain tangled with multiple drivers and was lucky to finish 8th. Chase Elliott’s points lead provided the cushion he needed to retain the top ranking. He is 2.3 points ahead of Chastain and 6.5 ahead of Kyle Busch who moved into P3.

Week 17 of the NASCAR GFT Top 25 AI Driver Rankings following the Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWTR on June 5, 2022. (Image: GFT Digital / gofullthrottle.net)

THE BIG MOVERS
With the win, Joey Logan (Team Penske Ford) moves up 2 spots to P4 while Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron falls 2 spots to P5. The top ten in our rankings are:
P1 Elliott
P2 Chastain
P3 Kyle Busch
P4 Logano
P5 Byron
P6 Blaney
P7 Larson
P8 Truex Jr
P9 Bowman
P10 Bell

NASCAR CUP Season Half Way Point Tracking Report
The Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 12 is the official 1/2 way point with Chevrolet at 8 wins.

NASCAR CUP Season Half Way Point Tracking Report (Image: GFT Digital / gofullthrottle.net)

PREDICTIONS for Sonoma
While there is a lot of evidence to support Chase Elliott as the pick for Sonoma, our AI models give Kyle Larson a very slight advantage in the various prediction scenarios. Top 5 Larson, Elliott, Reddick, Kl Busch, Chastain

Photo Credit: Hendrick Motorsports

• Update — LARSON wins the Pole for Sonoma, Elliott P2