If you’ve been following Fantasy NASCAR for any period of time, or even if you’re brand new, you probably know that the fastest cars don’t always finish up front. Whether it be a mechanical issue, a wreck, or just bad luck with a late caution, there are many times where the driver that ends up in victory lane didn’t have the best car in that race.
Also with the NASCAR Fantasy world, there’s tons of great data that you can look at–and probably too much if you have enough time to spend. One statistic I like to look at is Green Flag Speed, which is a measurement of a car’s speed during the green flag laps of the race. NASCAR averages this and reports it after each race, giving us a good idea of who had the best car under racing conditions.
So, because this is a pretty important statistic, I went ahead and started this little cheat sheet. Now, like any statistic, Green Flag Speed can be skewed by an early wreck, or if you’re unable to even make one green flag lap in the race (*cough* Stenhouse *cough*). But we’ll have to make do with what we have.
Green Flag Speed Average Ranking in 2020
This chart is relatively simple: you take the ranking of each car in each race, and average them throughout the entire season. Because superspeedways are such a crap shoot, I’m going to go ahead and remove those from the equation. You can also scroll over and see the individual ranking for each race. Click on the headers of each column to sort by that.
| #4 Ford | Harvick | 5.8 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 15 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 5 | |
| #9 Chevy | Elliott | 6.6 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| #19 Toyota | Truex | 8.3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 30 | 2 | 29 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 8 | |
| #18 Toyota | Kyle Busch | 8.3 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 16 | |
| #22 Ford | Logano | 8.6 | 4 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 21 | 3 | 26 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 3 | |
| #12 Ford | Blaney | 9.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 11 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 21 | 19 | 2 | 1 | |
| #2 Ford | Keselowski | 9.0 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 16 | 24 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 10 | |
| #11 Toyota | Hamlin | 9.9 | 8 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 19 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 35 | 4 | 3 | 30 | 10 | 20 | |
| #88 Chevy | Bowman | 10.9 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 27 | 18 | 8 | 21 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 22 | 16 | 7 | 17 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 18 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 17 | 1 | 6 | |
| #10 Ford | Almirola | 11.2 | 10 | 23 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 23 | 16 | 6 | 25 | 14 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 13 | |
| #1 Chevy | Kurt Busch | 11.7 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 23 | 12 | 18 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 22 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 22 | 8 | 11 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 11 | |
| #14 Ford | Bowyer | 12.7 | 11 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 21 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 4 | 14 | 21 | 31 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 23 | 18 | |
| #21 Ford | DiBenedetto | 13.6 | 15 | 11 | 20 | 8 | 13 | 8 | 28 | 16 | 26 | 9 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 19 | 14 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 12 | |
| #24 Chevy | Byron | 13.9 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 20 | 7 | 8 | 23 | 14 | 18 | 12 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 28 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 27 | 12 | 16 | 2 | |
| #20 Toyota | Jones | 14.1 | 13 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 22 | 4 | 22 | 15 | 17 | 5 | 27 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 26 | 7 | 21 | 8 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 11 | 23 | |
| #48 Chevy | Johnson | 14.6 | 21 | 17 | 25 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 10 | 15 | 23 | 31 | 5 | 23 | 17 | 23 | 24 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 18 | 20 | 16 | 5 | 7 | |
| #3 Chevy | A. Dillon | 15.4 | 29 | 8 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 30 | 19 | 14 | 11 | 18 | 22 | 12 | 14 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 17 | 20 | 17 | 14 | |
| #8 Chevy | Reddick | 17.2 | 26 | 21 | 14 | 24 | 9 | 15 | 21 | 19 | 13 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 23 | 30 | 4 | 17 | 17 | 27 | 20 | 13 | 19 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 19 | |
| #95 Toyota | Bell | 17.2 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 24 | 28 | 19 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 13 | 29 | 18 | 15 | 19 | 17 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 19 | 33 | |
| #47 Chevy | Stenhouse | 18.2 | 22 | 18 | 19 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 30 | 11 | 20 | 12 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 27 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 21 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 23 | 28 | 22 | 27 | 22 | ||
| #41 Ford | Custer | 19.2 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 27 | 16 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 16 | 13 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 30 | 23 | 25 | 26 | 22 | 29 | 22 | 14 | 21 | 28 | |
| #42 Chevy | Kenseth | 19.4 | 19 | 39 | 24 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 26 | 11 | 24 | 23 | 21 | 5 | 14 | 16 | 27 | 27 | 19 | 17 | 7 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 24 | 9 | |
| #17 Ford | Buescher | 21.8 | 20 | 31 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 27 | 18 | 15 | 22 | 24 | 27 | 30 | 16 | 2 | 15 | 35 | 32 | 14 | 20 | 13 | 25 | 30 | 24 | 16 | 27 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 17 | |
| #6 Ford | Newman | 22.2 | 16 | 24 | 28 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 20 | 23 | 18 | 22 | 29 | 23 | 28 | 21 | 25 | 34 | 20 | 18 | 28 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 15 | |
| #37 Chevy | Preece | 22.8 | 27 | 22 | 27 | 26 | 21 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 21 | 28 | 30 | 19 | 18 | 10 | 27 | 19 | 28 | 25 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 24 | 6 | 19 | 27 | 28 | 21 | |
| #38 Ford | Nemechek | 23.3 | 30 | 15 | 21 | 20 | 25 | 24 | 27 | 21 | 25 | 29 | 21 | 16 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 18 | 25 | 26 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 21 | 15 | 21 | 38 | 16 | 21 | 26 | 26 | |
| #34 Ford | McDowell | 23.7 | 28 | 25 | 26 | 21 | 26 | 21 | 25 | 24 | 29 | 31 | 25 | 25 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 14 | 17 | 1 | 15 | 26 | 24 | 29 | 26 | 24 | 25 | 28 | 25 | 27 | ||
| #43 Chevy | Wallace | 24.1 | 25 | 37 | 22 | 30 | 20 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 25 | 22 | 29 | 17 | 24 | 28 | 17 | 24 | 27 | 18 | 9 | 22 | 18 | 27 | 29 | 22 | 24 | 29 | 22 | 24 | |
| #13 Chevy | T. Dillon | 27.0 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 31 | 24 | 27 | 24 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 23 | 21 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 26 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 27 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 29 | 25 | |
| #32 Ford | LaJoie | 27.4 | 24 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 26 | 30 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 25 | 27 | 31 | 20 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 25 | 29 | 31 | 16 | 28 | 26 | 29 | 26 | 30 | 30 | |
| #96 Toyota | Suarez | 30.3 | 31 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 23 | 30 | 33 | 32 | 29 | |
| #15 Chevy | Poole | 32.2 | 32 | 30 | 32 | 32 | 33 | 33 | 32 | 34 | 32 | 33 | 33 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 32 | 33 | 31 | 31 | 34 | 38 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 31 | 32 | |
| #77 Chevy | Sorenson | 34.3 | 35 | 32 | 38 | 34 | 35 | 37 | 33 | 37 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 36 | 34 | 33 | 34 | 28 | 33 | 36 | 37 | 35 | 37 | 38 | 35 | 20 | 32 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 36 | |
| #00 Chevy | Houff | 35.7 | 39 | 33 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 37 | 35 | 35 | 37 | 37 | 35 | 37 | 38 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 39 | 36 | 39 | 33 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 34 | |
| #53 Ford | Smithley | 36.2 | 37 | 35 | 35 | 39 | 37 | 36 | 35 | 36 | 36 | 38 | 36 | 34 | 38 | 39 | 35 | 36 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 38 | 35 | 36 | 38 | 37 | 39 | 34 | 34 | 35 | ||
| #66 Toyota | Hill | 37.0 | 34 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 36 | 32 | 39 | 39 | 38 | 39 | 39 | 35 | 36 | 40 | 38 | 37 | 39 | 37 | 36 | 36 | 40 | 33 | 34 | 40 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 38 | 38 | |
| #51 Ford | Gase | 37.5 | 36 | 40 | 40 | 36 | 39 | 38 | 38 | 29 | 40 | 37 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 38 | 36 | 39 | 37 | 39 | 38 | 37 | 39 | 40 | 39 | 39 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 35 | 37 |
Recent Green Flag Speed Average Ranking
Throughout the season, there are always shifts in what teams have found speed and gained on the other that previously enjoyed an advantage. So we’ll use this chart to track recent Green Flag Speed rankings. The chart below shows the average ranking over the last six races.
| #9 Chevy | Elliott | 4.5 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| #4 Ford | Harvick | 5.8 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | |
| #18 Toyota | Kyle Busch | 6.3 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 7 | |
| #88 Chevy | Bowman | 6.7 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 11 | |
| #19 Toyota | Truex | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 5 | |
| #12 Ford | Blaney | 7.3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 19 | |
| #22 Ford | Logano | 7.3 | 4 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 4 | |
| #14 Ford | Bowyer | 9.8 | 11 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 13 | |
| #11 Toyota | Hamlin | 10.8 | 8 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 19 | 12 | |
| #2 Ford | Keselowski | 11.0 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 16 | 24 | 3 | |
| #1 Chevy | Kurt Busch | 11.5 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 23 | |
| #21 Ford | DiBenedetto | 12.5 | 15 | 11 | 20 | 8 | 13 | 8 | |
| #3 Chevy | A. Dillon | 13.5 | 29 | 8 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 2 | |
| #95 Toyota | Bell | 13.7 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 16 | 14 | |
| #10 Ford | Almirola | 13.8 | 10 | 23 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 9 | |
| #24 Chevy | Byron | 14.0 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 20 | |
| #20 Toyota | Jones | 15.3 | 13 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 22 | |
| #47 Chevy | Stenhouse | 15.5 | 22 | 18 | 19 | 23 | 1 | 10 | |
| #41 Ford | Custer | 18.2 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 27 | 16 | |
| #48 Chevy | Johnson | 18.2 | 21 | 17 | 25 | 17 | 12 | 17 | |
| #8 Chevy | Reddick | 18.2 | 26 | 21 | 14 | 24 | 9 | 15 | |
| #38 Ford | Nemechek | 22.5 | 30 | 15 | 21 | 20 | 25 | 24 | |
| #17 Ford | Buescher | 23.5 | 20 | 31 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 27 | |
| #37 Chevy | Preece | 23.5 | 27 | 22 | 27 | 26 | 21 | 18 | |
| #34 Ford | McDowell | 24.5 | 28 | 25 | 26 | 21 | 26 | 21 | |
| #6 Ford | Newman | 25.5 | 16 | 24 | 28 | 27 | 29 | 29 | |
| #42 Chevy | Kenseth | 25.8 | 19 | 39 | 24 | 25 | 23 | 25 | |
| #43 Chevy | Wallace | 26.7 | 25 | 37 | 22 | 30 | 20 | 26 | |
| #13 Chevy | T. Dillon | 27.2 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 28 | 28 | 28 | |
| #32 Ford | LaJoie | 28.5 | 24 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 31 | 31 | |
| #96 Toyota | Suarez | 30.3 | 31 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 30 | |
| #15 Chevy | Poole | 32.0 | 32 | 30 | 32 | 32 | 33 | 33 | |
| #00 Chevy | Houff | 35.2 | 39 | 33 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 34 | |
| #77 Chevy | Sorenson | 35.2 | 35 | 32 | 38 | 34 | 35 | 37 | |
| #66 Toyota | Hill | 35.3 | 34 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 36 | 32 | |
| #53 Ford | Smithley | 36.5 | 37 | 35 | 35 | 39 | 37 | 36 | |
| #51 Ford | Gase | 38.2 | 36 | 40 | 40 | 36 | 39 | 38 |
Green Flag Speed Ranking vs. Average Finish
This chart will compare the average Green Flag Speed ranking for each driver to his average finish. This will allow us to see which drivers have had a faster car than the position that they finished, and vice versa. Like the other charts, this one excludes superspeedway races.
| #9 Chevy | Elliott | -5.7 | 6.6 | 12.3 |
| #12 Ford | Blaney | -5.5 | 9.0 | 14.6 |
| #47 Chevy | Stenhouse | -4.6 | 18.2 | 22.8 |
| #88 Chevy | Bowman | -4.3 | 10.9 | 15.2 |
| #48 Chevy | Johnson | -3.6 | 14.6 | 18.1 |
| #24 Chevy | Byron | -3.5 | 13.9 | 17.4 |
| #19 Toyota | Truex | -2.7 | 8.3 | 11.0 |
| #22 Ford | Logano | -2.4 | 8.6 | 11.0 |
| #20 Toyota | Jones | -2.4 | 14.1 | 16.5 |
| #95 Toyota | Bell | -2.3 | 17.2 | 19.5 |
| #37 Chevy | Preece | -1.9 | 22.8 | 24.6 |
| #18 Toyota | Kyle Busch | -1.8 | 8.3 | 10.1 |
| #14 Ford | Bowyer | -1.7 | 12.7 | 14.3 |
| #10 Ford | Almirola | -0.7 | 11.2 | 11.9 |
| #11 Toyota | Hamlin | -0.6 | 9.9 | 10.5 |
| #21 Ford | DiBenedetto | -0.5 | 13.6 | 14.1 |
| #1 Chevy | Kurt Busch | -0.3 | 11.7 | 11.9 |
| #4 Ford | Harvick | -0.2 | 5.8 | 6.0 |
| #8 Chevy | Reddick | 0.0 | 17.2 | 17.1 |
| #3 Chevy | A. Dillon | 0.2 | 15.4 | 15.2 |
| #38 Ford | Nemechek | 0.3 | 23.3 | 23.0 |
| #17 Ford | Buescher | 0.4 | 21.8 | 21.3 |
| #42 Chevy | Kenseth | 0.4 | 19.4 | 18.9 |
| #2 Ford | Keselowski | 0.5 | 9.0 | 8.5 |
| #15 Chevy | Poole | 1.4 | 32.2 | 30.8 |
| #41 Ford | Custer | 1.5 | 19.2 | 17.7 |
| #32 Ford | LaJoie | 1.6 | 27.4 | 25.9 |
| #43 Chevy | Wallace | 2.0 | 24.1 | 22.1 |
| #6 Ford | Newman | 2.3 | 22.2 | 19.9 |
| #34 Ford | McDowell | 2.8 | 23.7 | 20.9 |
| #66 Toyota | Hill | 2.8 | 37.0 | 34.2 |
| #77 Chevy | Sorenson | 2.8 | 34.3 | 31.5 |
| #53 Ford | Smithley | 2.9 | 36.2 | 33.3 |
| #51 Ford | Gase | 3.1 | 37.5 | 34.4 |
| #00 Chevy | Houff | 3.8 | 35.7 | 31.9 |
| #96 Toyota | Suarez | 4.2 | 30.3 | 26.2 |
| #13 Chevy | T. Dillon | 4.6 | 27.0 | 22.4 |
2020 Individual Race Green Flag Speed Reports
| Race # | Date | Track | Green Flag Speed Chart |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2/23/2020 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 3 | 3/1/2020 | Auto Club Speedway | Click here |
| 4 | 3/8/2020 | Phoenix Raceway | Click here |
| 5 | 5/17/2020 | Darlington Raceway | Click here |
| 6 | 5/20/2020 | Darlington Raceway | Click here |
| 7 | 5/24/2020 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 8 | 5/27/2020 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 9 | 5/31/2020 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 10 | 6/7/2020 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 11 | 6/10/2020 | Martinsville Speedway | Click here |
| 12 | 6/14/2020 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | Click here |
| 14 | 6/27/2020 | Pocono Raceway | Click here |
| 15 | 6/28/2020 | Pocono Raceway | Click here |
| 16 | 7/5/2020 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 17 | 7/12/2020 | Kentucky Speedway | Click here |
| 18 | 7/19/2020 | Texas Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 19 | 7/23/2020 | Kansas Speedway | Click here |
| 20 | 8/2/2020 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 21 | 8/8/2020 | Michigan International Speedway | Click here |
| 22 | 8/9/2020 | Michigan International Speedway | Click here |
| 24 | 8/22/2020 | Dover International Speedway | Click here |
| 25 | 8/23/2020 | Dover International Speedway | Click here |
| 27 | 9/6/2020 | Darlington Raceway | Click here |
| 28 | 9/12/2020 | Richmond Raceway | Click here |
| 29 | 9/19/2020 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 30 | 9/27/2020 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 33 | 10/18/2020 | Kansas Speedway | Click here |
| 34 | 10/25/2020 | Texas Motor Speedway | Click here |
| 35 | 11/1/2020 | Martinsville Speedway | Click here |
| 36 | 11/8/2020 | Phoenix Raceway | Coming soon |
