RADIO
After starting the season with back-to-back races at drafting tracks, the NASCAR Cup Series has its first "normal" race of the 2024 season on Sunday as the series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile track.
This should be a fun race, but it might not be as exciting as last week's Atlanta race, which featured a three-wide photo finish and goes down as one of the most exciting final laps in NASCAR history. If you're new to the sport, don't expect to see that kind of thing again this time out, but there will still be some really good racing.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Pennzoil 400 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on Sunday, March 3 at 3:47 p.m. EST. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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Kyle Larson
Starts 2nd - DK: $11,000, FD: $14,000
At a track like this, you want to try to grab the driver who you think has the best chance to dominate the race. For me, that's Kyle Larson this weekend.
The 2021 Cup Series champion starts on the front row, giving him a good shot to lead laps early on, especially when we consider his strong performance here last season. In two races at Vegas in 2022, Larson had an average finish of 1.5. He was second in the spring race, leading 63 laps, then dominated in the fall, winning while leading 133 of the 267 laps.
With the way he won at Las Vegas in October, is Kyle Larson the driver to beat? What he said about that and the competition prior to practice and qualifying (he’ll start on the front row today). pic.twitter.com/NbEWaw275r
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 3, 2024
Larson has raced at Vegas six times since joining Hendrick Motorsports. He has four top-two finishes and has led double-digit laps in five of those races. The only time he didn't was in the October 2022 race when he crashed out before the halfway point of the race.
Denny Hamlin
Starts 28th - DK: $10,700, FD: $13,000
Denny Hamlin is this week's chalk place differential driver. You can fade him in GPPs if you want for that reason, but you definitely need exposure to him in cash games.
This is a solid track for Hamlin. When the Cup Series was here in October, the No. 11 car finished 10th, with Hamlin leading 23 laps. In fact, he's led laps in seven consecutive Cup Series races here, including leading 100-plus laps twice in that span. He has a win and four top-five finishes in that span. He should be able to overcome the poor qualifying effort and contend for another top-five on Sunday.
Tyler Reddick
Starts 18th - DK: $8,900, FD: $11,000
I love the upside with Tyler Reddick on Sunday. He'll fire off in 18th, giving him a good bit of place differential potential at a track where he's been pretty solid.
Reddick has six consecutive top-15 finishes at Vegas, including four top-10s in that span. He's led laps in three of those races, including leading 32 of them in the October 2022 race, where he won the pole and finished sixth.
Hoping to play our cards right tomorrow. 🃏
Qualifying from @lvmotorspeedway:@bubbawallace P5@tylerreddick P18#TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/uPyOIE06xf
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) March 2, 2024
We also saw Reddick run really well at intermediate tracks last season. He won at Kansas and also led 36 laps at Texas, 33 laps at Nashville, and 28 laps at Charlotte. This kind of track suits his driving style.
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John Hunter Nemechek
Starts 27th - DK: $6,700, FD: $5,800
This slate projects to have a lot of good value plays on it. Let's start with John Hunter Nemechek, driver of the No. 42 for Legacy Motor Club.
Sunday will be the first real test to see if LMC has improved since moving to Toyota or not. It's possible this team launches with just no speed, but I do think 2024 should be a better year overall for LMC.
JHN brings a ton of experience on this track, running here 19 times in various series. He's won here twice -- first in the March 2021 Truck Series race, and then again on Saturday as he led 99 of 200 laps to win the Xfinity Series race.
Noah Gragson
Starts 30th - DK: $6,200, FD: $5,200
Alright, these next two plays could really pay off, but they could also blow up in our faces if Stewart-Haas Racing just completely lacks speed this weekend. Let's start with Noah Gragson, who opened his time at SHR with a strong ninth-place run at Daytona before recording a DNF at Atlanta last weekend.
Gragson had one of his best Cup Series results here in 2022 when he was filling in for Alex Bowman in the No. 48 car, finishing 11th in the race. He's also got a lot of good results here in the Xfinity Series. While he hasn't won here, he has a top-five finish in his last six Xfinity starts at Vegas.
Ryan Preece
Starts 36th - DK: $6,000, FD: $4,000
Ryan Preece spun in practice and had to go to a backup car, which is why he starts way back in 36th. That means there's plenty of place differential upside for Preece.
.@RyanPreece_ goes for a spin early in this practice session. pic.twitter.com/fil88zFw2Y
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 2, 2024
This isn't really the kind of track that Preece excels at. Of his 11 career finishes in the top 10, none have come on a 1.5-mile track. Still, he doesn't need a top 10 for this to pay off. If Preece can keep the car clean and sneak into the top 20, then this play will pay off. Of course, he hasn't managed to do that in his last three starts here, so this isn't necessarily a slam dunk.
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