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After two races so far in the resumed 2020 Cup season, it is clear that NASCAR is doing quite well in drawing viewers. The first two events at Darlington beat Michael Jordan twice in the TV ratings in the past week. Knowing that losing sparks Jordan, don’t be surprised if he joins the NASCAR circuit at some point soon in an eventual quest to win the Cup title.
There are a few apparent reasons for the uptick in NASCAR TV popularity. The most obvious is the lack of other live sports during the pandemic. Another primary factor is that those who usually go to the races in person are forced to watch at home. You must also consider that hungry DFS players now have another significant live event to generate contests they can participate in.
As a newer NASCAR DFS player, if you feel comfortable with the process of identifying drivers to target and the steps to take to prepare for the race, you will be jolted this week. Get ready for the longest race of the season with a unique qualifying schedule.
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Be sure to also check out all of our other weekly NASCAR DFS articles and analysis to help you set your optimal DFS lineups, including this weekly YouTube video:
From initial indications, the increased audiences for NASCAR viewing have remained consistent throughout the race, which is a new and encouraging trend. Newer viewers will be challenged to hang in there much longer this time, as the Coca-Cola 600 is a signature Cup event that runs the amount of miles indicated in the race’s name, and covers 400 laps. The most important item is that the average CC600 lasts for three hours and 44 minutes.
The length of the race requires highly detailed management and maintenance from the driver’s pit crews and support teams who prepare the cars under the supervision of the crew chiefs. Monitoring tire wear and fuel is essential, especially at the later stages of the event.
This nearly four-hour endurance test leads to unique unpredictability. You never know when you may see a driver run out of fuel near the end of the race. Just when you think your guy is going to win, he starts sputtering and slowing down, and your live scoring indicator starts to wilt away in terms of dollar amounts. It’s a instant and sinking feeling, and requires us to remind you to set multiple lineups in DFS NASCAR. Not only will deal with the customary wrecks and car troubles that can suddenly put any driver out of any race, but now you have additional adverse factors to consider that may pop up late in the event.
With so many laps and miles to cover, there can also be unpredictability in terms of how many lead changes we will see, which is essential to note in terms of laps led for DFS purposes. In some past races at the site, we have seen one or two drivers dominate. In others, we have seen many lead changes and variance. Last year, nine different drivers led the race, with three leading 70 or more laps. In 2018, Kyle Busch ($11,500 on DraftKings, 14,000 on FanDuel) led for 377 of the 400 laps.
We have also seen some notable drivers win for the first time in their careers in this event. Jeff Gordon won his first-ever race in the 1994 race, and Matt Kenseth ($7,700 DK, $8,000 FD) notched his first victory in 2000. The last first-timer to win in the CC600 was Austin Dillon ($7,000 DK, $6,400 FD) in 2017. Dillon was working with a new crew chief and nearly ran out of fuel, but held on for the win.
So if you became comfortable with rolling out three or four lineups at Darlington last week, expand your suite for Charlotte. But as we always do, we will often lean on past results at the site and recent momentum in the current season to target our favorite drivers.
But any drivers you enter prior to Sunday cannot be considered firm starters. You can lock in entries beforehand, but must be prepared to change several lineups on the fly on Sunday. That’s because in a highly unusual move for this event, qualifying is scheduled for the same day as the race. Qualifying begins at 2 pm ET and the race starts at 6 pm ET. So once qualifying is over you will only have a few hours to change key drivers. So this week’s DFS event is not one where you can set your lineups ahead of time and check back closer to race day for any final adjustments. You will need to set aside a lot of hours on Sunday for lineup building and revisions, plus watching the race.
This race obviously requires a close to full day investment, but you can save time using RotoBaller’s lineup optimizer and staff picks. Use promo code KING for an additional discount on the new DFS Bundle that includes NASCAR, or the NASCAR Season Pass. All Premium subscriptions now include access to our new Slack Channel, where you can ask lineup questions to our experts or discuss the race with other DFS NASCAR players.
Once the field is set, you can confidently pick out quality choices for Place Differential, as this track will have more passing than you saw at Darlington. It’s easier to move up through the pack at Charlotte than it was in the previous two races. In last season’s CC600, Chris Buescher ($6,700 DK, $6,400 FD) started 22nd and finished sixth. Corey LaJoie ($5,400 DK, $3,500 FD) started 30th and finished 12th. He may be a prime bargain play this week. Martin Truex Jr. ($10,600 DK, $12,500 FD), one of the top picks for this week, started 15th last year and won the race, and the previous year he started 14th and placed second. In 2018, Jimmie Johnson ($9,200 DK, $10,700 FD) started 23rd and finished fifth, and Alex Bowman ($9,400 DK, $12,000 FD) started 27th and finished ninth.
Truex is the must-have driver this week, as he has won three of the last six events at Charlotte. He has placed in the Top 5 in seven of the last eight and in the Top 3 six times during that span. In 2016, he set an event record by leading 392 laps, and he led for 233 laps in 2017 and 116 last year. Truex is one driver you can lock and load no matter where starts. If he is high on the starting grid, he will lead many laps. If he starts from the back you can bank on his PD output. Kyle Busch won the CC600 in 2018 and has finished Top 3 in the last three events at the site, In the past two seasons he leads all drivers with an Average Finish of eighth at intermediate tracks, with four wins.
Kevin Harvick ($11,200 DK, $12,500 FD) has finished in The Top 3 in the last three races this season, and is a three-time CC600 winner with an AF of 8.1 and six wins on intermediates over the past two years. You should ideally look to build multiple lineups around Truex, Busch and Harvick. You can even combine Truex with either Busch or Harvick in frontloaded lineups on DK. Truex can anchor more balanced lineups.
Kenseth has the fourth-best all-time Driver Rating at Charlotte (94.8), so he can be a good value play. Erik Jones (8,500 DK, $9,000 FD) has an AF of 11.7 with a win on intermediates over the past two seasons. This is a better track for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($7,400 DK, $6,600 FD), who has two consecutive Top 10 finishes at the site. He should bounce back from his Darlington mishaps. Buescher is a also a potential bargain target, and Bowman and Johnson will be under consideration as well. Once we see how drivers look in qualifying, we will have a better handle on whether to use them.
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