RADIO
Well, it's back.
Sure, 2021 Daytona Speedweeks will look different (just six days compared to nine in the past), but the NASCAR season is set to begin on Tuesday evening with the annual Busch Clash. For the first time in race history, it won't be competed on the superspeedway track, instead, will be held on the 14-turn, 3.61-mile road course.
NASCAR has competed on the Daytona International Speedway road course just one, that coming last August when Chase Elliott spanked the field. With seven road course races on the 2021 schedule, most teams will view the Clash as a practice session for next week's race (Feb. 21) on the same layout. But aside from the obvious, who else is a good fit for your first 2021 NASCAR daily fantasy lineup?
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DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Chase Elliott
(DraftKings $10,500 | FanDuel $13,000 | DK SportsBook +175 )
Chase Elliott is an elite road course racer. Dating back to August 2019, the No. 9 team is riding a four-race winning streak on road courses, spanning over three different venues. In five years of full-time Cup racing, Elliott has five such wins on road courses.
The No. 9 Chevrolet is the overwhelming favorite for Tuesday's Clash a layup choice for any fantasy team you're a part of. In NASCAR's lone start on the Daytona road course, it was Elliott that was victorious, leading 34 of 65 laps. It doesn't matter where he starts in the field, center that lineup around the Georgia native.
Martin Truex Jr.
(DraftKings $10,000 | FanDuel $12,500 | DK SportsBook +350)
If for whatever reason you don't choose to center your lineup around the defending Cup Series champion, Martin Truex Jr. is the next logical selection. Over the course of his 15-year full-time career, the New Jersey driver has four road course wins.
Over the last three seasons, Elliott and Truex have set themselves away from the field as far as best road course drivers in Cup. Should Truex get ahead of Elliott, the No. 19 Toyota will be a hard one to pass. Truex finished third on the road course last summer.
Denny Hamlin
(DraftKings $9,600 | FanDuel $12,000 | DK SportsBook +850)
We're going on a real stretch for this one. If Elliott and Truex are the best current road course racers in the Cup Series (which they are), Hamlin is next in line. After starting on the front row at Daytona in August, the No. 11 car was Elliott's closest contender, leading 16 laps.
Sure, there were times where Hamlin was running second, upward of nine seconds behind Elliott, but the No. 11 Toyota is a good selection. Surely, he's worth the price on DraftKings, as he's the third most expensive driver. With a possible third consecutive Daytona 500 triumph in site, this could be the exact way Hamlin wants his Speedweek to start off.
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William Byron
(DraftKings $7,700 | FanDuel $9,500 | DK SportsBook +1,800)
Entering his fourth full Cup season, expectations are high for Byron, as he's reunited with Rudy Fugle, who guided him to seven Camping World Truck Series victories in 2016 at Kyle Busch Motorsports.
In his first three years in Cup, Byron became a respectable road course driver, finishing eighth in the only event at the Daytona road course. For the price, the No. 24 team is a solid choice.
Erik Jones
(DraftKings $7,200 | FanDuel $9,500 | DK SportsBook +4000)
In his first race (exhibition) running for Richard Petty Motorsports, Jones is surprisingly expensive. After all, he typically runs well on road courses, but doesn't always get the finishes he deserves.
If you recall, Bubba Wallace was running as high as eighth on the final lap of the Daytona road course in August, before he was spun out by Joey Logano. A top-10 run for Jones would be a nice surprise to kickoff his tenure at RPM.
Matt DiBenedetto
(DraftKings $6,900 | FanDuel $7,500 | DK SportsBook +4000)
When running for underfunded race teams, Matt DiBenedetto proved he could hang with the big boys on road courses. Flashback to 2019, he earned a pair of top-six finishes in three starts at road courses, and finished no worse than 11th.
Nope, he didn't run as expected on the two road courses in 2020 (best effort of 15th), but DiBenedetto needs to prove himself this year to set himself up for 2022 and beyond. He's undervalued across the board, and would be a solid choice for your lineup.
Chris Buescher
(DraftKings $5,900 | FanDuel $7,000 | DK SportsBook +6,600)
Chris Buescher is an underrated road course driver, earning 50% of his 2020 top-five finishes on road courses (one). And, oh year, that happened to be a fifth-place effort on this same racetrack.
No, Buescher isn't a favorite for the win, but he's most definitely worth putting on your lineup, as his first career Xfinity Series win came at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, plus he typically runs competitively when turning left and right, even if he doesn't have the Cup finishes to show for it.
Ty Dillon
(DraftKings $5,500 | FanDuel $7,000 | DK SportsBook +10,000)
Want a real underdog story? Here's your guy.
Dillon, who wasn't able to secure a full-time ride for the 2021 season, will run a one-off race for 23XI Racing, as Bubba Wallace is the full-time driver of the No. 23. It's also the first time the team will put a car onto the track in team history. But virtue of a stage win on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL last fall, Dillon was eligible for the Clash, and what better way for a debuting team to work out the kinks than in a race that doesn't count towards points.
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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