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Chris Durell brings you DraftKings fantasy NASCAR advice, DFS lineups picks and sleepers analysis for Chris Durell brings you DraftKings fantasy NASCAR advice, DFS lineups picks and sleepers analysis for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
The All-Star race and experimental rules package is now behind us and the Monster Energy Cup Series moves on to one of the biggest races of the season, the Coca-Cola 600. If not the biggest, it is for sure the longest race of the season at 600 miles that will be split into four separate stages and will start in the late afternoon and finish under the lights of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
From a fantasy perspective, we will be looking at dominator points, especially on DraftKings, as there has been one driver to lead 100 or more laps in each of the last six races at Charlotte with two or more drivers to lead 50 or more in five of the last six. There has also been one driver in three of those races to lead 200 or more laps, twice coming at the Coca-Cola 600. Place differential, as always, depends on qualifying and especially here at Charlotte as there have been as few as one and as many as 16 drivers to record double-digit place differential in the last six races. If you are playing on FanDuel, keep in mind that it is much easier to roster drivers starting inside the Top 10 who maybe don't have dominator potential as those bonus points as much less valuable. Let's jump into the picks for this week.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings and FanDuel DFS Lineup Picks - Coca-Cola 600
Kevin Harvick(DK-$12,200 FD-$13,500)
Harvick has dominated the mile and a half tracks all season with three of his five wins coming on this track type while he has averaged 117.7 DK/86.5 FD points per race. He failed to make it through pre-qualifying tech and will start from the back and while he is likely to be 75%+ owned in all formats, he provides us with elite place differential value and could even challenge for the lead before the halfway point of the race. He is a near lock in cash and in GPP's but with such high ownership, it does make sense to go a bit contrarian and fade him in a few lineups.
Kyle Larson(DK-$10,600 FD-$10,800)
If fading Harvick this week, one driver to consider building around will be Kyle Larson in the #42 car. This may not be his best track on the circuit as he has just one Top 5 and three Top 10's in nine career races but that could all change this weekend as he has a very fast car. He was second-fastest in the final practice on Saturday and also posted the second-fastest 10-lap average in that practice. He qualified 11th for the race which also gives him some place differential value. He is #1 in my final model and a safe play in all formats.
Erik Jones(DK-$8,200 FD-$10,000)
If you are looking for some mid-range value this week, consider second-year driver, Erik Jones. During his rookie season, he impressed here at Charlotte finishing seventh at the Coca-Cola 600 after starting fifth and then had to start from the rear at the playoff race and ended up finishing 17th. He has a very fast car this week and could even challenge for a win or at least another Top 5 as qualified fourth, was fastest in final practice and also posted the fastest 10-lap average. If you don't feel he has dominator potential, he is a much better play on FanDuel where he is 11th in salary.
A.J. Allmendinger(DK-$6,400 FD-$8,000)
On the low end, I will be targeting A.J. Allmendinger to help save some salary. He qualified 30th for the race on Sunday but was 23rd in practice one and 26th in the final practice on Saturday. Also positive for the Dinger is that he has finished Top 20 here at Charlotte in two striaght and four of his last five trips. He can be considered in all formats.
NASCAR DFS Cheat Sheet
Don't have the time to search multiple sites looking for NASCAR stats and data?
Check out my DFS NASCAR cheatsheet which includes Track History(2-Year Trend & Career), Track Type History(2-Year Trend), Current Form, Practice/Qualifying Data, and a weighted system to get an overall rank for each driver each race. Check out it now while it's still in BETA mode and FREE to everyone. Also, be sure to check out the Race by Race Trends Sheet.
DFS & Fantasy NASCAR Chat Room
If you have any questions leading up to the race hit me up in the chat below!
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