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NASCAR returns from the All-Star break for the Coca-Cola 600 this Sunday. Not only is it the longest race of the year, but possibly the most exciting race of the season thus far. During last Saturday's All-Star race the action level was turned to full blast on the asphalt of Charlotte Motor Speedway. I'm looking to see that intensity in prolonged form, which makes things unpredictable but exciting for fantasy fans and general fans alike.
One out of three practices have been completed for the Coca-Cola 600 so be sure to keep an eye on the speeds drivers are posting on Saturday. Daniel Hemric finished the first practice with a speed of 182.791 and really is giving Richard Childress Racing a great look. Although Hemric and Austin Dillon qualified inside the Top 10 I'm not completely sold on using them in Fantasy this week.
For this race there is so much constant movement and that sends me looking for more aggressive drivers that don't mind cutting it close moving in and out of lanes.
Coca-Cola 600 - Starting Lineup
- (#24) William Byron - Chevrolet
- (#10) Aric Almirola - Ford
- (#18) Kyle Busch - Toyota
- (#3) Austin Dillon - Chevrolet
- (#4) Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet
- (#41) Daniel Suarez - Ford
- (#22) Joey Logano - Ford
- (#14) Clint Bowyer - Ford
- (#17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr - Ford
- (#8) Daniel Hemric - Chevrolet
- (#1) Kurt Busch - Chevrolet
- (#9) Chase Elliott - Chevrolet
- (#88) Alex Bowman - Chevrolet
- (#19) Martin Truex Jr - Toyota
- (#48) Jimmie Johnson - Chevrolet
- (#20) Erik Jones - Toyota
- (#21) Paul Menard - Ford
- (#6) Ryan Newman - Ford
- (#12) Ryan Blaney - Ford
- (#11) Denny Hamlin - Toyota
- (#2) Brad Keselowski - Ford
- (#37) Chris Buescher - Chevrolet
- (#34) Michael McDowell - Ford
- (#47) Ryan Preece - Chevrolet
- (#42) Kyle Larson - Chevrolet
- (#36) Matt Tifft - Ford
- (#95) Matt DiBenedetto - Toyota
- (#13) Ty Dillon - Chevrolet
- (#43) Bubba Wallace - Chevrolet
- (#32) Corey Lajoie - Ford
- (#38) David Ragan - Ford
- (#00) Landon Cassill - Chevrolet
- (#52) Bayley Currey - Chevrolet
- (#96) Parker Kligerman - Toyota
- (#15) Ross Chastain - Chevrolet
- (#53) BJ McLeod - Chevrolet
- (#27) Reed Sorenson - Chevrolet
- (#51) Cody Ware - Ford
- (#77) Quin Houff - Chevrolet
- (#66) Joey Gase - Toyota
DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
Chase Elliott #9 (DraftKings $10,300 | FanDuel $13,000)
Looking back to the All Star race last weekend Chase Elliott finished 14th. When you add 315 more laps its easy to bet Elliott will have a Top 10 finish Sunday night. Hendrick's success has been showing mostly with Elliott and Alex Bowman on race day and William Byron has shown he's got qualifying on lock.in my opinion, Elliott has the better chance to be the leading Hendrick driver for Sunday's race. (Fun Fact) The last time Elliott started this race in the 12th position he finished eighth. I'm very certain that if he did that his second year racing he can do it now with all the changes to the cars and the skill he's added to his game.
Martin Truex Jr #19 (DraftKings $10,600 | FanDuel $13,500)
It feels good to talk about Marty again after some time away and what better week to do it than in the Coca-Cola 600? Over the past four years, Truex has just been a machine at this track in recent years, placing nothing but Top 5s on the reg. That's basically dominating behavior for fantasy purposes. Truex ran 10th in the first practice of the week with a speed of 181.861 and is starting 14th on Sunday. He is a sure lock in all of my Fantasy NASCAR lineups.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #17 (DraftKings $7,200 | FanDuel $8,100 )
Just when I thought I wouldn't write about the once mullet rocking bad boy anymore this season, I find myself intrigued with him for lineups this week. After yesterday's practice, Stenhouse ran sixth with a speed of 181.996. Other than Dover and Las Vegas, Stenhouse has failed to run well in practice. which leads me to believe he might be a big value guy for Sunday's race. Stenhouse's only true Top 10 so far this season was at the Pennzoil 400, where he had great practice speeds. With Ricky finishing the Monster Energy Open with a Top 5 and him running well so far in practice, I'm willing to plug him in to some lineups to see if we have a trend on our hands.
Brad Keselowski #2 (DraftKings $10,100 | FanDuel $12,500)
I hope all of you will be slamming Brad K's hard this week because my gut is telling me he's going to ball out Sunday. Keselowski is starting 22nd in Sunday's race and although he didn't have the best speeds in practice (180.421) there's still room for improvement. Keselowski has never won a Coca-Cola 600, which should propel the star driver to really dial in to the new package and get everything out of his car possible. He has placed in the Top 10 four out of five times since 2014 in this particular race and I don't see that trend fading this weekend.
Be sure to also check out Revvin' Up, a weekly video series by Sean Engel focused on previewing every Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from DFS perspectives. Sean Engel is a six-time DraftKings NASCAR DFS tournament winner and a 15-year NASCAR veteran.
For any and all fantasy NASCAR questions, find me on Twitter @GarageGuyChase. Good luck RotoBallers!
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