RADIO
The first Monday race of the season (and hopefully the only one) is in the books after a rain delay on Sunday. Martin Truex Jr. pulled an amazing feat by winning the Gander RV 400 after failing inspection and starting from the rear of the field. In his last Monday race at Dover, Truex took home Miles the Monster and after this one there's no doubt that he has officially earned the nickname Monday Martin.
Another big wow factor was Alex Bowman's performance at the Monster Mile. The dude was driving like a veteran out there and no doubt pumped more confidence into Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s confidence cup after pulling hard to get Bowman in the seat of the 88 Chevy Camaro. Bowman finished the race in second after suffering (or benefiting) a failed inspection penalty like Mondays race winner.
For me this proves that this new package changes a lot of things we are used to seeing at Dover.
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What We Learned at Dover
- The new package is insanely fast on the concrete
- Alex Bowman is tired of being second best to Chase Elliott
- Kyle Larson CAN finish a race and finish inside the Top 5!! (*throws confetti in air*)
- Kyle Busch is not a fan of how fast the cars were (probably sad he hasn't had a Top 5 recently)
- I was dead wrong about Denny Hamlin
DFS Lineup Sleepers - Digital Ally 400
Alex Bowman
The 'Bow Man' has had his arrow aimed at that checkered flag for the past two weeks now. The way I see it, he's showing that he's not going to sit quietly while Chase Elliott takes all the praise. In Bowman's last run here he placed ninth and in the May race he finished 18th. Since he's been riding with Hendrick Motorsports, he has improved significantly and with the way he's been running as of late I can see him finishing inside the Top 5 easily.
Daniel Suarez
Suarez has been in the background since his move to Stewart Haas Racing. You just don't hear much about him anymore but it looks like he's starting to find his groove out on the tracks. Although we cant be sure what we'll see at Kansas until Friday, I think he'll have a decent run on Saturday night. The last comparable Intermediate track we raced at was Texas where Suarez finished third. Suarez has only placed one Top 10 at Kansas back in 2017 but eventually one of these SHR cars will end up in Victory Lane. I'm not saying it will be Suarez but I think he could be a sneaky play for your DFS lineups this week.
Paul Menard
Since making the switch to Wood Brothers Racing, Menard immediately bettered himself in last May's race here grabbing a Top 10. Paul hasn't been the talk of the town in the NASCAR world but I'm comfortable giving him a sleeper spot this week. One thing that certain is his consistency at other intermediate tracks. When looking at Atlanta, Las Vegas, Texas and Kansas, he finishes pretty close to where he starts in recent years. If Menard qualifies towards the front throw him into a few lineups surrounded by successful drivers.
DFS Lineup Avoids - Digital Ally 400
Jimmie Johnson
It's not hard to see that the relationship between Jimmie Johnson and Kansas has been rocky in the past four races. The last time Johnson did well here was in 2016 when he finished fourth after starting 21st from the pole. The only other Intermediate track that Johnson did well at so far this year was Texas but Johnson was already pretty dominate there in years past. Even with the new package I'm still not convinced that Johnson has what it takes to be worth a play on Saturday.
Ryan Newman
Ryan Newman was starting to look like a good value play to me earlier in the year but has been nothing short of disappointing since. He and teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr just haven't had that fire this year and I'm not expecting anything to change on Saturday. Newman has also only cracked the Top 10 here six times out of 26 races in his career at Kansas. Simply put, Hold the Newman this weekend.
Austin Dillon
Dillon and the 3 squad have been pretty hit or miss on race day this season. Richard Childress racing is showing that they have speed but my concern for Austin Dillon will most definitely be on high alert this Saturday night in Kansas. Dillon has been very unimpressive at Intermediate tracks this season and historically hasn't been all that in Kansas either. In 2016 Dillon placed sixth place back to back here but other than that he's been finishing inside the Top 20. One thing that could change my mind on him is if he were to qualify deep in the pack. If he's up front i'll pass on the 3 this week.
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