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For the first time ever, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to St. Louis for a race at World Wide Technology Raceway, which was previously known as Gateway.
But while the track is new to Cup, many of these drivers have experience here in Trucks, with Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, Justin Haley and Ross Chastain all winning here in that series. Harvick plus Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski have won here in Xfinity.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 6/5/22 at 3:40 p.m. ET. If you have any questions or want to talk NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Kyle Larson
Starts 15th - DraftKings $11,300 | FanDuel $14,000
The place differential upside for Larson is tempting, even if his price is a little high.
Like a lot of this field, Larson doesn't have experience racing here. But when we're talking about Kyle Larson, does that matter? This is the guy who can jump in a sprint car at a place he's never been and beat a bunch of full-time dirt guys.
Larson had speed in practice. Starting 15th gives him a nice bit of room to move up on Sunday, even if he won't have the same speed that the Penske and SHR cars have shown.
Ryan Blaney
Starts 5th - DraftKings $9,600| FanDuel $10,500
If you want a PD play in this price range, you can go with William Byron ($9,800, starts 24th). But I really want to have a Penske car in my lineup because of the speed the team has shown this weekend.
In practice, Penske swept the top three spots, with Blaney running second fastest. In qualifying, the team placed all three drivers in the top 10, with Blaney again the second fastest from the team.
Still searching for his first win of the year, Blaney comes to a track where he's raced once, in a Truck Series race back in 2014 where he finished seventh. If he can show the same speed on Sunday that he showed all weekend, he'll be in competition for the victory.
Kevin Harvick
Starts 20th - DraftKings $8,500 | FanDuel $8,000
Harvick has a really good track record here.
In Xfinity, he's made five Gateway starts, winning twice. He led over half of the laps in three of his five starts here in that series.
In Trucks, Harvick has three starts. The first two came way back in the 90s and weren't in great equipment, but his 2010 start in his own truck saw him lead 143 of the 160 laps on his way to the win.
Harvick hasn't had as much speed this weekend as teammates Chase Briscoe and Aric Almirola, but Ford as a whole has looked good. I expect Harvick to gain some spots on Sunday.
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Chase Briscoe
Starts 1st - DraftKings $7,800 | FanDuel $8,500
Obviously, it's risky to play the polesitter when he isn't one of the elite drivers in the series. But you also don't usually get the polesitter for this price.
After being 11th in practice, Briscoe jumped to the top of the board in qualifying. He has momentum after a fourth-place finish last week and should be able to lead some laps in the early going.
There's the downside here that if anything happens to Briscoe, the negative place differential kills your lineups, so don't go heavy on him. But he's a nice sprinkle play.
(Oh, and he was second here in his lone Truck Series start, leading 88 of the 160 laps.)
Bubba Wallace
Starts 18th - DraftKings $6,700 | FanDuel $5,500
Wallace had midpack speed in both practice and qualifying. But 23XI has shown improvement as the season has gone along, with Wallace showing speed before a mechanical around the halfway point of the 600 last week. He finished 10th at Kansas.
Bubba ran a race here in 2014in the Truck Series, qualifying second, leading 85 laps and winning. That he's 1-for-1 here in terms of winning is definitely something I'm factoring in, since most of this field doesn't have recent experience at Gateway.
Zane Smith
Starts 32nd - DraftKings $5,400 | FanDuel $4,000
Lot of potential value here with Smith, who is driving the 17 car this weekend because Chris Buescher has COVID-19. Smith was 26th in fastest, then qualified 32nd.
But the Ford's have been fast this weekend and Smith's teammate, Brad Keselowski, qualified 19th. Smith might just not be adjusted to this car yet.
What he is adjusted to is this track, as he ran Saturday's Truck Series race. Smith led 16 laps and finished ninth, getting into a little bit of trouble late that kept him from contending for the win. That experience should be useful on Sunday.
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