RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Darlington this weekend for the Goodyear 400.
Last week at Dover, Chase Elliott drove to victory lane, his first win of the year. All the Hendrick cars have now won a race this season. Elliott currently leads Ryan Blaney by 50 points in the standings.
Below are some drivers to consider for DFS purposes this week. This slate locks on May 8 at 3:40 p.m. ET. If you have any questions or want to talk NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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Chase Elliott
Starts 34th - DraftKings $10,600 | FanDuel $13,000
Let's start with the obvious.
Chase Elliott, who won last week and currently leads the point standings, starts 34th because of issues on Saturday.
Elliott's past numbers at Darlington aren't super impressive, as he has just two top fives in his 10 starts at this track. His average finish is just 18.6.
But even factoring that in, you have to play Elliott when he's starting this far back. This 9 car is simply too good to ignore, even with Elliott having two finishes of 30th or worse in his last four Darlington starts.
Ross Chastain
Starts 8th - DraftKings $9,700| FanDuel $11,500
In case you weren't sure earlier in the year, I think we can officially call Chastain a legit championship contender. He has seven top fives already this season, including a pair of wins. Consistency has occasionally been an issue, but when Chastain is on, he's been one of the best drivers in the series.
Chastain led 46 laps on Friday in the Truck Series race, but bad luck ultimately led to a 25th place finish. He's run two races in Cup here in good equipment, finishing 15th in the spring race here last year and then third in the fall race.
Joey Logano
Starts 1st - DraftKings $9,200 | FanDuel $10,000
Nice value here on Logano if you think he's going to contend for the win. Starting on the pole offers him an early chance to lead laps, and it's not like his qualifying run was a fluke, as he was second quickest in practice behind teammate Austin Cindric.
Logano currently has his worst average finish since 2012. He's never won here, but has finished in the top 10 in half of his Darlington starts, including in three of the last four races here. One concern about using him as your "hope he dominates" pick: he's never led more than 37 laps at this track.
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Kevin Harvick
Starts 35th - DraftKings $8,800 | FanDuel $9,000
With just one top five all season, the 46-year-old Harvick is looking a little...mediocre. His average finish of 14.2 is his lowest since 2009 and he's led just 12 laps.
Those struggles will usually make me fade Harvick, but not when he's starting 35th. There's too much place differential upside when you have an experienced driver in good equipment starting this far back.
As far as Darlington track record goes, he's a three-time winner here, with 17 top 10s in 28 starts. He's finished sixth or better in seven races in a row here and overall has 12 consecutive top 10s at Darlington. I know 2022 has been a struggle for this 4 car and I know it'll be tough to replicate his usual performance here from this far back, but I still think the upside means you should play him.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Starts 26th - DraftKings $6,700 | FanDuel $6,000
Stenhouse was having a really, really bad season until last week, when he finished second at Dover. It was his first top 20 finish since the second race of the season.
Will he go back to struggling? Or will last week be a catalyst for Stenhouse that sends him into being the top 15-20 driver that he probably should be?
Stenhouse was 11th-fastest in practice but he's mostly struggled at this track in the past, with zero top 10s. He does have three consecutive top 20s here, though. Maybe this pick is focusing too much on the mystical idea of momentum, but something is drawing me to Stenhouse and his place differential upside this week.
Corey LaJoie
Starts 30th - DraftKings $4,900 | FanDuel $4,000
With so many expensive place differential plays who are worth finding a spot for, you might be wise to go bargain hunting with your final salary spot.
LaJoie starts 30th and was 28th in practice. His average finish this season is 22.5 and in the nine races where he was running at the finish, he's finished lower than 30th just twice. Solid for a Spire car. He's also had three top 20s in a row, including an 18th at Dover, which is notable because unlike Bristol dirt and Talladega, Dover can't be classified as a crapshoot.
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