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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 O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns following the Easter break and heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Sunday afternoon. While Texas is considered another "cookie cutter" mile and a half intermediate track, they not only repaved before last year's Spring race but also went ahead and performed some re-configurations. They removed four degrees of banking in turns one and two(now 20 degrees) and widened it by 20 feet creating opportunities for more passing. Turns three and four remained at 24 degrees so the track now has two unique ends making it a bit more challenging for car/crew chiefs when setting up the cars.
From a fantasy perspective, we should once again be targeting dominator points to help form our core driver list. Last year saw three(Fall) and two(Spring) drivers lead 50 or more laps each and both races saw one driver lead 100 or more laps. In fact, five of the last six races here have seen multiple drivers lead 50 or laps. Place differential will also be key as last year there were four(Fall) and three(Spring) drivers to start outside the Top 20 and finish inside the Top 10. In the previous 14 races dating back to 2010 here at Texas that has only happened once. With that, let's jump in and take a look at some of the top targets for this week's race.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings DFS Lineup Picks - O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
Kevin Harvick($11,500)
He is the most expensive driver this week by $900 but well worth the money as he has dominated the two mile and a half tracks(Atlanta & Las Vegas) this season leading 395 laps for an average of 132.4 DraftKings points per race. He will start on the front row this week and showed top speed on Saturday ranking fifth and second in the final two practices and also posted the fastest 10-lap average in the rain-shortened final practice. He is the top projected dominator and safe in all formats.
Kyle Larson($9,700)
Larson comes with some nice value this week as the sixth most expensive driver. He was in a crash here last Fall but was terrific in the Spring race starting near the back and finishing runner-up at the end of the race. This time around he will start 10th and showed also showed excellent speed on Saturday ranking eighth and sixth in the final sessions and had even better long-run speed ranking second and fourth in 10-lap averages in those practices. Larson was terrific on mile and a half tracks in 2016 finishing third in average fantasy scoring behind Truex and Harvick and is also safe in all formats.
Erik Jones($7,900)
Jones was on my radar before cars hit the track this week as not only has a sub $8K price tag and has an average GPP ownership of 9% this season but has also been great at Texas. In the Xfinity Series last year, he won both races and has finished Top 5 in six straight and he also finished 10th here in the Cup series in the Fall. This week he provides top place differential value starting 21st and showed Top 10 speed on Saturday ranking sixth and seventh in the final practices including the fourth and second fastest 10-lap averages in those practices.
William Byron($6,700)
There is definitely some risk in rostering Byron this week as this will be his first start here at Texas in a Cup car and he will be starting from the rear after having to change engines during first practice. He ended up qualifying back in the 33rd spot, where he will pick up place differential points from but showed much better speed in the final two practices ranking third and 13th with the ninth fastest 10-lap average in the second practice. Considering the price in the sub $7K range, I think we can consider him in all format despite the risk.
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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