RADIO
NASCAR just wrapped up the last July race in Daytona Florida, and it was not given a proper goodbye. Rain and lightning postponed the race and came back Sunday afternoon to make sure it held up the racers with 33 laps to go. I know that I'm not alone in my frustration from the way things ended in Daytona, but as the men in the booth say, "That's Racing".
Justin Haley walked away with the victory after NASCAR called the race. Even though he may not have crossed the checkered flag, things aligned in his favor and put him exactly where he needed to be. It's still exciting for Haley having led his first lap and getting his first victory in the Monster Energy Cup Series, and at the end of the day, a trophy is a trophy.
Now that NASCAR is headed to Kentucky Speedway, things will slightly return back to normal for the masters of Intermediate tracks. This track is a 1.5-mile intermediate tri-oval that opened its doors in 2000. Based on historical data mixed with how things have been as of late, here are your best choices for a DFS sleeper and some drivers that you should leave parked this upcoming weekend.
What We Learned At Daytona
Rain is currently NASCAR's biggest rival.
No one was shook more than Kurt Busch last Sunday.
DFS tournament winners left a whole lot of money on the table.
Austin Dillon and Clint Bowyer made the crash of the year this far.
DFS Lineup Sleepers - Quaker State 400
David Ragan
The 38 rarely makes it on my radar but has performed well for his price at this track. His best finish at Kentucky Speedway came in 2011 when he finished eighth.
Since then Ragan has continued a solid trend of advancing position year after year when racing in the bluegrass state. I look for his average of 27 FPTS to improve this time around.
Bubba Wallace
Wallace has had a tough year thus far. He has openly admitted he is depressed, and since then has shown some positive signs of improvement. The football slinging racecar driver had one of his best finishes of the season last Sunday in Daytona.
Wallace finished at this track in 11th back in 2017. After his best finish of the year, I would expect that good energy to come out again this weekend in Kentucky.
William Byron
Byron finished last Sunday's race in second after the red flag rain out. After two weeks with great finishes (and adding beef with Brad Keselowski), He is finally showing race fans what he's made of and has started shifting things inside the Team Hendrick garage.
His numbers from last season aren't anything spectacular at this track, but his new boost in confidence (or whatever it is) is getting him closer to his first victory. Fire up Byron in a few lineups this week.
DFS Lineup Avoids - Quaker State 400
Daniel Suarez
Suarez seems to be having trouble finding his grounding this year after his move to Stewart-Haas Racing. Aside from the changing of teams, Suarez hasn't been able to finish at this track with positive numbers since his career started in the cup series.
Suarez puts up an average number of 22 FPTS when racing in Kentucky. Don't expect much to change with him at the present time.
Austin Dillon
Dillion put on a great show at Daytona. He won stage 2 and led a total of 46 laps before causing "The Big One" with Clint Bowyer.
His record at Kentucky Speedway isn't very impressive and I don't expect him to do what he did last week at this track come Saturday night. There are far better options to use come Saturday Night.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
I genuinely thought Stenhouse Jr. struck out of The Coke Zero Sugar 400 twice last Sunday but the dude kept rolling and ended up with a P24 finish (at least he showed face on pit road).
Although Stenhouse has a small handful of tracks I will consider playing him at, Kentucky isn't one of them. In six races at this track, Stenhouse Jr. has only finished two with positive numbers, posting an average of 17 FPTS.
For any and all fantasy NASCAR questions, find me on Twitter @GarageGuyChase.
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