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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 Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway
Welcome back race fans. This week the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond Raceway for the first night race of the season, the Toyota Owners 400. It is also the second straight and third short track race of the season but take the results from Bristol and Martinsville with a grain of salt as all three tracks are quite different. While Bristol is a half-mile high-banked track and Martinsville is half-mile flat track, Richmond is a .75-mile flat track with 14 degrees of banking.
From a fantasy perspective, we will once again be relying on dominator points to form our core driver list as there are 400 laps to lead and there has been at least one driver to 150 or more in each of the last six races. On top of that, there have been two or more drivers to lead 50 or more laps in five of the last six races with three drivers doing it in both races last year with the new stage racing setup. Let's now jump in and take a look at some of the top plays of the week.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings DFS Lineup Picks - Toyota Owners 400
Kyle Busch($11,400)
He comes in red hot with wins in back to back races and has finished third or better in each of his last six races. He now comes back to Richmond, where looking at career average finish(7.4), is by far his best short track. To top things off, he will provide us with elite place differential value this week starting 32nd after finishing seventh and 14th in the two practices with the fourth-fastest 10-lap average in both of those practices. He is the top play in all formats.
Kyle Larson($10,100)
After not recording a Top 10 here in his first five races here at Richmond, Larson has two in his last three races including a win last fall where he led 53 laps. He will have a nice opportunity to get up front and lead some laps this week as he qualified fifth after finishing second and first in the two practices and posting the fastest 10-lap average in final practice.
Jamie McMurray($7,400)
In the mid-range of salary, Larson's teammate Jamie McMurray makes a nice target as they have also shown top speed all day Friday. He was fourth and third fastest in the opening practices and followed it up by qualifying eighth for the race. While I would have preferred him starting further back in the field, he has been very consistent here at Richmond with nine striaght finishes of 16th or better with five Top 10's.
Kasey Kahne($6,100)
If you are going to stack the Kyle's in a lineup this week you are going to need some value plays to do it. Enter Kasey Kahne who seen his salary drop $400 from last week as he comes back to Richmond where he has been consistent with 11 Top 20 finishes in his last 12 races with four Top 10's. That is good news this week as he will start 29th on Saturday night after posting the eighth and 13th fastest speeds in practice. He can be considered in all formats.
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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