Welcome back to another week of daily fantasy NASCAR. It's been a very interesting week leading up to this weekends race at Richmond International Raceway. Tony Stewart made the announcement mid week that he would return to the #14 car for the Toyota Owners 400 on Sunday. It didn't take him long to weigh on the whole "lug nut" conversation. He went public with his comments that NASCAR should step in and save the teams from themselves before someone gets hurt. It cost him $35,000.  If you haven't been paying attention to this and wondering what I am talking about here is a quick breakdown.

NASCAR stepped away from policing the tire change on pit road as it took 40+ inspectors off pit road. Clearly a safety issue. They put the responsibility on the teams to police themselves. Well, if you give a crew chief an inch they will take a mile. There are teams not hiding that they are only gluing four lug nuts on the tires during changes. This has lead to safety concerns brought up from some drivers and others in the sport. Why? Well if one lug nut isn't tight, then only three of five are actually keeping the wheel on the car. The Fox guys made a great point during first practice that the first lug nut actually seats the wheel and by the time the other three are tightened, the first one is not completely tight anymore. A wheel has not come off a car...yet but drivers, most notably and audibly Tony Stewart, have become more and more concerned as teams push the limits.

Ok, it wasn't a quick breakdown. But I hope you understand the situation a little more moving forward. It's something to monitor if anything. Onto the race.

Richmond International Raceway is a .75 mile D-Shaped Oval short track. It's the third short track race in four weeks but don't get this track confused with Martinsville and Bristol which are completely different animals. Richmond is a quarter mile longer with more banking than Martinsville but way less than Bristol. That is the great thing about NASCAR. No two tracks are alike. Over the years drivers starting inside the Top 10, and more specifically the Top 5, have dominated the laps led so be sure to pay close attention to qualifying on Friday afternoon.

If you have any questions leading up to the race be sure to join the conversation in the chat below.

Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings DFS  Lineup Picks

Kevin Harvick - $10,600  

Happy Harvick will be the car to beat this week. He comes into the Richmond race with Top 10 finishes in all but one race(17th at Martinsville) which is tied with Carl Edwards for most in NASCAR. Looking at his career history at Richmond he is second among active drivers in wins(3) and has the the third best average finish(10.8). He has dominated the Loop Data rankings in 2016 as he is second in laps led(499) and first in fast laps(352). First practice just finished up and guess who was fastest? The #4 car. If rain doesn't pass in time for qualifying, it will be Harvick on the pole and if qualifying is a go he may very well win the pole anyway.

Denny Hamlin - $10,400

He returns to his home track this weekend looking for his third career win here at Richmond. He hasn't won here since the fall race in 2010 and has been on a bit of a cold streak with four of his last five races here resulting in finishes outside the Top 20. He did start to turn it around last fall where he finished 6th after starting back in 25th. He will be looking to help the Joe Gibbs Racing team make it four straight Sprint Cup wins this weekend and could be battling his teammates for that honor Sunday afternoon.

Kurt Busch - $9,100

Another driver that will be looking for his third career win here at Richmond. He dominated this race last year when it was still a night race by leading 291 laps on his way to the checkered flag. He ranks 7th in my model for this week before analyzing qualifying and practices which makes him a great value considering he is the 10th most expensive option on DraftKings. He finished up practice one as the 7th fastest car so I am expecting him to get a Top 10 starting position for the race.

Kasey Kahne - $8,200

He is trending in the right direction and is getting close to being a To 5 car and possibly picking up his first win since August of 2014 at Atlanta. He finished with his second Top 10 of the year at Texas and after running inside the Top 10 for a large part of the race at Bristol, finished 17th. You can't trust him in cash games but at low ownership he makes a great GPP play.

A.J. Allmendinger - $6,900

After finishing off the 2015 season strong with three Top 20 finishes in the final four races he has picked up where he left off. In 2016 his worst finish has been 27th at Atlanta and has finished every other race inside 22nd with two Top 10's already(only 3 all of last year). He has raced here at Richmond nine times in the past five years and has picked up two Top 10 finishes with an impressive 14.2 average finish(13th best in the field). He is an excellent value under $7K and makes a great GPP play and if he qualifies outside the Top 15 this week he can also be considered in cash games.

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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