NASCAR

NASCAR Daily Fantasy Helper: Bank of America Roval 400

Chase Elliott has excelled this season on road courses. Which other drivers should you target for the race at Charlotte?

Oh, boy -- there's a reason why all the playoff drivers (sans Brad Keselowski) were desperately hoping to win at Richmond. The Charlotte Roval is a new twist to a mainstay track that has been home to a crown jewel race for years now. Practice has been interesting, at best. Testing at this track back in July was even more "unique" (for lack of a better term).

Track history is clearly something that cannot be factored in this week. So this makes practice and season-long road performance important to look at in order to build a player pool. I will be looking at finishing position and place-differential upside more so than laps led upside since there are only 109 laps.

Here at numberFire, we've always got you covered for everything NASCAR DFS. Our track preview gives you more information about this track, our driver preview helps bring you up to speed on drivers' recent history here and elsewhere, and our Heat Check Podcast with Jim Sannes gives you insight to how he is approaching this weekend's slate.

High-Priced Drivers

Kyle Larson ($12,500): The high-priced range of drivers for this race isn't as appealing as it usually is. Most of the drivers seem to have some red flags except for a few, and Larson is one of the exceptions. While not performing his best at Sonoma, where he started from the pole, he was able to rebound at Watkins Glen, finishing sixth. The practice numbers have also been there for Larson this weekend, finishing sixth, seventh, and third, respectively, in the first, second and third practices. Larson should be able to maintain a top-five position and possibly get himself to the front.

Chase Elliott ($12,000): As we will get to later, there is some value to be had that will allow you to easily fit in these high-priced drivers into lineups. Elliott has done extremely well this season on road courses. He drove to a fourth-place finish at Sonoma and dominated Watkins Glen, leading 52 laps and generating 26 fastest laps (out of 90) on his way to a victory. Practice this week leaves a little bit to be desired, though, as he never cracked into the top-five in practice times in any of the three sessions. We probably don't need to fret too much over that, however, as Elliott had some of the same issues leading into Sonoma and Watkins Glen.

Mid-Priced Drivers

Jimmie Johnson ($10,600): Just taking a gander at practice times and 2018 road course performance, it seems to me like Hendrick Motorsports have figured something out. As all four of their drivers seem to set up well. Johnson is a candidate for the optimal lineup. If not for a pit penalty on lap 42 at Watkins Glen, Johnson could've posted two top-10 performances at road courses this season. Maybe the best thing for Johnson leading into this race is his 10-lap average as he posted the fastest clip of any driver in practice this weekend.

AJ Allmendinger ($8,600): A non-factor in the playoff race, Allmendinger is now racing to audition for new teams going into next season. And what better place to do so than at a road course, which is his bread and butter. It's useless to look at what Allmendinger has done at road courses this season since his car has pretty much died on the track at both this road courses campaign. It takes looking at Allmendinger's performance in other racing series to truly get the scope of his road course skill. He has an average finish of 8.2 in the NASCAR Sports Car Series (mainly a road course circuit) and an average finish of 7.5 in the Weathertech Sportscar Series (same deal). Starting second, Allmendinger can win this race if he doesn't have any car troubles.

Low-Priced Drivers

Chris Buescher ($6,400): Being on the same team as Allmendinger is essentially a cheat code for road racing. Buescher, who is starting 10th, needs to just maintain or gain a position or so to score enough fantasy points to be a big value at his price tag. In Sonoma, Buescher showed the racing world what he is capable of, finishing 12th after starting 25th. The practice numbers are a bit concerning, and he is not exactly a lock by any stretch. But if he finishes well, Buescher will be a great value option at his affordable price tag.

Daniel Hemric ($4,000): If you need something resembling a "free square," then Hemric is it. Unlike a lot of these drivers, Hemeric has seven practices here this weekend as opposed to three. That's because he is competing in the Xfinity Series, as well. Not only does he have the extra practices, he is getting a whole race of experience here before Sunday's race, and he'll be the only driver in the field allowed to do so. Hemric has been dominating in these practices, as well, ranking fourth and second in the first two practice sessions. At this price, the only way Hemric won't be worth it is if he crashes out of the race. He's in play in all formats.


Evan Cheney is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Evan Cheney also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username theman90210. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.