NASCAR Daily Fantasy Helper: Digital Ally 400
We have a night race in Kansas. This should be a fun race to watch with it being a 550-horsepower race at night. In my eyes, this race has a lot of similarities to the race we saw in Vegas at the beginning of March.
The Vegas event was the first race to use the new aero package, and it delivered for a fun race with no cautions other than those for the stages. First off, there were an incredible 3,345 green flag passes -- almost 1,000 more than there were in the spring 2018 Vegas race. Second (which parlays off of the first point), drivers starting in the back were able to move up the field, unlike last week in Dover. The top-10 finishers in the Vegas 2019 spring race started 10th, 19th, 3rd, 1st, 28th, 8th, 25th, 23rd, 12th and 2nd.
Finally, as we will get to in a bit, Kevin Harvick, who started on the pole in Vegas and does so here in Kansas, had one of the weirder possible issues to keep him from leading more than the 88 that he did.
To note, I am not factoring in practice a ton. There was a lot of drafting that provided more noise than anything when looking at practice speeds.
So on that note, let's check out this week's picks!
Here at numberFire, we've always got you covered for everything NASCAR DFS. Our track preview gives you more information about Richmond, our driver preview helps bring you up to speed on recent driver history, and our Heat Check Podcast with Jim Sannes gives you insight to how he is approaching this weekend's slate.
High-Priced Drivers
Joey Logano ($14,500) - If there is a safe place-differential driver, Logano is it. He won in Las Vegas, leading 86 laps, and had the second-best driver rating of 131.5. Logano is also the hottest driver in this field. Coming in with an average running position of 6.8 in his last five races, which is tops in the field, along with an average finish of 7.3 in that same time. We shouldn't operate under the assumption that he will be a dominator in this race, but we can't rule out that possibility, either. Whatever happens, he should be able to come through in DFS based on finishing position and place-differential points.
Kevin Harvick ($14,000) - Harvick is the third-most expensive driver on the slate, but he's well worth the price tag. As we touched on in the intro, Harvick should have led a higher percentage of laps at the very least when he started on the pole in Vegas, a race similar to this one. But, of course, the only thing that stopped him from doing so in that one was oil in his pit stall -- a fluke occurrence. Harvick starts on the pole -- like he did in Vegas -- and he should lead a good chunk of laps. He is definitely the safest driver in this price range. Plus, how can you not roster Harvick after this quote?
Mid-Priced Drivers
Kyle Larson ($10,500) - In a third-place finish last week at Dover, Larson finally got to finish a race for the first time in the last four. Now he will get to build off that showing. In the Vegas race, Larson was hit with a green-flag penalty on lap 40, causing him to go a lap down. And while he did eventually make it up, due to the lack of cautions, he was unable to crack into the top 10 because of the amount of time it took to change pit strategy to allow him to get back on the lead lap. Because of all the recent mishaps with the number-42 car, recent form is not the best tool to use here, but track history is. In 10 races at Kansas, Larson has a career driver rating of 93.1, which is fifth in the field. He has led 104 laps with an average starting position of 16.6. Starting in 8th tonight, Larson seems like a good candidate for a second dominator if something were to happen to the number-4 car.
Jimmie Johnson ($10,000) - Off the bat, know that this is a risky, tournament-only play. With that said, it might work. In recent races, Johnson has put up the 12th-best driver rating in the field (87.9). Of course, that's not the best, but it looks as if he might be capable of amassing place-differential points while gaining track position, as well. Considering his track history here, it's hard to rule out Johnson -- even if he has been struggling for some time now.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($8,400) - Rostering Stenhouse here requires running with the assumption that this Kansas race will be similar to the Vegas spring race. Because the only star that aligns here for Stenhouse is that he finished with the fifth-best driver rating in the field (105.5) at Vegas and a took home a sixth-place finish. If he is able to run similar speeds at Kansas, he will have a great chance to provide DFS goodness. This is also assuming that he does not get overly aggressive too early in the race. Being a night race, the lesser grip on the track can make for dire consequences if a driver gets too aggressive before the rubber is laid down. Otherwise, I am confident in Ricky's ability to move up this field.
Low-Priced Drivers
Paul Menard ($7,500) - Starting in 16th, Menard can be worth his price even if he moves up only a few spots, and he can open up salary for you to pay up for the studs you want. In terms of recent form, Menard is 16th in this field, and the same goes for track history. He's certainly more of a tourney play, however, than a cash-game selection.
William Byron ($7,200) - Starting in seventh, Byron might not be the safest bet. However, his recent form suggests that he could at least maintain his starting spot, which could be enough to do well in a tournament. Last week at Dover, despite finishing with negative place differential, he came through with a respectable 70.5 FanDuel points, and that was going from second to eighth. He's capable of a similar type of showing this week.
Chris Buescher ($6,700) - Buescher seems to be the ultimate place-differential play week in and week out. And here we are again, discussing him as a great place-differential option for this weekend. Based on his recent form, he might be able to eek out a top-20 finish, and that would be similar to last week's performance, when he went from 30th to 23rd and landed in the optimal lineup.
Other Drivers: Tyler Reddick ($3,000) - Admittedly, I really don't know what to expect here, but he is dirt cheap and is driving a solid car. While it's scary, for sure, Reddick might be worth the risk to open up a ton of salary for elsewhere.
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.
