NASCAR

NASCAR Daily Fantasy Helper: KC Masterpiece 400

Kevin Harvick figures to be popular, but Kyle Busch is one of the better pivot options available. With practice and qualifying complete, which other drivers should you target this weekend in NASCAR DFS?

We saw Kevin Harvick dominate Dover in a very convincing win. Can he accomplish the same again under the Saturday night lights in Kansas? Let's find out!

With qualifying and all three practice sessions complete for the week, it's time to take a look at which drivers we should be targeting on FanDuel.

As always, there will be other factors at play when you're making your picks, and we've got you covered there, too. You can take a look at this week's track preview to see historic scoring trends at this track to know which starting positions you should target. We also have a driver preview which runs through drivers with either good history at the track or solid current form. Finally, our weekly podcast combines all of this to detail strategies you should be looking to deploy.

Without further ado, here are the drivers we are targeting for the KC Masterpiece 400.

High-Priced Drivers

Kevin Harvick ($13,500): Harvick dominated wire-to-wire in Dover, finishing more than two seconds better than second- and third-place Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez (both of whom failed post-race inspection). Bottom line: this No. 4 car is fast, and it's going to stay fast. Harvick layed down the fastest practice lap in Kansas, and he had the third-highest average practice speed in the field. Oh, and did I mention that Harvick is starting on the pole? The guy has the potential to lead a good portion of the 267 laps of the race. Of course, the elephant in the room is the huge price tag, but it's a salary that many will likely be more than happy to pay. While there are pivots this week, they are high-risk options and would involve Harvick having to crash or have pit issues in order for those pivots to pay off. It's probably best to just pay up for Harvick and build from there in all formats.

Kyle Busch ($12,200): Speaking of potential pivots off of Harvick, Busch is one of them. There was a time not too long ago that Busch was winning every race, and this is another race he can win, though things are going to have to go his way for that to happen. One of the breaks he needs is for the race to stay green for as long as it can. The practice data tells us Harvick is better on short runs, shown by his top speed of 186.1 miles per hour (MPH) in practice, but Busch was better on the long runs, averaging 179.13 MPH vs Harvick's 179.09 MPH. Busch will have to get ahead and start leading laps early and often, which is something that's certainly in his range of outcomes as he's starting in third. The Kansas night race has produced more cautious than its fall counterpart in years past, but the apparent decrease in cautions this season across all races can give a little help to Busch in his pursuit of taking down Harvick this week.

Mid-Priced Drivers

Kyle Larson ($10,700): Starting in 22nd, Larson is a solid option for chasing place-differential points. Admittedly, his track history is not great as he's finished in the top 15 only twice since 2015. However, a lot of the poor performances here can be attributed to bad luck. From pit issues to crashes and engine failures, Larson seems to be on the bad side of variance when he comes to Kansas. But we can't let this bad luck cloud our judgment on how good of a play Larson is. He ranked second in best practice speed overall and had the second-highest average speed on a 10-lap run. His ownership should be relatively low based on his history here and some of the more expensive options up top. But if you have the opportunity to put Larson in a lineup this week, he's one of the better mid-range plays.

Clint Bowyer ($10,200): Coming off a second-place finish in Dover, Bowyer finds himself in a very solid DFS spot yet again in Kansas. Whether he'll fail the post-race inspection again or not is up in the air, but all that matters is that he passes pre-race inspection. Although he's starting in 33rd, so does it really matter whether or not he gets sent to the rear? Bowyer is pretty much there to begin with after failing to pass inspection before qualifying. After looking at practice numbers, the No. 14 has a lot of appeal, as long as he wasn't being fishy again. Bowyer was fifth overall in practice and fourth on the long runs. He's a great play in both cash games and GPPs, with huge opportunity for place differential starting from the back. He might be harder to fit in with a Busch or Harvick, but he's slightly easier than someone such as Larson, given the $500 discount.

Low-Priced Drivers

Ryan Newman ($8,400): I'll be honest -- the low end of the pricing spectrum is awful. Outside of Bowyer, all of the drivers with speed decided that they actually wanted to perform well in qualifying this week. Go figure! The thing is, though, we need to find at least one or two inexpensive guys this week if we are going to build anything close to the optimal lineup. That being said, Newman, who is starting in 15th, is a solid play. He ran at least respectable practice times and can provide you decent finishing position if the race goes his way. Newman won't lead many -- if any -- laps, but barring any crashes, mechanical issues, or pit troubles, he can give you just enough to be useful this weekend.

William Byron ($8,600): Byron is essentially the same story as Newman, but he's starting two spot better in 13th. The two drivers have very similar practice numbers on both short and long runs. As we just talked about, there isn't much going for the low-end drivers, and we're probably not getting anyone who has huge place-differential upside. That is why it's not a bad idea to chase the finish-position upside that comes with Newman and Byron. If you're looking to fit in Harvick or Busch -- or both -- you need some cheap roster fillers, and Byron is a good way to save some coin.


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.