NASCAR

Daily Fantasy NASCAR: Current Form, Track History, and Betting Odds for the Jockey Made in America 250

A.J. Allmendinger brings his road-course prowess to the Cup Series this week, putting him firmly on the radar for NASCAR DFS. Who else has a noteworthy track record on road courses entering Road America?

In theory, the idea of filling out NASCAR DFS lineups with no track history data should be daunting. Each track is unique, and some drivers are better suited for certain tracks than they are others. Track history can be valuable.

For this week at Road America, the slight downsides of that are more than made up for elsewhere.

This is the first time the Cup Series has been to Elkhart Lake since 1956, so, in a shock to everyone, there's no track history data to look at, unless you count the Xfinity Series. However, it is the fourth road-course race of 2021 -- the most in a single year in a very long time -- and we will get practice data on Saturday. Those are two mighty fine crutches.

The practice data and the starting grid aren't available yet, as of this publishing. The starting order will be set on Sunday, which does throw a wrench in things for DFS this week. We can, though, get a head start on the rest of the data so we know whom we should monitor over the weekend. (NOTE: Practice data from Saturday has been added along with the starting order. Only a handful of drivers logged five-lap averages in practice, and those five-lap averages were tainted by discrepancies in tire strategy. As a result, only single-lap times have been included. Additionally, both Kyle Busch ($12,500) and Ryan Preece ($5,000) wrecked in practice and will go to backup cars. They will still qualify on Sunday and receive an official starting position, but they will begin the race in the back of the field.)

That data is laid out below, sorted into road-course history and current form. The current form section is the six oval races this year that have been run in the 750-horsepower package excluding the Bristol dirt race. That's the race that had the loosest tie to performance in other road-course races this year, so it got the boot.

As always, the data listed is each driver's average running position rather than their finish. A good example of why we'd go this route comes from Chase Elliott ($14,500 on FanDuel) at Daytona. There, he led more than half the race and had a fifth-place average running position. He spun late, though, and finished 21st. That finish sells him short and doesn't illustrate how much of a force he can be on road courses while the fifth-place average running position does.

The other data listed is each driver's FanDuel salary and win odds at FanDuel Sportsbook. The win odds are in fractional form, so Elliott being listed at 3.1 means he's +310 to win.

PracticeRoad
Course
History
Current
Form
DriverFD
Salary
Win
Odds
StartingSingle
Lap
SonomaCOTADaytona
2021
Charlotte
2020
Daytona
2020
NashvilleDoverDarlingtonRichmondMartinsvillePhoenix
William Byron$11,2001911115181581311468711
Kyle Larson$14,0002.9293710----11721811
A.J. Allmendinger$8,9002537--1417----------------
Tyler Reddick$7,2005545171425162319137151521
Austin Cindric$8,7002353--10------------26----
Denny Hamlin$12,0001966121541951064224
Matt DiBenedetto$6,9001507201917272115192415111714
Ross Chastain$7,40055813141030----101415162420
Martin Truex Jr.$13,0009.5919725711819131446
Alex Bowman$10,00024101212151711231561481417
Daniel Suarez$6,30013011281835192626151423182524
Chris Buescher$7,3007512211716152016311312261623
Christopher Bell$9,000351381730611151421118119
Joey Logano$11,8001414221175812896382
Cole Custer$5,40015015162030121822211831252419
Kurt Busch$8,50019161912999111230151714
Ryan Blaney$10,20031174162321121437981245
Michael McDowell$7,7007518231611202011212525272624
Aric Almirola$6,6002001927212317211662237122114
Brad Keselowski$11,40047202513221691518112010164
Erik Jones$4,90015021321520211113182217232117
Justin Haley$2,5002002230--3630----32--28383028
Corey LaJoie$3,80020023242118272526272823222624
Anthony Alfredo$3,0002002429242230----222827322736
Kevin Harvick$11,0003125171733916188587138
James Davison$2,50020026332732283031--3632353333
Josh Bilicki$2,500200273630303231--313533373135
Ryan Newman$5,10020028342422232624212414281427
Cody Ware$2,8002002931302830------3133363335
Kyle Tilley$2,5002003035--30------------------
Ryan Eversley$2,5002003138----------------------
Ryan Preece$5,00017032402512181520262224272625
Quin Houff$2,80020033393433403235393131343133
Chase Elliott$14,5003.1341458583861112612
Chase Briscoe$6,4001303510191222----183015232419
Bubba Wallace$4,20020036182731251920231522241616
Austin Dillon$7,000150371519191422--181118101421
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.$5,9002003826322123221862023181912
Ty Dillon$3,0002003937--22261922------------
Kyle Busch$12,5001240287211120928891218

Two guys with limited data here worth discussing are A.J. Allmendinger ($8,900) and Austin Cindric ($8,700).

The reason the data is limited is that both guys are running a partial schedule in 2021. This will be Allmendinger's third race and Cindric's sixth. But both are in competitive equipment (as evidenced by their previous decent runs this year), and both can mop up on road courses.

In fact, the last time a NASCAR touring series was at Road America, it was those two battling for the win. Cindric got the checkered flag, one of three wins and eight top-fives in the past 10 Xfinity Series road-course races; Allmendinger also has three wins and eight top-fives in that span. Both drivers have had a top-14 average running position on a road course this year, making them fully worthy of consideration despite their lack of data.

Truthfully, that tier is just loaded. Christopher Bell ($9,000) is there, too, and he is both a winner at Road America (2019) and in the Cup Series this year (Daytona roval). Kurt Busch ($8,500) has a top-nine average running position in four of the past five road courses, and he has turned that into two top-five finishes and a sixth at Sonoma. Our goal should be to live in this tier as much as possible, even if that means checking out some punt plays if they allow us to get here without lowering our exposure to the studs.