NASCAR Daily Fantasy Helper: Jockey Made in America 250
If you are looking for an action-packed way to get your sports fix, NASCAR may be a great avenue to explore. Far from just driving in circles, some of the world's best compete nearly every weekend from February to November on tracks across America. NASCAR drivers are scored ultimately based on how they finish in the race, how many spots they advance from their starting position, and how many laps they finish and lead. Avoiding drivers who crash out of the race is a must, of course!
numberFire is always your home for fantasy NASCAR advice. In addition to this helper, Jim Sannes has you covered with his current form and odds breakdown as well as his track preview to spotlight this week's venue. For driver picks and a full preview of the event, Jim also discussed this weekend's race on the latest NASCAR episode of The Heat Check Daily Fantasy Podcast.
A gas mileage extravaganza led to redemption for the day's dominant car. Kyle Busch suffered transmission issues at the end of Stage 2 in Pocono on Sunday, but because the only way that Busch could restart the race at speed was to pit late and wind his car up on the final pace lap, his late pit stop resulted in an extra lap of fuel that made the difference to score the victory. Coming off that doubleheader, NASCAR's new Independence Day weekend tradition has finally arrived. Starting in 2021, the series will visit Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI on 4th of July weekend, and the 4.05-mile road course is aptly named to host the event on this special weekend.
Because this is the Cup Series' first race since 1956 on Road America, there was practice and qualifying this weekend. The lone practice session was held Saturday, in which Kurt and Kyle Busch finished 1st and 2nd respectively. Qualifying was held early Sunday morning to set the starting lineup for the event as well, which put William Byron on the pole for the event, and Kyle Larson to his outside in Row 1.
With all of this in mind, let's preview the Jockey Made in America 250 on FanDuel.
High-Salaried Drivers
Chase Elliott ($14,500): As poor as Elliott's speed was in practice, he remains a must in a road course DFS lineup this weekend. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won five of the past six points races at road courses. And now he offers gobs of place-differential upside because of two incredibly ill-timed cautions in qualifying Sunday, which has left him starting 34th. While he will have a difficult task to find victory lane from so deep in the field, he will be a must-play as a -700 favorite to finish in the top 10, per FanDuel Sportsbook, and he'll surely be very popular.
Kyle Larson ($14,000): Larson had an incredibly realistic path to his fifth and sixth straight victories in Pocono, needing just one more turn from his failing tire last Saturday and one less turn of fuel in Kyle Busch's Toyota on Sunday to accomplish the sweep. His blistering current form would make him worth consideration all on its own, but Larson has objectively been among the top road course drivers in 2021, as well. Larson crashed from third at Daytona in February, finished second at COTA, and led 57 of 92 laps in a dominant win at the last road course event in Sonoma. His only Road America experience is an uneventful 7th in the 2013 Xfinity Series event, but the championship favorite is still the top pick to win in my eyes from his starting spot of second if you're looking for a pivot from Elliott and Kyle Busch ($12,500) deep in the field.
Others to Consider: Kyle Busch ($12,500)
Mid-Salaried Drivers
Kevin Harvick ($11,000): With place-differential points so important in this event, Harvick was among the least likely in this section to get the nod, but he was among those affected by the weird qualifying situation in Round 1 and lines up 25th on the starting grid. Harvick has not been sensational on road courses since his 2017 win at Sonoma, but a streak of nine top-15 finishes in the last 13 races road course races provides great confidence he will be able to navigate closer to the front. Like Elliott, Harvick can pay off in this spot via a top-10 finish, and although his +105 odds to get one are not as high as Elliott's, neither is his salary.
Kurt Busch ($8,500): After winning practice on Saturday, Busch was amongst those with potential pole aspirations, but he was able to post just 16th in qualifying and was among many left without a chance to improve that due to a late caution. Busch is going to be amongst the front runners at any road course in which he avoids trouble, as he has a top-nine average running position in four of the five 2021 road course events. Considering his blistering speed Saturday, Busch should be one to potentially migrate toward the front, and his +135 odds to secure a top-10 finish make him a reasonable lineup plug even though he's unlikely to lead laps.
Others to Consider: Joey Logano ($11,800), Christopher Bell ($9,000), Austin Cindric ($8,700)
Low-Salaried Drivers
Austin Dillon ($7,000): Dillon was among several trapped in qualifying by cautions. With Dillon starting 37th, not many got a worse deal. Truthfully, Dillon had never been in consideration in a road course helper entering 2021, as his career best finish on such courses was 16th at Sonoma in 2018. However, as has been the case with his Richard Childress Racing machines all season, Dillon has had more speed and positive results this year. Dillon finished 12th in the rain at COTA as well as 13th in Sonoma, and that has him as an interesting prospect to actually ascend from this starting spot. Our own Jim Sannes finds Dillon a value to get a top-10 finish at +550 odds, and if Dillon did record his first-career top-10 finish on a road course, it would come in the process of busting this DFS slate.
Chase Briscoe ($6,400): With Briscoe having to face Austin Cindric ($8,700) his entire Xfinity Series career, it would have been understandable if Briscoe never found victory lane on a road course in NASCAR's developmental series, but Briscoe did so twice -- at the Charlotte ROVAL in 2018 and the Indianapolis G.P. in 2020. Briscoe's best Cup Series finish in his rookie year came on a road course after finishing 6th at COTA, and his fourth-best finish (17th) came at Sonoma in June. Given that this has been his best format of track in addition to his 35th starting spot, Briscoe appears to be the most adept road racer who is both starting deep in the field and is listed at would be considered a value salary.
Others to Consider: Michael McDowell ($7,700), Ryan Preece ($5,000), Bubba Wallace ($4,200)
Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. 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.
