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The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta this weekend for what should be an interesting race. We've got a strange starting lineup, with Aric Almirola on pole and Chase Briscoe, Harrison Burton, and Todd Gilliland all starting in the top 10. Ford dominated qualifying, as nine of the top 11 cars are the grid are from the blue oval.
Last week, the Cup Series was in Chicago for the inaugural race on the streets of the Windy City. Shane Van Gisbergen, in the first Cup Series start of his career, drove to the victory, making him the first driver in the modern era to win in his first start.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Quaker State 400 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 7/9/23 at 7:18 p.m. ET. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Chase Elliott
Starts 23rd - DK: $10,400, FD: $11,000
So. We've got a race that runs like a superspeedway with a bunch of drivers near the front who aren't usually there. This is a recipe for a race where place differential will matter more than usual, which is why Chase Elliott, who starts 23rd, is the only driver I'm writing about starting top 25.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't sprinkle some other guys in. I think Denny Hamlin (14th) and William Byron (18th) are great plays. I love the Roush Fenway Racing duo of Brad Keselowski (11th) and Chris Buescher (15th) as guys who could go underutilized. If you want to take a shot on a driver starting top 10 to lead a bunch, Joey Logano starts fourth and won here earlier this year.
Alright, now we have that out of the way. Let's look at Chase Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsport driver missed the race here earlier this season because of an off-track injury, but in the two races here last season, he had a sixth-place finish where he led 29 laps, followed by a win where he led 96 of the 260 laps. If he can figure some things out on race day and the Fords don't have the same race speed that they had in qualifying, he should be a contender.
Christopher Bell
Starts 34th - DK: $9,200, FD: $10,500
Bell will be coming from near the back for this one after he turned one of the slowest qualifying laps at just 32.754 seconds. The pole time was 31.261 for Aric Almirola.
Since the resurfacing here, Bell has finishes of 23rd, 19th, and third, with the latter result coming earlier this year in a race where he led six laps. He also led 16 laps in the 2022 spring race here. Expect Bell to move forward swiftly through this field.
Bubba Wallace
Starts 37th - DK: $8,300, FD: $8,200
Pretty obvious reason to play Wallace here, as he starts last after he was unable to turn a lap in qualifying. That gives him a ton of place differential upside.
Now, there's definitely some concern. Unlike his fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell, Wallace doesn't bring a great track record at the new Atlanta, as he's failed to record a top 10 in the three starts on this current surface. Still, he does have two top 15s and he led three laps in the 2022 spring race, so don't count Wallace out as someone who can go +20 in place differential.
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Alex Bowman
Starts 36th - DK: $8,100, FD: $7,800
Another good driver starting at the back here, as Bowman had the slowest qualifying lap. He was the only driver not to break 33 seconds, as something in the car just wasn't right, and he almost lost it in one of the turns.
Bowman has a pair of top 15s on the new Atlanta surface, though he was clearly better on the old surface, finishing top five in both 2021 races before the track was redone. Still, he's an experienced driver in a good car, so I expect him to gain a lot of spots here today.
Daniel Suarez
Starts 26th - DK: $7,200, FD: $7,000
Trackhouse drivers have won two races in a row. I don't necessarily think Suarez has a chance to make it three in a row with three different drivers for the team, but I do think he's a really strong DFS option.
In two of his three starts on this new surface, Suarez has finished in the top 10, including a best finish of fourth in the 2022 spring race, where he led 13 laps. Suarez has hit a rough patch of sorts, with no top 10s in the last three races, but this could be a great spot for him.
Corey LaJoie
Starts 28th - DK: $6,500, FD: $4,500
This has been a really good track for Corey LaJoie lately. Since the track was resurfaced before the 2022 season, he's found himself running up front a lot.
In three races, LaJoie has a pair of top fives, and in the race where he didn't finish in the top five, he used strategy to get out front for 19 laps. This has been LaJoie's best shot at winning a Cup Series race three times in a row, and it's the site of both of his top fives in the series.
Of course, that's going to make him a little too popular in GPPs, so this is more of a Cash play. If you want to pivot away from him because of overexposure concerns, you could look at Noah Gragson, who starts 31st and has some solid runs here in the Xfinity Series.
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