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The NASCAR Cup Series heads to New Hampshire this weekend for the Crayon 301. Bad weather in the area has the status of Sunday's race up in the air, though. If it gets going, it could be a race to halfway, or we could see the race pushed off to Monday.
Last week, the Cup Series was in Atlanta, with William Byron taking home the checkered flag in a rain-shortened Quaker State 400. His win spoiled a chance for multiple winless drivers to lock in a playoff berth, as four of the top six finishers hadn't won yet this season. Instead, Byron won and now leads the standings by 21 points.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Crayon 301 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 7/16/23 at 2:47 PM 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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Martin Truex Jr.
Starts Second - DK: $11,000, FD: $14,000
Martin Truex Jr. has never won at Loudon, but he has eight top fives and 14 top 10s here. Since joining Toyota in 2016, he's almost always been in contention. Over that nine-race span, he has seven top 10s and a worst finish of 16th. He's led over 100 laps five times here since then, including leading 172 of 301 laps here last year before finishing fourth.
That's not to say a win is "coming" for Truex. Obviously, sports don't work that way. But it is to say that with Truex starting on the front row, he's going to be a major threat all day long.
Kevin Harvick
Starts 13th - DK: $9,600, FD: $11,500
Kevin Harvick, in his final full-time Cup Series season, has hit a run of bad luck, finishing outside the top 20 in three consecutive races. But New Hampshire just might be the thing that gets Harvick back on the right track.
The veteran driver is a four-time winner here, most recently in 2019. He's finished sixth or better in eight of the last nine races at this track. The only time he didn't was a race in 2017 where he crashed just before the midway point.
Ross Chastain
Starts 31st - DK: $8,800, FD: $10,000
Ross Chastain turned a slow lap in qualifying and will have to start near the back, making him a prime candidate to get some big place differential numbers on Sunday. The fifth-place driver in the point standings got a nice career boost this week with the news that Busch Light is moving its sponsorship over to his Trackhouse team this season.
While he doesn't have a ton of experience here (four Cup Series starts at Loudon), he's done well in those starts. He was 25th in both races he ran here with Premium Motorsports, a good result considering how poorly that team often ran. In good equipment, he's got two top 10s in two starts, including last year's eighth-place run.
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Ty Gibbs
Starts 36th - DK: $7,600, FD: $7,000
An issue in qualifying has rookie Ty Gibbs starting in the back, but the performance of the rest of Joe Gibbs Racing in practice/qualifying suggests that this 54 car should rocket through the field on Sunday. His teammates start first and second, with another two Toyotas also in the top 10.
Gibbs was 34th last week at Atlanta, but before that had a string of four top-20 results in a row. He's still trying to figure out the Cup Series car, but he's managing to get some solid results even if he's struggled a little more lately. Of his five top 10s, four came in April or earlier. Still, Gibbs has a ton of place differential upside. In his lone Xfinity start here, he led 49 laps and would have contended for the win. But a brake issue after the second stage ended his shot to battle for victory.
Chase Briscoe
Starts 27th - DK: $6,900, FD: $6,800
It's been a long year for Stewart Haas cars that aren't piloted by Kevin Harvick, which includes Chase Briscoe. Last year, Briscoe won a race, finished ninth in points, and looked like the future of SHR. This season, he has four top 10s and sits 31st in points, though a major penalty is part of that.
Briscoe was 15th here last season, leading six laps in the process. This isn't a race where I'm targeting Briscoe as some dark horse contender, but he's had solid runs here in Cup and Xfinity. I think his 27th-place starting spot gives him a shot for a +10 to +15 in place differential.
Michael McDowell
Starts 17th - DK: $5,900, FD: $4,800
Michael McDowell's having a great season when you factor in that Front Row Motorsports is one of the weaker teams in the Cup Series. He comes into this race with top-10 finishes in four of the past five races, including a fourth last week at Atlanta. He's also posted multiple fastest laps in three of the past four races.
His low salary on both platforms puts him in a great spot to contribute to your DFS squad this week if he can maintain his recent streak. He doesn't have many great results here, though he has finished top 20 in two of his last four Loudon starts.
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