After another crash happy Daytona race, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series heads to Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400 Saturday night. The track is a 1.5 mile D Shaped Oval Intermediate track that made its debut in the sprint Cup series back in July of 2011. Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski have both won two races with Matt Kenseth grabbing the other win. Jimmie Johnson joins Kenseth and Busch as the only three drivers to finish each of the first five races inside the Top 10.

This year the racing at Kentucky could be much different as there have been some car setup rule changes as well as track configurations. NASCAR is implementing the same low down force package they used back in Michigan a few weeks ago which will make the cars much looser than before. Kentucky Speedway has also re surfaced the track and made modifications to the turns with some added banking. It will be crucial this week to pay close attention to practice speeds and 10 lap averages to see what teams are getting an early grasp on the setup that will be needed.

If you have any questions leading up to the race be sure to join the conversation in the chat below. I will also be sharing a link to a cheatsheet I developed and use weekly to help reduce research time. The cheatsheet includes driver salaries, track history(last 5 years), current form(last 5 races), Season Loop Data, and I also provide updated practice and qualifying rankings with a weighted system to rank all drivers. The cheatsheet will and lineup swill be updated throughout the weekend so be sure to follow me on Twitter and check your emails for lineup updates.  Check out the link in the chat room below and feel free to ask me any questions leading up to the race.

Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings DFS  Lineup Picks

Favorite to win - Kyle Busch ($10,200)

Hard to ignore the #18 this week. Kyle has won this race twice in it's five year existence with four Top 5's and has finished every race inside the Top 10 for a very impressive 3.8 average finish. He cementing his spot in the Chase with three early season wins Kyle had an awful stretch from mid May to mid June in which he finished four straight races outside the Top 30. He got back on track with a 7th at Sonoma and a runner up last week at Daytona and is easily the favorite coming into this week.

Upper Tier Value - Carl Edwards ($9,600)

Getting Carl Edwards in the mid $9K range as the 7th in salary is a value this week. The Toyota cars have shown terrific speed in the first practice(Top 4 are Toyota's) and essentially all year. In the five races here at Kentucky he has yet to record a win but has finished inside the Top 5 twice with a 13.4 average finish. Carl did well with the new down force package back in Michigan where he picked up a 6th place finish. I fully expect the #19 to be in contention in the closing laps.

Mid Tier Value - Denny Hamlin($8,500)

You guessed it. Another JGR driver. You can easily stack these guys this week as they all fall in different salary ranges. Denny comes back to Kentucky with two Top 5 finishes in the five races here and seems to have figured out the new track as he posted the 4th fastest speed in the first practice on Thursday. Denny will be looking for only his second Top 10 finish at a mile and a half track this season. I like his odds.

Bottom Tier Value - Ryan Newman ($7,500)

Newman seems to get mentioned almost every week. The price continues to sit in the mid $7K range and he keeps putting up Top 12 finishes. In fact he has finished seven straight races 18th or better including three Top 10 finishes. While he lacks upside for GPP's he is a great building block for cash games.

Also Consider - Trevor Bayne

DFS & Fantasy NASCAR Chat Room

If you have any questions leading up to the race hit me up in the chat below!

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