The Round of 16 wrapped up with Martin Truex Jr. leading 187 laps on his way to victory. It was his second of the opening round as he appears to be the driver to beat after three races. The 12 remaining drivers in the Chase head to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a Saturday night race to kick off the second round. Listen to the drivers talk about this round and most will say it's the toughest of the four as the elimination race takes place at the always unpredictable Talladega. Look for drivers and teams to give it a little extra in the next two weeks to get that win an auto advancement into the Round of 8.

Teams were able to unload on Thursday and get in the opening practice and qualifying but Friday's final two practices have been rained out and cancelled. With limited data it would be wise to lean on track history and especially form. With some teams struggling in qualifying it has created a nice set of place differential value plays as well. Let's dig in!

If you have any questions leading up to the race be sure to join the conversation in the chat below or hit me up in the new RotoBaller Expert Chat Room where you can go one on one with me or any other Rotoballer expert on any subject you wanna talk about. Whether you wanna talk stats, strategy, stacking, lineup construction or anything else it is the best place to get the information you need.

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 and lineups will be updated throughout the weekend so be sure to follow me on Twitter(@jager_bombs9) 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: Kevin Harvick ($10,700)

His win at New Hampshire proved to be huge as getting caught on pit road under caution at Chicago and a mechanical issue at Dover would have been fatal to his Chase hopes. Making it to the second round is huge as he comes back to Charlotte, a place that he has dominated lately. Over the last 10 races here he has two wins, five Top 5's and has finished inside the Top 10 in nine of the 10 races. The #4 taem unloaded with tons of speed as they lead the first practice and followed it up by winning the Coors Lite Pole for Saturday night. He is an elite play and safe in all formats.

Upper Tier Value: Denny Hamlin ($9,300)

Without the final two practices to tune their cars for the race drivers will rely heavily on notes from previous races. I give an early edge to the Joe Gibbs Racing team who get to share notes with Martin Truex Jr. and the #78 team(satellite team of JGR) who absolutely dominated the Coca Cola 600 back in May. I fully expect the four JGR cars to enter the zone that Truex has found through three races in the Chase. Hamlin comes as the cheapest of the four JGR drivers and has some terrific track history at Charlotte. He hasn't recorded a win here but has been very close with five Top 5's and nine Top 10's in his last 10 races here. He is the top value play of the week ranking 3rd in my weighted model while coming 8th in salary.

Mid Tier Value: Ryan Newman ($7,400)

Digging down near the bottom of the middle tier we find a value play in Ryan Newman. He comes back to Charlotte where he has been very consistent over the past five years. He has no wins here but has six Top 10 finishes in his last 10 races and holds the best average finish(11.1) of any driver under $9K this week. He also comes with a ton of place differential value as he qualified in the 21st position and showed Top 10 speed in opening practice. He is safe in all formats.

Also Consider: Trevor Bayne ($6,600)

DFS & Fantasy NASCAR Chat Room

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

[iflychat_embed id="c-59" hide_user_list="yes" hide_popup_chat="no" height="400px"]

The Keys to Weekly NASCAR DFS Success

NASCAR is back, and it's time for you to win more with RotoBaller! Our DFS NASCAR Premium Package features several heavy hitters and proven winners.

Jordan McAbee anchors the team with his exclusive NASCAR picks, DFS projections and algorithm-predicted finishing order! In 2022 DFS contests, Jordan had a +33.92% profit margin good for +$10,467.06 profit and qualified for the Fantasy Racing World Championship.

Four-time NASCAR Racing Writer of the Year finalist and fantasy industry legend Scott "The King" Engel is also in the crew, bringing you his weekly strategies and lineup picks. Set your winning DFS lineups with our award-winning team.