RADIO
I've been dying inside since Wednesday because I'm not physically attending the wildest scene on the planet that is Talladega this weekend. I know that we have to keep each other safe by staying inside while this virus makes its way out of the world, but missing Dega weekend for the first time in forever just feels off. Luckily there's a small silver lining in these trying times with the iRacing Pro Invitational Series, and all I can say is that I hope all the virtual people attending this race brought plenty of Drip Drop to recover from the daily hangovers.
Last weekend we saw William Byron pull a two-peat after bagging Richmond, and although we may not see a victory at virtual Dega this Sunday, I'm damn sure starting him again in every lineup. For this week, the series introduces something new with an inversion of 10 cars that will put Byron at the rear of the field along with Timmy Hill and Parker Kligerman. Expect manual cautions, three green-white-checkered finish attempts, and one reset for each driver.
This biggest surprise for drivers, and fans alike this week was the announcement of Jeff Gordon joining the race. This is huge for iRacing, and the virtual race should drive in tons of viewers from all over with the retired driver participating. It would be so dope to see Gordon take it to the house Sunday, but given his little experience with the program, you may not want to go too crazy on him in your lineups (who cares, lets waste money cause IT'S JEFF F'N GORDON!!).
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Joey Logano #22 (DraftKings - $7,900 | FanDuel - $8,300 | iRating - NA)
Logano has been nothing short of awful in iRacing so far, but you can't knock his performances in real life at Talladega. There's no doubt that he will be putting in some work over the weekend at one of his favorite (and best) tracks in NASCAR, so dont let the past shy you away too much. Logano has averaged a solid 55.8 FPTS in real life at Dega since 2016.
Chase Elliott #9 (DraftKings - $6,800| FanDuel - $7,800 | iRating - 3262)
Elliott surprised me last week finishing 11th at Richmond with ZERO practice leading up to the race. Maybe it was the fact that drivers had no fast resets, or he's getting the hang of iRacing. Elliott won at Talladega this time last year in a real car, and with his career average of 35.5 FPTS at this track, I'll put my money on him to have a good race.
Brad Keselowski #2 (DraftKings - $6,300| FanDuel - $6,600 | iRating - 2669)
Keselowski has been putting in work on the virtual racetrack. Last Sunday he started at Richmond in P9, and finished one spot back in P10, which puts him towards the rear of the field this weekend due to the inversion. Keselowski may not have a great DFS record at Dega, but at that price, I dont want to pass up a driver showing solid progress.
William Byron #24 (DraftKings - $11,100 | FanDuel - $16,000 | iRating - 6502)
Byron is on a roll after winning two in a row, and before the inversion announcement, I fully planned on fading him this week. There's no way in hell I'm leaving him out of my lineups now starting at the rear of the field, and I'm sure I won't be alone in the act. Byron should easily creep up to the Top 10 (at least) if he can avoid the big one.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #47 (DraftKings - $6,000| FanDuel - $3,500 | iRating - 1219)
Stenhouse Jr. is the ultimate grab in DFS this week at bottom of the barrel pricing. Tricky Ricky goes into full mullet mode at Dega, and even though he's in a virtual car, he should still be able to crank out a top finish. Stenhouse Jr. has averaged a total of 36.8 FPTS at this track since 2016 with Two Top 5 finishes.
Kyle Busch #18 (DraftKings - $9,400| FanDuel - $8,600 | iRating - NA)
I'm officially on my Busch'it for Dega week. Busch should be starting around P35, and that's all I need to hear to start him in my lineups. FanDuel players will get a little more value with the pick this week, and it should pay off nicely with all the progress he's had as of late.
Tyler Reddick #31 (DraftKings - $7,400 | FanDuel - $7,400 | iRating - NA)
I couldn't overlook Reddick anymore after gaining eight spots at the finish in last Sunday's race. Even though we have no data on him at the cup level in real life at Dega, I fully expect him to have a similar finish to his past two Pro-Invitational series races. Reddick was last year's April winner at Talladega in the Xfinity Series, so I'm gonna need to see that energy.
Denny Hamlin #11 (DraftKings - $10,500 | FanDuel - $11,000 | iRating - 4118)
Hamlin had a rough time at last April's Geico 500, and he's already hit up some practice on iRacing this week to prepare to take on the virtual version to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Hamlin has been constantly knocking out Top 10s each week, and he'll be another one of the alphas starting at the back of the pack. Hamlin is worth the salary hit this week hands down.
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