This week the Monster Energy Cup Series travels back to Virginia for the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday night. It will be the final race of the regular season and means it's also the last chance for those drivers outside the cutline to grab a win and sneak into the Playoffs at the last moment. It all comes down to this!
From a fantasy standpoint, we have 400 laps here at Richmond and that means finding the dominators will be the key. The cheatsheet looks at the results of the last six races here and each of those years we have seen at least one driver lead 150 or more laps. With stage racing and the strategies that come with it, we will likely see multiple drivers with 100 or more laps led like we saw during this Springs race. Place differential shouldn't be pushed too far down the list, however, as 15 drivers over the last two races here have gained double-digit place differential and there has been at least six per race in four of the last six races here. With that said let's dig into the post-qualifying picks for this week.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings DFS Lineup Picks - Federated Auto Parts 400
Kyle Busch ($10,700 - Starting 7th)
No driver has been better at Richmond over his career(7.3 average finish) than Kyle Busch and he tops the ranks on the cheatsheet this week. He was 3rd in opening practice and despite falling back to 15th in final practice, had the second-fastest 10 lap average. He didn't put down his best time in qualifying and will start seventh tomorrow night which gives him some place differential upside making him safe in all formats.
Martin Truex Jr. ($10,400 - Starting 5th)
When looking at potential dominators this week, there has been no one better than Kyle Busch(1,311 laps led) and Martin Truex Jr.(1,448 laps led) who are the only two drivers to lead over 1,000 laps this season. Don't expect the #78 team to just coast into the playoffs as they seem to know the importance of playoff points. The team leads the series with 17 stage wins and 37 playoff points. There is more than enough value to stack the #78 and the #18 in a high upside stars and scrubs lineup.
Ryan Newman ($7,200 - Starting 27th)
The first thing that stands out is the price that is back down in the low $7K range this week. Newman also returns to Richmond Raceway with some solid track history including a win, 17 Top 10 finishes, and a 12.1 career average finish. What makes him a top play this week is the place differential upside he provides starting 27th after posting a 12th and 18th rank in the first two practices.
David Ragan ($5,500 - Starting 29th)
In the sub $6K range we are looking for about 20-25 points from our driver and I think Ragan presents that upside this week. He starts 29th and posted the 21st and 14th fastest times in practice and has finished inside the Top 25 in four of his last five races here at Richmond.
NASCAR DFS Cheat Sheet
Don't have the time to search multiple sites looking for NASCAR stats and data?
Check out my DFS NASCAR cheatsheet which includes Track History(2-Year Trend & Career), Track Type History(2-Year Trend), Current Form, Practice/Qualifying Data, and a weighted system to get an overall rank for each driver each race. Check out it now while it's still in BETA mode and FREE to everyone. Also, be sure to check out the Race by Race Trends Sheet.
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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