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The NASCAR Cup Series is in Watkins Glen this weekend for the Go Bowling at The Glen. This is the second race of the Round of 16. Last weekend, Joey Logano won at Atlanta, locking up a Round of 12 spot for the No. 22 car.
This should be an eventful race, though hopefully not as eventful as Saturday's crash-filled Xfinity Series race, which went multiple overtimes and finished under caution. Connor Zilisch, making his first career start, ended up winning at the Glen on Saturday.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Go Bowling at The Glen on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 9/15/2024 at 3:04 p.m. EDT. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on X at @juscarts.
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DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Kyle Larson
Starts 20th - DK: $10.5K, FD: $13.5K
Kyle Larson starts 20th on Sunday after he wasn't able to get a clean lap in at the end of qualifying.
This is gonna be close for Zilisch, Mayer and Allmendinger after Brandon Jones wrecked in the grass with Mike Skeen after Ty Gibbs ran out of gas. Overtime 3 coming. #NASCAR
— Jonathan Fjeld (@Jonathan_Fjeld) September 14, 2024
Shades of Lando Norris in Baku on Saturday morning, right? (If you don't watch F1, Norris was one of the favorites for pole, but some confusion near the end of qualifying led to him not getting his best hot lap in.)
Larson has won here twice in the Cup Series, though he started top five in both of those. In nine starts here, he's only fired off lower than sixth once, which happened in 2014. In that race, Larson started 23rd and finished fourth.
Shane Van Gisbergen
Starts Third - DK: $9.8K, FD: $12.0K
On Saturday, Shane Van Gisbergen was forced to start in the back in the Xfinity Series race here. Despite having to run through the entire field, SVG led 14 laps and finished fifth after a hard-fought battle for second between him and four other cars.
Van Gisbergen has been the best road course racer in the Xfinity Series this year, but that hasn't translated to Cup. He's run two road course races so far in Cup this year, finishing 20th at COTA and 40th in Chicago.
Of course, Chicago could have gone a lot better, as he led nine laps before crashing out of the race. This Kaulig No. 16 car has struggled to find speed, but Van Gisbergen can still get some juice out of it as long as he stays out of trouble.
This is a bit of a risky play because SVG could lose you a lot of place differential points if the car lets him down, but if things break right he can absolutely challenge for his second Cup Series victory.
Ty Gibbs
Starts 15th - DK: $9.2K, FD: $11.5K
Ty Gibbs is always fast here, but the results don't always match the speed. For example, Gibbs led three laps in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, but he ran out of fuel at the end and finished 25th.
This is gonna be close for Zilisch, Mayer and Allmendinger after Brandon Jones wrecked in the grass with Mike Skeen after Ty Gibbs ran out of gas. Overtime 3 coming. #NASCAR
— Jonathan Fjeld (@Jonathan_Fjeld) September 14, 2024
Gibbs was fifth here in the Cup Series race last year and has a win at this track in Xfinity. He should be a good bet to gain 5-10 place differential points by the end of Sunday's race.
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Chris Buescher
Starts 24th - DK: $8.3K, FD: $8.5K
Chris Buescher has finished in the top 10 in two of the three road course races so far this season, including a third-place finish at Sonoma that saw him lead 32 laps.
While Watkins Glen hasn't always been Buescher's best track, he's definitely found speed here recently, posting consecutive top 10s at the track. Last August, Buescher finished seventh in this race.
Todd Gilliland
Starts 37th - DK: $6.8K, FD: $5.8K
I've been really impressed by Todd Gilliland's runs at road courses this season. He struggled a bit at COTA, but finished in the top 10 at both Sonoma and Chicago. His 37th-place starting spot on Sunday should give him a huge place differential upside.
Another OOF from the guy born in 2006...@ConnorZilisch described his friends @NoahGragson, @ZaneSmith and @ToddGilliland_ like this: "It's cool to have older people like that who kind of take you under their wing."
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) September 14, 2024
And Watkins Glen has been a particularly good track for Gilliland during his racing career. He was second in his lone K&N East start at the track and fourth in the 2021 Truck Series race. In Cup, he led five laps in 2022 but exited the race early with mechanical issues. Last season, he started 25th and finished 11th here.
Kaz Grala
Starts 38th - DK: $5.0K, FD: $2.0K
On one hand, Kaz Grala hasn't been very good in his Cup starts for Rick Ware Racing. His average finish is just 27.2 in the 17 races he's run, which explains why he's the cheapest driver in the field.
But Grala has a reputation for running well on road courses. Back in 2020, he made his Cup debut subbing for Austin Dillon at the Daytona road course and finished 10th, and two of his six top 10s in the Truck Series were on road courses, including a 2021 second place at COTA in a No. 02 truck that had no business finishing second.
On Sunday, Grala starts 38th, so he doesn't even need a spectacular run to have DFS upside because of place differential. I love the value here.
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