RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Pocono this weekend for the Highpoint.com 400. Bad weather in the area has the status of Sunday's race up in the air, though. If it gets going, it could be a race to halfway, or we could see the race pushed off to Monday.
Last week, the Cup Series was in Atlanta, with William Byron taking home the checkered flag in a rain-shortened Quaker State 400. His win spoiled a chance for multiple winless drivers to lock in a playoff berth, as four of the top six finishers hadn't won yet this season. Instead, Byron won and now leads the standings by 21 points.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the HighPoint.com 400 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 7/23/23 at 2:48 PM ET. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Martin Truex Jr.
Starts Second - DK: $10,700, FD: $14,000
Last weekend, Martin Truex Jr. was the dominant driver at Loudon, leading 254 of the 301 laps on his way to the victory. He started second in that race but grabbed the lead from Christopher Bell by the second lap.
This week, he starts second again, beside William Byron. Can Truex emerge as the leader quickly and go on to dominate this one as well? I think so. Truex is a two-time winner here, and he finished seventh here last year. He has 14 top 10s in 33 starts and has top fives here for four different race teams. The current Cup Series points leader has a great shot to expand that lead today.
Kyle Busch
Starts 25th - DK: $10,500, FD: $12,000
The RCR cars struggled in qualifying, with Kyle Busch starting 25th and Austin Dillon just ahead in 23rd. That offers a couple of nice place differential options for us, though.
We start with Busch, who has a pretty strong track history here with four wins. He led 63 laps here last year and initially finished second. But he was later disqualified, as was the winner Denny Hamlin.
That race was the third Pocono race in a row that Busch led 30 or more laps, and it would have been his third top-two finish in a row here. He's won four of the last 10 Cup Series races here and also won in the Truck Series on Saturday.
Chase Elliott
Starts 35th - DK: $9,600, FD: $10,500
Chase Elliott doesn't look like the Chase Elliott of old this season, which I'm sure is partially because of the fractured tibia he suffered back in March. But I think a larger issue isn't actually that Elliott's running poorly -- because he isn't -- his average finish is 11.8, which is better than last season. The issue is more that he isn't qualifying well, as his average start is just 18.7, an eight-spot drop from last year.
His lack of laps led might just be a product of not starting in a position where he can get out there and easily lead laps. In 13 races, Elliott has started in the top 10 just four times.
That's led to a lot of good DFS days though, because Elliott's had to come through traffic most weeks, giving him place differential point upside. He has that again on Sunday after he spun in qualifying:
Elliott, the winner here last year after the top two finishers were disqualified, has the highest place differential upside in this field.
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Austin Dillon
Starts 23rd - DK: $7,200, FD: $7,000
As I mentioned above, the RCR cars just weren't that fast on Saturday -- at least not in Cup, since RCR's Austin Hill won the Xfinity Series race.
Austin Dillon is in the midst of his worst season by average finish since he's been a full-time Cup Series driver, as he's averaged a 21.3 finish this year. But that's also a little misleading, as he has six DNFs already. He was ninth last week at Loudon.
His history at Pocono is pretty hit or miss, as his 10th-place finish last year was his first top 10 here. But he's kind of lived in that 11-15 range, with nine top 15s in 17 starts here. A finish in that range should be in play on Sunday.
Ryan Preece
Starts 34th - DK: $6,600, FD: $5,000
Ryan Preece's return to the Cup Series hasn't gone well. He's technically improved his average finish over where it was in his first three years, but Preece was driving for JTG-Daugherty back then. Now, he's in a Stewart Haas car that should be faster, so his average finish being 0.8 spots better than it was in 2021 doesn't seem like a good thing.
Still, after running the slowest qualifying lap of anyone, Preece starts 34th. If he can just finish at his average of 22nd, that's a +12 in place differential. It's possible he just gets mired in 30th all day, but I'll take the risk.
Todd Gilliland
Starts 36th - DK: $5,400, FD: $3,000
Like Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland spun in qualifying and will start at the back of the field.
Gilliland's in the 38 car this week, and he's had three finishes in a row of 21st or better in this car. Plus, he had three top 10s earlier in the year. Front Row Motorsports has taken a step forward this year, and Gilliland has a good shot to gain 11-15 spots by the end of this one.
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