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NASCAR will feature a pair of Daytona 500 qualifying races on Thursday night with the Bluegreen Vacations Duels. This article will focus on the drivers in the first of the two Duel races.
Also important to note: DraftKings has separate contests for each Duel, while FanDuel has combined contests for the events. Because of that, I'm gearing this article more towards the DK players out there, mainly because I'm mad at FanDuel for not having separate contests. C'mon, y'all!
Below are some drivers to consider for DFS purposes this week. If you have any questions or want to talk NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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Denny Hamlin
Starts 4th
(DraftKings $10,100 | FanDuel $14,000)
With only one Hendrick car in this race — the 48 of Alex Bowman, which is already locked into a front row starting spot and doesn't have a ton to race for — this race will be much more wide open than the other Duel.
Hamlin is my favorite to win. He starts fourth, behind Bowman, Aric Almirola and Martin Truex Jr. Truex isn't very good at superspeedways. Almirola's a solid superspeedway racer, but he's no Hamlin, who has three wins and 11 top fives at Daytona in his career, which doesn't even count his performances in the Duels, which he's won twice.
Kevin Harvick
Starts 13th
(DraftKings $9,800 | FanDuel $9,500)
Last season, Kevin Harvick didn't win a race for the first time since 2009.
But that says more about Ford's struggles than Harvick. He was miles better than his three teammates last year. This new car should get the Fords back in contention, even factoring in the slowness of three-fourths of Stewart Haas in qualifying.
Harvick has been really strong in the Duels lately, with six top fives in a row. That includes 2016, when he had to drive up from 22nd. I expect Harvick to make some moves on Thursday.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Starts 16th
(DraftKings $9,000 | FanDuel $7,500)
Not a great qualifying run, but Stenhouse knows how to run superspeedways. And while his aggressiveness could come back to bite him, I think it's worth the risk.
Last year's 11th in Duel 1 ended a streak of three Duel top 10s in a row, which included a second-place in 2019. Maybe some of that earlier success in the Duels can be attributed to driving for a stronger team back then, but Stenhouse does have a second-place finish at Talladega in one of these JTG-Daugherty cars.
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Austin Dillon
Starts 10th
(DraftKings $8,100 | FanDuel $8,200)
Solid place differential upside for Dillon here. He's finished in the top 10 in his last five Duels, including winning Duel 2 last year. He also came up from 15th to finish sixth in 2020's Duel, so we've seen evidence of Dillon being able to work through the field.
Dillon won the 2018 Daytona 500 and has proven to be a really strong contender at superspeedways, even if he's had some pretty bad luck at times. Consider him a strong play on Thursday night.
Chris Buescher
Starts 14th
(DraftKings $7,300 | FanDuel $7,000)
Buescher didn't have the qualifying run he wanted, but he's a solid superspeedway driver who should be able to navigate this race well. Last year, he was sixth at Talladega, and he's finished in the top 10 in five of the six Duel races that he's ever run.
Buescher technically finished 20th in the second Daytona race last year, but that was after he was disqualified. He had originally placed second in that race behind Ryan Blaney, so don't just look at the overall Daytona results and see that poor finish and think "this guy isn't that good." He's a really nice driver at this kind of track.
David Ragan
Starts 20th
(DraftKings $5,200 | FanDuel $3,000)
Are we really picking a Rick Ware car? Yeah...but this is Daytona, where those kind of disadvantages matter less, and the new car is supposed to help equalize the field some anyway.
Ragan was slow in qualifying, but this is an experienced driver who has finished in the top five at Daytona four times in his career, including a 2020 fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500, which came in a Rick Ware car too. If this race gets a little too dicey, Ragan is someone who can really capitalize.
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