Reports of Jimmie Johnson's fall from NASCAR's elite were greatly exaggerated early in the season. He was pretty much giving fans and the media alike the Aaron Rodgers "Relax" treatment after six races which produced only one Top 10 from the #48 team. Turns out the seven-time champ Johnson and his elite crew chief Chad Knauss know what they're doing still as they have now won back to back races at Texas and Bristol locking themselves into the playoffs with some big time bonus points. I wouldn't count on the #48 team just "riding around" for the remainder of the season either with what is now at stake with the stage racing and new points structure.

This week Jimmie and the rest of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series drivers and teams head North-East to Richmond, Virginia for the Toyota Owners 400 this Sunday afternoon. If you love short-track racing, this time of year is for you as this will be back to back races at a track under one mile and third in four races. This week is a little different as Richmond is the only .75 mile track on the circuit but can be compared to Martinsville as it is also considered a flat track with just 14° of banking in the corners. Track position will be key this weekend as the trends on the sheet show us that at least five drivers starting inside the Top 10 finish there over the last five Richmond races. Let's jump in and take a look at some of the top plays for this week.

Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings DFS Lineup Picks - Toyota Owners 400

Kevin Harvick ($10,400)

There is a lot to like about Harvick this week. Despite not winning a race here since the Spring of 2013, he has finished inside the Top 5 in two straight and four of the last five races here. He will start sixth this week and came out early Saturday morning and posted the second fastest time. If he shows similar speed in final practice and 10 lap averages, lock him into your lineups and build around the #4 car.

Martin Truex Jr. ($9,100)

While the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota's have really struggled early in the season, their alliance team Furniture Row Racing has been on fire. It is led by Martin Truex Jr. who already has a win and five Top 5 finishes which is half of the entire JGR four-man team total. Four his career, Richmond has been one of Truex Jr.'s worst tracks(20.5 average career finish) but the good news is he has finished Top10 in back to back races here. He qualified third and posted a Top 5 speed in Saturday's first practice. At just $9,100 he is a great option in all formats.

Austin Dillon ($7,400)

The chalk play of the week! It was another interesting qualifying session on Friday afternoon as we saw something new once again. Already starting from the rear of the field due to penalties from Bristol, the #3 slowly made his way around the track on his qualifying run to ensure they had fresh tires at the start of the race. This makes Dillon the #1 option when it comes to place differential bonus points this week.

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. 

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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Jordan McAbee anchors the team with his exclusive NASCAR picks, DFS projections and algorithm-predicted finishing order! In 2022 DFS contests, Jordan had a +33.92% profit margin good for +$10,467.06 profit and qualified for the Fantasy Racing World Championship.

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