NASCAR By The Numbers: Toyota Owners 400
We have another exciting short track race this weekend, and it’s on FOX at 1 PM EST again. It’s a 500-lap race and qualifying was rained out on Friday afternoon. With qualifying being rained out, NASCAR will use the first practice to set the field. This presents a lot of value for this weekend’s race, but it also makes final practice on Saturday very important.
Kevin Harvick – $10,600 – Starting 1st – Harvick has always been very solid at Richmond, and gets to start from the pole this weekend. I’m expecting Harvick to lead a lot of laps in this race, and I think he has the highest upside on the board. He has the highest average running position among active drivers here, and he’s finished 11th or better in six of his last seven here. He has the second highest driver rating here among active drivers, and an average finish of 8.6 here in his career.
Brad Keselowski – $9,700 – Starting 6th – I could easily put Logano here, and while I think he’s a good play, I feel like Keselowski has more upside this weekend. He’s led at least 110-laps in three of his last five races here, and he has a top ten finish in three of the last four. Keselowski has the second most laps led out of active drivers. He’s been really good or really bad here, but he’s been really solid here in recent years. If he’s solid in final practice, he’s a guy that I will be targeting a lot.
Martin Truex Jr. – $8,500 – Starting 22nd – I was actually considering the fade on Truex this weekend, but it’s hard to fade him starting outside of the top 20. He’s been really bad here at Richmond, and only has one top ten in his last ten races. I think he’s in a great spot for place differential this weekend. The partnership with JGR has done wonders for Truex this season, and I’m expecting him to learn from them at this track. I like his chances for a top ten this weekend, and he’s a guy I like for cash games.
Jamie McMurray – $7,900 – Starting 27th – The one benefit of qualifying being rained out, we have some really solid mid range plays this weekend. McMurray is a great play this weekend. He has top five finishes in three of the last five races, and he has finished 27th or better in 14 straight races. The place differential points should be there for McMurray, and he’s a guy to lock into your lineups in all formats. This has been his second best track over the last two seasons.
Value Play
Ryan Blaney – $6,800 – Starting 29th – Blaney is by far my favorite play under 7k this weekend, and should be in a great spot for place differential. He has only finished worst than 29th, once this season, and he’s a very safe option for cash games. Blaney has finished in the top ten in all four-career XFINITY races at this track. He comes in with three top tens this season, don’t be shocked if he makes it a fourth here.
Matt DiBenedetto – $5,700 – Starting 36th – I didn’t have any shares of MDB last weekend, but as a NASCAR fan, I honestly couldn’t have been happier for him. I don’t think people outside of the sport will understand what a 6th place finish does for this team. He’s going to be so pumped coming into this weekend, and I think he’s a great GPP play starting this far back. Just because he pulled a top ten last weekend, doesn’t mean we want to target him in cash games. He’s finished 33rd and 37th in two career races here.
Thanks for reading! Any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section. Also, I did a Daily Fantasy Boot Camp NASCAR 101 Presentation last week. This 35min video goes into the scoring, stats, practice, qualifying, and how to build cash lineups for DFS NASCAR.