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Race Preview/Lineup Construction
The Cup Series will be racing at Nashville Superspeedway for the first time since 1984! This track is mostly one groove which will make passing very difficult. It’s a little shorter than your typical intermediate with it’s 1.33 mile length making it very unique. The data we should be looking at this weekend is which drivers perform well in the low downforce, high horsepower races, practice data from Saturday’s session, and recent form. This race is 300 laps, so there are 210 dominator points available with 75 from laps led and 135 from fast laps on DraftKings. For FanDuel, there are only 30 available with each lap led scoring a driver 0.1 points. We’ll see what happens in qualifying, but I think that this will be a race where we want to have 1-2 drivers that can score dominator points. I think this will be a very clean race making most of the punt options unplayable this weekend.
Practice Data/Notes
Hendrick Motorsports looks like they’re going to be the guys to beat this weekend with Byron 1st, Larson 2nd, Elliott 3rd, and Bowman 10th in Saturday’s practice session. Larson was the fastest in the 5 lap, 10 lap, and 15 lap, so he’s definitely a driver that has a ton of upside today. The Joe Gibbs Racing drivers look like they’re off compared to some of the other teams, so I wouldn’t try to play multiple drivers from their team in lineups today. The Roush cars were solid with Newman P5 and Buescher P14 making them interesting options as well. Ross Chastain was 2nd to Larson in the 10 lap, so they definitely have a lot of speed this weekend. I’m going to breakdown some of my favorite plays in a different way. Let me know what you think!
Drivers to Target
Keep in mind that this article is being written before qualifying so things could change! The main decision we’re going to have to make is what to do with Kyle Larson. I know he’s the most expensive driver on DraftKings and FanDuel, but it’s hard to ignore how dominant the #5 car has been this season. He checks all the boxes this weekend, so I think you lock in Larson and go from there. The only reason I would fade him is hoping he wrecks and busts a lot of DFS lineups.
Hendrick Drivers
Elliott, Byron, and Bowman have had their moments as well this season and all look like great options to target as well. If you’re someone that makes multiple lineups for NASCAR, I think you need to have exposure to all the Hendrick Motorsports drivers. They’re always very fast and threats to score dominator points. I currently have them ranked as Larson, Bowman, Elliott, Byron, but that could change depending on qualifying.
Joe Gibbs Drivers
I’m very concerned about the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers this weekend because it seems like they’re off compared to some of the other teams. Hamlin was the only driver that was top 10 in practice from their organization. I’m not saying to completely fade all of them, but I definitely prefer the Hendrick cars and wouldn’t try to stack these guys in lineups.
Team Penske
I’m not interested in Keselowski, but I think Logano and Blaney are underpriced and have decent upside this weekend. Those two guys run better in the low downforce, high horsepower races, so I could see them running well here. Have practice will also benefit them because they’ll have time to adjust the cars and make them more competitive during the race.
Stewart-Haas Racing
Kevin Harvick’s Grave Digger paint scheme is very cool but for DFS, I’m not really interested in playing him here. Almirola was 12th in practice, so I think he’s an interesting option depending on where he starts. Custer and Briscoe were very slow in practice but could be playable depending on where those two start as well.
Value Plays
For the drivers under $7,000 on DraftKings, the drivers that stick out to me are Newman, Wallace, Briscoe, Preece, and Alfredo. Like I said earlier, the Roush cars showed a lot of speed in practice, so I think Newman is underpriced for the upside he has. Wallace has finished 14th or better in three of his last four starts and is very affordable at only $6,500 on DraftKings and $5,000 on FanDuel. Briscoe is a driver that will benefit from practice, so I could see them running well in the race. Preece won the Truck Series race at Nashville on Friday and was 21st in practice on Saturday. Alfredo is another driver that should benefit from practice as well and is the only driver I feel confident about playing below $6,000 on DraftKings. There are other drivers I like in the mid tier, but I thought it would be the most helpful to list the top tier drivers and value plays to help you guys with lineups.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my free article for the Cup Series Nashville race, and I wish you the best of luck in your DFS contests! Make sure to follow me on Twitter if you haven’t already @DFS_NASCAR_Zone, so you can see when I post NASCAR DFS content or ask any questions! If you want access to our final thoughts, core plays, and props for today’s race, make sure to sign up for the NASCAR Core Plays Package! Good luck and Happy Father’s Day!
