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Race Preview/Lineup Construction
The starting grid might look weird with some of the names starting up front. This is because the top 20 drivers from Saturday’s race were inverted. Since Chris Buescher finished 20th, he’ll start 1st today. This race is only 140 laps, so dominator points aren’t as important which means it’s all going to be about targeting the place differential drivers that can finish near the front. If you want more information about the track, check out my article from Saturday’s race. Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Corey Lajoie, Ryan Preece, Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer, and Ross Chastain are the drivers that will start from the rear on Sunday. There’s not really much else to say, so let’s get into some of the driver notes for today’s race.
Kyle Larson (DK $12,800 FD $14,500)
It looked like Larson was about to win his fourth straight race, but he cut a tire on the final lap and ended up finishing 9th. I think a lot of DFS players will shy away from him because he’s very expensive and will start from the back. Anytime we can get Larson at lower ownership is great. My guess is he’ll be around 20-30% owned in gpps this weekend.
Kyle Busch (DK $11,000 FD $13,000)
Kyle finished 2nd in both races yesterday, so don’t be surprised if he takes home the checkered flag on Sunday. I like the speed he showed on Saturday, and he knows exactly what adjustments he needs to be able to win. Offers a lot of place differential and will probably be one of the more popular plays on the slate.
Denny Hamlin (DK $10,500 FD $13,500)
Hamlin has always ran well at Pocono over his career, and he just finished 4th here on Saturday. He won the second race at this track last season and could definitely do that again today. He offers plenty of place differential upside starting 17th, so Hamlin looks like a strong top tier option target.
William Byron (DK $9,000 FD $11,500)
Byron led some laps early and ran inside the top 5 for most of Saturday’s race. The Hendrick cars looked dominant once again, so I expect all of them to be contenders for the win on Sunday. Another driver with a lot of place differential and is very affordable on both sites.
Alex Bowman (DK $8,700 FD $9,500)
Bowman was able to take advantage of Larson’s issue and took home the checkered flag for Saturday’s Pocono event. Because he won, he’ll start 20th with the invert. DraftKings and FanDuel didn’t do the pricing after the first race, so he looks like a nice option on both sites at his price.
Ross Chastain (DK $7,700 FD $6,000)
Chastain was having another strong run going but started to fade and eventually hit the wall killing his day. He starts all the way back in 33rd and looks like a great place differential play on this slate. If you’re still here, I think this is a great slate to mix and match the place differential plays. Cash games will be very chalky, so I’d probably stick to tournaments for the Cup race today.
Cole Custer (DK $6,800 FD $5,500)
Custer wrecked out early on Saturday and offers a ton of place differential starting 38th. We all liked him yesterday starting 26th, so I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t go back to him today starting further back in the field.
Ryan Newman (DK $5,500 FD $5,300)
Newman is now $5,500 on DraftKings and $5,300 on FanDuel and offers a ton of place differential upside starting 37th. Obviously, he wrecked yesterday, but Newman is consistently a 15th-20th place driver at Pocono. I don’t really see any reason to fade him unless you think he wrecks or has an issue.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my free article for the Cup Series Sunday Pocono 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 with all of the drivers we like today, core plays, and prop plays, make sure to sign up for the NASCAR Core Plays Package! Good luck and we hope to see those winning screenshots!
