NASCAR Fantasy Picks: Michigan International Speedway’s Best Drivers for DraftKings – AthlonSports.com

The NASCAR The Cup Series travel to Michigan’s Irish Hills this week for the penultimate race of the regular season. Let Joy Tomlinson of Frontstretch.com prepare your fantastic daily NASCAR DraftKings rosters for Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway.

Starting line-up for Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway

The summer road racing part is over and it’s time for the Cup teams to get back to the ovals. Playoff time is approaching, however, as there are only two races left for the drivers to lock themselves into the top 16. Last weekend, on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, AJ Allmendinger took off. snuck in a victory for the part-time, unexplored Kaulig Racing Organization. Victory meant Denny hamlin secured a place in the playoffs on spikes. Michael McDowell and Aric Almirola are also in the top 16, leaving only two positions to win in the last two races.

This weekend is important for drivers like Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon as they look to secure those deals. Harvick arrives on one of their best winless tracks of 2021 while pair Richard Childress Racing have posted consistent top 10s and 15s throughout the season. It will be interesting to see how these next two events play out for the trio, especially next week at Daytona International Speedway.

But what does this mean for everyday fantasy sports? Well, all three of them are probably going to push for milestone points as well as a possible victory. Remember last season when Dillon and Reddick bet on the last pit stop at Texas Motor Speedway? Dillon won, while Reddick came in second. You have to be thinking that something similar could happen if the two didn’t earn enough Stage Points or if it looked like someone outside of the top 16 would win in a final reboot. While stage points don’t give you fancy points on DraftKings or FanDuel, it could show their speed in the first two stages. The fastest laps are valuable bonus points that could help you cash your roster.

Before we get to this week’s picks in Michigan, here’s how last week went on Indy’s road course:

This roster actually almost came out pretty well until the last laps. Dillon fell into a wreck and Corey LaJoie flew through the air on one of those crazy last minute wrecks. Also, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe were ahead on the final restart, but Briscoe cut the grass after the first corner and then pushed Hamlin back. No. 14 was parked by NASCAR and both drivers finished worse than where they should have. It’s DFS for you; sometimes it’s a question of knowing at the last minute (or round) whether or not you cash in.

At least that lineup cashed in double the single entry of $ 1. However, in the $ 1 Happy Hour tournament, you needed 189.8 for a net profit of 38 cents.

When it comes to scoring, DraftKings lowered the points for each fastest lap to 0.45 this season, as well as the points awarded for first place to 45. DraftKings also put more emphasis on drivers who finish. in the top 10 and top 20. For example, the gap between 10th and 11th place is now two points instead of one: 10th gets 34 points, 11th gets 32, and so on.

Here is a complete overview of DraftKings NASCAR Scoring Rules.

Note: The following is an example of a NASCAR DraftKings lineup; you can use the information to create your own.

Daily Fantasy NASCAR DraftKings Plays / Example programming for the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway

Kyle Larson ($ 11,500)
Career in Michigan: 12 starts, 3 wins, 5 top 5, 6 top 10
Michigan average final: 12.4

Larson seems to be finishing well even though he doesn’t have the best car, which is why I am picking him this week. He has five wins, 13 top 5 and 17 top 10 so far this season. Two wins were at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, racetracks where the lower power group was used. He also almost won at Pocono Raceway before suffering a puncture in the last corner. The next day, Larson finished second with a messed up nose when those ahead of him ran out of gas on the closing laps.

In Michigan, Larson won three consecutive events from 2016 to 2017, although he led just 139 laps during that time. He struggled in the next three races in 2018-19, but managed to place third in the August 2019 race.

His Michigan career is not that successful, but since Larson joined Hendrick Motorsports this season he has really shown his ability to lead laps on almost any type of track. The No.5 Chevrolet will come off pole, so if it gets off to a good start, the clean air should help it stay ahead. And for what it’s worth, he has the best chance of winning this thing, so we’ll see if he can get Chevrolet back on the winning track in Michigan.

Kevin Harvick ($ 10,000)
Career in Michigan: 40 starts, 5 wins, 15 top 5, 21 top 10
Michigan average final: 11.1

Harvick could be a popular piece this week, for good reason. Four of his five victories have come in the last five events. He’s won the last three races and has led laps in each of the last six in Michigan. Last year, his # 4 Ford Stewart-Haas Racing dominated 92 and 90 laps in each respective weekend double race. In addition, in the August 2018 race, Harvick led 108 circuits en route to victory.

This year has been a very different story from the previous ones, especially last year when he won nine races. However, it hasn’t been bad (at least on most of the 1.5 mile courses). Harvick was eighth and fourth at Pocono, 10th at Charlotte and second at Kansas Speedway. Although he has yet to lead a lap this year on tracks with less power, he has recorded 24 fastest laps in Charlotte. If the 2014 Cup champion can score a good result and put in some quick laps this weekend, he will have a fantastic good score on DraftKings.

Austin Dillon ($ 8,000)
Career in Michigan: 17 starts, 0 wins, 2 top 5, 5 top 10
Michigan average final: 16.4

Dillon had varied results on the two-mile track; he has landed several top 10s but has also finished 20th or worse on several occasions. The roller coaster ride continued last year, as he finished 31st in Saturday’s race and eighth the next day.

But there’s more good than bad about the CV here. In 2019, Dillon drove the No. 3 Chevrolet RCR in 13th place after starting in 37th. Additionally, Dillon finished a few fourth places in 2018 and 2015; he even led 19 laps in the 2015 event.

This season, Dillon has been fairly stable on the 1.5 mile courses, finishing 12th or better in the majority of those races. That consistency is exactly what we need for Dillon, as he starts 27th on Sunday and can score positional differential points on DraftKings with another top 15. Expect him to bounce back from his fall at Indy and be maybe aggressive to get a win (as he’s outside looking at the playoff pic).

Tyler Reddick ($ 7,400)
Career in Michigan: 2 starts, 0 wins, 0 top 5, 0 top 10
Michigan average final: 21.0

Dillon’s cohort has twice the top 10s this season and has also done very well on tracks like Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte and Kansas. Reddick crossed the finish line sixth in the second Atlanta event, ninth in the Coca-Cola 600 and seventh in Kansas. These didn’t always translate into great scores on DraftKings, because when Reddick finishes well in one race, he starts well in the next thanks to the performance measurement formula. Yet the RCR pilot does enough to help you win your contests.

Sadly, Reddick didn’t do well last year in either race. He finished 18th and 24th in the MIS events, respectively. However, he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series in Michigan in 2019. He also finished seventh in 2018. While those successes did not translate into the Cup Series last year, Reddick’s strength in 550 horsepower races this past year. season should benefit. him this week.

Honorable mention

Chase Briscoe ($ 6,700)
Xfinity career in Michigan: 1 start, 0 win, 0 top 5, 1 top 10
Xfinity Michigan Arrival Average: 7.0

Briscoe finished seventh in the 2019 Xfinity race in Michigan, but did not lead any laps. This year, Briscoe has done especially well on the road courses. In fact, the rookie almost won last week if he hadn’t cut the grass and hit Hamlin from behind later. These racetracks were the only places where he placed in the top 10 this season.

However, in Atlanta last month, he finished 15th. Additionally, earlier in the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the # 14 driver started 30th and came back 18th. These results may not seem like great, but at its price, it might be all you need to win your DFS contests. Hopefully he can avoid the carnage and get a good finish.

Black horse performer

Bubba Wallace ($ 6,400)
Career in Michigan: 7 starts, 0 wins, 0 top 5, 1 top 10
Michigan final average: 20.9

Wallace has a pair of 19th places in Michigan in 2017 and 2018 during his early years with Richard Petty Motorsports. Then last season he finished ninth in the opening race of the weekend’s doubles program here. He now drives a Toyota for 23XI Racing and only has a top five this season, a fifth at Pocono. Still, he has some teenage results in Charlotte and both races in Atlanta.

Last week Wallace had a crazy day at Indy; he crossed the 13th line after going around the wide sidewalk to save his race car. Wallace has several other top-15 finishes at Sonoma Raceway, Dover International Speedway, and Pocono’s first race. He’s a bit riskier than the others in this lineup, but he’s done well in Michigan in other series in the past. Hopefully he keeps his car clean and wins a 14th or better.