This weekend is the Combat Wounded Coalition 400, presented by Crown Royal. It’s the 23rd NASCAR event of the season, and the competition is starting to get fierce. Before you draft your daily fantasy NASCAR roster, take a look at our analysis so you can be as prepared as possible to compete for first place within your leagues. The lineup is a little different this week than it has been in weeks past, and this should present some good opportunities for bettering your fantasy performance.
Kevin Harvick: Harvick is the number one ranked driver going into this race with a salary of $10,500. He has the highest average fantasy point total per race with 63.6, putting him more than 10 points ahead of the next highest ranked driver. He’s made the top ten in 16 out of 22 races, as well. He has an average finishing position of 9.3, tying him for second overall. The only complaint we can find against Harvick is his price. If you draft him, you’re going to need to make sacrifices in other places in your roster. It is possible to make this work, especially if you can find great value lower down on the list of drivers.
Matt Kenseth: Kenseth is ranked fairly low on this list given that he won the race last weekend. His salary of $9,600 is still inflated, though. He has only made the top ten in 8 out of 22 races, and his average fantasy score per race is only 37.3. His average finishing position currently stands at 14.7. There are better opportunities out there at similar or cheaper prices, so we suggest overlooking the hype from last weekend, and drafting someone else.
Kurt Busch: Busch has made the top ten more times than any other driver entered in this race with his 18 out of 22. He is priced at just $9,400, which seems very cheap when this is taken into account. His fantasy point output is a little low at just 42.0 per race, but this is still higher than average when considering his price tag. Also, he has the lowest average finishing position of anyone in the race at 9.1. For all of these reasons, we think Busch is undervalued, and therefore a good draft choice, especially considering that he has a win to his credit. His differential has been pretty poor lately, but his strong average finishing capability should correct this situation over time.
Kyle Busch: The other Busch brother is ranked number two going into this one with a salary of $10,400. He’s made the top ten in 14 out of 22 races, and has an average fantasy score of 47.8. His average finishing position stands at 12.5, which is fairly weak at this salary. Busch is a great driver, but he’s overpriced for this race. If you are looking for fantasy points, there are better opportunities at cheaper prices. This will let you focus your salary on the drivers that will give you the most potential, increasing your chances of winning your daily fantasy NASCAR league quite a bit.
Jeff Gordon: Gordon has not raced yet this year, and his salary of $8,800 tries to take this into account. Even if you are brand new to NASCAR, Gordon is a household name, and that’s going to get people drafting him. Should you draft him, though? Where Gordon is seeded in this race when it comes to salary, you should roughly expect 20 to 22 fantasy points from him out of this race. If he is scores more than that, he is a good draft. At DraftKings, a 21st place finish scores 23 points, before taking other factors into account. We think Gordon is a top 15 racer with ease here, meaning that the odds are tilted toward him scoring more than 22 points, even if he has a poor differential. That makes him a bargain at this price.
