On Sunday, June 12th, NASCAR action comes to us all from the Michigan International Speedway as the best drivers in the world tackle the Firekeepers Casino 400. This field looks pretty strong, and a lot of the drivers are coming off of great races. Putting together your daily fantasy NASCAR team will be a tough task if you want to win your leagues, so we’ve taken a look at five of the top ranked drivers for the weekend for you.
Brad Keselowski: Keselowski is only ranked #10 in this field, but there’s a strong argument to be made that he’s the first driver that you should draft. He has an average finishing position of 9.9. That’s the third best in the field, and of those three, he has the lowest salary at $9,200. His average fantasy point contribution of 43.6 also places him in the top five as far as daily fantasy NASCAR drivers go for this one. There’s a ton of value here, and drafting a top driver at such a low price enables you to both draft a more expensive driver without getting burned later, and to shift your focus to where it should be: creating fantasy points. It’s a win-win, and we love Keselowski at this position.
Kurt Busch: Busch won last weekend, yet he’s only ranked #7 for this race. Of all the drivers, he has the lowest average finishing position with his 7.8, and he has a salary of just $9,700. Is he perfect? No. But at this price, and with a record showing he’s made the top ten 15 out of 17 times this season, he’s probably the top driver in the field right now as far as talent goes. His average fantasy point contribution of 46.7 could be improved upon, but that’s going to take some time as he struggled a bit more at the beginning of the season than he is doing right now. He’s got momentum on his side, and keeps getting better.
Kevin Harvick: It’s hard to argue against Harvick, the #1 ranked driver in the field according to DraftKings, but that’s what we’re going to try to do. He has the second lowest finishing position average in the field with his 8.4, and he has the highest average fantasy point output at 67.4, which basically makes him the best. However, he’s extremely expensive at $10,600, and he hasn’t been performing at the levels we’d like to see for this price. He finished 9th last weekend, but had a negative differential between his 4th place starting position, and lost a ton of potential there. In fact, of his last four races, three have had a negative differential. We’re not willing to spend top money on a driver that doesn’t produce with consistency. Harvick is one of the best drivers out there, but at this price and at this time, we’re passing on him.
Carl Edwards: Edwards has been on the verge of a breakout for quite some time, but we’re starting to think he might just stay on the verge, and never break through. He has made the top ten 11 out of 17 times, has 2 wins, and an average fantasy point score of 53.5. His average finishing position is 10.4, which is pretty impressive, but at $9,500, we want consistency. His last four races have gone 28th, 4th, 18th, and 8th, as far as his finishing position goes. He’s due for a win, but it’s hard to predict his outcome with regularity. If he were $400 cheaper, he’d be an easy draft, but for now, we’re holding off.
Chase Elliott: Elliott is putting up some great numbers, and with a salary of $8,400, you need to at least take a look at him. His average finishing position of 10.6 is impressive, and in his last four races, the only one where he had a negative differential was when he started in 1st. With that race, he finished 2nd overall. He’s cheap, he’s effective with his 38.9 average fantasy score, and he’s made the top ten 13 out of 17 times. He’s an easy draft choice.
