This Sunday, the Pure Michigan 400 is being held, complete with all the NASCAR action you can handle. It promises to be a great race, especially for fans of daily fantasy NASCAR. If you’re going to be putting together a roster, look over our analysis of some of the more popular fantasy drivers before you begin. This should give you a little edge over the competition.
Kevin Harvick: After his win last weekend, Harvick deserves the number one slot this weekend. His salary of $10,700 reflects the fact that he has been the most consistent driver from a fantasy perspective throughout the season this year. His average finishing position has dropped down to 9.5, and he has made the top ten in 19 out of 25 races. It’s tough to argue against including Harvick in your lineup, really. The only argument that we can think of is that he’s so expensive. However, even at this great price, he doesn’t seem like he is overpriced compared to what he’s capable of. Our advice to you is that if you do draft him, draft him first and then build a lineup around him. You will need to find great deals elsewhere, but that’s the price for drafting the most expensive driver of the day.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt is back for his first race in over a month, but thanks to his name power, he is likely to have a lot of people drafting him for this race. His salary is pretty respectable at $9,000, but he is a bit of an unknown right now. He hasn’t had the strongest season this year, finishing in the top ten only 8 out of 21 races, but he does have a win to his credit. His average finishing position is 14.2, and he averages 36.3 fantasy points per race. He has potential here, and at $9,000 he is a decent buy. If he has a good race, he is worth far more than this price tag, it’s just hard to know whether or not the great Earnhardt is back, or if he is just easing his way into this. You can draft him and you will probably have great results with him, but we’d rather focus on someone with more consistency.
Denny Hamlin: Rather than Earnhardt, we recommend Hamlin. His salary of $8,900 gives you an extra $100 to work with in other places on your roster, plus he has a better track record, finishing in the top ten in 15 of 25 races. He has 3 wins so far this year, including a 3rd and a 1st in his last two races. His average finishing spot is better than Earnhardt’s at 12.2, as well. The only downside is that Hamlin has a lower average fantasy point total than Earnhardt. However, if he keeps racing like he has been over the past month, this shouldn’t be a factor.
Kurt Busch: Busch is tied with Harvick for the best top ten record with 19 out of 25 appearances. He has the third lowest average finishing position number with his 10.6, and he has 1 win this season. He had a poor race last week, turning in negative fantasy numbers, and that’s the main reason why he is priced so low this week at $9,100. Busch has been underpriced a lot this season, but this is one of the most blatant occasions of the season. We think he’s worth at least $600 more than this, and that makes him a good draft in our books.
Brad Keselowski: Like Busch, Keselowski also scored negative fantasy points last weekend. He is usually far better than this, and has an average finishing position of 10.0. Still, at $10,200, Keselowski is an average buy. He’s priced right where he should be, and that gives us no incentive to include him on our roster. Ideally, we’d want an underpriced star at the top of our list, and Keselowski just doesn’t fit that bill this weekend.
