Sunday, April 3rd, is the STP 500, held at Martinsville Speedway. This is an exciting early season NASCAR race held every year, and this year’s shouldn’t be any different. As you’re getting ready to draft your daily fantasy NASCAR roster, take a look at our list of five of the top ranked drivers entered for the weekend. Hopefully, this will give you some guidance as you prepare to dominate your fantasy league.
Joey Logano: Logano isn’t the top ranked driver for this weekend, but he’s our most likely top performer. Logano is leading all of the entered drivers in terms of average fantasy points per race with 50.7, according to DraftKings. He has been in 7 races this season, and has finished in the top ten for 5 of them. His average finishing position is currently 6.6, again being the best of all entered drivers for the STP 500. The good news is that he’s a little cheaper than the top ranked driver: Jimmie Johnson. He’s listed at $10,200. In his last race two weeks ago, he finished 4th overall after starting in 9th.
Jimmie Johnson: Johnson is ranked number one this weekend with a salary of $10,400. He is averaging 50.5 fantasy points per race, and his average finish is currently 9.6. These are decent, but not enough to convince us to pay for him at his salary. He’s been in 7 races, and has only made the top ten on 3 occasions. Last race, he finished 1st which is as good as it gets, so there could be some potential here, but he’s too unpredictable and way too expensive for us at this point in the season. We’re passing.
Denny Hamlin: Hamlin is right behind Logano in our book. He’s $100 cheaper at $10,100, which is nice, but he doesn’t have quite the same return on investment. He’s averaging a finishing place of 6.9, but his fantasy points are a bit lower at 47.6. He could do well here, as he beat Logano last race by a place, but Logano has been more consistent. Of Hamlin’s 7 races, he has 5 top ten finishes, and two wins. The potential for a win is a bit higher than Logano’s, but Logano has the consistency. This is a tradeoff that you will have to consider on a case by case basis. We like the higher probability of more fantasy points, but can see how drafting Hamlin is also a plus. If he does well, he could crush Logano, after all. Your call here.
Brad Keselowski: Keselowski is ranked in the number seven slot for this weekend, but he’s doing better than a handful of people ranked above him. He might be the best value pick of the race. He has 7 races under his belt this season, with 4 top ten finishes, including a win. He has averaged 37.3 fantasy points per race, and has an average finishing position of 12.9. This is mostly because of a dismal 29th place finish a few weeks ago. Last race, he finished 9th overall. His salary is $9,500, which is not bad for a top level talent. Pairing him with either Logano or Hamlin could give you a really nice 1-2 punch.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: The only driver who might have more value than Keselowski this weekend is Earnhardt. He has 7 races and 4 top tens like Keselowski, and even has a win. His average fantasy score is far higher at 47.7 point per race. He finished 11th last race, which brought him down in the rankings to number eight for the weekend, but his salary is lower as a result of this at $9,000. He’s priced at mid-tier talent, but has potential to win it all. Even better, there’s no reason why you can’t draft him and Keselowski together, granted you plan the rest of your roster correctly. That’s what we’ll be doing.
