This weekend, NASCAR action comes from the Sonoma Raceway as the Toyota-Save Mart 350 kicks off on Sunday, June 26th. Before you draft your daily fantasy NASCAR lineup, be sure to check out our take on a few of the top drivers. This will help you get a better handle on what to expect, and how you can better design a roster to win your league.
Kurt Busch: Busch is the top ranked driver here, with a salary of $10,700. He’s number one for a reason; he’s made the top ten in 16 out of 18 races, and his average finishing position stands at 7.9. That’s the best in the field. For Busch, it seems the only bad thing about him is that he’s the most expensive driver. Is he worth that price? We think so. With an average fantasy point contribution of 46.4 per race, he’s not only the most consistent driver here, but one of the ones most likely to help you score points. The only issue that needs to be addressed with him is that he doesn’t have the highest fantasy number. This is mostly because of the fact that his differential has been low. For example, in his last race, he started in 17th and finished 10th. 7 places is a small gap. It’s impossible to predict differentials, so it’s going to be far more helpful to you to focus on finishing position, and in this category he excels.
Joey Logano: Logano finally got the win that we’ve been waiting to see, and then he got another in his most recent race. Still, Logano stands at number 7 for this race, and has a salary of just $9,500. In fact, even though he took the win last race, his salary went down. That is a clear sign that you should be considering him. Even if he has a mediocre race this week, he’s a high value pick. But we don’t see that happening. He’s made the top ten in 12 out of 18 races, and has an average finishing spot of 9.9, the third best in the field. He should be one of your top choices, rounding out the top of your roster.
AJ Allmendinger: Allmendinger is one of the recent additions at the top of the NASCAR standings. He finished 38th in his last race, and has made the top ten in just 4 out of 18 races. So why is he priced at $9,600? We have no idea, and whatever good attributes he has going for him, he hasn’t shown us enough concrete examples to make him worth this price. Pass on him. Even if he finishes in the top ten here, he’s far too risky to try and pick up at this price.
Kevin Harvick: Harvick is an interesting driver from a fantasy perspective right now. His salary of $10,400 makes him the second most expensive driver in the field, and he easily has the best point value when it comes to fantasy contribution average. His average finishing spot of 8.2 also puts him at number two overall in this category. Odds are though, you can’t draft both Harvick and Kurt Busch. Who is the better choice? We could argue Harvick, because he has shown that he’s better at overcoming differentials, but at best, this is a tentative argument. Differentials are more of a luck factor, and Harvick has had this on his side lately. We’d rather rely on cold hard facts, and Kurt Busch has that edge right now. We’ll pass on Harvick, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Weigh your choices carefully and then move forward with what you think is best.
Carl Edwards: There’s probably not a better mid-tier choice for your roster than Edwards. His salary of $9,100 at DraftKings is a little high for this position, but his fantasy average of 53.1 is one of the highest in the field. He also has the fourth best finishing spot of 10.1. We really think he’s worth more than his price, and you should seriously consider him.
