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AustYn

The West Coast swing continues as the NASCAR Cup Series goes to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Pennzoil 400. Fontana saw Kyle Larson come away victorious, after a controversial finish that left Chase Elliott unhappy. This “feud” or “spat” is more like it…will not last long as Rick Hendrick will not allow his drivers to break apart the team. There were a few surprise finishers last weekend, Austin Dillon finished P2…Erik Jones finished P3 and Daniel Suarez got a P4 finish. Those 3 cars are all a part of the ECR engine program, which could be signs of things to come from them. Tyler Reddick (another RCR car) led most of the race too, so I don’t see it being a fluke.

Las Vegas is a 1.5-mile oval that has relatively steep banking and high speeds. Fontana was different in the fact that tires played more of a factor in the outcome. While I do believe conservation of equipment will be vital, the ability to pass will be the most important. NASCAR is also bringing the same right-side tire from Fontana. The teams will have 9 sets of tires, which should be plenty to have on-hand and with 267 laps, I am not sure the laps led stat will be the ultimatum in a wining lineup. Kyle Larson won the first Las Vegas event last year and Denny Hamlin won the finale in 2021 at Vegas. The Charlotte Observer has Kyle Larson as the favorite at 5/1. Tyler Reddick is also getting more respect from the sportsbooks, as he is 14/1. Another factor to keep in mind is track position, the last 4 winners started inside the top-10.

Top Pick: William Byron ($9,800) Starting P14

Many will be going with Kyle Larson for this event, but I am fading him with his teammate William Byron. I understand that he is not in the top-10, but this Hendrick Car is fast. The #24 car was 2nd fastest in lap averages and posted the 4th fastest overall lap in practice. With odds at 12/1…Byron is a solid option in Vegas at your favorite sportsbook as well. All the Hendrick cars looked very fast last weekend, and I see that trend continuing.

Supporting Cast: Justin Haley ($6,100) Starting P28 & Daniel Hemric ($5,800) Starting 16th

When playing DFS. It is important to understand and read trends…ECR engines showed last week at Fontana, that they are a force to be reckoned with in this series. Kaulig Racing is now fielding 2 cars full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series and I am going to stack them at Vegas. Justin Haley had speeds in the top-25 in practice and if he gets a top-20, that would be a win for me. Daniel Hemric looked strong last week and battled adversity to finish 9th…his Vegas practice times were impressive too. The #16 car was 8th in 10 lap averages and 9th in overall speed. If Hemric stays where he started, this could be a tournament winning choice.

FanDuel Preview

Yacs

The first two weeks were at big speedways, now we’re headed to Las Vegas for a little bit of 1.5-mile action. I don’t have a lot to say about the track. A lot of drivers like the track and if it is anything like the Xfinity race, it could come down to fuel mileage. Well, if the cautions didn’t happen towards the end it would’ve been. Obviously, this track is going to drive differently than Auto Club or Daytona, so you won’t be able to piece any similar track history to this season’s runs, but you can use the information of how well new teams are performing and how well drivers are performing in general.

Las Vegas is a track where laps led can be beneficial to your FanDuel lineup. We’ll have a 267-lap race today and this is a race where the majority lap leader leads about 100 laps on average. This can be the difference between making the cut line and winning big. With qualifying back though, things are different. You will be forced to get value over practicality in a lot of cases, but you still want to have a good mix of drivers that will lead laps and pass cars. With that being said, the pole sitter has only won the race one time since 1998. Sorry Christopher Bell, the odds are against you. Hopefully this will help you out today as you are making your lineup.

Tier 1(s): Joey Logano ($13,000) Starting 6th; Kyle Busch ($12,000) Starting 37th

My first pick out of the gate is Joey Logano. At tracks that he has ran 5 races or more, Las Vegas is his best in terms of average finish. He has an average of 8.6 at the track and has finished on the lead lap in 16 of those 17 appearances. I don’t care how you paint it, that is outstanding. He also has the best avg. finish there among active drivers, so there. This pick is easy and I’m not really sure if he will be owned more than Larson or Elliott but pay attention to that once the race starts. It could definitely make a difference.

Speaking of ownership, Kyle Busch is starting at the back of the field because he demolished his car in practice and is forced to go to a backup. He literally has nowhere to go but up. I expect him to have around 60% ownership in the big tournaments, but this is a situation where you can’t avoid it. You have to have Kyle Busch in your lineup. It would be pretty ignorant not to. It doesn’t matter how good his car is, if he is running just ok, he is almost a lock for Top 10.

Rolling the Dice with RFK: Brad Keselowski ($9,000) Starting 15th; Chris Buescher ($6,500) Starting 27th

I think last week proved, we can go with a lot of options once we get below the Tier 1 cut line and that definitely isn’t complaint. I think it is a great thing that we could see cars that used to be considered mid-tier competing in races. However, it could make things trickier in DFS play. Especially with only one practice session. In the limited runs that they’ve had since Brad Keselowski has joined the Roush ownership group, I think they have ran well. Keselowski is still the same driver he has been and so has Chris Buescher. Keselowski probably won’t compete for the win, but if he can get a Top 10 easily. In the last 6 races here, Keselowski has the best avg. finish at 5.7. He doesn’t have a win in those 6, but he has the most career wins at the track among active drivers with 3. I think as long as he stays out of trouble, he will finish well today.

The other RFK driver, Chris Buescher, has just been OK at Las Vegas. Nothing special, but he doesn’t have to be special. All he really has to do is get a Top 15 or better. You’re not going to pay a high price for him, so a Top 5 or a win isn’t crucial for him, but of course it’s always better if he does do that well. His avg. finish is around 16th in his last 6 races, so if you can get that out of him, that’s enough for your lineup. He finished in 9th at Vegas 3 races ago and if he can do that, that is wonderful value at $6,500

Last Pick: Kevin Harvick ($9,500); Starting 25th

If you are following along, we have $9,500 left to spend and we’re going all-in. Kevin Harvick will be our last pick and I think that is a great value for him. It’s kind of weird seeing Harvick below $10,000, but he is still a good enough driver to get you a good finish every week. This will be the first time in the last 9 races that he will start outside of the top 5 at Las Vegas. It isn’t normal for Harvick to qualify outside of the Top 10 and it has made it more difficult to pick him in the past. He ran well last week despite wrecking in practices, so I have no reason to believe he can’t run well again. Harvick has 2 wins here and an average of 8.8 in his last 6 races. With a 25th starting spot, that gives him a lot of room for improvement.

NASCAR Pennzoil 400 DFS Preview