DraftKings Preview

AustYn

We are entering the final race before the first cuts of the NASCAR Playoffs at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The 12 drivers that advance will be able to chase a championship and 4 unlucky ones will be eliminated. There is only one driver in a must-win situation and that is Kevin Harvick. He is so far down, that it would be nearly impossible to advance on points alone. Bubba Wallace won at Kansas last week, which extends the winners list to 18 this year…this new car has evened the playing field more than I ever thought possible. It was the 2nd win for the #45 and ironically, the other was at Kansas earlier in the year by Kurt Busch. Now…for the biggest NASCAR news this week…Kyle Busch has announced he will be driving for Richard Childress Racing next season and for the foreseeable future. He is destined to drive the #8 car next year and Tyler Reddick is in a weird spot. I mean…he did put himself in this position, he did make a business decision to move to 23XI in 2024…but that leaves a year where I guess he thought it would be okay for RCR to keep him on. I know he signed a contract, and he was upset that they didn’t offer him what he wanted…but the opportunity to bring in arguably the greatest NASCAR driver ever was far more important to RCR. Reddick is a very solid driver, but I can’t help but think he might know he made a mistake. Toyota Racing is in a bad spot to me…Truex will be retiring soon, Hamlin won’t be far behind and even though Ty Gibbs will be running the #18 eventually, it’ll take him awhile to get settled. Also, the JGR Xfinity team has imploded with Brandon Jones going to JR Motorsports next year…now with Kyle leaving, you would think that Ty gets the #18 right away, but it isn’t definitive yet. Chevy made an amazing decision with getting Kyle Busch and he’ll be difficult to stop for years to come.

Now to Bristol…I truly wish NASCAR would eliminate the Bristol Dirt Race because I know the novelty has worn off and I just prefer using the ACTUAL track rather than manipulating it. We do get the ½ mile concrete oval tonight and I’m very excited. Kyle Busch has won here 8 times, leading all active drivers and no doubt he will be a favorite. There will be 500 laps completed and teams have 10 sets of tires, which I do not think that’ll be an issue, but I thought that last week and teams were blowing tires while leading. It is very important to have the driver who leads the most laps tonight as you get 0.25 points per lap lead and with lap times being 15 seconds…it’ll add up fast! My strategy is to pick 6 drivers who are all capable of winning…I know that sounds odd, but I mean to pick drivers who are starting in “ignorable” spots. For example…Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch are starting 23rd and 21st respectively and I think they will be picked at a high percentage…but there is more value down the board for drivers who may finish just as well. Track position is very key here and you want drivers who are likely to stay on the lead lap rather than gain positions. The superspeedway strategy does not always work here…drivers will get trapped and it is important to value the driver more-so than the starting position. There are Playoff drivers at sub-$8k which is remarkable, so think about implementing that strategy.

Top Pick: Kyle Larson ($10,800) Starting P5

With a contract extension announcement with Hendrick, Kyle Larson is feeling pretty good this week. Not to mention that his car was the fastest on 15, 20, 25 and 30 lap runs. Larson has won here once and has an average finish of 13.4 here. Apparently, this new car is very fast at this track and in terms of handling speed, the first name that comes to mind is Kyle Larson. With the 5th starting spot, it is likely the 5 car stays up there. My biggest concern is engine failure to be honest, something has been off in their camp, and I really hope it gets resolved here. I do believe that is in some people’s minds and I think he will be less owned than he should be. Give me Kyle Larson to lead 150+ laps and win tonight.

Supporting Cast: Kevin Harvick ($8,500) Starting P7 & Austin Cindric ($7,400) Starting P9

Kevin Harvick is in a must-win situation as I mentioned earler and I really like him here this week. Stewart-Haas has shown speed with all their cars starting in the top-11 and Harvick is great here with an average finish of 13.2. Also, Harvick finished 2nd and 1st in his last 2 races here on the concrete and has led nearly 1/3 of the laps completed in those events. My next choice is Austin Cindric…Ford looked fast as a whole this weekend. With the #2 starting in 9th…I like the track position and I do think Cindric could contend for the win. The fact that you can get a Playoff driver at sub $7.5k is insane and I will take advantage of it tonight. I look for Cindric to compete in the top-10 all night.

FanDuel Preview

Yacs

Playoff racing at night will be coming to Bristol tonight and it should be another fun race. Bubba Wallace picked up his 2nd career Cup Series win last week at Kansas and won pretty handily. This week is different. It’s going to be non-stop action and fast-paced racing at a short track. With the new schedule, they only race on concrete once a year and they race on the dirt in the spring. I personally was hoping that they would do away with the Bristol dirt race, but it doesn’t appear that it is going away. In other news, not only will North Wilkesboro host next year’s All-Star Race, they will also host a Truck Series race next year. The All-Star race news was broken last week, but the Truck Series news was broken just a couple of days ago. That should be interesting to say the least and I know there will be a lot of buzz around the area for quite a while.

This week, you know what you’re getting out of Bristol, but at the same time, it’s pretty unpredictable. You have a few guys that are really good here and the rest are decent to mediocre. With that being said, there will be a lot unknown about this track. This new car hasn’t been on the concrete yet and we don’t know how some of these drivers are with the car on this track. Passing may be an issue this year, but I guess we’ll see. I’m not going to go too risky with my lineup today, but the thing I’m worried about will be ownership percentages. Hopefully some of the guys won’t be owned too much. With that being said, here are my FanDuel picks.

First Pick: Kyle Busch ($12,500) Starting 21st

I didn’t want to pick too many drivers starting in the back half of the field, but I have to go with Kyle Busch. He’s absolutely dominant here. He has won 25% of the Cup races that he has appeared in and he will be strong again today. He broke some big news this week announcing that he will be driving the 8 car next year for Richard Childress Racing, so I expect him to be racing extra hard today.

Less Expensive Options: Erik Jones ($7,500) Starting 24th; AJ Allmendinger ($5,200) Starting 13th

Erik Jones has the best career average finish among current drivers at Bristol and he’s starting 24th. This is a recipe for success. We know that he is capable of winning a race in that Petty car as he won just a couple weeks ago at Darlington and if you consider that this is one of his best tracks, he is almost a must-pick this week.

As for AJ Allmendinger, if you look at his Cup Series history here, it is pretty bad. I’m not looking at that though. I’m looking at his Xfinity stats. I want to know what he’s done for me lately and lately in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig, he has been really good. He’s averaged a 5.7 in 3 races in the Xfinity Series. He was fast in practice and I think he’ll run well tonight.

Team 23XI: Denny Hamlin ($14,000) Starting 4th; Bubba Wallace ($8,800) Starting 14th

Denny Hamlin was fastest in practice and his starting spot will allow him to stay up front if he continues to be fast. Denny is one of the best drivers at Bristol and I expect him to stay up front for the majority of the race. The main reason I picked him was because of his practice speed. I want a majority lap leader and I think Denny has the best shot to do so.

Bubba Wallace will be riding the high of his 2nd Cup Series win, and I don’t think a lot of people expected it. I don’t think you could get any more unexpected than winning two in a row. I’m not expecting a win from Bubba today, but I think he will run well. He has a decent history at Bristol and it is one of those tracks that he can grab a solid Top 5 finish. Aside from Watkins Glen, the last couple of months for Bubba Wallace have been good and this team has found its groove after struggling earlier in the season.

NASCAR Bass Pro Shops Night Race DFS Preview