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AustYn

The round of 8 will be decided after the…often chaotic…Charlotte ROVAL. This is a home race for us at The Sports Chief and I really enjoy watching this road-course event in CLT. Ryan Blaney locked in his spot last weekend with a narrow victory at Talladega over Kevin Harvick. That leaves 6 other spots left, which Denny Hamlin has nearly clinched, while others will be scrapping and clawing to get by. Kyle Larson is a driver who is in dangerous territory, he is 22 points above the cutline. A wreck in practice left the team with no choice but to go to a back-up car. This will cause them to start at the back in 36th. As long as they have a clean race, they will be okay, but that’s asking a lot here. Larson has always carried drama into this event it seems, in the inaugural race at, I remember seeing him slamming off of the walls like a ping-pong ball so he could get back to the line to advance in the 42 car. Tyler Reddick is on the pole in a Charlotte Hornets color themed Jordan car. Toyota brought speed as the lowest qualifying Toyota in the field is Martin Truex in 11th. My strategy consists of history at the track as well as road course performance this season. The tire Goodyear is bringing is the same that has been used on all the road course in 2023, and that plays a little role, but the ROVAL is so unique that you can only go so deep into that. They utilize the banked corners which creates a different dynamic altogether.

Photo Credit: (HHP/Chris Owens Photo | Charlotte Motor Speedway)

Top Pick: Tyler Reddick Starting 1st ($10,000)

I am probably not going to create any surprises here…Tyler Reddick has been the best road course driver in the last 2 seasons. He needs a win to advance, or at least an awesome day, and the pole sitter has such an advantage here as you saw with Sam Mayer yesterday. Reddick has the speed in practice that tells me he will be difficult to pass today. I know that the laps led will not be as beneficial being that there will only be 109, but fastest laps are crucial too and I think you will see him take a lot of those.

Supporting Cast: Austin Cindric Starting 29th ($7,500) & Aric Almirola Starting 21st ($6,000)

After mentioning the Toyota speed earlier, my supporting casts are in the Ford camp. Austin Cindric has underwhelmed to say the least in his sophomore season in the Cip Series. To be fair…Team Penske has underwhelmed majorly. Starting in 29th, Cindric gives a lot of value to his $7.5k price point. He hasn’t finished below 25th this season on a road course and he is still a great driver on these types of tracks. Look for the Cindric to get us a top-20 today. Aric Almirola is a darkhorse selection for me. Almirola hasn’t performed will on road courses but isn’t a terrible driver at the ROVAL. His worst finish is 24th here and the other 3 are all top-20s. I know it’s the Xfinity series, but he did win at Sonoma this year. $6k is criminal for the IHOP sponsored driver and I expect him to help us bring home the bacon with a great finish!

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Yacs

After today’s race, there will be only 8 drivers left in contention for the NASCAR Playoffs. For drivers, this or a superspeedway may be the worst possible cutoff race that you can have, but for fans, it is must-watch TV. After this week, there will be 4 races left and time is running out. At the moment, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, and Tyler Reddick are all below the cutline. Ryan Blaney locked himself into the next round with a nail-biter at Talladega. We’ll see how locks themselves into the next round after today.

Road Courses can be tricky to choose sometimes, because in a lot of ways, they’re similar to picking at a superspeedway. In an instant, any driver could be shuffled to the back and ruin their day. This race will be different than the rest of the road course though. This one will have stage breaks, which will help those drivers that get shuffled back. I personally think if they’re going to do stage breaks for all races, they might as well do it for road courses as well. My strategy will be picking as many playoff drivers as possible and combine that with their good history here. This is a unique road race from a lot of the others and there is a technique to running it. Some have the knack, others don’t. Let’s get in to it. Here are my picks for FanDuel this week.

My Tier 1 Drivers: Kyle Larson ($12,500) Starting 36th; Kyle Busch ($10,000) Starting 5th

We’re going totally Kyle for this cut race. One Kyle needs to win or finish towards the top and the other just needs to stay out of trouble. I think both can be done for both Kyles. Larson may be a little high considering is previous performance results at the ROVAL, but if you watch these races, then you know that he is always fast here. He may be boom or bust at this track, but I am not too concerned. With only 15 points separating him from the cut line, he needs to play it safe. I think he is capable of that, but will he do it? I guess we’ll see. We know he can win here because he has done it. Larson may need to do a little more than stay out of trouble due to his poor starting spot, but I have confidence that he will get back up to the front, no problem. He does it in practically every race.

Kyle Busch is desperate this week. He is currently in last among playoff drivers and will need a very good finish. I think he can do that, and I also think there will be a couple playoff drivers that will not perform well today, so that should help. Busch has been great in his last two races at the ROVAL. He finished 4th and 3rd in his last two and I think he can put together a similar result today. It is a little encouraging also that Austin Dillon has done OK at the ROVAL, so Busch’s car should be fine. His Top 5 starting spot is a good sign to me that he will maintain his spot.

The Value Guys: Chris Buescher ($9,000) Starting 20th; Ryan Blaney ($7,800) Starting 17th

Chris Buescher is not only a solid road racer, but he is one of the better drivers at the ROVAL. He has been 20th or better in all of his races here and his last two are similar to Kyle Busch. Buescher has 3rd and 6th place finishes in the last two here. He currently sits 19 points above the cutline, so I think he is safe as long as he doesn’t have to end his day early.

As for Blaney, he is already locked in. I just wanted him in my lineup because for starters, he is riding the momentum of a tense Talladega win. Also, $7,800 is an absolute steal for him. I don’t care where he qualifies or how well he runs in practice, that is a steal. Blaney is one of the better drivers here. Aside from last year at the ROVAL, he has been very, very good. He won the first ROVAL race in history and he has Top 10s in every race except last season. Blaney should be very good today. Both drivers should make the climb into the Top 10.

Final Pick: Christopher Bell ($9,500) Starting 2nd

I would also put my final pick in the probably safe but doesn’t need to take this race lightly category. I don’t think he will, because he has a real shot to win here. I like his starting position, especially considering that this is a road course. He has won here before and I think he can do it again. Having all playoff drivers was a goal of mine for this race. It could end up hurting me, but I don’t think it will. I think this is a very safe lineup. Bell won the last ROVAL race in 2022 and finished 8th in the year prior. I think he will be strong today and don’t expect him to miss out on the next round.

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