NASCAR Goodyear 400 DFS Preview

Photo Credit: NASCAR.com

DraftKings Preview

AustYn

After a tumultuous week at Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to one of its crown jewel tracks…Darlington Raceway for the Goodyear 400. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Okay…I led the article with tumultuous to describe the Kansas race…and that is because of Ross Chastain. Everyone knows what happened between Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain after the race last Sunday and if you don’t well…just search for those names. It seems every week Ross Chastain is involved in some type of conflict with other teams…there are always different teams too. While the attention is great for the sport, you have to wonder how long other teams are going to put up with the ultra-aggressive driving style of Chastain. It is to the breaking point and Noah Gragson had enough of it. Legacy Motor Club has been struggling this season and Noah was inside the top-10 when Ross Chastain over drove his exit and forced the #42 car up the track, ultimately ending his day. Chastain also did the same to Kyle Busch earlier. Part of it is the product…these cars are so aero dependent and yes…I am one of those fans who love the old cars that had screaming 850-900 horsepower and the cars were so strong you could not full throttle the engine except on straights…you had to ACTUALLY drive it. This car has obviously created a sense of invincibility and while aggressive driving is great, I think Ross is on the reckless side. He doesn’t seem in control to be honest, and I think the time has come where drivers are not going to be okay with it. I do think a lot of the other drivers are cowards for not confronting him too, but that’s another story for another time.

One cool thing (among others) about racing at Darlington are the themes…it is throwback weekend and Darlington is notorious for the great old-school paint schemes. Goodyear is sponsoring the event and will even have the old-school lettering on the tires. There will be an obscure number of laps completed today…293 and teams will have 11 sets of tires…one transferring from qualifying. Tire wear will be a factor at the abrasive track. Darlington is a beast in its own right. There are some drivers who absolutely dominate at this place and love it. Stability will be major today as you will see lots of long green flag runs. Passing will be a premium here and while it is difficult, a fast car will have no problem getting to the front. My strategy will consist of history and practice speeds. Not necessarily the fastest laps, but the most consistent times on long-runs. There are plenty of great options through the field and I truly believe this was a strategy to save that extra set of tires.

Top Pick: Martin Truex Jr.: Starting 1st ($10,900)

Photo Credit: Outsider.com

Martin Truex Jr. is possibly one of the most consistent drivers in the field. The fact he is starting on the pole makes him a great option for this endurance race. Another fact about the 19 car is that you would have to go back to the first race of 2020 at Darlington without him leading a lap. The team seems to be at its peak right now and I don’t see Truex finishing outside of the top-5 today.

Supporting Cast: Erik Jones Starting 28th ($7,100) & Noah Gragson Starting 29th ($5,700)

You can get the defending track winner Erik Jones at a $7k price point…not to mention he is starting in the 28th position. With an average finish of 10.7 here, Jones is one of the safest options today. Barring a wreck or any of the usual risks…I like Jones to get a top-15. Why not stay in the Legacy Motor Club camp…Noah Gragson has never run a Cup race here, but his Xfinity stats are staggering…he has 7 starts and 7 top-10s and an average finish of 4th. This place is tailor made for his driving style and look for Noah to right the ship this week.

FanDuel Preview

Yacs

It’s Throwback weekend and it is also Mother’s Day weekend at Darlington. It should be an interesting race today and I think we will get a lot of good racing in today. Last week, we had a bit of drama in the race. Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson got into a scrap, but apparently all is well with the two. Denny Hamlin got his first win of the season with a last-lap, slide-job. We will probably see some more aggressive driving in today’s race.

Due to the aggressive nature of the track, more of the aggressive drivers tend to do well at Darlington, but I’m going with a somewhat opposite strategy. I’m going to go with a more patience balanced lineup. Chevy is fast in practice and I think they should be fast on race day too. We’ll see how it turns out, but I think we’ll probably see another topsy-turvy kind of race.

Hendrick Cars: Chase Elliott ($10,000) Starting 21st; William Byron ($12,000) Starting 4th

Getting lap leaders probably isn't going to be too important, so you want some guys that can make the climb a little bit. Chase Elliott can be that guy today. He will be picked a lot because of his price and starting spot, so choose cautiously, but I don’t think you can avoid it. He was fastest in practice and 2nd in 10-lap average. Hendrick cars will be fast, so I would have at least one of those guys up there. I just never have good luck with Kyle Larson, so I passed on him. Watch him win the race.

William Byron was super-fast in practice as well. He had the best 10-lap average in the field and put down the 3rd fastest lap. He finished 13th and 8th in the races last season and I think he will be strong today. The 4thstaring spot gives him a shot to lead some laps, even though I don’t think it is important, those bonus points can help a little bit. He really just needs to remain towards the top and I think he can do that.

Value Drivers: Bubba Wallace ($8,200) Starting 2nd; Chris Buescher ($6,800) Starting 27th

Bubba is my most aggressive driver in the lineup I would say, but that’s ok. I think people are going to shy away from Bubby this week because of his starting spot, but that is why I like him this week. If he can stay off of the wall, he should be fine. He was fast in practice, so he should be fast in the race. We’ll see if he has the long-run car to make it work, but he should finish well today.

Buescher is a wildcard sometimes, but I think he has great value. He had a solid car in practice and I think he will be OK today. At $6,800, you really don’t need him to be dominant. You just need a good finish and I think he can flirt with the Top 10 today.

Final Pick: Erik Jones ($7,800) Starting 28th

Jones didn’t qualify well, and he had one of the worst 10-lap averages in practice, however, he put down the 2nd fastest lap in practice. That’s very odd, but I’m going go off of instinct here. Darlington is Erik Jones’s track. He has 2 of his 3 Cups Series wins have been here and he happened to win the previous race here. He has the 3rd best career avg. at Darlington among actives and as long as he is on the track, I expect him to be very good. He will be picked quite a bit, but I think DFS players will be deterred slightly due to the poor starting spot and poor 10-lap average.