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AustYn

The second race of the NASCAR playoffs takes place at Kansas Speedway in the Hollywood Casino 400. Kyle Larson claimed victory last week at Darlington with his illustrious first win at the track, and he clinched a spot in the round of 12. Kansas is a 1.5-mile oval that produces multiple groove racing and typically multiple lead changes will take place. Denny Hamlin won in the 1st race of the season at Kansas and Toyota has won the last 3, with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace claiming those. The tire package that will be used is the same that Goodyear rolled out at Fontana, Las Vegas, Nashville and Pocono. My analysis will consist of drivers who performed well with this tire, as well as past results at Kansas. Practice speeds are important as well, and I don’t really think tire falloff will be quite as important as other tracks.

Top Pick: Tyler Reddick Starting 5th ($9,800)

Tyler Reddick’s second career Cup Series start took place at Kansas and he impressed many people in the NASCAR world by finishing 9th. Kurt Busch won with this car last year…well at least the same number haha! I am not sure if it is the same chassis. Either way, Reddick was crazy fast in practice, placing 1st in the 5 lap averages and with a great starting spot, I look for Reddick to stay up front and win today.

Supporting Cast: Ty Gibbs Starting 36th ($7,600) & Chase Briscoe Starting 26th ($6,600)

There isn’t much to say on this one. Ty Gibbs was 3rd fastest on 10 lap averages and he drives a Toyota…a manufacturer that has been dominant here with the new car. With him starting last…he can only go up and the value is too great here. He’ll be chalky, but necessary to win. Chase Briscoe has had a down season to say it lightly…but this could be a track that could get him some confidence to end the year. He placed 11th in 10 lap averages and honestly, this price point is too good to pass up. We just need Briscoe to get a top-20.

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Yacs

It is Week 1 in the NFL season, but it is Week 2 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and drivers will be charging hard to advance to the Round of 12. Kansas is on the ledger today and personally, I like Kansas. I probably won’t be watching too much today, but Kansas is usually a decent race. Last week, Darlington was a good one. Kyle Larson advanced with a win and it was another classic race where he wasn’t necessarily the fastest car, but he was in the right place at the right time. Not to say he wasn’t fast though. He had a winning car. it’ll be interesting to see who shows up today. The Toyotas looked really fast in practice and some drivers of all makes will be a little chalky, but I don’t think you can help but pick them. We’ll see how it goes today at Kansas, but in the mean time, here is my FanDuel preview for today’s race.

First Picks: Martin Truex Jr. ($13,500) Starting 3rd; Kyle Busch ($11,500) Starting 35th

Truex is very good at most tracks, but Kansas is definitely in his top level of tracks. He has 8 straight Top 10 finishes, and 12 of the last 13 here have been Top 10s for him. Even going back to Furniture Row and Michael Waltrip Racing, he has been very good here. Don’t expect today to be any different. It appears he has a fast car today and Toyota dominates this track, so don’t expect Truex to fall too much.

Kyle’s starting spot is too tough to pass on. He is at the back of the pack and while this may not be his best track, he is still more than capable of picking up a win today. With that being said, I don’t think he will win today, but he should finish well and get you a lot of climbing points. I wouldn’t say that he was particularly fast in practice, but he wasn’t slow by any means. They will figure things out and he has nowhere to go, but up, so that is the way I look at it.

Value Picks: Ty Gibbs ($7,000) Starting 36th; Daniel Suarez ($6,800) Starting 15th

As far as speed is concerned, Ty Gibbs had the 6th fastest car in practice. However, he had a consistent Top 3 long run car. Gibbs’s Toyota should be really fast and he is starting at the back of the pack, so look for him to make some moves immediately. It appears that he has a Top 10 car and if he can get that result, that would be perfect for his value. Gibbs has had bad luck in both of his Cup starts at Kansas, so hopefully he breaks that string of bad luck. He has a 1st and 3rd place finish in the Xfinity Series, so we know he is capable of finishing well here.

As for Suarez, he is a bit of a wild card. It is difficult to say when the best time to pick Daniel Suarez is. He is capable of being a contender in just about every race, but a lot of times it is tough to say when he will show up . Hopefully he shows up today in Kansas. He does OK here, but not great. I do think he is a great value at $6,800. He has finished between 10th and 15th in all but one of his 5 races with Trackhouse at Kansas. It also appears that he has a solid long run car too. If they can stay out of trouble, I think both of the Trackhouse cars will have a good day today.

Final Pick: Bubba Wallace ($10,500) Starting 10th

There are only a handful of tracks that I feel safe picking Bubba Wallace at and this is one of them. Not because of the fact that he won here last season, although it does help. I feel safe picking him here because he consistently is fast here. Since joining 23XII, he has been really fast here. Sometimes the results don’t reflect how well he ran, but in the last 3, he has been Top 10. He finished 4th in the Spring this season and he won last year’s race around this time. I know and he knows that this is a make or break race for him in the playoffs. If he does well, he will likely move on. If they don’t perform, he is probably out. He hasn’t performed particularly well at Bristol lately, so this is his shot to move on. He has a fast car. He is fast in long runs as well, so look for him to maintain his spot. Hopefully his doesn’t have too much trouble in the pits this week. His team failed pre-race inspections twice and were penalized, but I don’t think that will effect their performance too much.

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