What’s up everyone?! Welcome to the Monster Energy Cup Series Preview. This week we will be looking ahead to the Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. I’m RyanLarkin88 and you can follow me on twitter @Larkin8. If you are just finding the DFS Army and are not a VIP member sign up and use code Xfinity to save 20%!! Our DFS Army VIP members get access to the Domination Station and Research Station post qualifying. Also, VIP members get access to our VIP Slack and direct contact to the NASCAR coaches. Come join the best team in NASCAR DFS!
The Monster Energy Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway this week. The 1.5 mile track will see the 2019 aero and engine rules package in use. Texas marks the first race after the west coast swing for the new package and also the first chance teams had at making adjustments to the cars based on what they learned at Vegas and California. Passing has been extremely difficult at Texas in the past and based off what we have seen so far in 2019 I would expect that to continue. Focusing on drivers with good position retention and who are above average passers will be important. There are very long green flag runs at Texas so as usual 10-20 lap averages are important.
Quick Facts
Date: March 31th
Practice 1: Friday 3:05 pm ET.
Qualifying: Friday 7:40 pm ET.
Practice 2: Saturday 9:05 am ET.
Practice 3: Saturday 11:30 am ET.
Race: Sunday 3:00 pm ET.
Laps: 334 Stages: 85/170/334
Drivers: 39
Defending Champion: Kyle Busch
AVG. # of Cautions: 7 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 3.5 per race
Lineup Building
Dominator / Top Tier
Most lineups should feature 2 dominators with a small percentage of 1 dominator lineups. The Penske drivers of Blaney, Keselowski and Logano as well as Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick will be the pre race favorites. Kyle Busch has been on a roll this year however he has only 1 finish of 14th or better in his last 4 Texas races. That 1 race was a win in which he led 116 laps in this race last year. Harvick on the other hand has an average finish of 2nd in his last 4 races including 2 wins and 379 laps led. He has definitely been the best driver at Texas since joining Stewart Hass in 2014. The Penske trio have been the best team so far this year and have all had dominator performances in the last 4 years at Texas including Keselowski leading 312 laps in the fall 2015 race. I would expect the dominators to come from this group based off track history and early 2019 performances.
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Mid to Low Tier
I love some of the possibilities in the mid tier this week with driver like Almirola and Erik Jones being threats for top 5 finishes. Daniel Suarez has looked solid so far this season and coming off a top 10 finish has actually dropped to $7500 on Draftkings. Bubba Wallace also dropped in price which is interesting coming off a 17th at Martinsville and considering he finished 8th in this race last year. If he continues to struggle in qualifying I think he could be a very good play. I still put Kurt Busch in this area even as we have seen his price continue to rise. He is one of three drivers who have finished inside the top 10 in each of the last 4 races (Harvick and Logano) and has an average finish of 6.6 in the last 5 races in 2019. Finding good value in this area is as always key and I will be looking to pair 3-4 of these drivers who can score 40-55 points to pair with my two dominators.
Punts
Depending on who you choose to be your two dominators will determine if you have to play anyone classified as a punt. I don’t like anyone in this group for this week and I think there is enough value elsewhere to avoid these guys. We have seen very little in terms of wrecks on the speedway tracks this season which is due to the massive amount of grip the drivers have with the new aero package. The lack of DNFs over the last few years at Texas limits the upside for these drivers.
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I will be giving my Fanduel Top Plays in a VIP article prior to the race.
I will also answer any questions you may have in the VIP Slack!
This will conclude this edition of The Monster Energy Cup Series Preview. If you would like to reach out and talk NASCAR Follow me on twitter @Larkin8 or of course Become a VIP member and join me as well as our other DFS Army NASCAR contributors (Brady Miller, Taco, and NillyJay) in the NASCAR coaching channels.