Welcome to the Cup Series Setup for Fanduel. Here we will be breaking down the best plays for Fanduel purposes. My name is RyanLarkin88 and you can follow me @Larkin8 on twitter. This week the Cup Series is at Chicagoland Speedway. The VIP Member Research Station and Domination Station will be ready to go for you to help create your lineups so be sure to check that out. Also, jump in the NASCAR VIP Slack and get some great insight into this weeks race.
This week is an impound race where NASCAR will inspect the cars post qualifying. If a team fails inspect their qualifying time will be disallowed and they will start at the rear of the field. For DFS purposes they will also be scored as starting from the rear of the field.
Top Tier Plays
Kevin Harvick
Harvick was incredibly fast leading almost all categories. In final practice he posted the 3rd fastest single lap run and added the fastest 5, 10 and 15 lap averages. In the two races on this track type in 2019 Harvick had the fastest car at his disposal but wasn’t able to close the deal with a win. While he doesn’t offer place differential he does offer the potential to lead plenty of laps.
Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch
Not really much reason to separate these two for this weeks race. They both offer the same position differential upside starting 17th (KB) and 18th (MTJ) and both are strong favorites for the win. Truex won here at Chicago in 2016 and 2017 while Kyle Busch won here last year. They both have won 4 races in 2019 and they are the two most expensive drivers on the slate this week. Needless to say they are almost exact replicas of each other in almost every way. Both are fantastic plays but at a very expensive price.
Joey Logano
Logano has been absolutely amazing so far in 2019 with 2 wins and 10 finishes of 7th or better. He qualified 19th which means he offers great place differential upside that matches MTJ and KB but at a price $1000-$1500 cheaper. Logano has finished 8th or better in 6 of the last 7 races with the only bad performance being a race where he sat on pole and led 32 laps before having engine issues. He is an elite play this week who will more than likely see his way well into the top 10.
Value Plays
Kyle Larson
Larson has 4 top 10s in 5 career Chicago races including a 2nd place finish in an epic finish with Kyle Busch last year. You might remember Slide Job! Larson tends to thrive on tracks where tires wear out and the outside line comes in. That is exactly what happens here at Chicago. While I do think he will struggle for short run speed if we get the normal ultra long runs we normal see at Chicago there is no reason Larson shouldn’t be able to get towards the top 5.
Erik Jones
Jones qualified 21st giving him a lot of place differential upside. Erik has been fantastic post Sonoma for his 2 years in Cup so far. In 2017 the 10 races following Sonoma Jones scored 8 top 10s including 3 top 5s. In 2018 he bettered that with 8 top 10s, 5 top 5s and a win. Of course with stats like that it is no surprise he finished 6th last year at Chicago. He will certainly offer top 10 or even top 5 upside and at a much cheaper price than the top tier drivers named above.
Daniel Suarez
Suarez has finished 11th and 12th in his two career Chicago races. That will do perfectly considering he qualified 29th. Suarez offers massive place differential upside. Prior to the road course in Sonoma Suarez had finished 12th or better in 8 of 10 races including top 5s at Michigan and Texas. He will offer top 10 place upside with an outside shot at a top 5. Depending on who fails post qualifying inspect Suarez could end up as the best play on the slate.
Low Tier/Punts
Matt Dibenedetto
Matt D comes in a $7000 this week. He qualified 30th but should offer top 20 upside fairly easily. If all goes right he could end up scoring a solid finish with solid place diff and fit in nicely from the lower tier. Confidence also never hurts and he will have plenty of it coming off his 4th place finish last week.
David Ragan
Ragan doesn’t necessarily jump out as an elite play but I do think he can have some value this week. He cost $5000 which is cheaper than Wallace, McDowell, Preece and Ty Dillon. He starts 24th and based of his 15th place performance at Charlotte could be a sneaky play to score a similar finish. Considering the extreme punts have very little upside this week I like the Idea of playing Ragan at his cost and looking for a top 20 finish out of him.
This will conclude this edition of The Monster Energy Cup Series Setup for Fanduel. If you would like to reach out and talk NASCAR Follow me on twitter @Larkin8 and join me as well as our other DFS Army NASCAR contributors (Brady Miller, Taco, and NillyJay) in the NASCAR coaching channels.
