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 New Hampshire Motor 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.
Top Tier Plays
Kyle Busch
While I do not normally love guys who start at the very front Kyle is a bit different this week. Joe Gibbs Racing, especially Busch have absolute dominated this track in recent year. In his last 5 races at NHMS he has led 454 laps. I believe he as a strong shot at absolutely dominating this race collecting those laps led dom points and winning. Super high on his chance to win. His price is crazy high so there could be value by paying down in getting a deeper lineup quality wise. Overall great play with huge upside if he dominates.
Kevin Harvick
Harvick Has won two of the last fours races at NHMS. He also has six top 5s in his last 8 races. Starting 14th he offers some really good place differential that Kyle Busch doesn’t. While Harvick is not going to be a favorite for the win, a top 5 is certainly possible. At $2000 less than Busch he could be the switch that helps the lineup as a whole while still scoring close to a dominating KB18.
Brad Keselowski
I personally believe this is Kyle Busch’s race to lose however Brad is a legit threat to this. Over a three races span in 2014-15 BK was the best guy around at NHMS leading 316 laps while winning a race and finishing 2nd in another. He has early dominator potential where he can pick up some laps led and legit top 3 finishing ability. He dominated Martinsville earlier this year with a car that had great center off ability something that is also important here.
Denny Hamlin
Hamlin cost too much to be a true value play but he does come in at a decent $11,500. Hamlin will be scored from 23rd position but will head to the back of the pack after switching to a back up car. This doesn’t worry me one bit though. Hamlin has the best average finish here and also holds three victories at this track. HIs worst finish in his last seven races is 15th as well. With the place differential that he offers and his top 5 upside Hamlin could end up the best play on the slate.
Value Plays
Erik Jones
Jones is FAST and at only $9000 has some serious value. My expectation is that he has a legit top 3 car and even has an outside shot at winning. He had the fastest single lap and 10 lap average in the 2nd practice. Really big fan of Jones here driving one of the extremely fast Joe Gibbs cars.
Ryan Blaney
Blaney is a very similar situation to Jones. He starts 5th and cost $10000. He was fastest in single lap and 10 lap average in final practice. Coming off back to back top 10s at NHMS as well so no worries about him being able to secure a solid finish. One more bit of positive reasoning is Blaney’s performance earlier this year at ISM Raceway. ISM is probably the most comparable track to New Hampshire. He started from pole and led 94 laps before finishing 3rd.
Low Tier/Punts
Chris Buescher
Buescher is a lock for this section until further notice. Starts 25th this week but can certainly get up in the 15-18th range. I don’t believe he has the top 10 potential he has shown on the 1.5 mile tracks this year but he doesn’t need to produce that to pay off his $7,00 price tag.
Austin Dillon
I LOVE Austin this week. In his nine career races at New Hampshire Dillon has 6 finishes of 16th or better. His worse finish ever is 22nd. He starts 21st and if he can replicate his past success he can be extremely valuable. He cost $7,300 and is someone I expect to be rather low owned which is always a good thing.
Ryan Preece
I don’t think Preece has a ton of upside here but could possibly end up around the 20th position with a good day. AT $5,000 and starting 28th this could be good enough to get the job done if you needed the extra $$$. One positive that helps his cause is his on track experience here having run numerous races in the Modified division. Not an elite play buy probably my favorite punt play for this weekend.
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.