Welcome to the Monster Energy Cup Series Preview. This week we will be looking ahead to the Cup Series race at Charlotte Roval. If you are just finding the DFS Army and are not a VIP member sign up and use code LARKIN 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! You can follow myself Ryan Larkin on twitter @Larkin8
This week the Cup Series is back in Charlotte for the second addition of the Roval. For those unfamiliar the Roval is a track layout that combines both the standard NASCAR oval as well as the infield road course. After the success of last years race Charlotte Motor Speedway decided to make a huge investment and redesign the backstretch chicane for this years race. The Chicane will now offer an additional passing zone for drivers as it is a legit braking point. This will be a more change over last years race and will also limit the overall speed drivers will carry into the front stretch chicane area. For this race we will see the 750 HP package in use that we have seen at the other road course races in 2019. We saw some rather clean overall racing through the early stages of the race but all hell broke loose late. I expect much the same this week. Long run speed will matter early with drivers working hard to gain track position. Avoiding the late race chaos will be key.
Quick Facts
Date: September 29th
Practice 1: Friday 12:05 pm ET.
Qualifying: Friday 4:40 pm ET.
Practice 2: Saturday 11:35 am ET.
Practice 3: Saturday 2:00 pm ET.
Race: Sunday 2:30 pm ET.
Laps: 109 Stages: 25/50/109
Drivers: 40
Defending Champion: Ryan Blaney
AVG. # of Cautions: 6 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 10 per race
VIP Articles
VIP members get elite coverage not just for NASCAR but for every sport. Be sure to check out all the NASCAR Cup Series VIP articles available on a weekly basis!!
Available articles include:
NillyJay’s – Calming the Chaos: Exceptional slate breakdown
BradyMillerDFS’s – The Sway Bar: Top plays for Drafkings
Larkin8’s – Cup Series Setup: Top Plays for FanDuel
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Lineup Building
Dominator / Top Tier
With a limited number of laps at only 109 we will look at a two dominator strategy. Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski showed perfectly how this scenario would play out leading 47 and 29 laps respectively before being the catalyst for the late race monster of a crash heading into turn one on a late restart. The Gibbs cars have been ridiculously fast on road courses the last couple years and will be the front runners for sure. Martin Truex will be the early favorite to win for sure. Truex was a corner away from the win here last year before Jimmie Johnson took him out. Kyle Busch will be another threat but more importantly given his starting position will offer good place diff points as well. Place diff can be a huge factor with limited dom points available this race. Denny Hamlin starting 28th will offer the most of everyone in the elite tier and is a fantastic play for that reason. Other top contenders will be the Penske duo of Logano and Keselowski as well as potentially Kyle Larson if he can replicate his elite speed from last year.
Mid to Low Tier
Place differential will be huge this week. The easiest way to accomplish this will be to avoid the carnage. Regan Smith 32nd to 15th and David Ragan 30th to 16th are the prime example of this. Other drivers like Matt Dibenedetto and Ryan Newman are elite plays in general that carry top 10 upside and have place diff ability. Pretty much everyone will be able to stay on the lead lap for this race so it will all come down to being in the right spot and capitalizing late. The HMS cars qualified amazingly well and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain that track position.
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Punts
Due to what we saw late last year punts do have some viability. Ross Chastain was a fantastic example of the upside they carry starting 35th but finishing 24th. Jeffrey Earnhardt started 37th and ended up 26th as another example. Some plays will be better than others based of driver ability and finishing upside but all these drivers can produce decent DK points days with carnage.
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.