Welcome to the Monster Energy Cup Series Preview. This week we will be looking ahead to the Cup Series race at Richmond. 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 heads to Richmond Raceway. The 3/4 mile short track is extremely rough on tires so pay close attention to long run speed in practice. Due to the tire wear drivers tend to focus on themselves and not race each other very hard especially the first half of the race. This leads to long green flag runs that can bring about green flag stops. Passing has become almost impossible at times here at Richmond so restarts are going to be incredibly important as will track position.
Richmond Inspection: Cars will be impounded after qualifying on Friday and inspected Saturday when the garage opens. The starting lineup will be unofficial until inspection is complete. Cars that do not pass on the first attempt will have their qualifying times disallowed.
Quick Facts
Date: September 21st
Practice 1: Friday 11:35 am ET.
Practice 2: Friday 1:35 pm ET.
Qualifying: Friday 6:05 am ET.
Race: Sunday 7:30 pm ET.
Laps: 400 Stages: 100/200/400
Drivers: 40
Defending Champion: Kyle Busch
AVG. # of Cautions: 4 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 2 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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Be sure to check out the improvements made to the Domination Station including the new Dominator Control for NASCAR. The DFS Army continues to improve to give members the best possible edge on the competition.
Lineup Building
Dominator / Top Tier
For this week we will look for 1-3 dominators. We have seen multiple races here with only one dominator over the past few years. For the most part we should expect the Gibbs cars to be the biggest threats to dominate and be the top contenders for the win. Hamlin and Kyle Busch both posses incredible record here and Martin Truex has led over 100 laps in 5 of the last 6 Richmond races. Outside of the Gibbs cars the biggest threats will be Harvick, Keselowski and Logano. Long run speed is something all six drivers are fantastic at maintaining.
Mid to Low Tier
Since there is the risk of drivers having to start at the rear due to failing inspection it will be important to wait until lineup is official. Any solid mid tier driver who starts in the back and who will grab a large amount of place differential will be important. We have seen several races where teams have passed with no issues though. Richmond is a track where smooth patient drivers who are good on the long run can deliver a better than normal finish. Jimmie Johnson is a great example of this. As someone who has struggled the last few years overall, Richmond has not been a place where he has fallen off. His worst finish is 12th in his last 10 races. Past race history is a great tool to use this week.
The DFS Army has crushed yet again with one of our members taking down the Xfinity Series Octane. Join us and get access to the Research Station, Domination Station, VIP write ups or jump into the VIP Slack for great insight from ALL the NASCAR coaches. Also, your membership gets you the same access to EVERY DFS sport. Sign up to become a VIP Member and use code LARKIN to save 20%!!
Punts
With so few DNFs in this races history and multiple long green flag runs we shouldn’t expect much from this group. The spring race here this year saw the highest finishing punt which was Corey Lajoie finish four laps down. They will be a couple laps off the pace of even the lower tier drivers such as Ty Dillon and Ryan Preece. Only justification would be if playing a punt to free up salary for multiple high priced doms.
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.