Welcome everyone to the NASCAR Cup Series DFS Preview. For this edition, we will take a look at the upcoming Fan Shield 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway. This article is brought to you by DFSArmy.com and written by Ryan Larkin. Become a VIP member!! Sign up and use code LARKIN to save 20%!! You can catch up with Ryan on twitter or in the DFSA VIP slack @Larkin8
Phoenix Raceway
Phoenix raceway is a flat, one mile track with two completely different sets of corners on either end of the track. The races here tend to see multiple long green flag runs and few cautions overall. This week’s race will mark the first in 2020 with the new (old) downforce package for the 750 hp package. Essentially, reverting back to how the cars were in 2017/18 in terms of downforce in the hopes of producing better racing than we saw last year at this style of track. Cars will have less grip and should lead to more mistakes and more passing opportunities. There will be PJ1 traction compound applied to the track in the upper grooves in hopes of helping create more side by side racing as well. Practice times will be ultra important this week as speed translates really well. Speed also holds up really well on the long run. The weather looks good for this weekend with temps in the mid 70’s.
Quick Race Facts
Date: March 23rd
Practice #1 Friday 3:35 pm ET
Practice #2 Friday 5:35 pm ET
Qualifying: Saturday 2:35 pm ET
Race: Sunday 3:30 pm ET
Laps: 312 Stages: 75/150/312
AVG. # of Cautions: 6.5 (Excluding Stage Breaks)
AVG. # of DNF’s: 5
Defending Champion: Kyle Busch
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DFS Outlook
Dominators
For this race, we will look to utilize 2-3 dominators. We can definitely expect the pole sitter to have a strong shot at leading early. The pole sitters have led 69, 94, & 73 laps the last three Phoenix races. From there once strategy comes into play and we could see some shake-ups mid-race with a few different drivers leading for a period of time. By the final stage, we should expect the best car to show itself and look to finish off the race leading most of the laps remaining. Harvick, Kyle Busch, ad Denny Hamlin are going to be the favorites heading into the weekend based on their incredible history here. Joe Gibbs Racing has won four of the last five Phoenix races.
Mid to Low Tier
It will all be about place differential and finishing upside in this area. This race is fairly straight forward so we will look for the drivers who showed good practice speed who may have qualified poorly. We can also use track history to find quality plays like Aric Almirola who have been very successful in the past. The DFS Army research station is the best place to get all this information. Mechanical Grip is key here meaning the setup is most important. Teams like Gibbs, SHR, and Penske come to mind as the best in this area. Focusing on their mid tier drivers is a great place to start.
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Punts
Punts will struggle here overall. These teams really lack in mechanical grip and struggle to keep pace with the leaders. Due to this, they find themselves several laps down and unable to capitalize on gaining spots late in races. The only reason I would recommend playing any of the backmarker cars is to save salary in an effort to get afford multiple elite dominators.
Check out some of our other DFS Army NASCAR content for the 2020 season!!!
Cup Series: 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Season Preview
Xfinity Series: 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Preview
Truck Series: 2020 NASCAR Truck Series Season Preview
DFS Army Strategy Series – NASCAR Scoring Fanduel vs Draftkings
This will conclude this edition of NASCAR 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.