Welcome everyone to the NASCAR Cup Series DFS Preview. For this edition, we will take a look at the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington 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
Darlington Race Two
The NASCAR Cup Series season is back at Darlington Raceway this Wednesday. Due to COVID-19 NASCAR is having to implement numerous changes for this and every race for the foreseeable future. There will again be no practice or qualifying for the races. The teams will show up and the first laps on the track will be in the actual race. Due to the lack of qualifying the starting lineup will be based on the finishing order of the May 17th race. More on this later in the article. Another side effect is we will see a shorter race. Darlington is normally a 500-mile race. The race on Wednesday will be 311 miles.
Six races in Nine days!!
Tue, May 19 Darlington XFINITY 200 mi FS1 8:00 PM
Wed, May 20 Darlington Cup 311 mi FS1 7:30 PM
Sun, May 24 Charlotte Cup 600 mi FOX 6:00 PM
Mon, May 25 Charlotte XFINITY 300 mi FS1 7:30 PM
Tue, May 26 Charlotte Gander Trucks 200 mi FS1 8:00 PM
Wed, May 27 Charlotte Cup 312 mi FS1 8:00 PM
Darlington Raceway
As for the track itself, Darlington is brutal on tires. Long run speed is essential here. Due to the tire fall off we will see lap times fall off 3+ seconds. Anyone on fresh tires will grab fast laps as a result. Turns one and two are vastly different than three and four with the only similarities being that cars will run right up against the wall. Often the result of running against the wall results in contact. This can be minor and have little effect or be major and greatly hurt the performance of a car. 500 miles at Darlington makes for a very long, grueling race. At 311 miles, we can expect this race to be run a little bit differently. We will likely have a competition caution however NASCAR hasn’t announced anything yet. The format of this will be covered a little later in the article. This is definitely a driver’s track and using past history will be vital this week.
Quick Race Facts
Dates: May 20th
Race: Wednesday 7:30 pm ET
TV: FS1
Laps: 228 Stages: 60 / 125 / 228 laps
AVG. # of Cautions: 8.5 (Excluding Stage Breaks)
AVG. # of DNF’s: 6
Defending Champion:Kevin Harvick
Weather is expected for both the Tuesday Xfinity and WednesdayCup races. If they are unable to race on the set day then the race will be moved to Thursday at 4 PM
Starting Lineup Procedures
The starting lineup for the next Cup Series event, scheduled May 20 at Darlington, will use the finishing order from May 17 as the basis for two inversions:
- Starting positions 1-20: The top 20 finishers from the May 17 event will be inverted for the start of the May 20 race
- Starting positions 21-40: Drivers will start based off of where they finished in the May 17th race.
- Ryan Preece will start on pole.
- Teams will select pit stalls based on where they finished the May 17th race. Kevin Harvick will have the first pit stall.
Competition Caution Procedure
**Special note this is not official. If NASCAR chooses to use the same procedure as Sunday then this will be how things are done. When NASCAR announces what they plan on doing I will update the article accordingly**
The Cup series will have a modified competition caution in the early portions of the race. The stoppage will include freezing the field to accommodate longer pit stops, allowing teams to make more extended in-race adjustments that might normally be made during practice.
That modified competition caution procedure includes:
- Freezing the running order at the time of the caution period
- Granting the free pass for the first car one lap down
- No wave-around rule will be in effect for the competition caution
- Pit road opens to the top 20, then the next 20 on the following lap
- Each car will keep its position at the time of the caution, provided it beats the pace car off pit road
- The pit cycle repeats, with the top 20 then next 20 allowed to pit a second time
- Teams that do not beat the pace car off pit road will lose a lap and restart at the tail of the field; teams that pit more than twice or outside of their designated pit window will also restart at the tail of the field.
- The lineup will be reset according to the frozen running order for the restart
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DFS Outlook
Dominators
In the past we have seen numerous occurrences of a single dominator claiming well over half the laps led. Passing the leader was incredibly difficult on Sunday. We should look at Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, and Ryan Blaney as potential early race dominators since they will start upfront. Harvick, Bowman, and Truex appeared to have some really fast cars and I would expect them to be able to make their way towards the front if they have the same speed on Wed. Since we have shorter races there will not be as many dominator points available as well as so many drivers comibing from mid pack, I would recommend playing a 2-3 Dominator strategy.
Mid to Low Tier
It will all be about place differential and finishing upside in this area. There will be quite a few great place differential plays for this race. We will want to focus on these plays, especially in cash games. We will also want to look for some drivers who will potentially carry lower ownership to help differentiate our lineups. Again, we will want to focus a lot on what we saw last Sunday to get a good idea of who some of the best plays are in this area.
Cup Series Cheat Sheet – Darlington
Xfinity Series Cheat Sheet – Darlington
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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. If you are needing to play this area then I would recommend playing the best possible of the group. Suarez and Lajoie posses better equipment or Poole is in a better situation than Houff and Gase. With competition cautions in play as well as shorter stages it is possible that we see certain teams hang closer to the lead lap and capitalize on a couple of extra positions.
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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.