Welcome to the NASCAR Cup Series DFS Preview. For this edition, we will take a look at the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway. This article is brought to you by DFSArmy.com and written by Ryan Larkin. We have FOUR NASCAR races in TWO days this week. Now is the very best time to sign up and become a DFS Army VIP Member. 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
Pocono Raceway
The Cup Series heads to the Tricky Triangle of Pocono Raceway this week for a pair of races. Saturday we will see a 130 lap race followed by a 140 lap race on Sunday. Pocono is different than any other track the series goes to. It is 2.5 miles in length with extremely long straightaways. The track has three corners which are all completely different from each other. The normal length of Pocono races has been 160 laps. Both these races will be shorter in length. We saw passing was very difficult here last season so I expect lots of strategy plays on pit road for teams to help gain positions on the track. Teams will use the same car both days. If a team has to go to a backup car for Sunday, they will start at the rear for that race. Again, we still have no practice or qualifying so we will lean heavily on past track history and recent 2020 stats to help build out lineups. All that information and more will be available in the DFSA Research Station.
Jul 28, 2019; Long Pond, PA, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (18) races during the Gander RV 400 at Pocono Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Quick Facts
Date: June 27th & 28th
Race 1: Saturday 3:30 pm ET.
Laps: 130 Stages: 25/77/130
Race 2: Sunday 4:00 pm ET.
Laps: 140 Stages: 30/85/140
Drivers: 40
Defending Champion: Denny Hamlin
AVG. # of Cautions: 6 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 5 per race
Pit selection:
- Order based on finishing position from the June 21st race at Talladega, followed by new entries in order of points.
Starting lineup for race one:
- Starting Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
- Positions 13-24: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
- Positions 25-36: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
- Lastly, Positions 37-40: Open teams in order of owners points
The top 20 drivers on Saturday will be inverted for Sunday’s start. Drivers that finish 21-40 on Saturday start in that position for Sunday.
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DraftKings
At only 130/140 laps these races won’t offer many dominator points. Lineups should feature 1 or 2 dominators at most. A 1 dominator lineup will need a strong #2 stud who will score decent fast lap or even laps led points. Due to the shorter races and stages, we could see some different strategy plays which may lead to a few different leaders throughout the race. It Will be interesting to see if this will be the case. It is important to remember that the top running cars can pit and not lose a lap here. We will look to try and get as many top finishers as possible based on recent Pocono results. We will also look to play the high place differential value plays starting towards the back of the pack.
Favorite DK Play: Kevin Harvick
I can’t shake this feeling that Harvick finally gets his first Pocono win this week. Since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 Harvick has finished 2nd here FOUR times and 4th three times. He has led 244 laps over that time as well. I am hoping that the public will jump on the Gibbs cars due to their stellar recent history here bringing Harvick’s ownership numbers down. I really love the short run speed Harvick has shown with the current rules package and I believe that lineup well with these short races.
FanDuel
For FanDuel I am pretty much completely focusing on getting as many top 10 finishers as possible. I will build my lineups with as many “dominator” threats as possible but making sure I can fill all 5 roster spots with top 10 plays. This track has been owned by the best teams. Based on the scoring system and who we have as high place differential plays I will put very little focus on drivers starting 25th or worse. Bell, Preece, Custer, and Ty Dillon are going to be the chalk value plays for helping you afford the higher end drivers. I personally will look to pay down from the absolutely top-priced drivers to get as many top finishers as possible. Instead of shoving Kyle Busch, Truex and Harvick in a lineup, I will try and get one of those guys then 3 options like Jones, Byron, Bowyer types who can produce similar scores at lower prices.
Favorite FD Play: Erik Jones
This is my absolute favorite play of the weekend no matter the site. Jones sits 17th in points which means the highest he will start is 13th for Saturday’s race. He has 4 top 5s in his 6 starts here and owns the best average finish of anyone in the field. 2nd and 3rd here last year. He has obvious top 5 finishing ability but even 7th or 8th will be good enough at his price. He would add a few place differential points in that scenario. Just a killer play in general.
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NASCAR on SuperDraft
Very interesting race for SuperDraft. I haven’t run the numbers yet but considering the low number of laps and the fact that elite equipment is key here I don’t see the ultra high multiplier drivers coming into play this week. I will instead be targeting the drivers between 1.4x and 1.8x that have some good place differential upside and potential top 10 finishers. With so few laps, I do not expect any ow the low multiplier drivers to even have a chance at an optimal lineup. Once we get starting positions we can start putting the pieces together and get the full picture of how this race should play out. I fully expect our cheat sheet notes and projections to be on point so don’t miss out.
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