Welcome to the NASCAR Cup Series DFS Preview!!! For this edition, we will take a look at the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This article is brought to you by DFSArmy.com and written by Ryan Larkin. 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
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
If you liked the action we had last week at Pocono then you will enjoy this week as well. Indy is another 2.5 mile flat track where pure speed and track position is everything. We will certainly see strategy come into play again with teams doing everything they can to get out front. Under the current rules package, passing has become incredibly hard at this style of track. Green flag passing was down to 13.5 per green flag lap last year. This number was down from the 18 green flag pass per lap the series averaged over the previous 4 races. The last 5 Indy races have seen 26% of the race ran under caution and with a high DNF rate. If this trend continues then it will certainly add some value to many drivers. Still no practice or qualifying so the DFS Army Research Station will be the best place to get info for building lineups this week.
Jul 23, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Matt Kenseth (20) drives across the yard of bricks during the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Quick Facts
Date: July 5th
Race: Sunday 3:30 pm ET.
Laps: 160 Stages: 50/100/200
Drivers: 40
Defending Champion: Kevin Harvick
AVG. # of Cautions: 9 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 9 per race
Pit selection:
- Order based on finishing position from the June 28th race at Pocono, 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 DFS Army absolutely destroyed the NASCAR DFS competition yet again last week. We had a couple slate winners and multiple four figure wins. We offer the best content in the industry to help our members win big come raceday. Be sure to sign up and join the winning team with our VIP membership today to gain access to our NASCAR Research Station (Cup/Xfinity/Truck Series), NASCAR Domination Station Optimizer (Cup/Xfinity/Truck Series), Coaches Notes/Driver Picks, NASCAR Tools, Coaching, Chat, and more! Your VIP subscription gets you access to ALL sports for one low price!
If you are not already a VIP member sign up and use code LARKIN to save 20%!!
DraftKings
Last year for this race I was very curious at how well a single car could dominate this race with the new rules package. I got a pretty clear answer after watching Kevin Harvick lead 118 of 160 laps. Because of this and what we saw last weekend at Pocono, I will be recommending a 1-2 dominator strategy. Aside from finding a couple of top tier dominators, I will be focusing on finding good value plays who can finish top 10. Byron, Bowyer, Newman, and Menard all finished top 10 last year. These are the type of plays we will look for. Also, if the trends of high caution and DNF rates continue this will bring the back of the pack punt plays into play. Last year saw Reed Sorenson finish 23rd followed by Sieg, McLeod, Yeley 24th-26th. Seems like there could be tons of directions we can go so it should be a good week for DK.
Favorite DK Play: Clint Bowyer
I really like what I saw last week from the SHR cars at Pocono. Bowyer finished 7th and 8th in the two races last week. As for Indy, Bowyer has finished 5th in the last two races there even leading 37 laps in 2018. His Teammate Harvick (My favorite dom threat for this race) dominated and won here last year as well. Based on points we know Bowyer will start 13th at best but could also start as deep as 24th depending on how the draw goes. That means if he does deliver a top 10 that he will also deliver a few place differential points as well.
FanDuel
Similar to last week FanDuel is more about getting top 10 finishers than anything else. We, of course, want a race winning dominator but with only 16 dominator points available dominators aren’t a necessity. Really going to focus on the Bowyer, Byron, Newman types who can deliver top 10 finishes like mentioned above in the DK section. Due to place differential points not carrying as much weight, I am not as high on the punt plays for FD but I am very much interested in the Ty Dillon, Ryan Preece types. Drivers starting deep in the field who could deliver top 20s or even top 15s at a very cheap price. I believe these types of plays will be crucial in lineup construction.
Favorite FD Play: Michael McDowell
As I mentioned above, I am going to lean heavily on these types of plays that can deliver solid finishes with some really good place differential. McDowell is coming off an 8th place finish at Pocono which was a great performance. He has also finished 18th, 17th, and 17th the last three races at Indianapolis. Great price, will start deep in the field offering some place diff upside and has a solid track history. Really like this as a sneaky slate winner allowing you flexibility with the rest of your lineup.
DFS Army VIP Content
The DFS Army provides the absolute best NASCAR content out there. The results speak for themselves. Check out what we have in store for members every single week!!
Available NASCAR content includes:
NillyJay’s – Calming the Chaos: Exceptional slate breakdown
AuburnFan30’s – The Sway Bar: Slate coaching and top plays.
Cheat Sheet notes from Larkin8, Nilly Jay and Taco for each Cup slate
Cheat Sheet notes from Larkin8 and Taco for each Xfinity and Truck slate
Research Station with amazing statistical info on each slate.
(This is a massive tool considering we currently have no qualifying or practices for all NASCAR races.)
Domination Station optimizer – The best in the industry for NASCAR DFS
If you are not already a VIP member sign up and use code LARKIN to save 20%!!
NASCAR on SuperDraft
Indianapolis will be very similar to how we attacked the races last week at Pocono. We will look to attack the 1.4x-1.8x multipliers who can finish top 15. If they can offer place differential points that only adds to their value. Indy has been a bit of a chaotic race in the past few years. This can give some drivers even bigger upside but also could set them up for failure. Last week we saw great plays in Bell, Reddick, and Busch all wreck out of the race. The same type of incidents can happen this week and are probably more likely to happen. For this reason, I would recommend spreading ownership out a bit more than usual. Normally, I would recommend a tight core but I believe it is very likely that we lose a couple of top plays through this race. 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.
If you have been thinking of joining the DFS Army team but aren’t quite sure – this is your chance to get a month of free membership ($49.99 Value). Simply sign up for a new, first-time account AND make your initial deposit of $20 or more on any of the following sites. NOTE: Existing accounts and second accounts do not qualify.
Go to www.dfsarmy.com/free-offer to see how to sign up
***This promo is also available to current DFS Army members. Follow the instructions above and simply note that you are an existing DFS Army VIP member in the email!! We want everyone to jump on board the SD train.***
Are you ready to join the domination? 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.