The gentlemen will start their engines at Michigan International Speedway today, and the lineup is set, with Bubba Wallace sitting in pole position for the first time in his career. Wallace was the only driver to go above 190 mph in the final round of qualifying.
Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric round out the top 5.
As I discussed in my preview on Thursday, Kevin Harvick has the best history and the most to gain by winning. He will start in 16th position, leaving all of us in a strange DFS limbo. That could be a perfect slot to provide value with a great chance of winning… Or it can be a DFS wasteland where he doesn’t move at all.
<div class=”bs-shortcode-alert alert alert-success”><em><strong>Never played Fantasy NASCAR? <a href=”https://www.fantrax.com/newui/publicLeagues.go?sport=NASCAR”>Head on over to Fantrax</a> and give one of our public leagues a go. Leagues are still filling up! There’s no better time than now to give it a try!</strong></em></div>
FireKeepers Casino 400 DFS Values
Let’s look at the board’s most significant values for FanDuel and DraftKings.
<h4 style=”text-align: center;”>FanDuel Values</h4>
| Driver | Salary | QP |
|---|---|---|
| Austin Dillon | $6,800 | 26 |
| Brad Keselowski | $7,000 | 33 |
| Kevin Harvick | $8,500 | 16 |
| Alex Bowman | $8,800 | 30 |
| Ryan Blaney | $11,000 | 24 |
<h4 style=”text-align: center;”>DraftKings Values</h4>
| Driver | Salary | QP |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Keselowski | $6,900 | 33 |
| Chase Elliott | $10,900 | 13 |
| Harrison Burton | $6,000 | 27 |
| Chase Briscoe | $7,500 | 23 |
| Ryan Blaney | $9,300 | 24 |
At some point, we have to agree that Brad Keselowski ceases to be valuable when he runs so poorly on a week-in and week-out basis. The Keselowski from previous years would have been a ridiculous value in Michigan starting from the 33rd slot. But this is the NextGen car, which he and his team have shown no ability to improve or master this late into the year. The emotion of “Well, he just can’t be this bad” runs into the statistical evidence that “Well, yes, he can.”
On the other hand, Ryan Blaney is of great value, starting in the 24th spot. As the returning winner, he has an excellent chance of breaking Ford’s eight-race losing streak but should provide a high positional value even if he comes up short of victory.
Chase Elliott qualifying at 13th also seems like a gift with his prominent run of late and success at superspeedways. I would be surprised to see him finish this afternoon outside of the top 10.
NASCAR DFS Picks
The following are a couple of DFS lineups I plan to play in GPP contests.
<h4 style=”text-align: center;”>FanDuel Lineup</h4>
| Driver | Salary | QP |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Elliott | $14,000 | 13 |
| Ryan Blaney | $11,000 | 24 |
| William Byron | $9,500 | 20 |
| Kevin Harvick | $8,500 | 16 |
| Brad Keselowski | $7,000 | 33 |
| TOTAL | $50,000 |
<h4 style=”text-align: center;”>DraftKingsLineup</h4>
| Driver | Salary | QP |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Elliott | $10,900 | 13 |
| Ryan Blaney | $9,300 | 24 |
| Kevin Harvick | $8,400 | 16 |
| Chase Briscoe | $7,500 | 23 |
| Brad Keselowski | $6,900 | 33 |
| Michael McDowell | $6,500 | 14 |
| TOTAL | $49,500 |
I have set up another Free FanDuel contest for our readers to allow everyone to play this nutty little game that adds a lot of excitement to NASCAR races for casual and diehard fans alike. Congrats to “hooviej1125” on their win last week! If you have any thoughts or ideas you’d like to share, hit me up on Twitter at @thewonkypenguin. And, as always, good luck!
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