The penultimate race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season is upon us. Watkins Glen International plays host this weekend and it’s going to be an exciting race. In this week’s NASCAR DFS Preview, we already touched on some drivers that need to win this race to make the playoffs. Next week’s season finale at Daytona will have a lot of variance. This is Chase Elliott’s best chance to win and make the playoffs. But the same could be said for Daniel Suarez, A.J. Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, and a few others. Michael McDowell was perfect last week at Indianapolis and won his way into the playoffs. Let’s take a look at how qualifying played out for tomorrow’s race with this week’s Go Bowling at The Glen picks for DraftKings and FanDuel.
Go Bowling at The Glen Picks: The Top Ten
- Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- William Byron (#24 Hendrick Motorsports)
- Michael McDowell (#34 Front Row Motorsports)
- Ty Gibbs (#54 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Kyle Larson (#5 Hendrick Motorsports)
- J. Allmendinger (#16 Kaulig Racing)
- Christopher Bell (#20 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing)
- Kyle Busch (#8 Richard Childress Racing)
- Corey LaJoie (#7 Spire Motorsports)
A lot of the names you’d expect in the top ten on a road course. Michael McDowell won last week’s race starting P4 and is in great position for Sunday’s race. A.J. Allmendinger really needs a win to make the playoffs. Kyle Larson has won here in recent years. Tyler Reddick has been phenomenal on road courses in the NextGen car. But yet if practice speeds are any indicator, William Byron could blow everyone out of the water. His car was incredibly fast in practice. Denny Hamlin needed the lap of his life to win the pole. Both Hamlin and Byron are reasonably priced in DFS. You could play either driver and collect early dominator points while paying up for some position differential options.
Which Value-Priced Go Bowling at The Glen Picks Got A Points Movement Bump?
DraftKings
- Kevin Harvick – P33, $7,600
- Ryan Blaney – P23, $7,500
- Erik Jones – P31, $6,500
- Justin Haley – P20, $6,100
FanDuel
- Alex Bowman – P18, $8,000
- Ryan Blaney – P23, $6,800
- Kevin Harvick – P33, $6,500
- Erik Jones – P31, $5,200
The value plays are tricky this week. Kevin Harvick is fine in Cash games, but I recommend pivoting in Tournaments. Last week he moved up 15 spots and did okay in DFS but he was running in the back of the field for most of that race. His car was very slow in practice. And Harvick isn’t a great road course driver. Alex Bowman is the preferred pivot in Tournaments. He needs a win and grabbed a top five last week. Erik Jones wasn’t great in practice, but I do think he bounces back after last week’s mess. The super cheap drivers are tough to gauge. Justin Haley had speed in his car, but qualified right about where he should finish. I don’t have much faith in any driver priced under these options.
Which Higher-Priced Picks Got A Similar Bump?
- Chase Elliott – P15
- Martin Truex Jr. – P18
- Daniel Suarez – P14
There are really only two expensive PD plays this week. Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. just didn’t have great qualifying laps. Their cars weren’t overwhelming in practice either. They were both outside the top ten when analyzing practice results. However, they’re both great road course drivers and should improve upon these positions. Suarez does technically offer position differential. And he’s expensive. So by those two notes, he qualifies for this section. He is a good road course driver, but the car doesn’t have the same speed it had last week. If there’s one driver to avoid out of these three, it would be him.
Go Bowling at The Glen DFS Picks
DraftKings
- Kyle Larson – $10,800; Starting P5
- Martin Truex Jr. – $10,500; Starting P19
- Alex Bowman – $8,000; Starting P18
- Ryan Blaney – $7,500; Starting P23
- Erik Jones – $6,500; Starting P31
- Austin Dillon – $6,300; Starting P16
I know I gushed over William Byron earlier in the write-up. But everyone saw his speed in practice. They know how good he’ll be. I’ll mix him into some of my Tournament builds. However, I want to pivot in single-entry contests. Kyle Larson had top-five speed in practice and he’s won here before. He has great track position to start and should have speed. From there, we have plenty of good position differential options across the pricing spectrum. I don’t expect a huge day from Erik Jones, but I do think he bounces back tomorrow. Truex, Bowman, Blaney, and Dillon all potentially have a chance of finishing in the top ten. This is a good way to get off the chalk of Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Kevin Harvick.
FanDuel
- Chase Elliott – $14,000; Starting P15
- Martin Truex Jr. – $13,000; Starting P19
- William Byron – $8,500; Starting P2
- Alex Bowman – $8,000; Starting P18
- Kevin Harvick – $6,500; Starting P33
I leaned more into the popular options with this build. This is more of a Cash game build I’d be comfortable playing. You get win equity and drivers that should move up in the race. Even Kevin Harvick, who is awful on road courses, got the nod for this build. There are only 90 lineups for this race, meaning there are just 9.0 laps led points to target on FanDuel. So it really boils down to position differential and overall finish. This lineup will be easily duplicated. A good way to differentiate this build would be to pivot off Harvick for a driver like Austin Dillon. You would leave money on the table but possibly raise the ceiling of your lineup.
White Flag Thoughts Before You Go
The general consensus this week is that pricing was more aggressive on DraftKings. And that’s great. It makes it harder to build lineups for tomorrow’s race. I’d say it’s a good thing if you don’t like your NASCAR DFS lineup(s). The lack of stage break cautions do limit the upside for drivers starting further back. You don’t need to chase that deep-field PD. We saw with plenty of drivers last weekend that it will be difficult to make up ground if there aren’t many cautions. Really take a look at the Practice Results from Saturday afternoon. They have given us a good idea of who should be fast for this race. As always, best of luck this weekend and may the cautions be in your favor!