The NASCAR Cup Series makes its annual trip to the tricky triangle of Pocono Raceway. Pocono is always a special race each year because we get all three series in action. Additionally, this track is unique because it lacks a turn four. That’s right this massive 2.5-mile track features the two longest straights on the NASCAR schedule and three turns of different radii and banking. Last year’s race was certainly controversial. Chase Elliott registered the win but only because Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified. Historically, this is a track the latter two drivers have dominated at. Both seem primed for strong DFS performances so let’s start building our NASCAR DFS driver pool with the Highpoint.com 400 picks for Sunday afternoon’s race.
Don’t forget to check out the Highpoint.com 400 preview published earlier this week. It features plenty of drivers that we’ll be building around for Sunday’s action. This track doesn’t have any direct correlations. But you can look at how drivers have performed at tracks like Kansas, Vegas, Michigan, and Auto Club the last two years in the NextGen car. But when selecting our Highpoint.com 400 picks and driver pool we’ll need to examine the practice data. Saturday afternoon’s practice sessions were very long. The first session started around 2:30pm ET and qualifying didn’t end until roughly 5:00 pm ET. But certain drivers received better track conditions depending on cloud coverage as well as extra rubber on the track.
Highpoint.com 400 Picks: The Top Ten
- William Byron (#24 Hendrick Motorsports)
- Martin Truex Jr. (#19 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Kyle Larson (#5 Hendrick Motorsports)
- Kevin Harvick (#4 Stewart-Haas Racing)
- Christopher Bell (#20 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Joey Logano (#22 Team Penske)
- Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing)
- Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Austin Cindric (#2 Team Penske)
- Bubba Wallace (#23 23XI Racing)
As you can see, the Toyotas are very fast. Five of the six Toyotas managed to qualify in the top ten. Ty Gibbs, the outlier of the Toyotas, qualified 11th. This is a great track for the Toyotas and the one who stood out the most is probably Denny Hamlin. Sure, Martin Truex Jr. has all the momentum. But Hamlin was very fast in the practice session without the better track conditions. Even during his final qualifying run he wasn’t great. But he gained speed as the runs progressed and that should translate on Sunday. William Byron and Truex will be popular options for those targeting early laps led and they pair well with Denny Hamlin in two-dominator NASCAR DFS lineups.
Which Value Priced Highpoint.com 400 Picks Got A Points Movement Bump?
DraftKings:
- Chris Buescher – P18, $7,500
- Austin Dillon – P23, $7,200
- Ryan Preece – P34, $6,600
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – P22, $6,200
- Todd Gilliland – P36, $5,400
FanDuel:
- Alex Bowman – P20, $8,200
- Austin Dillon – P23, $7,000
- Chris Buescher – P18, $6,800
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – P22, $5,500
- Ryan Preece – P34, $5,000
- Todd Gilliland – P36, $3,000
If we’re being honest, these drivers are a gamble this week. Austin Dillon has performed well on the “racier” intermediates. Dillon was great here last year finishing tenth but that’s his only top ten at Pocono. Luckily, he’s cheap enough that we’d be happy with a top 15. Todd Gilliland will be very popular. He spun on his qualifying lap and starts dead last. Gilliland can’t really hurt your lineup with that starting spot. He has the ability to get a top 25 on Sunday. Chris Buescher will fit nicely in tournament lineups because of how his team is trending and he could have top-10 speed on Sunday.
Which Higher-Priced Picks Got A Similar Bump?
- Kyle Busch – P25
- Ross Chastain – P21
- Ryan Blaney – P14
- Chase Elliott – P35
Very interesting options in this group when looking at our Highpoint.com 400 picks. Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott are arguably cash game locks. Busch’s resume here is outstanding and he won Saturday’s Truck Series race at Pocono. Chase Elliott hasn’t had great speed of late, but he’s capable of a top ten. He simply spun the car during qualifying but didn’t damage anything. Ross Chastain was fast here last year, but ran in practice about where he qualified. Ryan Blaney is a great play in tournaments. Exposure from other players could be light if they target Busch and Elliott. Blaney was very fast in practice, arguably comparable to Denny Hamlin. He should move up and contend for his second win on Sunday.
Highpoint.com 400 Picks
DraftKings:
- Denny Hamlin – $10,600
- Ryan Blaney – $9,800
- Chase Elliott – $9,600
- Austin Dillon – $7,200
- Ryan Preece – $6,600
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – $6,200
This is a lineup that likely sacrifices laps led in stage one. But I like targeting Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney as potential dominators. They were the two drivers leading their practice session in the worse track conditions. Then we pay up for the easy position differential with Chase Elliott and find similar value plays with the likes of Dillon, Preece, and Stenhouse without having to risk the integrity of the lineup by dipping below $6K on DraftKings. There are certainly spots to pivot such as off Hamlin to Byron or Truex, but I like this build as is.
FanDuel:
- William Byron – $12,500
- Kyle Busch – $12,000
- Ryan Blaney – $11,500
- Chase Elliott – $10,500
- Todd Gilliland – $3,000
FanDuel’s pricing and scoring is always tough to read. For starters, they don’t reward your drivers for fastest laps. You only get rewarded laps led and laps completed. Overall, there’s an emphasis on finishing position. Fortunately, we do have four drivers in this lineup capable of finishing in the top six. Busch, Elliott, and Blaney offer PD and the upside of a great finish. Gilliland is a cheap punt. There’s no other way around it. But he starts dead last and still has a shot at grabbing a top-20 if he stays clean.
White Flag Thoughts Before You Go
This is shaping up to be a fun race. Sure, the visual product doesn’t translate to television at times. This is a massive track with long straightaways, so we don’t truly see how fast the cars are going. But there are so many ways to build lineups in tournaments on DraftKings and FanDuel. There are different combinations of dominators to consider and plenty of drivers starting outside the top 15 that have a shot at cracking the optimal lineup.
Cash games could be difficult this week. Most cash game builds will start with Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and Todd Gilliland. All three of those drivers cracked the FanDuel example lineup. From there you’re looking at likely playing one of either William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., or Denny Hamlin. So we’re potentially looking at a 3v3 or 2v2 in cash games. Find reasonable drivers to plug into those last spots in your cash lineups. Be different, but also be smart. Best of luck for this weekend’s race in your NASCAR DFS contests!