Tech is finishing up. There were a couple failures: Newman(was already a chalky cash play now hes a lock), Corey Lajoie(think he replaces Ty in a cash lineup) and BJ McLeod(only in a large field gpp, multiple lineups situation for me). Also Bob Pockrass just tweeted out no competition caution so I’m locked into Hamlin for the early dominator points.
This weekend the Cup series heads to Martinsville Speedway and the final race day tech of the season. Just like the other tech races this season, we won’t have an official lineup until late Sunday morning. Make sure to check back here tomorrow around noon for updates on who failed tech as they will then become a chalky cash play since they have to forfeit their starting position and are scored from the back. They have been to Martinsville already this season where Brad Keselowski dominated the entire race. Typically we are looking for 2-4 dominators. There are 500 laps which means there are 125 dominator points for laps led and 250 dominator points available for fastest laps. Finding those dominators will be the key to finding success in your lineups on Draftkings and even on Fanduel. I will be writing this as if no one will fail tech which has basically been the case the last two times.
Denny Hamlin (DK $11,000 FD $14,500)
No matter what happens tomorrow, Denny Hamlin will be in play Sunday for both cash and tournament lineups. He starts on the pole and has a chance to lead laps early. There is rain in the area so I am going to assume there will be a competition caution, but Hamlin with the first pit stall should still be able accumulate dominator points. Denny has 5 career wins at Martinsville. In March, he finished 5th and finished 2nd here in last years fall race. Hamlin was also around top 7 in consecutive lap average speeds in final practice. He is also riding momentum off of last weeks win in Kansas and a win here locks him into the Championship 4.
Kevin Harvick (DK $10,500 FD $12,500)
As of right now, Harvick is the high tier place differential play. If one of the other guys in this price range fail tech, they can be swapped into this spot. Harvick starts 22nd as of right now. If everything stays the same he can be considered a place differential and a dominator play. Harvick had good long run speed in practice placing in the top 10 in consecutive lap speed. Harvick has finished in the top 10 here in the last four races including a 6th place finish in March.
Brad Keselowski (DK $9,500 FD $13,500)
In March, Brad dominated this race leading 446 laps and winning the race. If you look at Brad’s history at Martinsville, he has seven top 10 finishes in a row here including another win in the spring race in 2017. Brad was eliminated from the playoffs last week so he really has nothing to race for other then to win this race. Well Brad’s consecutive lap speeds in final practice were not anything to write home about, he did have the top single lap speed in final practice. The savings Brad gives you gives you a little more flexibility in lineup construction and his history shows that he knows how to race and adapt to this track.
Kurt Busch (DK $8,500 FD $9,600)
Kurt is a middle tier place differential play at this moment. Looking back on Kurt’s track history, he tends to do better in the spring race here then the fall race. However he did finish 6th here last fall and has three straight top 12 finishes here. In final practice, Kurt was in or around the top 15 in consecutive lap average speed. Starting 25th, even with an up and down history gives a safe floor as long as there are not a ton of tech failures.
Jimmie Johnson (DK $8,100 FD $9,200)
Jimmie and his team are looking to finish the season off strong. There are certain tracks that Jimmie has excelled at in his career and this is one of them. He has nine career wins here with the last one coming in 2016. Since then he has finished around the top 12-15 with an exception this spring where he finished 24th. He starts 24th as of right now and provides some place differential upside prior to tech. His practice speeds show that his car is better then it qualified with consecutive lap averages ranging around the top 12.
Ty Dillon (DK $6,200 FD $5,000)
Ty presents himself as a great value play for Sunday as long as we don’t see a lot of failures pushing his starting spot higher. At this moment he starts 29th. In March of this year Ty finished 13th. He finished 15th in this race last fall and has only one finish worse the 22nd in his Cup career here. There are a few value options that present themselves this week including Menard and Newman. I also think we may see one or two failures of the cheaper guys that may become chalk value plays after tech.
Any questions please feel free to message me on twitter @davidjr831 . I will be updating tech as word comes out on there and in our Nascar Discord.
