This weekend, the cup series heads to New Hampshire. Its a 1 mile oval nicknamed “The Magic Mile”. This weekends strategy is going to be something similar to last week. One to two dominators for a cash build and then looking for some place differential drivers to fill out your lineup. There are some different ways to go this week which should make cash games very interesting. Unlike last week, starting spots are official so there will be no need to wait to build lineups til after tech in case someone fails.
Kyle Busch (DK $11,900 FD $14,500)
This is the first debate for cash games. I believe people will have to decide between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski. Even with the discount you get with Brad, I think Kyle is the best play at dominator this weekend. In the last 5 races here, he has finished no worse then 12, with 4 top tens including 1 win. He has also led multiple laps in that time here as well including three times leading 95 laps or more. He was also near the top of the speed charts in consecutive laps run in both practices Saturday.
Kevin Harvick (DK $11,100 FD $12,500)
Harvick is an interesting play this weekend. He starts 14th so he has place differential upside. However at this price, he will need dominator points as well to hit value. Harvick has had great success over his career here. In the last five races here, if you take out the race he was in an accident, He has finished in the top 5 in the other 4 races including 2 victories. He also showed speed in practice in both single lap and consecutive lap averages, I don’t see Harvick making my cash lineup but he is a great tournament option.
Denny Hamlin (DK $9,700 FD $11,500)
Denny will go to the back after an accident in practice but will be scored from the 23rd postion. I’m not too concerned about this because we have a few drivers starting near the back that had issues in practice. Denny is still a great place differential play. Even though he will start in the negative at the beginning of the race, he hasn’t finished worse then 15th here since 2014 including 1 win in 2017. He showed that his car is faster then it qualified with practice speeds and could see him in a cash lineup build.
Alex Bowman (DK $8,800 FD $9,900)
Alex Bowman has had quite the weekend at New Hampshire. On his qualifying lap he broke the driveshaft and had to go to a backup car and starts in the 37th spot, last in the field. In final practice, Alex crashed his backup car and now the team has taken the Jimmie Johnson back up car and will run that one Sunday. Even with all of this, Alex Bowman is a must for cash lineups. He starts last in the field and has outstanding place differential upside. Jimmie’s backup car is still better then half of the fields primary car. Plug Alex into your cash lineup and move on.
Ryan Newman (DK $7,600 FD $8,000)
Ryan, just like Denny will have to start from the back but is scored from the 26th position. Newman just like Hamlin has great place differential upside. Newman has top 15 upside this weekend in my opinion. He’s riding some momentum with three top ten finishes in the last four races. Once Ryan gets the track position tomorrow it will be hard to get by Newman to lose it.
Chris Buescher (DK $7,100 FD $7,000)
Buescher takes my final spot here this week. He suited me well last week with a 10th place finish. Going to go back to the well again. He starts 25th this weekend. His practice times again show that his car has speed and is better then where he qualified. I don’t expect another top 10 but a top 15 isn’t out of the question. If you are looking for a cheaper value play, I will be looking at Bubba Wallace this week.
