Hello everyone! I’m Luke, part of the brother-duo recently brought on to assist in maintaining DFS Karma’s spot as the #1 source for NASCAR DFS information, core plays, and props. Make sure you are subscribed to either one of our our NASCAR or MVP subscriptions so you can get access to our Final Thoughts, all our Core Plays for DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft, as well as our Prop Plays for MonkeyKnifeFight and PrizePicks! Remember, our NASCAR Premium content extends to ALL series (Trucks, Xfinity, Cup).
Before I get into some of my favorite plays for Sunday’s race at Richmond, I’m going to give you a preview, and also what lineup construction will look like for this race.
Race Preview/Lineup Construction
The NASCAR Cup Series will be heading to Richmond. It is another short track (3/4 mile) that is known to have long green flag runs and not many DNFs. Drivers can go a lap down very quickly, so that’s something we’ll have to consider when making our DFS lineups this weekend. This race is 400 laps which means there is a lot of dominator points available. Looking at past optimal lineups at Richmond, it looks like we’re going to need at least two dominators in cash and tournaments. On FanDuel, they don’t have fast laps but on DraftKings, they will be crucial for having a shot at taking down a gpp. With drivers on different strategies throughout the race, this will make fast laps very unpredictable, but the drivers in better equipment are more likely to rack up those extra fantasy points. With all of that out of the way, let’s get into some of the guys that I’ll be targeting in my DFS lineups this weekend.
Martin Truex Jr (DK $11,400 FD $14,000)
Truex has won both short track races this season (Phoenix and Martinsville) and will look to make it three for three this weekend at Richmond. He has great track history with two wins, five top 5’s, seven top 10’s, 970 laps led, an average finish of 9.2 over his last ten starts here. He’ll start 1st, so he has a great opportunity to score a lot of dominator points throughout the race. Truex will also be in the Auto-Owners Insurance scheme which he always seems to run very well in. The only downside with him is that if he loses the lead early and never gets back to the front, he’ll probably kill your lineup.
Kyle Larson (DK $10,300 FD $11,200)
Martinsville is Larson’s worst track, yet he still managed to finish top 5 despite the terrible track history. This really tells you how Hendrick Motorsports is compared to Chip Ganassi Racing. He had a very fast car at Phoenix but was never able to lead because he failed inspection and had two speeding penalties on pit road. Larson is another driver that has a great track history at Richmond with one win, two top 5’s, five top 10’s, and an average finish of 11.2. The thing you have to keep is that those stats were from when he was in the #42. This #5 car has showed great speed this season, so I love Larson as a top tier option this weekend.
Alex Bowman (DK $8,800 FD $9,000)
Richmond hasn’t been the greatest track for Bowman, but he did manage to finish 9th here last fall so there’s definitely top 10 upside. Like I said earlier, these fast laps will be very difficult to predict, but I could see Bowman being a driver that scores some of those points because of his elite equipment or with a pit road strategy. He’ll start back in 24th, so he offers plenty of place differential and is very affordable on DraftKings and FanDuel. Bowman looks like a strong mid tier play that we can play in both cash and tournaments this weekend.
Christopher Bell (DK $7,800 FD $9,200)
Bell has finished top 10 in both short track races this season and put up some dominant stats at Richmond in the Xfinity Series, so he’s a driver that I really like in the mid-tier. He’s in great equipment driving the #20 for Joe Gibbs Racing, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him finish inside the top 5 and rack up plenty of fast laps throughout the race as well. I’m hoping people get scared off of Bell because of his high starting position because that’ll lower the ownership of a driver that has a ton of upside this weekend.
Daniel Suarez ($DK 6,600 FD $5,300)
Suarez has ran very well with his new team this season and also has a great track history at Richmond, finishing top 10 in three of his six starts at this track in elite equipment. Starting all the way back in 27th, he offers a lot of place differential which makes him a very safe option for cash games in this price range that also has a lot of upside for tournaments as well. I think he’ll be pretty chalky, but my next driver will be a guy you can pair or use as a pivot off of Suarez that’ll definitely have lower ownership.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr (DK $6,200 FD $6,300)
Stenhouse has been fantastic this season finishing top 15 in his last six races. He showed great speed at Richmond last fall and usually runs well at these short tracks. I know he doesn’t offer as much place differential as some of the other drivers in this price range, but Stenhouse is a guy that I could see staying on the lead lap and potentially contending for a top 10 finish. In tournaments, we need the drivers that have a high ceiling, and he’s definitely a driver that offers that and is underpriced on both sites.
