The second round of DraftKings Duel contests on Thursday night will start immediately after the first and feature an entirely new slate of drivers. This second lineup is quite less star-studded than the first, although every NASCAR fan will be paying attention anyway because Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is making his much-anticipated return to the track. He will start on the pole alongside Clint Bowyer, who is in a brand new ride this season. The second Duel race has quite a few good plate drivers starting mid-pack or worse, so it has the potential to actually be a better race than the first.
DraftKings Drivers to Target in Duel #2
Kurt Busch ($9,100) – After a very disappointing effort in The Clash last Sunday, expect Kurt Busch to be on a mission to rebound in his Duel race on Thursday night. These Stewart-Haas Racing Fords have plenty of horsepower, and Kurt Busch is one of the better restrictor plate racers in the field despite his lack of wins on these big tracks. When you look at all of the Daytona 500s from 2010 (seven total), Busch has the 6th-best average start of all active drivers with 11.3, which roughly equals an average finish of 5.7 in his Duel races since the starting lineup of The Great American Race is set by the results of these exhibition events. And with Kurt’s starting spot being 11th here on Thursday night, he’ll earn you quite a few FPTS if he’s able to continue that success. Hopefully he can go a full race without Jimmie Johnson turning him into the wall, though.
Denny Hamlin ($9,600) – Don’t be surprised if Denny Hamlin ends up in victory lane on Thursday night. Yeah, it worked out to fade him in The Clash on Sunday, but let’s not forget that Hamlin had, hands down, the best car in that race and led 48 of the 75 laps. He won’t have to worry about the Penske cars of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in this race, either, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Denny absolutely dominate the second Duel. The only bad thing is that there aren’t many other Toyotas in the field for him to work with. Pretty much the only one is his quasi-teammate, Erik Jones, who will probably be a little conservative in this race. Still, the #11 Toyota is more than fast enough to get out front and stay out front, and Hamlin is one of (if not the) best plate racer in the series right now.
A.J. Allmendinger ($6,900) – There’s a lot of things to like about A.J. Allmendinger on Thursday night. First off is how he performed on the restrictor plate tracks last season: in the four points-paying races at Daytona and Talladega in 2016, Allmendinger’s worst finish was 21st, and he capped off the year with a solid 10th-place showing at ‘Dega in October. Furthermore, while A.J. hasn’t been solid in his Duel races over the last couple of years, he did finish 7th in this event back in 2014, 8th in 2012, and 7th in 2011 and 2010. The JTG Daugherty cars are powered by Earnhardt-Childress engines, which have powered Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman to nice finishes here at Daytona over the last couple of years. One only thing you do have to worry about with Allmendinger on Thursday night, though, is whether or not he will stick around in the back and run with his new teammate, Chris Buescher, who has shown to be absolutely awful at plate racing thus far.
Michael McDowell ($5,700) – Of the lower-tier drivers in Duel #2, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if Elliott Sadler ($6,700) is the highest-owned. He also starts back in 18th, which limits his floor and causes his ceiling to rise even higher. But you usually don’t win any big money in DraftKings by going with the crowd, so why not give Michael McDowell a shot? Not only is his salary a full $1,000 less than Elliott Sadler, but McDowell was actually a restrictor plate stud last season; in the four points-paying races at Daytona and Talladega in 2016, Michael McDowell posted finishes of 16th, 21st, 10th, and 16th. The only real concern is whether or not this #95 team will run as hard as they can on Thursday night considering they’re already locked into the Great American Race on Sunday. Expect McDowell to hang around in the back for most of the race on Thursday night before trying to make a charge in the final laps.
