The twin 150 Duel races are tonight at Daytona International Speedway, meaning we will finally have the official starting lineup for Sunday’s Daytona 500 once they’re both complete. We will then head into a weekend full of season-opening racing with the Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and then finally the Cup Series events.
FanDuel combined the two races tonight into one slate so we’re looking at a very full field of 44 drivers to pick from on Thursday. Strategy-wise, it’s going to be important to focus on drivers that can finish up front. It’s possible that you could field a lineup of five drivers that all finish 3rd or better tonight since there are two races. Also, make sure all five of your drivers aren’t in the same Duel. Finally, make sure you check out my Algorithm Predicted Finishing Order (click here) for the Duels and good luck tonight!
Also Check Out My DraftKings Article The Duels (click here)
There is quite a bit of crossover in strategy!
FanDuel DFS Picks for the Daytona Duels
Ryan Blaney ($13,300) – Looking at this FanDuel slate, you know Denny Hamlin ($14,000) and Joey Logano ($13,000) are going to be popular picks. They’re arguably the two best races on superspeedways right now, and they should both challenge for the win in Duel #1 tonight. But let’s look at Duel #2. Blaney is starting from 9th in his Duel race, which gives him some place differential potential, and he’s also the projected winner of Duel #2 by the Fantasy Racing Online algorithm. Last year in the four superspeedway races, Blaney had the 3rd-best average finish (8.5) and the 2nd-best average running position (11.3). Don’t forget: Blaney won a Duel here back in 2018.
Chris Buescher ($7,300) – I also wrote up Chris Buescher in my DraftKings article, but I like him so much I’m going to talk about him again. The Fords have a definite advantage when it comes to racing on superspeedways. It’s been like that for the last few years, and there’s no reason to think that will change this year. In addition to having a great car underneath him, Chris Buescher is also is a solid superspeedway racer, with five top 10s in the last seven points-paying races at Daytona, and finishes of 10th, 7th, and 10th in his last three Duel races. At his price, a top 10 car with top 5 potential is a great value.
Corey LaJoie ($3,700) – The low-dollar driver with the highest floor is Noah Gragson ($2,000), who starts last in his duel, so he can’t lose any points for place differential. He is also driving a solid superspeedway car in the #62 for Beard Motorsports, so it makes sense if you want to roll the dice on him, especially with cash lineups. But if you want to get away from the chalk, consider Corey LaJoie. Now, I’m not 100% sure what to expect from these Spire cars this season, but it was a little promising that McMurray and LaJoie were the fastest Chevrolets in practice on Wednesday. As far as LaJoie goes specifically, he’s one of my favorite superspeedway picks each and every time–and he’s often overlooked by many DFS players. Last year, Corey finished 8th in the Daytona 500 and 16th at Talladega, and in 2019 he had three top 11 finishes and an 18th as well in the four superspeedway events. LaJoie is great at staying out of trouble and being there at the end. If his Duel race has several wrecks, he could end up being a great value in FanDuel on Thursday night.
Duels at Daytona FanDuel Projections
The following chart takes into account the very basics: the starting position and the projected finish of each driver. The projected finishes are averaged from six different ranking systems. Also factored in are projected laps led for each driver. You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by average projected FPTS.
| Driver | FanDuel Salary | Avg Proj Pts | Starting Position | Avg. Projected Finish | Dollar Per Pt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denny Hamlin | $14,000 | 48.6 | 7 | 03.8 | $288 |
| Ryan Blaney | $13,300 | 48.1 | 9 | 04.2 | $276 |
| Joey Logano | $13,000 | 47.5 | 11 | 04.7 | $274 |
| Chris Buescher | $7,300 | 45.0 | 15 | 06.7 | $162 |
| Brad Keselowski | $12,500 | 43.9 | 13 | 07.0 | $285 |
| Kyle Busch | $11,000 | 43.4 | 8 | 05.8 | $254 |
| Erik Jones | $6,000 | 42.5 | 15 | 08.0 | $141 |
| Ryan Newman | $6,000 | 42.3 | 12 | 07.5 | $142 |
| Kevin Harvick | $12,000 | 41.7 | 3 | 05.2 | $288 |
| Chase Elliott | $13,500 | 41.6 | 5 | 05.8 | $324 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | $8,200 | 41.3 | 9 | 07.0 | $199 |
| Kurt Busch | $9,000 | 40.4 | 7 | 06.8 | $223 |
| Tyler Reddick | $7,000 | 40.3 | 16 | 09.8 | $174 |
| Corey LaJoie | $3,700 | 40.2 | 17 | 10.3 | $92 |
| William Byron | $10,200 | 39.7 | 1 | 06.2 | $257 |
| Alex Bowman | $10,000 | 39.5 | 1 | 06.7 | $253 |
| Jamie McMurray | $4,200 | 39.3 | 18 | 11.2 | $107 |
| Michael McDowell | $5,500 | 39.0 | 14 | 10.0 | $141 |
| Aric Almirola | $9,500 | 38.6 | 2 | 06.7 | $246 |
| Bubba Wallace | $8,500 | 38.3 | 2 | 07.2 | $222 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | $9,300 | 38.0 | 14 | 10.7 | $245 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | $8,500 | 37.7 | 3 | 07.7 | $225 |
| Kyle Larson | $11,500 | 37.6 | 8 | 09.0 | $306 |
| Chase Briscoe | $6,500 | 37.5 | 11 | 10.0 | $173 |
| Noah Gragson | $2,000 | 37.3 | 22 | 13.8 | $54 |
| Austin Dillon | $7,500 | 37.1 | 4 | 08.2 | $202 |
| Christopher Bell | $8,000 | 36.9 | 4 | 08.3 | $217 |
| Anthony Alfredo | $4,500 | 36.8 | 16 | 12.2 | $122 |
| Ty Dillon | $3,500 | 36.5 | 17 | 12.7 | $96 |
| Ross Chastain | $7,500 | 36.0 | 12 | 11.3 | $208 |
| Cole Custer | $7,000 | 36.0 | 13 | 11.7 | $194 |
| Austin Cindric | $6,200 | 36.0 | 10 | 10.7 | $172 |
| David Ragan | $4,000 | 34.5 | 6 | 10.7 | $116 |
| Ryan Preece | $4,200 | 33.5 | 5 | 10.8 | $126 |
| Kaz Grala | $4,500 | 32.8 | 10 | 12.8 | $137 |
| Cody Ware | $3,000 | 32.8 | 21 | 16.5 | $92 |
| Josh Bilicki | $2,000 | 32.5 | 22 | 17.0 | $62 |
| Quin Houff | $2,500 | 32.3 | 19 | 16.2 | $78 |
| Timmy Hill | $2,000 | 32.0 | 20 | 16.7 | $63 |
| Derrike Cope | $2,000 | 31.0 | 21 | 17.7 | $65 |
| Joey Gase | $2,500 | 30.8 | 20 | 17.5 | $81 |
| Garrett Smithley | $2,000 | 30.3 | 18 | 17.2 | $66 |
| B.J. McLeod | $3,000 | 29.0 | 19 | 18.3 | $103 |
| Daniel Suarez | $5,000 | 28.9 | 6 | 14.2 | $173 |
