We’re in a similar situation this weekend at Bristol as we were at Martinsville a couple of races ago: it’s a short track, which means if you don’t have a car that is good at the start of the race, and you start mid-pack, you are going to get lapped quickly. Now obviously the key to these DraftKings games is to find the drivers that are going to make up spots from where they start and also finish up front, as well as getting the most value out of those middle-to-lower priced drivers.
Also important when forming your DraftKings rosters is to stay away from the drivers that might seem like a good deal (but really aren’t), or the drivers that you should flat out stay away from. So let’s talk about some of those.
DraftKings Drivers to Avoid for the Food City 500 at Bristol
Clint Bowyer ($6,800) – This guy is a constant placement on avoid lists throughout the entire Fantasy NASCAR content sphere, but we feel like it’s necessary to talk about him here for a couple of reasons. First, Bowyer qualified 36th for Sunday’s Food City 500, so there will be teams trying to cash in on place differential just in case Bowyer actually has a good race. Second, Clint has actually been one of the best drivers here at Bristol over the last few years, posting an average finish of 11.3 over the last six races here (2nd-best in the series). The #15 Chevrolet will probably end up around 28th on Sunday, which equals 24 DraftKings points. That’s alright for a driver in Bowyer’s price range, but we feel like there are better option that are around the same price or even lower this week. P.S. If you didn’t read our article post last week about Clint Bowyer’s struggles, you can by clicking here.
Martin Truex, Jr. ($8,900) – Truex is one of the top talents in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but we wouldn’t recommend picking him this week–in any league. He’s right there on the lower end of the higher-priced drivers, so he’s probably going to fit in as a “missing puzzle piece” for many potential rosters, but it’s not worth it, and here’s why: he’s just not very good at Bristol. In twenty career starts here in “Thunder Valley,” Truex has posted just two top 10 finishes (10%) and the last time that happened, President Obama was in his first term as this nation’s leader. In his last five starts here, Truex hasn’t finished better than 20th. Now, we think he’s going to end up better than that here on Sunday, but he starts 8th so even if he has a good (for him) run of 15th, you’re still losing 7 points off the bat for place differential.
Denny Hamlin ($9,600) – Now, this isn’t an “avoid like the plague” proclamation, but let’s just look at some Denny Hamlin’s recent races here at Bristol. He started on the pole here last fall and ended up finished 3rd, which is good, and he started on the pole in the spring race of 2014 and ended up finishing 6th after leading just four laps. In last year’s spring race, Hamlin started 5th and finished 26th, and in the two races here in 2013 he started 3rd and 1st and finished 23rd and 28th, respectively. So what’s our point of throwing out all of those numbers? Denny Hamlin tends to disappoint majorly here at Bristol, and isn’t worth the money this week. He has also been very unpredictable this season, posting just two results better than 12th in the six races since winning the Daytona 500. He also starts 4th on Sunday, so the only way to justify the high salary is if Hamlin is going to lead quite a few laps–something we don’t really see happening (although it’s possible).
Chris Buescher ($5,800) – You’re very low-priced driver to avoid this week is Chris Buescher. He had his 2nd-best qualifying effort of the season on Friday (21st) and that pretty much sealed it for this kid. The thing with this #34 team is that they tend to qualify better than they actually are. That is bad news not only for DraftKings players, but pretty much any Fantasy NASCAR player because it creates a false hope. Buescher did finished 25th in this race one year ago, but that was more due to other drivers having issues than him being good. Buescher still had one of the worst driver ratings in that race. If you need to take one of the low-dollar drivers this week, David Ragan is a decent option, and he’s $100 less than Buescher.
Chase Elliott ($8,500) – It’s always worth taking a gamble on the two good rookies in the Sprint Cup Series this year, but we don’t like doing that on short tracks. Making 500 laps around Bristol Motor Speedway takes a lot out of a driver. Chase is going to be a popular option this week because of his 19th-place starting spot, but we just can’t really fully recommend him as a “sure” pick this week because of how up-and-down he has been thus far. There’s a reason he’s averaging just 25.9 points per race on DraftKings. And we still hate this price point of $8,500 for Elliott. You have solid options that cost less and are less risky (Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman), so that’s why we’re saying avoid Chase Elliott.
