There’s going to be a lot of points earned by some drivers in DraftKings this week because of the track we’re at: Bristol is a half-mile bull ring and we’re set to run 500 laps here on Sunday. That means, in addition to finish points, there are 125 bonus points for laps led up for grabs and 250 bonus points for fastest laps. Typically the leader is going to be running the fastest laps until they start lapping cars, then it’s going to be hard to determine. And they start lapping cars here very quickly.
Most of the high-priced drivers are starting toward the front this weekend, which means it’s going to be very important to have the guys that lead the most laps on your DraftKings roster. From there, it’s all about making the right choices within the mid-range price option, and we’re going to try and capitalize on place differential points there.
Ultimate Value DraftKings Picks for the Bristol Food City 500
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ($9,100) – Junebug is becoming one of the most value Fantasy NASCAR picks in leagues that award points for place differential, and that is not a complaint. For whatever reason this #88 team just can’t get qualifying figured out. For this week’s Bristol race, Earnhardt has a modest salary of $9,100, which is right there between the lower section of the high-priced drivers and the higher section of the mid-priced drivers. He finished 9th in the fall race here last season and started 20th in that race as well. The only downside this weekend is that the #88 Chevrolet hasn’t looked overly impressive on the speed charts. However, you could say that for about half of the races this season, and then you look at the results and Junior hasn’t finished worse than 14th since the Daytona 500. He should be a top 10 threat before it’s all said and done on Sunday.
Kyle Larson ($7,600) – We really like Kyle Larson in Fantasy NASCAR leagues that award points based on place differential this week, and we especially love his $7,600 price point on DraftKings. We’ve tried many combinations of rosters this weekend and there are maybe one or two that don’t have Kyle Larson on them. Looking back at Martinsville (another short track), Larson kind of came from nowhere and finished 3rd, grabbing his first top 5 of the 2016 season. After his 14th-place run at Texas last weekend, he now has three finishes of 14th or better in the last four Sprint Cup races, and it seems like him and his new crew chief, Chad Johnston, are finally working well together. In four career starts here at Bristol, Larson has posted two top 10 finishes and just one result worse than 12th. This weekend he starts 25th but had one of the fastest cars in Happy Hour on Saturday, ending up 8th-fastest on the overall speed chart and 1st in ten-lap average.
Ryan Newman ($7,300) – Sometimes with your DraftKings roster it is better to go a little bit on the safe side, and one of the safest drivers in the Sprint Cup Series is Ryan Newman. He’s only going to have a few races per year where he can legitimately challenge for a top 5, but this #31 team is usually in the running for at least a high teens finish every single week. Here at Bristol, Newman is currently on a two-race streak of top 10 finishes, and in his last fifteen starts at this track he has ended up worse than 16th just twice. Again, you’re not going to get max points by going with Ryan Newman, but your minimizing your risk of losing points. Also, the $7,300 price point is pretty nice. “The Rocketman” also starts 17th for Sunday’s Food City 500 so there’s an opportunity for some place differential points as well.
Kyle Busch ($10,700) – This guy is going to take a pretty big chunk of your cap this week but it’s going to be worth it. Kyle Busch has won the last two Sprint Cup races and is thought of by most people this weekend as the guy to beat at Bristol. He’s won here five times and was pretty much the only driver that was consistently fast from the beginning of Friday to the end of Saturday. That’s hard to do at a track like Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch will start Sunday’s Food City 500 from 5th and should be leading within the first 150 laps or so. We think he’s going to lead the most laps on Sunday, and as those bonus points rack up it’s going to help offset the cost of Kyle Busch this week.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. ($6,400) – There’s rarely a race that Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. looks like a great Fantasy NASCAR pick, and this is one of those weekends. There are some tracks on the circuit that he just runs well at, and it’s almost un-explainable. One of those track is Bristol Motor Speedway. Believe it or not, Ricky owns the best average finish of all Sprint Cup drivers over the last six races at this track (11.2), and he also has the best career average finish of all drivers with that mark as well. That being said, Stenhouse has only made six starts at this track, but still impressive nonetheless. In the last four events here, Ricky has started between 21st and 25th three times and came away with finishes between 2nd and 6th in all three of those races. This weekend he starts 32nd, and while it would be foolish to expect another top 10 finish, a top 20 wouldn’t be a surprising result out of this #17 team. There’s minimal risk in taking Stenhouse for the Food City 500, and he’s pretty cheap, too.
