The cream is going to rise to the top here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, and that typically means they will be the highest-priced DraftKings drivers. We’re set to run 160 laps at The Brickyard this weekend, which means there’s only going to be 40 bonus points for laps led and 80 bonus points for fastest laps. Therefore, you need to focus on place differential points this week, which actually shouldn’t be that big of a problem, as we’ve seen plenty of drivers come through the field here at Indianapolis in recent years. That also means that many drivers starting up front will fall back, and those are the ones you need to avoid in DraftKings. One stat to remember: of all the top 10 finishers here at The Brickyard in the last five years (50 total), only an average of two per race ended up finishing inside the top 10 (equaling 10 total).
DraftKings Drivers to Avoid for the Indy Brickyard Crown Royal Presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400
Carl Edwards ($9,900) – Maybe we’re still holding a grudge from last week’s disappointing race from Carl Edwards, but he won’t be on any of our Brickyard DraftKings rosters. For the second year in a row, Edwards will be starting on the front row here at Indianapolis, but we don’t see him contending for the win–let alone a top 5. Carl is a pretty consistent performer at this track, but three top 10s in eleven career starts here doesn’t help us this weekend. And only one top 5 finish here, back in 2008? Yeah, don’t fall for the trap. Just because the #19 Toyota is able to put down one fast lap here at The Brickyard doesn’t mean that it will be good during the actual race. We don’t expect Edwards to be terrible on Sunday, but we think he’s–at best–a top 10 car. With him starting 2nd on Sunday, that means you’re going to be giving up points right off the bat, and we don’t see Edwards leading many (if any) laps, either.
Kyle Larson ($8,600) – Kyle Larson is an interesting Fantasy NASCAR prospect this weekend, and because of that it’s pretty frustrating from a handicapping perspective. Honestly, we could see him finishing anywhere between 5th and 20th, and the reason behind that is because of his crew chief. We’re not convinced that Chad Johnston is a capable Sprint Cup crew chief (see his tenure as Tony Stewart’s), and it seems like he’s one of those that throws different adjustments at the car and hopes for the best. Sometimes it works, yes, but more often than not it doesn’t. The good thing that Larson has going for him this weekend is his history here at Indianapolis (average finish of 8th in two career starts), but with him starting 10th on Sunday, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for place differential points, and there’s a ton of risk that comes along with it. Not worth it, in our opinion.
Chase Elliott ($9,200) – That’s a high price to pay for a driver that has four straight finishes outside of the top 20 (and three straight outside of the top 30). We don’t deny that Chase Elliott has the talent and car to run well here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but it’s hard to overlook that slump he’s in. Additionally, Elliott had been one of the most popular DraftKings drivers this season, and that is probably going to be the case this weekend once again because he qualified 15th. So, by playing the strategy game, there’s an opportunity there to gain a lot of points on your competition in the event that Elliott has race day struggles once again. He’s never made a Sprint Cup start at this race track but he’s made two career starts here in the Xfinity Series with finishes of 12th and 10th.
Jamie McMurray ($7,400) – Jamie Mac is a former Brickyard winner but he’s been a perpetual source of disappoint (from a Fantasy NASCAR perspective) this season, and that’s probably going to continue here on Sunday. In the four races here from 2008 to 2011, McMurray posted four finishes of 6th or better (including his win), but in the four races here since then, his best result has been 15th. We expect that streak to go to five after this weekend, and with Jamie’s qualifying effort of 9th on Saturday, that means he’s not going to be that great of a DraftKings selection this weekend, even at that lower price point. The #1 Chevrolet was outside of the top 10 in both practice sessions on Friday.
Brad Keselowski ($9,800) – Brad Keselowski has a career average finish of 13.3 here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and that’s actually pretty impressive when you consider the fact that he’s never had a result better than 9th at this track. In four of the last five Brickyard races, Keselowski has ended up between 9th and 12th, but a result like that isn’t going to cut it for DraftKings this weekend. The #2 Ford wound up 5th in qualifying on Saturday, which was actually a nice surprise because the Penske Fords have both been pretty mediocre all weekend long thus far. One interesting thing to note is that in the six races that Keselowski has qualified inside the top 5 this season, he’s finished inside the top 5 in five of them. We just don’t see it happening this weekend, and with that $9,800 price tag associated with BK, we just think there’s quite a few better options in DraftKings this weekend.
