These are my final thoughts and strategies to consider for Saturday night’s race at Kansas Speedway, as well as projected DraftKings FPTS for each driver. The chart below is explained but if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.
- To build a successful lineup in DraftKings, you have to have the dominator(s). Looking at recent races here at Kansas Speedway, there tends to really only be one or two dominators during the race. Now the question is, who is going to dominate the Go Bowling 400 on Saturday night? Ryan Blaney has to be on the list of potential candidates, as he recently dominated at Texas and also had the best 20-lap average in Happy Hour on Friday. However, you have guys like Joey Logano, Martin Truex, Jr., Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick, who all start near the front and looked fast in practice on Friday.
- Rostering guys that start up front–namely Blaney and Logano, who start 1st and 2nd–brings with it plenty of risk, simply because if they don’t lead any laps, they’re probably going to be a bad pick. If they don’t lead any (or minimal) laps, that gamble might not pay off. Logano had led in all but one race this season but has never really had a dominating effort.
- Speaking of practice, take those speeds with a grain of salt. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams practiced in the heat of the day on Friday and we’re going to be racing at night on Saturday. They’re not worthless, but I wouldn’t rely on them too heavily.
- Because of problems during inspection before qualifying, there are a lot of quality teams that are starting 28th or worse on Saturday night. These drivers are going to be highly owned in DraftKings and create some great fade opportunities. But keep in mind that just a 17th place finish out of Kasey Kahne or Erik Jones will net 40+ base FPTS in DraftKings this weekend.
Projected Base FPTS at Kansas
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 five different ranking systems, using both mathematical equations as well as personal rankings. This chart also includes the average projected base DraftKings FPTS–which doesn’t take into account fastest laps or laps led points–as well as the dollar per FPT. I don’t try to project fastest laps or laps led–that’s up to you. You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by the average projected finish of the drivers.
| Driver | DraftKings Salary | Starting Position | Avg. Projected Finish | Avg Proj Base FPTS | Dollar Per FPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Harvick | $10,400 | 8 | 03.0 | 47.2 | $220 |
| Martin Truex Jr | $9,700 | 3 | 03.2 | 41.8 | $232 |
| Joey Logano | $9,500 | 2 | 04.0 | 38.6 | $246 |
| Kyle Busch | $9,400 | 5 | 05.4 | 38.2 | $246 |
| Kyle Larson | $9,900 | 9 | 05.8 | 41.4 | $239 |
| Brad Keselowski | $10,700 | 17 | 06.6 | 47.8 | $224 |
| Jimmie Johnson | $10,100 | 29 | 06.6 | 59.8 | $169 |
| Chase Elliott | $9,100 | 10 | 08.0 | 38.0 | $239 |
| Kurt Busch | $8,200 | 6 | 10.6 | 28.8 | $285 |
| Ryan Blaney | $8,000 | 1 | 10.8 | 23.4 | $342 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | $7,400 | 4 | 11.8 | 24.4 | $303 |
| Clint Bowyer | $8,600 | 30 | 13.6 | 46.8 | $184 |
| Matt Kenseth | $8,400 | 14 | 13.8 | 30.4 | $276 |
| Denny Hamlin | $8,800 | 7 | 14.2 | 22.6 | $389 |
| Jamie McMurray | $8,100 | 12 | 14.6 | 26.8 | $302 |
| Ryan Newman | $7,600 | 19 | 15.4 | 32.2 | $236 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | $8,300 | 33 | 16.2 | 44.6 | $186 |
| Trevor Bayne | $7,100 | 16 | 16.4 | 27.2 | $261 |
| Kasey Kahne | $7,800 | 31 | 17.4 | 40.2 | $194 |
| Erik Jones | $7,700 | 32 | 17.6 | 40.8 | $189 |
| Austin Dillon | $7,500 | 11 | 17.8 | 19.4 | $387 |
| Ty Dillon | $6,700 | 22 | 19.2 | 27.6 | $243 |
| Aric Almirola | $6,400 | 13 | 19.4 | 18.2 | $352 |
| Daniel Suarez | $7,300 | 15 | 22.4 | 14.2 | $514 |
| Paul Menard | $6,600 | 18 | 23.2 | 15.6 | $423 |
| AJ Allmendinger | $6,200 | 21 | 23.6 | 17.8 | $348 |
| Chris Buescher | $6,500 | 20 | 24.6 | 14.8 | $439 |
| Danica Patrick | $6,900 | 24 | 26.2 | 15.6 | $442 |
| Michael McDowell | $5,700 | 35 | 28.6 | 21.8 | $261 |
| Landon Cassill | $5,200 | 36 | 29.2 | 21.6 | $241 |
| Cole Whitt | $6,000 | 26 | 29.4 | 11.2 | $536 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | $5,800 | 23 | 30.0 | 07.0 | $829 |
| David Ragan | $5,400 | 34 | 30.8 | 16.4 | $329 |
| Corey Lajoie | $5,500 | 38 | 33.0 | 16.0 | $344 |
| Gray Gaulding | $4,900 | 25 | 35.0 | -01.0 | $1,000 |
| Jeffrey Earnhardt | $5,100 | 27 | 35.8 | -00.6 | $1,000 |
| Reed Sorenson | $4,600 | 37 | 35.8 | 09.4 | $489 |
| Timmy Hill | $4,700 | 39 | 36.4 | 10.2 | $461 |
| Derrike Cope | $4,500 | 28 | 37.2 | -02.4 | $1,000 |
