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After 600 miles at Charlotte last weekend with the Coca-Cola 600, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is now at Pocono Raceway–a huge 2.5-mile track with just three turns that are all different in structure. Nicknamed “The Tricky Triangle,” Pocono is always an interesting race from a Fantasy NASCAR perspective, which I’ll explain below in the “Strategy Tactics” portion of this article.

Before we discuss that, though, here are some helpful links to the qualifying results and practice speeds from this weekend:

DraftKings Strategy Tactics for Pocono

Photo Credit: Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

On a normal race weekend, there always needs to be a focus on dominator points when building your DraftKings lineups. However, with Pocono, it’s a little different. Again, we’re only scheduled to run 160 laps here on Sunday, which equals out to just 40 FPTS for laps led and probably around 65 FPTS for fastest laps.

So while it is definitely important to have the main dominator in your lineup, finish and place differential points are worth a little more this week, so don’t be afraid to build lineups with a more centric approach. Typically, you can get some good value from low-dollar drivers each week, but at Pocono, it’s such a horsepower-driven track that it’s unlikely that the low-dollar “bottom feeder” guys are going to move up much without some attrition in the form of wrecks.

Another thing to remember with Pocono is pit strategy. This is a huge 2.5-mile track, and if a team thinks that they can pit before the Stage end and not lose a lap–and then stay out during the caution pit stops–chances are they’re going to roll that dice. We’ll have to see whether Sunday’s race once again turns into a follow-the-leader event, which is typical of “The Tricky Triangle.” If that ends up being the case, chances are Kyle Busch ($11,400) is going to lead a ton of laps from his 2nd-place starting spot.

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For full disclosure, Pocono has never been a great track of mine from a Fantasy NASCAR perspective, and because of that I probably won’t be playing DraftKings this weekend. So keep that in mind with the projections below, but good luck nonetheless!

Pocono 400 DraftKings Projections

You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by average projected FPTS.

DriverStarting PositionDraftKings SalaryAvg Proj FPTSAvg. Projected FinishProj Laps LedDollar Per FPT
Kyle Busch2$11,40058.901.657$194
Martin Truex Jr20$10,90055.505.49$197
Kevin Harvick11$10,50051.403.612$204
Brad Keselowski5$10,20048.203.424$212
Chase Elliott12$9,90046.705.89$212
Kurt Busch21$8,80045.010.00$196
Ryan Blaney17$8,90042.309.62$210
Joey Logano16$9,50041.209.40$231
Denny Hamlin6$9,30040.106.210$232
Alex Bowman15$8,50036.411.84$234
Kyle Larson7$9,70031.610.24$307
Erik Jones4$8,60029.709.85$290
William Byron1$7,60029.709.817$256
Chris Buescher24$7,30028.819.60$253
Ricky Stenhouse Jr18$7,00028.816.60$243
Clint Bowyer3$9,10028.410.27$321
Aric Almirola13$8,10028.214.40$287
Ryan Newman19$7,40027.417.80$270
Ryan Preece29$6,50025.024.00$260
Jimmie Johnson8$8,30023.614.20$352
Daniel Suarez9$7,90023.414.80$338
Ty Dillon25$6,70022.623.20$296
Paul Menard14$7,10021.218.40$335
Daniel Hemric23$5,80021.023.00$276
Austin Dillon10$7,70020.017.00$385
Corey Lajoie33$5,40019.828.60$273
Bubba Wallace26$5,90018.825.60$314
David Ragan27$6,10018.626.20$328
Michael McDowell28$6,30017.627.20$358
Matt Tifft30$5,30016.828.60$315
Matt DiBenedetto22$6,90014.825.60$466
Ross Chastain32$5,60014.031.00$400
Landon Cassill31$5,20013.031.00$400
Reed Sorenson35$5,10011.433.80$447
Bayley Currey34$4,80010.433.80$462
JJ Yeley37$4,90009.036.00$544
Quin Houff36$5,00008.835.60$568
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As someone who has always been obsessed with numbers, Fantasy NASCAR has been the perfect fit with me. I pride myself on the quality of my analysis for each race, and am glad that I have been able to help others along the way. I've been a serious Fantasy NASCAR player for over 10 years now, and I'm just getting started.