Dover International Speedway is the site of this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, which also marks the first race of Round 2 of the 2019 Playoffs. We visit Dover twice a season, and in the first race here, Chase Elliott started on the pole and led a race-high 145 laps before finishing 5th. Martin Truex, Jr., who started 13th, ended up in victory lane after leading 132 laps, while the Chevrolets of Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson followed him to the checkered flag. Kevin Harvick in his Ford finished 4th.
Here are some helpful links to the qualifying results and practice speeds from this weekend.
DraftKings Strategy Breakdown for the Drydene 400
Here’s the thing about Dover: starting position really matters. Typically we see a lot of the same faces finishing up front here at “The Monster Mile,” and usually those are the same guys that qualify strong as well. So as far as DraftKings strategy goes, what it comes down to is this: don’t be afraid to load up on the high qualifiers a little more than normal.
Just looking back at the last time we were at Dover, the optimal DraftKings lineup ended up being Martin Truex, Jr., Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, and William Byron. They started: 13th, 1st, 3rd, 14th, 5th, and 2nd. Also, as I’m sure you noticed, three of those six are from Hendrick Motorsports, all of which look extremely fast once again this weekend.
On the pole this weekend is Denny Hamlin ($10,700), and one big question most DraftKings players are going to ask is whether or not that should roster him. Chances are you’re already going to throw Kyle Larson ($9,700) on there–since he has the best car this weekend–so rolling the dice with both front row starters means you’re going to need Hamlin to lead a good chunk of this race. So let’s take a look at the last six pole sitters at Dover and their dominator points:
- 2019-1 = Chase Elliott with 145 laps led, 47 fastest laps
- 2018-2 = Kyle Busch with 21 laps led, 12 fastest laps
- 2018-1 = Kyle Larson with 0 laps led, 13 fastest laps
- 2017-2 = Martin Truex, Jr. with 51 laps led, 38 fastest laps
- 2017-1 = Kyle Busch with 19 laps led, 44 fastest laps
- 2016-2 = Brad Keselowski with 7 laps led, 12 fastest laps
So, on average, pole sitters are leading 40.5 laps per race at Dover with just 27.7 fastest laps per race over the last three years. That equals just 24 DraftKings dominator points per race over that span. This weekend, though, I think we’ll see a pretty good performance out of Denny Hamlin. He has a decent long-run car (9th-best ten-lap average in Happy Hour) and a blazing fast pit crew, which will pay dividends on Sunday.
Dover 2 Drydene 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.
| Driver | Starting Position | DraftKings Salary | Avg Proj FPTS | Avg. Projected Finish | Proj Laps Led | Dollar Per FPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Larson | 2 | $9,700 | 64.5 | 03.0 | 93 | $151 |
| Martin Truex Jr | 3 | $11,600 | 62.9 | 02.2 | 74 | $184 |
| Kevin Harvick | 4 | $11,100 | 55.4 | 03.2 | 55 | $201 |
| Chase Elliott | 5 | $10,300 | 52.0 | 04.4 | 47 | $198 |
| Kyle Busch | 18 | $12,000 | 49.9 | 08.6 | 18 | $240 |
| Denny Hamlin | 1 | $10,700 | 47.9 | 06.6 | 62 | $223 |
| Brad Keselowski | 16 | $10,000 | 42.4 | 08.8 | 0 | $236 |
| Joey Logano | 14 | $9,500 | 42.3 | 08.6 | 6 | $225 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 11 | $7,800 | 41.1 | 08.2 | 10 | $190 |
| Alex Bowman | 12 | $8,000 | 40.6 | 09.6 | 15 | $197 |
| Clint Bowyer | 17 | $8,600 | 39.8 | 10.6 | 0 | $216 |
| William Byron | 6 | $8,400 | 33.4 | 10.2 | 15 | $252 |
| Daniel Suarez | 15 | $7,300 | 32.6 | 13.2 | 0 | $224 |
| Ryan Newman | 24 | $8,200 | 32.4 | 17.8 | 0 | $253 |
| Austin Dillon | 27 | $6,900 | 30.6 | 20.2 | 0 | $225 |
| Ryan Blaney | 10 | $9,200 | 30.0 | 12.0 | 0 | $307 |
| Erik Jones | 8 | $8,800 | 28.9 | 12.2 | 5 | $305 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | 20 | $7,700 | 28.4 | 17.8 | 0 | $271 |
| Kurt Busch | 9 | $9,000 | 27.4 | 12.8 | 0 | $328 |
| Daniel Hemric | 31 | $5,900 | 27.0 | 24.0 | 0 | $219 |
| Chris Buescher | 22 | $7,100 | 25.6 | 20.2 | 0 | $277 |
| Paul Menard | 13 | $6,700 | 23.8 | 16.6 | 0 | $282 |
| Ty Dillon | 25 | $6,500 | 23.8 | 22.6 | 0 | $273 |
| Aric Almirola | 7 | $7,500 | 23.0 | 14.0 | 0 | $326 |
| Bubba Wallace | 26 | $6,100 | 22.8 | 23.6 | 0 | $268 |
| Michael McDowell | 28 | $5,800 | 20.8 | 25.6 | 0 | $279 |
| Ryan Preece | 32 | $5,700 | 20.4 | 27.8 | 0 | $279 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 19 | $6,300 | 20.2 | 21.4 | 0 | $312 |
| Ross Chastain | 34 | $5,300 | 17.6 | 30.2 | 0 | $301 |
| David Ragan | 21 | $5,600 | 13.0 | 26.0 | 0 | $431 |
| Corey Lajoie | 29 | $5,500 | 11.4 | 30.8 | 0 | $482 |
| Landon Cassill | 30 | $5,200 | 11.2 | 31.4 | 0 | $464 |
| Matt Tifft | 23 | $5,400 | 11.0 | 28.0 | 0 | $491 |
| JJ Yeley | 35 | $4,800 | 11.0 | 34.0 | 0 | $436 |
| Reed Sorenson | 38 | $5,000 | 09.6 | 36.2 | 0 | $521 |
| BJ McLeod | 33 | $4,900 | 09.4 | 33.8 | 0 | $521 |
| Garrett Smithley | 37 | $4,700 | 09.4 | 35.8 | 0 | $500 |
| Joe Nemechek | 36 | $5,100 | 06.4 | 36.8 | 0 | $797 |
