FanDuel made some news in the DFS world this week when they announced that they would be entering the Fantasy NASCAR market–and the response has been great. Some of their larger contests were already filled on Friday night, which is surprising considering how many NASCAR players wait until at least after qualifying to reserve their spots.
Most FanDuel players will be crossovers from DraftKings, but it’s important to realize the scoring changes between the two games. With FanDuel, fastest laps are no longer taken into consideration, and drivers will now receive 0.1 points per lap completed. The guy leading will also only get 0.1 points per lap led. In other words, finishing position is going to have more of an emphasis in the FanDuel games, which allows you to pick the guys starting up front with a better success rate than at DraftKings; place differential in FanDuel will only be worth +/- 0.5 points as opposed to a full point with DraftKings.
As mentioned before, this is the first week for FanDuel. I think there are going to be many DraftKings players that migrate over to FanDuel but will stick with the old “I have to get place differential points” mindset. Yes, moving up is still worth a half of a point per position, but if that situation happens, that’ll give you the opportunity to differentiate yourself with drivers that start a little closer to the front.
Oh, and another difference between the two? You’re only selecting five drivers with FanDuel instead of six with DraftKings. Good luck!
FanDuel Projections for the Talladega GEICO 500
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 points + laps led as well as the dollar per FPT. It assumes that all drivers are going to complete the 188 laps. You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by average projected FPTS.
| Driver | FanDuel Salary | Avg Proj FPTS | Starting Position | Avg. Projected Finish | Proj Laps Led | Dollar Per FPT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Blaney | $10,200 | 64.7 | 23 | 05.8 | 9 | $158 | |
| Joey Logano | $12,000 | 63.3 | 9 | 03.6 | 30 | $190 | |
| Aric Almirola | $8,800 | 61.2 | 40 | 12.4 | 0 | $144 | |
| Kyle Busch | $11,600 | 59.0 | 19 | 08.4 | 11 | $197 | |
| Kevin Harvick | $12,300 | 56.5 | 1 | 05.8 | 39 | $218 | |
| Brad Keselowski | $12,100 | 56.0 | 10 | 07.6 | 20 | $216 | |
| Denny Hamlin | $11,800 | 55.2 | 4 | 05.6 | 12 | $214 | |
| Kurt Busch | $10,400 | 53.1 | 2 | 06.8 | 19 | $196 | |
| Austin Dillon | $9,300 | 52.0 | 24 | 13.2 | 0 | $179 | |
| Kyle Larson | $9,800 | 51.5 | 22 | 13.0 | 2 | $190 | |
| Clint Bowyer | $11,400 | 51.4 | 8 | 09.4 | 11 | $222 | |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | $10,800 | 50.7 | 7 | 09.4 | 15 | $213 | |
| Paul Menard | $9,100 | 50.0 | 13 | 11.0 | 2 | $182 | |
| Ryan Newman | $9,500 | 49.3 | 18 | 13.0 | 0 | $193 | |
| Martin Truex Jr | $11,000 | 47.6 | 3 | 09.6 | 7 | $231 | |
| Alex Bowman | $7,800 | 45.8 | 11 | 13.0 | 0 | $170 | |
| Darrell Wallace Jr | $6,300 | 44.7 | 15 | 15.4 | 5 | $141 | |
| Jimmie Johnson | $11,200 | 44.3 | 16 | 15.8 | 2 | $253 | |
| Chase Elliott | $10,600 | 43.6 | 5 | 12.6 | 2 | $243 | |
| Trevor Bayne | $5,800 | 43.6 | 21 | 17.8 | 0 | $133 | |
| AJ Allmendinger | $6,600 | 40.5 | 28 | 22.2 | 0 | $163 | |
| William Byron | $7,500 | 40.4 | 17 | 18.6 | 0 | $186 | |
| Jamie McMurray | $10,100 | 40.3 | 27 | 22.0 | 0 | $251 | |
| Chris Buescher | $5,600 | 39.6 | 25 | 21.8 | 0 | $141 | |
| Matt DiBenedetto | $5,000 | 39.4 | 33 | 24.6 | 0 | $127 | |
| Ty Dillon | $7,500 | 38.9 | 29 | 23.6 | 0 | $193 | |
| Erik Jones | $7,600 | 38.3 | 6 | 16.4 | 1 | $198 | |
| Daniel Suarez | $7,200 | 37.1 | 14 | 19.8 | 0 | $194 | |
| David Ragan | $8,100 | 37.1 | 12 | 19.2 | 1 | $218 | |
| Kasey Kahne | $8,500 | 36.5 | 26 | 24.2 | 0 | $233 | |
| Michael McDowell | $5,300 | 35.6 | 20 | 22.8 | 0 | $149 | |
| Cole Whitt | $5,000 | 33.1 | 36 | 29.8 | 0 | $151 | |
| Timothy Peters | $7,000 | 32.9 | 32 | 28.6 | 0 | $213 | |
| Gray Gaulding | $5,000 | 32.7 | 37 | 30.4 | 0 | $153 | |
| Brendan Gaughan | $5,000 | 32.2 | 30 | 28.4 | 0 | $155 | |
| Reed Sorenson | $5,000 | 30.8 | 38 | 32.0 | 0 | $162 | |
| Ross Chastain | $5,000 | 28.7 | 35 | 32.4 | 0 | $174 | |
| Joey Gase | $5,000 | 28.2 | 34 | 32.4 | 0 | $177 | |
| D.J. Kennington | $5,000 | 26.4 | 31 | 32.6 | 0 | $189 |
