The first race of this weekend’s doubleheader at Pocono is on Saturday with the Pocono Organics CBD 325. Kyle Larson is on the pole and there are plenty of great place differential options, so this may finally be the week where he doesn’t end up in the optimal lineup (although I wouldn’t hold your breath). Pocono is a 2.5-mile flat track and there’s really nothing comparable to it that we’ve raced at this season. Add in the fact that strategy often comes into play at this track and we could be looking at some surprising finishers up front on Saturday. With that being said, Saturday’s race should definitely give us a good idea on who will be strong on Sunday. My algorithm predicted finishing order is a great tool to check out as well when making picks, and you can click here to look at that. Now let’s get to the FanDuel projections!
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Driver-by-Driver Breakdown Video
Now for the video breakdown! Be sure to go here and subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already.
Optimal Lineup According to Jordan’s Projections
The optimal FanDuel lineup for Pocono Saturday according to my Projections is:
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Elliott
- Ryan Blaney
- Alex Bowman
- Ryan Newman
Confidence Rating = 8.4/10. Just pure place differential here, and you’re likely going to see a lot of similar builds like this, so you may want to find a way to differentiate the lineup. However, in cash contests, this lineup is perfectly fine. It’s hard to go wrong in Fantasy NASCAR when you can fit Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Alex Bowman into the same lineup, especially without having to grab a back marker.
FanDuel “Safe” DFS Picks for Pocono Saturday (Cash Lineups)
Chase Elliott ($11,000) – Wow, what a mis-price here. Chase Elliott starts 29th on Saturday and has posted top 10 results in every single Pocono race he’s ran in the Cup Series except the ones he had issues mid-race (three times). Three of those seven top 10 finishes were also top 5s. Add in the fact that the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets are ridiculously fast right now, plus Chase being priced at $11,000 on FanDuel and, yeah… no brainer here in cash.
Brad Keselowski ($10,500) – My projections like the other Penske Racing place differential play–Ryan Blaney ($10,300)–just a bit better, but Keselowski has a better track record here at Pocono, so I’ll roll with him in cash. In the 11 races at this track since 2015, Brad has finished 11th or better in all but one of them, and seven of those have also been top 5 finishes. Yes, Blaney has higher upside with place differential this weekend, but Keselowski has higher upside with finishing position. It’s close on these guys; both Keselowski and Blaney are strong FanDuel options this weekend, but with that being said, I don’t see either contending for a top 5 finish, so there’s strategy in tournaments to be underweight on them. In cash, though, they’re solid.
FanDuel “Risky” DFS Picks for Pocono Saturday (Tournament Lineups)
Christopher Bell ($9,000) – Finally, at Nashville last weekend, the bad runs stopped for this #20 team and Christopher Bell, as they grabbed their first top 10 finish since the Richmond race back in April. Let’s see if they can keep that momentum going here at Pocono on Sunday. As far as track history goes, CBell finished 4th in the first race here last season before wrecking out of the second, and in the Xfinity Series, he finished 5th at “The Tricky Triangle” in 2019. What I really like, though, is how Erik Jones performed in this #20 Toyota at Pocono: four top 5s in six starts, including a 3rd in the second race last year. Christopher Bell starts 9th on Saturday but if he can pull off a top 5 finish, that’s going to be a great score for a $9,000 driver on FanDuel.
Bubba Wallace ($5,000) – As mentioned in the video several times, Joe Gibbs Racing has been really, really good here at Pocono Raceway lately, and now Bubba Wallace is basically driving a fifth JGR car. Yeah, this #23 team hasn’t quite put it all together yet, but they’re making strides. What’s encouraging (to me) with Bubba Wallace this weekend is how he has finished between 20th and 22nd in the last four Pocono races despite being in mediocre Richard Petty Motorsports equipment. Most DFS players will be low on Bubba this weekend, especially since he’s starting 20th, but there’s upside there and a reason to be overweight in tournaments (especially at that $5,000 price).
FanDuel Driver Projections for Pocono Saturday
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 six different ranking systems. Also factored in are projected laps led for each driver. 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 Pts | Starting Position | Ceiling Proj Pts | Dollar Per Pt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Larson | $14,500 | 59.17 | 1 | 66.00 | $245 |
| Denny Hamlin | $13,500 | 56.33 | 10 | 63.90 | $240 |
| Chase Elliott | $11,000 | 56.25 | 29 | 64.00 | $196 |
| Kyle Busch | $13,000 | 52.00 | 5 | 61.00 | $250 |
| William Byron | $11,500 | 50.90 | 2 | 55.90 | $226 |
| Ryan Blaney | $10,300 | 50.25 | 27 | 56.40 | $205 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | $12,500 | 49.50 | 15 | 54.00 | $253 |
| Kevin Harvick | $12,000 | 49.37 | 3 | 59.10 | $243 |
| Brad Keselowski | $10,500 | 47.75 | 18 | 55.40 | $220 |
| Alex Bowman | $9,500 | 46.50 | 13 | 53.00 | $204 |
| Joey Logano | $10,000 | 43.65 | 4 | 51.50 | $229 |
| Christopher Bell | $9,000 | 42.00 | 9 | 52.00 | $214 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | $8,200 | 41.50 | 21 | 48.00 | $198 |
| Chris Buescher | $7,000 | 39.75 | 25 | 47.00 | $176 |
| Austin Dillon | $8,000 | 39.50 | 12 | 46.50 | $203 |
| Erik Jones | $6,500 | 39.50 | 22 | 49.10 | $165 |
| Kurt Busch | $8,500 | 38.00 | 8 | 42.20 | $224 |
| Tyler Reddick | $8,700 | 37.50 | 16 | 51.90 | $232 |
| Aric Almirola | $6,500 | 36.75 | 11 | 49.70 | $177 |
| Ryan Newman | $5,300 | 36.50 | 19 | 44.00 | $145 |
| Cole Custer | $5,500 | 36.00 | 26 | 53.50 | $153 |
| Daniel Suarez | $5,800 | 34.75 | 14 | 49.40 | $167 |
| Ross Chastain | $6,000 | 33.50 | 6 | 49.50 | $179 |
| Chase Briscoe | $5,000 | 33.50 | 28 | 41.60 | $149 |
| Bubba Wallace | $5,000 | 33.25 | 20 | 47.50 | $150 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | $7,500 | 31.00 | 7 | 39.50 | $242 |
| Ryan Preece | $4,500 | 31.00 | 31 | 36.50 | $145 |
| Corey LaJoie | $4,500 | 27.00 | 23 | 38.50 | $167 |
| Michael McDowell | $5,200 | 26.50 | 17 | 32.50 | $196 |
| Justin Haley | $2,500 | 25.90 | 34 | 29.00 | $97 |
| Anthony Alfredo | $4,000 | 24.00 | 24 | 31.50 | $167 |
| Cody Ware | $3,000 | 21.55 | 35 | 26.50 | $139 |
| Quin Houff | $3,500 | 21.30 | 37 | 27.50 | $164 |
| James Davison | $2,500 | 21.05 | 36 | 25.50 | $119 |
| B.J. McLeod | $2,000 | 19.80 | 32 | 23.50 | $101 |
| Garrett Smithley | $2,000 | 18.80 | 30 | 24.00 | $106 |
| Josh Bilicki | $3,000 | 18.45 | 33 | 21.00 | $163 |
| Timmy Hill | $2,000 | 16.50 | 38 | 20.50 | $121 |
