The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series is winding down, and before we head out west to Phoenix to determine a Champion, the Final Four has to be decided at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Martinsville is a 0.526-mile race track that always produces some awesome, tight-quarters racing. There’s 500 laps scheduled for Sunday’s Xfinity 500, which means the teams and drivers will have to be mistake-free for quite a while if they want to be in contention for the win at the end.
Optimal Lineup According to Jordan’s Projections
The optimal FanDuel lineup for Martinsville on Sunday afternoon according to my Projections is:
- Denny Hamlin
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- Aric Almirola
- Ryan Newman
Confidence Rating = 5.2/10. Not really feeling this lineup, to be honest with you. It starts off well with the Hamlin-Blaney duo, but tacking on Joey Logano as well really requires a specific scenario to work out. Then, Almirola isn’t a guarantee by any means, and Newman is Newman. I’d much rather go with something like Hamlin, Blaney, Byron, Bell, and Stenhouse, or a build similar to that. One high projected lineup that I don’t hate is: Hamlin, Logano, Keselowski, Harvick, and Newman.
FanDuel Driver Projections for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denny Hamlin | $13,500 | 103.52 | 3 | 111.60 | $130 |
| Ryan Blaney | $12,000 | 95.80 | 8 | 109.00 | $125 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | $14,500 | 95.60 | 4 | 117.00 | $152 |
| Joey Logano | $11,500 | 95.40 | 5 | 105.90 | $121 |
| Brad Keselowski | $11,000 | 89.72 | 6 | 99.80 | $123 |
| Chase Elliott | $14,000 | 89.50 | 2 | 101.30 | $156 |
| Kyle Larson | $13,000 | 85.70 | 1 | 97.90 | $152 |
| William Byron | $10,000 | 85.15 | 11 | 94.40 | $117 |
| Kevin Harvick | $9,300 | 84.00 | 9 | 91.60 | $111 |
| Christopher Bell | $9,500 | 83.45 | 12 | 92.00 | $114 |
| Kyle Busch | $10,500 | 81.75 | 7 | 89.00 | $128 |
| Alex Bowman | $9,000 | 80.75 | 13 | 87.00 | $111 |
| Aric Almirola | $8,000 | 79.65 | 23 | 85.20 | $100 |
| Tyler Reddick | $8,500 | 78.90 | 18 | 90.00 | $108 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | $7,800 | 77.65 | 21 | 82.00 | $100 |
| Kurt Busch | $8,300 | 76.00 | 10 | 84.00 | $109 |
| Ross Chastain | $7,500 | 74.90 | 16 | 85.50 | $100 |
| Austin Dillon | $6,500 | 73.15 | 14 | 80.00 | $89 |
| Erik Jones | $5,500 | 72.45 | 28 | 79.50 | $76 |
| Ryan Newman | $4,500 | 72.45 | 27 | 82.00 | $62 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | $5,000 | 72.05 | 25 | 78.00 | $69 |
| Daniel Suarez | $6,000 | 71.05 | 20 | 80.00 | $84 |
| Bubba Wallace | $7,000 | 70.05 | 17 | 84.90 | $100 |
| Cole Custer | $5,700 | 69.70 | 24 | 76.00 | $82 |
| Corey LaJoie | $4,000 | 69.35 | 29 | 80.00 | $58 |
| Chris Buescher | $5,800 | 67.80 | 15 | 79.00 | $86 |
| Ryan Preece | $4,500 | 66.35 | 26 | 75.60 | $68 |
| Chase Briscoe | $5,000 | 64.35 | 22 | 70.50 | $78 |
| Justin Haley | $4,000 | 63.30 | 35 | 66.50 | $63 |
| Anthony Alfredo | $3,500 | 61.80 | 32 | 66.50 | $57 |
| Michael McDowell | $4,500 | 60.75 | 19 | 72.00 | $74 |
| B.J. McLeod | $2,500 | 58.50 | 30 | 61.00 | $43 |
| Quin Houff | $3,000 | 57.40 | 36 | 61.00 | $52 |
| Garrett Smithley | $2,000 | 56.80 | 37 | 63.00 | $35 |
| Josh Bilicki | $2,500 | 56.15 | 33 | 59.50 | $45 |
| Cody Ware | $3,000 | 55.40 | 31 | 60.00 | $54 |
| Joey Gase | $2,000 | 54.00 | 34 | 57.00 | $37 |
| Timmy Hill | $2,000 | 52.50 | 38 | 56.00 | $38 |
