The NASCAR Cup Series has finally reached the race that many people have been waiting a long time for. The cars will compete in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. This will be the first race at the track since Jeff Gordon went to Victory Lane in 1996. Dale Earnhardt Jr. lobbied hard to get this track restored and ready to race. It is hard to believe that it is finally going to happen.
The NASCAR All-Star Open race is at 5 p.m. ET. Sunday. The All-Star Open race will have 16 drivers. It will be 100 laps (only green-flag laps count) and the top-two finishers will advance to the main event. One more driver will be selected via the Fan Vote. This will give us 24 drivers in the All-Star Race Sunday Night.
The NASCAR All-Star Race starts at 8 p.m. ET Sunday night. It is scheduled for 200-laps (all laps count).
ALL-STAR RACE PRACTICE SPEEDS
The Cup Series had a 50-minute practice session Friday. Most of the teams were able to make some long runs in practice, so they gave us some data to work with. The problem is that I am not sure how much of the practice speed will translate into race speed Sunday night. The teams were allowed to work on the cars and it is obvious that the teams made some major adjustments. Some of the drivers who dominated practice did not look very fast in the Heat Races Saturday night. We still need to look at the speed, so here is the practice speed from the practice session Friday….
DFS STRATEGY FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE
The race is 200 laps Sunday, so that means there are 50 points available for leading laps and 22.5 points available for fastest laps (72.5 dominator points). The races on the short tracks this year has been a game of “follow the leader.” The Gen-7 car has the cars so close in speed, that it is almost impossible to pass the leader. Track position will be very important, so the chances of the drivers starting up front scoring most of the dominator points are really high.
The drivers I like as the dominators for the All-Star Race are Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin (Not the drivers I thought I would like before the cars were on track this week.
This race is going to come down to strategy, because the teams are only allowed to change their tires once in the last 100 laps. Tire falloff is going to be significant, so the team that has fresh Goodyear’s at the end of the race will likely win. This brings nearly the entire field into play and makes this race very hard to predict. Do not be afraid to take some chances with drivers who did not have speed in practice and did not look fast in the Heat Race. Their crew chief could win them the race Sunday.
I plan to play Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher in many of my lineups. This means I will likely not use the entire salary cap. Do not be afraid to leave a significant amount of salary on the table Sunday night.
Track position will be huge, but we cannot ignore the place differential points. The drivers who finish No. 1 and No. 2 in the NASCAR All-Star Open race will prove to have fast cars. These two drivers will be in play for our lineups Sunday night. The other drivers who start in the back that I like include Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and Ross Chastain (In that order).
* I like the drivers starting in the back more on FanDuel since that game does not award fastest laps points and the laps led points are not as significant as they are on DraftKings.
*No changes to the lineups. Ty Gibbs will be a good pick, but there are going to be a lot of people adding him to their lineups. I would rather roll a lower owned Tyler Reddick You can replace Daniel Suarez with Chris Buescher and replace Ryan Blaney with Ty Gibbs, but I think that lineup may be popular.
DRAFTKINGS CASH LINEUP
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT LINEUP
FANDUEL CASH LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT LINEUP
If you need any further advice with your team, look for me on Twitter @MrFantasyNASCAR