Draft Kings daily picks: Fantasy NASCAR lineup for Auto Club 400

To pay for Kevin Harvick or not to pay is the big question as we get you set with DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineup advice for California.

Fantasy NASCAR players usually like a little certainty and then try looking for potential advantages in a few other places. For the DraftKings contests for Sunday’s Auto Club 400, there looks like only a bit of the former and a lot of the latter.

The surest thing in NASCAR right now is Kevin Harvick, but his three-race winning streak has pushed his salary even higher. Riding his wave or rolling the dice on him (finally) not contending for the win is going to be something most players are pondering, and it’s no small question.

The unpredictability comes from the number of potentially good cars that never even made it onto the Auto Club Speedway track and now are starting deep in the field. At least a couple of them have the potential for big points for place differential and possibly fastest laps as well as they try to make it up through the field, so figuring out who’s most likely to rise up from a group that includes Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and all four Hendrick Motorsports cars is critical.

We’re going to take our usual stab at sorting it all out and giving you some options in the hopes of getting you a strong finish of your own.

Important note: Taking the lead from other FanSided.com DFS writers, we’re not going to give you a copy/paste lineup, though we will give you a sample lineup with picks that we feel good about that fits under the price cap. Let’s get it!

Premium drivers (salary above $9,000)

Kevin Harvick ($11,500) – So here’s the dilemma: Harvick is now even more expensive than last week (though only by $100), and betting against him hasn’t really worked out. He’s also starting 10th, so there’s a little positional upside just like last week, and he’s been fast in practice. It’s tempting to roll with him again and finding ways to pinch pennies elsewhere. We wouldn’t blame you at all if you did, though he has only one win at Auto Club Speedway as opposed to the oodles he racked up at Phoenix.

Kyle Busch ($10,300) – Not cheap by any means, but if you are thinking about going against the legions of lineups that are sure to be built around Harvick, you could do a lot worse than starting with the guy who’s looked closest to being able to beat him for $1,200 less. He’s starting second, so if he can get out ahead of pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. when the race starts, it’s not hard to imagine him leading early laps and racking up points. he’s also only a few years removed from a four-race stretch where he went 3-2-1-1 at California.

Kyle Larson ($10,000) – If you like to bank on drivers who have done well at a track recently, Larson won this race last year. He and the 42 team haven’t got their new Camaro exactly right just yet, but you know they’re going to get it figured out pretty soon. An anti-Harvick lineup that starts with the two Kyles might be a plan to consider.

Denny Hamlin ($9,300) – Here’s your upside play for positional points. Hamlin was one of the drivers who didn’t turn in a qualifying lap, and as a result is starting 25th. The 11 has been fast all season and is almost guaranteed to zoom past some of the back markers who are unexpectedly starting higher than usual. But there is some risk with him, because Auto Club hasn’t been one of his traditionally strong tracks. Tempting for the price, though.