Get our picks and lineup advice for DraftKings fantasy NASCAR at the high-banked half-mile at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Rain, rain, go away, come back another day … after we’ve gotten our DraftKings fantasy NASCAR contests finished for the Food City 500 at Bristol. The forecast for Sunday isn’t great, so there’s a real question about whether this race is going to be run this weekend or Monday.
Either way, there are contests to be played and lineups to be set. There’s also one huge question: Do you like Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick?
The two most expensive drivers have almost always been the foundation of a winning DraftKings NASCAR lineup this season despite their high price. But at the Food City 500, their situations couldn’t be more different.
Kyle Busch, a three-time winner of this very race, will start from the pole, and he won’t even have brother Kurt beside him since the elder Busch crashed in practice and will start from the rear of the field in a backup car. He’ll get a close-up look at Harvick, who crashed while qualifying and is the legit 39th starter.
That gives Harvick enormous upside for positional bonus points. Let’s say he gets to the front, leads laps and finishes in the top three. He could put up a staggering point total.
The problem is that it’s Bristol, and racing to the front is fraught with much more peril than at, say, the intermediate tracks at which he dominates. Happy could definitely get caught up in something not of his own making, and that scares us.
So yeah, we’re riding with Kyle Busch, as you’ll see in a sec. But first, our disclaimer …
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. Sunday or Monday, here’s our thinking this week.
Premium drivers (salary above $9,000)
Kyle Busch ($11,300) – We’ve pretty much already made this argument. He’s likely going to get out in front from the start, and players with him in their lineups will be piling up laps led points from the get-go. Could really hurt you if he wrecks out early, and it’s not as safe at Bristol even in front because of lapped traffic, but you takes your chances.
Brad Keselowski ($10,600) – If you simply can’t spring for Kyle Busch, Brad K. is probably your front-running fallback option. Has won this race before and is the de facto second starter thanks to Kurt’s practice mishap. Maybe he gets out ahead of the Skittles car and shows the way. Maybe. Won this race in 2012, but that was in a Dodge.
Chase Elliott ($10,100) – A tad more expensive than we’d like, but we’ve been saying that about Elliott. Doesn’t have many Cup Series spring Bristol races under his belt, but finished in the top 10 in both of them, and he’s starting 16th. Intriguing, at the very least.
Kyle Larson ($9,700) – Has been fast in practice, but he’s starting sixth and that is not far off from where his ceiling might be at Bristol. Still worth a shot because he’s been good in this race and he’s the cheapest of the drivers we like in this tier.