It’s time to make your FanDuel picks for the longest race on the NASCAR schedule, and we’re here to assist.
Last week was a fun exhibition in the NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but it’s time to get down to serious business at the same track. It’s also time to return to normalcy with your FanDuel fantasy NASCAR picks, with lineups for tonight’s Coca-Cola 600.
The longest and most grueling race NASCAR has to offer should also play out in interesting fashion in the FanDuel fantasy NASCAR scoring system, which gives out points for laps completed. With 400 laps at Charlotte, that means your lineup could take a severe hit if you end up with a driver who crashes out early.
Mechanical issues also have a tendency to rear their heads over 600 miles, though there’s less you can do to avoid those. It’s basically pick drivers who generally perform well here — plus some like pole-sitter Kyle Busch who figure to be fighting for the win regardless — and hope for the best.
Important note: Just like in other FanSided.com DFS articles, 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 salary threshold.
Premium drivers (salary above $10,500)
Kevin Harvick ($13,500) – The 4 team didn’t make a qualifying attempt and thus will have to start from almost the back of the field in 39th. Think that’s going to make much of a difference for this bunch? We suspect not, and Harvick could be more worth his super high salary than ever if he competes for the victory given those extra points for advancing from the rear.
Martin Truex Jr. ($12,500) – Playing Truex at this price essentially means you believe he and his team can recapture their 2017 form, where they were so good at Charlotte, finishing third and first in the two races. It’s hard to bet against the defending Cup Series champ, but he also hasn’t quite been at the same level in 2018.
Kyle Busch ($11,700) – Was dominant during big chunks of the XFINITY Series race on Saturday, but also got impatient and took himself out of true contention by going into the grass to try to pass. Considering he’s likely to lead a bunch of early laps, though, and is nearly $2,000 cheaper than Harvick, feels like a good play.
Denny Hamlin ($11,200) – Dude is just a straight up top-10 machine at Charlotte, making him a safer play than Kyle Larson or Clint Bowyer for not a ton more money. You wonder about his upside, though, since he starts third.