NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Advance Auto Parts Clash February 10th

Welcome to NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Advance Auto Parts Clash for Sunday February 10. This is the inaugural edition of this article and just like the drivers, I will be using this preseason race as a practice run to work the kinks out of my NASCAR formula. 

The Clash take plays at Daytona International Speedway, home of the Daytona 500 on February 17th. This is a preseason race with no championship points being handed out for this race, just a very large purse for the driver who ends up winning. This is a small 20 driver field and is run in 2 segments totaling 75 laps (25 lap 1st segment, 50 lap second). Last years winner, Brad Keselowski, will be in this race alongside 19 other drivers looking to start the new 2019 season off on the right foot, with a victory. This race is an invitation only and is being run by driver who fit into 5 categories listed below:

1. Drivers who won a Busch Pole Award the previous season
2. Drivers who are former Clash winners that competed full-time the previous season
3. Former Daytona 500 winners that competed full-time the previous season
4. Former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full-time the previous season
5. Drivers who qualified for last season‘s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs

Qualifying was held as a random draft with Paul Menard earning the pole position, followed by Kyle Busch. Pricing for this race is scaled back with no driver being priced over $10K. You will most likely need to just be locking in the top 3 priced drivers for cash games to have a shot at cashing as all three will be extremely chalky because of the low pricing. I was building a few rosters earlier and it was very easy to get all three of Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, and Keselowski into lineups with 2 mid range drivers and a low price driver.

NASCAR DFS Leaders of the Pack (Dominators):

Joey Logano ($9,200)

Qualified: 7th

2018 Finish: 2nd

Logano, the 2018 NMECS champion, is my favorite pick to win this years Clash at Daytona. He won this event back in 2017 and has three straight Clash results in the top two. Over his last 6 Clash races Logano has a 3rd place average finish and has had a result in the top 6 every race.

Kevin Harvick ($9,600)

Qualified: 6th

2018 Finish: 9th

Harvick will be a factor in this race, as he is in every race he runs. Last year at Talladega, the last  restrictor plate race, the Stewart-Haas cars dominated and should do much of the same today. Harvick has finished inside the top 11 of this race in 8 of the last 19 races

Brad Keselowski ($9,400)

Qualified: 3rd

2018 Finish: 1st

Keselowski is the defending champion of this race and will start from the 3rd position on Sunday making him 3rd on my list of dominators. With only 2 positions to climb in front of him he doesn’t have much room to work with for place differential points. I still think Keselowski can dominate and lead a lot of laps, and even potentially win, but there are other drivers who I like a little more because of the potential place differential points in such a short race.

NASCAR DFS Back of the Pack (Value):

Austin Dillon ($5,400)

Qualified: 9th

2018 Finish: 5th

Dillon and the iconic #3 car start 9th on Sunday and have a pretty good car based on practice speeds run on Saturday. Dillon ran the 3rd fastest lap on Saturday with only Logano and Jimmie Johnson ($6,300)  running faster laps in practice. With Dillon finishing 5th last year, with his price being so low, and with how good his car looked in race trim on Saturday,  he is my favorite value driver on Sunday

Martin Truex Jr. ($7,000)

Qualified: 12th

2018 Finish: 14th

Truex is one of the best drivers in the NMECS and is now driving for one the top teams in NASCAR, Joe Gibbs Racing, which should definitely get him back into the championship hunt. During Saturday practice for this race Truex had the 5th best 10 lap stretch, running an average speed of 193.461.

Erik Jones ($6,500)

Qualified: 20th

2018 Finish: 8th

Since he is starting 20th Jones can only give you positive place differential points which is what help landed him on this list. Aside from the qualifying spot, Jones also finished inside the top 10 last year which bodes well for him in this years race. Jones ran the 9th best 10 lap consecutive average speed in practice on Saturday

NASCAR DFS Place Differential Driver:

Aric Almirola ($8,900)

Qualified: 18th

2018 Finish: N/A

Almirola has a good history at restrictor plate tracks, winning at Talledega last fall. Almirola also has pretty good odds in Vegas too, going off at 10-1.

NASCAR DFS Fades:

Jamie McMurray ($5,600)

Qualified: 11th

2018 Finish: 17th (last)

McMurray ran some of slowest times in practice and finished last in this race last year.

Paul Menard ($5,800) 

Qualified: 1st

2018 Finish: N/A

There are only a select few tracks and races to use the pole sitter, and this isn’t one. Menard probably won’t lead more than 1 lap in this race, and for me he is 100% a fade.

Thank you for reading NASCAR DFS Pit Stop and I hope you will continue to read all season and this helps you cash each week throughout the season. Follow me on twitter for updates throughout the NASCAR season and make sure you follow FantasyCPR for 100% FREE content for all sports all year-long