NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Auto Club 400 – Cup Series 3/17

Welcome to NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for this Sunday’s Auto Club 400 from Fontana, California! Kyle Busch is still looking for his 200th NASCAR victory (combined all three series) after he finished 2nd to winner Cole Custer. Last week Busch dominated at ISM leading 177 laps to earn his 199th career win. This week we are at Auto Club Speedway which is a 2 mile track which means we only have 200  laps of racing today. 

NASCAR DFS Vegas Odds:

Kevin Harvick #4   +500 
Kyle Busch #18   +500 
Kyle Larson #42   +600 
Brad Keselowski #2   +650 
Joey Logano #22   +650 
Martin Truex, Jr. #19   +650 
Denny Hamlin #11   +2000 
Aric Almirola #10   +2200 
Erik Jones #20   +2200 
Kurt Busch #1   +2200 
Ryan Blaney #12   +2200 

NASCAR DFS:  Leaders of the Pack

Kyle Busch ($12,600)

Qualifying Position: 4th

Like I mentioned in the open Kyle is looking to win his 200th career race today at Auto Club Speedway, but it won’t be easy to do. Busch does have a fast car, but that’s nothing new, since it seems every week his car is fast. Kyle had the 6th fastest car in final practice and should run in the top 5 all day. In his last 4 races here Busch runs 95.9% on average inside the top 15. I can understand wanting to play Busch today, but at his price I would rather pay a few thousand less for my top driver and use that spend up for a middle of the pack driver over an extra back of the pack guy.

Brad Keselowski ($11,500)

Qualifying Position: 13th

Keselowski did not have a great qualifying session on Friday, as did the 12 guys in the last session but I digress, he qualified 13th but ran 3rd in final practice on Saturday which is much more important to me then his qualifying spot. Keselowski also owns the best average finish over the last 5 races here with an average finish of 8.4.

Other Options: Kevin Harvick ($12,100), Joey Logano ($10,400)

NASCAR DFS: Middle of the Pack

Denny Hamlin ($9,400)

Qualifying Position: 6th

Hamlin is quietly having a great year, finishing inside the top 11 in all 4 races, and averaging 41.25 DKFP per race. There isn’t much to say about Hamlin other than he is one of the best drivers in the field every week and rarely ever gets into trouble on the track and seems to always avoid getting wrapped up in the “big one”

Chase Elliott($8,800)

Qualifying Position: 8th

This is Elliott’s lowest price of the season thus far and at this price I feel he is worth more consideration than when he was over $9K. In his 3 races at Fontana Elliott is starting in the general area where he runs the majority of his races (9.7) and finishes (10.7) so he most likely won’t cost you any place differential places and could find his way into the top 5 if some things break his way

Erik Jones ($8,200)

Qualifying Position: 18th

Jones is definitely a lock for me when building my lineups this week with how well he has run in his 2 races at Fontana. In his two runs at Auto Club Jones ran inside the top 15, 97.8% of the race, has an average run position of 7, and average finish of 9.5. Last week Jones went down a lap early and was never able to recover because of a loose wheel after running top 10 lap times all weekend and was 12th when the wheel became an issue

Jimmie Johnson ($7,800)

Qualifying Position: 11th

For years Jimmie owned his home track but has since relinquished his hold on it but he looks to be getting things going again and a trip to his home track could earn him his first win in almost 2 years.  Over the last 5 years JJ has led 129 laps at Auto Club Speedway as well as running 77 fastest laps. As I tweeted earlier this week no driver has a better DKFP per race average (53.75) over the last 5 years.

Other Options: Kurt Busch ($9,100), Ryan Blaney ($8,400)

NASCAR DFS: Back of the Pack

William Byron ($6,900)

Qualifying Position: 22nd

In his only race at Fontana, Byron had a 15th place finish and picked up 43.25 DK points. This week in final practice Byron ran a solid lap for 12th place overall which bodes well with him qualifying 22nd

Landon Cassill ($5,300)

Qualifying Position: 33rd

Cassill has run 4 races at Auto Club Speedway and has an average place differential of +12 with an average finish of 23.3. If we can get a top 25 finish from Cassill today that will be a huge win for us.

Other Options: Bubba Wallace ($5,700), Matt Tift ($5,400)

NASCAR DFS: Place Differential Driver

Martin Truex ($10,000)

Qualifying Position: 27th

No driver has led more laps at Auto Club in the past 5 races than Truex, he has led 224 laps, more than 25% of all laps run at the last 5 races. With Truex starting 27th it will take some pit strategy to get him up from, but crew chief Cole Pearn took that chance last week and he ended up second. Truex has a car that can run top 10 and pick up some huge positive place differential.

NASCAR DFS: Core Plays

Starting my build was easy for me this week with Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones locked in automatically. Looking to fit another top priced guy I went to Landon Cassill next for the salary relief but also for the potential points. With the salary I save with Cassill, I was able to comfortably fit in Brad Keselowski. With those 4 drivers locked in I have $7,500 left for 2 slots.

Thank you for reading my NASCAR DFS Pit Stop article this week and make sure you look for my daily NHL DFS Man Advantage piece each night of the NHL schedule. Be sure to check out Fantasy CPR daily for all your DFS needs, and remember all content is ALWAYS FREE here!