After a week off for Easter, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series returns for the Food City 500 and some short track racing. This will be the first of two races at Bristol Motor Speedway and it appears she is getting her groove back. The lower groove that is which should once again bring "Old Bristol" racing conditions into play. The track crew applied a compound to the lower groove before last Summer's race and it was praised a ton by almost every driver across multiple series. They will be using the compound once again this week and will also be performing the tire dragging procedure which should help put more rubber down on the track.

Qualifying was rained out on Friday but the teams were able to get in a practice in the afternoon and both practices on Saturday. The big issues will come on Sunday when there is around a 90% chance of rain all day. Per bob Pockrass, NASCAR has already planned around this.

If Xfinity race ppd, then after Cup Sun (6:30ish). If Cup ppd Sun, Cup race 1p Mon. If both ppd, Cup at noon Mon, followed by Xfin (4:30ish)

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 22, 2017

With the field set by owner's points, there will most definitely be some excellent place differential value plays so be sure to download my cheatsheet at the bottom of the article and check out my video on my YouTube channel later today. Let's jump right into the picks.

Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings DFS Lineup Picks - Food City 500

Kyle Busch ($10,600)

At one point in his career, Kyle Busch absolutely owned this track. He picked up his first win here in March 2007 and went on to win five times in a nine-race stretch here at Bristol. Things haven't been so great lately, however, as he has failed to finish a race here in three of his last four trips with just one Top 10 over his last six races at Thunder Valley. He is in a great position to turn that around this week as he has a fast car and starts inside the Top 10. His price went up and he has been very high owned lately so if you are jumping on board make sure to fit him in at least 40% of your lineups if you are multi-entering.

Clint Bowyer ($8,400)

A new manufacturer and a new, re-juvenated Clint Bowyer has brought a lot of excitement to the #14 team for Stewart-Haas Racing. Since his 32nd place finish at the Daytona 500, Bowyer has put together three Top 10's and has not finished worse than 13th in six straight races. I would say he is more than back and ready to win again. He will start ninth when the green flag drops and saw an improving car through Saturday's practices where he went from 12th to seventh and was also the second fastest in 10 lap averages in final practice. He is safe in all formats.

A.J. Allmendinger ($6,500)

Scrolling down all the to the mid $6K range is one of my favorite place differential value plays. Dinger picked up his first career Top 10 here at Bristol in the August night race and has teh upside of another this weekend. From a fantasy perspective, his value comes from the 25th starting position and the fact he was eighth and 16th in the final two practices.

NASCAR DFS Cheat Sheet

Don't have the time to search multiple sites looking for NASCAR stats and data? Check out my DFS NASCAR cheatsheet which includes Track History(2-Year Trend & Career), Track Type History(2-Year Trend), Current Form, Practice/Qualifying Data, and a weighted system to get an overall rank for each driver each race. Check out it now while it's still in BETA mode and FREE to everyone. Click image below to open the complete cheatsheet. 

DFS & Fantasy NASCAR Chat Room

If you have any questions leading up to the race hit me up in the chat below!

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The Keys to Weekly NASCAR DFS Success

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Sean Engel recently won his 7th career DFS tournament, and had the top lineup in seven contests and 10 top-two finishes. Be sure to use his weekly NASCAR DFS rankings and DFS lineup picks, updated regularly.

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