RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Loudon on Sunday for the Ambetter 301. Will the race see as much carnage as Saturday's Xfinity race, which featured DNFs for numerous playoff contenders?
And will we get anything like the drama of Atlanta last week, when Corey LaJoie almost pulled off a miraculous victory, going for it on the final lap against Chase Elliott but wrecking in the process?
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 7/17/22 at 3:16 p.m. ET. If you have any questions or want to talk NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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Kyle Busch
Starts 17th - DraftKings $11,000 | FanDuel $12,500
Busch will roll off 17th on Sunday, offering some nice place differential opportunities from a driver who usually runs pretty well at Loudon.
Busch has won here three times in the Cup Series, most recently in 2017, when he took the pole and led 187 laps on his way to the victory. He's now led over 100 laps here four times, with the most recent time being in 2019, when he led 118 and finished eighth. He had the pole here last year and led six laps, but Busch's day ended early with a crash on the eighth lap of the race.
If you can ignore that he has two DNFs in a row here and focus on how he was running at the end in his 28 other starts here, then you should have a good day with Busch.
Ross Chastain
Starts 18th - DraftKings $9,800| FanDuel $11,500
Chastain has consistently found his way to the front this season and Sunday should be no exception, unless one of his many rivals decides to punt him into the wall. But I imagine that won't really happen until the playoffs, so I'm confident in playing Chastain throughout the remainder of the regular season.
This season, Chastain has two wins and 10 top fives, including a third at Dover and fifth at Nashville, two places that are...not like Loudon but are more like Loudon than most other places are.
As for this track, Chastain has raced here three times in Cup, but only one of those was in a good car, which was last year when he led three laps and finished eighth here for Ganassi.
Christopher Bell
Starts 5th - DraftKings $9,100 | FanDuel $9,500
Bell could go a little overlooked this week, because you don't usually want to be too confident about playing a non-elite driver who starts in the top five. But, uhh...have y'all looked at Bell's history at Loudon?
In the Cup Series, Bell finished 28th here in 2020, but he followed that up with a second-place run in 2021. But where he really gets impressive is when we look at his lower series numbers here.
In Xfinity, Bell has made three starts at Loudon. He won all of them, leading 93, 186 and 151 laps in those three races. Just some absolutely dominant stuff. And in the Truck Series, his two starts here resulted in a second and then a win.
There's something about Loudon and Christopher Bell. Sunday looks like a good time for him to win his first race of 2022.
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Chase Briscoe
Starts 29th - DraftKings $8,400 | FanDuel $9,800
Two Stewart Haas cars qualified in the top 10, but Briscoe is mired back in 29th.
But hey, that just means PD upside, right?!
Briscoe has finished in the top 20 in three of the last four races, and he led 27 laps at Gateway earlier this season and won at Phoenix, two places that require some of the same skill as this place: talent at these tracks that are in-between a short track and an intermediate.
While Briscoe finished 27th in his one Cup start here, he showed speed in is 2019 Xfinity start, finishing sixth.
Austin Dillon
Starts 30th - DraftKings $6,300 | FanDuel $5,800
Really good value here on Dillon, who starts 30th, his worst starting spot since the Daytona 500.
Dillon is someone who often finds himself in that weird in-between world, where he qualifies in that 13-25 range and then also finishes there, which makes playing him in DFS a pain. He'll have a really good race and will follow that up with negative fantasy points.
Because of the PD upside this week, I'm betting on this being one of Dillon's good fantasy showings. His average finish at this track is 16.8 in his 12 starts, and he's had consecutive top 20s here. He's finished lower than 22nd just once here.
Ty Dillon
Starts 35th - DraftKings $5,400 | FanDuel $4,000
News broke this week that Dillon won't be back in the 42 after this season, which makes sense. It's been a disappointing campaign for him in this car, with just one top 10.
But he hasn't been terrible either. His average finish is 21.6, and at this price, you'd take a 21st place finish and the PD points you would get from it and you'd call it a solid day. That's where I'm at with Ty for this one: I don't think he's going to run up to the front and contend for a top 10 or anything, but he can keep the car clean and finish 19th, which is fine for me.
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