RADIO
A weekend of NASCAR racing at COTA concludes on Sunday with the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.
Last week at Vegas, Alex Bowman went to victory lane. Ross Chastain had a strong run, leading 83 laps and finishing third. The new generation of NASCAR car seems to have worked in terms of evening the playing field, as Corey LaJoie ended up with a top 15 and seven different drivers led at least 10 laps.
Below are some drivers to consider for DFS purposes this week. If you have any questions or want to talk NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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Chase Elliott
Starts 12th - DraftKings $10,500 | FanDuel $14,000
It's a road course. It's Chase Elliott. What's not to like?
Elliott won the inaugural race here last year, starting eighth and leading five laps on his way to the victory. Overall, Elliott has been consistently strong at road courses. In 19 Cup Series starts at this track type, Elliott has seven wins and 11 top 10s, with an average finish of 7.9.
And unlike usual, he comes with place differential upside here. Provided he doesn't get caught up in the commotion of restarts at this track, he should be in contention for a second COTA win.
Austin Cindric
Starts 10th - DraftKings $9,500 | FanDuel $11,000
Last year, Cindric ran the Xfinity race here, leading two laps and finishing fifth.
The next day, he ran the Cup race in the part-time and qualified third. He ended up finishing 25th, but he had an average running position of 10th during the race. Now that he's in a full-time ride with some more consistency, I think Cindric will develop into a driver who is always in contention at road courses. Could be a nice contrarian pick to win this race if you're looking to bet this race.
Chase Briscoe
Starts 14th - DraftKings $8,900 | FanDuel $11,500
Briscoe ran well here last year, finishing sixth, which tied his best finish of the season.
In fact, all three of Briscoe's top 10s as a rookie came on road courses. Now that he's finding some more speed overall in 2022, he's going to be a threat every time this series comes to a road course. Definite top-five upside for Briscoe in this one. I'll be going fairly heavy on him in my lineups.
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Ross Chastain
Starts 16th - DraftKings $8,200 | FanDuel $9,200
Chastain was in contention to win Saturday's Xfinity Series race until a late spin. He ultimately finished 17th, but the 14 laps he led ranked second behind race winner A.J. Allmendinger.
Chastain has been on a tear this season, with three top fives already, including second-place finishes the last two weeks.
I worry that this track isn't enough of a passing track for Chastain to contend for his first Cup Series victory, but I could be wrong based on how he's been running. Great pricing here when you factor in the place differential upside that he comes with.
Erik Jones
Starts 30th - DraftKings $7,400 | FanDuel $6,800
Jones was 16th here last year. This 43 car is in a much better spot than it was in 2021, consistently showing that it can challenge for a top 10.
With that said, Jones was only 34th in practice and 30th in qualifying, so this isn't the slam-dunk play you might think. Teammate Ty Dillon has also struggled to find speed so far. It's possible that Petty GMS is just completely off its game this weekend.
Still, with how Jones has looked most weeks, I'll want to have some exposure to him.
Joey Hand
Starts 38th - DraftKings $5,000 | FanDuel $2,000
Yes, this is technically a Rick Ware car, but I'm sure it's a little better than a Rick Ware car usually is. Why do I say that? Because Hand was 14th in practice. If he'd run a lap in qualifying, I'm sure he wouldn't be starting 38th, but hey -- when it comes to fantasy purposes, this is a great starting spot for the place differential possibilities. Of all the road-course ringers starting at the back of the field, Hand is the one that I'm most intrigued by.
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