Hollywood Casino 400

Kansas Speedway

The term “war of attrition” is often used this time of year for describing baseball games that use a lot of relievers, or describing how football teams have to hang in despite injuries. However this past Sunday, a war of attrition was evident in Talladega, Alabama in the Alabama 500. Just 14 cars finished the race and 13 were on the lead laps. When all was said and done Brad Keselowski led the lap that mattered most and came away with a ticket punched for the Round of 8. Even though NASCAR changed the schedule around to make Talladega the second race in the second round, instead of the elimination race, it sill affected the standings in a noticeable way. Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch now sit on the bubble straddling the 8-9 line heading into Kansas.

Kansas Speedway is one of the newer tracks on the schedule, just having been opened in 2001. A standard Tri-Oval, 1.5-mile layout makes up the track that sits just outside of Kansas City, Missouri. Originally the track had 15-degree banking in all the corners but now, following a redesign in 2012, it has 17-20 degree banking depending on how close you are to the wall in the corners.

Typically at Kansas, 78% of the winners, since 2001, have come from the top-five starting spots in the grid. Seven out of the past 12 races here have seen winners come from P6 or further back. Also typically speaking at Kansas races, there is one driver with 100+ laps led and a few more between 30-70 laps led, and usually the pole sitter has led the most laps, even if they don’t win or finish in the top-10.

DFS Playbook

DriverDraft KingsNASCAR LiveDescription
Martin Truex Jr.$10,800$28.00What's not to like about MTJ? He's the defending winner here in May and has won the last three 1.5-mile tracks. He's on the pole and has the most laps led in the last five races. Cash or GPP
Kyle Busch$10,300$27.50Busch is on the wrong side of the bubble right now, but has a fast car this week and upside. He has a win, and four top-fives in the last four races here. Needing a win hasn't stopped him before
Jimmie Johnson$9,900$23.25JJ has the most wins, top-fives, top-10s, and second-most top-20s in the tracks history. He's been a middling car in practice, but the 48-team is always in the running at 1.5-mile tracks. GPP works
Kyle Larson$9,800$27.75Larson has been iffy here recently with one top-10 in the last five races and an average finish of 23.5. He has however run P1 in two practices this week and qualified P14. The upside is GPP play
Kevin Harvick$9,600$27.00Harvick has been the most consistent driver at pracitce this week with a P2, P2, P3 and qualified P2. Harvick has a win and four top-fives in the last five races here. Cash or GPP value are the plays
Matt Kenseth$9,000$26.75Kenseth has the second-most laps led in the last five races, a top-five, and three top-10s. Career-wise he is arguably the second-best driver here. Starts P3 he has a very high upside. Either works
Clint Bowyer$8,700$23.50It's Bowyer's home track this week and in the last five races he has a top-10 and two top-20s. He's been solid here as well and shown solid speed at practice. He offers GPP upside this week
Ryan Blaney$8,500$17.00Blaney led the final practice and ran P4 and P6 in the other two. He starts P40 after his qualifying time was disallowed. Two top-fives and three top-10s make him a must start in any format Sunday
Daniel Suarez$7,400$22.75Suarez has only ran here once in MENCS and finished P7 after starting P15. He also has a top-five and two top-10s in Xfinity here. His top-10 speed all week makes him a good play in either format
Ty Dillon$6,800$18.00Two races in for Dillon in the MENCS and he has an average finish of P20 while starting P27. He also has a top-five and a top-10 in two Xfinity races. He's a little steep but has good upside for GPP
Chris Buescher$6,700$14.25Buescher found speed at practice but will have to see if it translates to the race, I believe it will. He has one top-20 in the last three races at Kansas. He ran P16, P7, P11 and starts P20. Works for all
Paul Menard$6,500$14.25Menard has three top-20s in the last five races at Kansas but also has two DNFs. Menard ran P26, P4, P27 and starts P23. He really only goes as a GPP play Sunday for his lack of speed.
A.J. Allmendinger$6,400$10.00Allmendinger has two top-10s and three top-20s in the last five races here. P28, P30, P17 in practice and qualified P26 for the start. A.J. is a sleeper play this week and certainly at this price
Michael McDowell$6,100$10.25McDowell has a very nice +7.55 PD in the last four races and has one top-20 in that time. He has run in the mid-20s during practice and qualified P16. McDowell is cheap enough to play in either
Landon Cassill$5,800$6.00Cassill is back on the list as a budget play this Sunday. He has a +7.2 PD in the last several races here without finishing in the top-20 so far. Decent speed makes him a budget-friendly play

Optimal Lineups

Draft Kings Cash 
Martin Truex Jr.$10,800
Kevin Harvick$9,600
Ryan Blaney$8,500
Daniel Suarez$7,400
Chris Buescher$6,700
Michael McDowell$6,100
  
Total$49,100

 

Draft Kings GPP 
Martin Truex Jr.$10,800
Kyle Busch$10,300
Kyle Larson$9,800
Ty Dillon$6,800
Michael McDowell$6,100
David Ragan$5,900
  
Total$49,700

 

Draft Kings GPP #2 
Kyle Busch$10,300
Kevin Harvick$9,600
Matt Kenseth$9,000
Ryan Blaney$8,500
A.J. Allmendinger$6,400
Michael McDowell$6,100
  
Total$49,900

 

NASCAR Live 
Martin Truex Jr.$28.00
Kyle Larson$27.75
Ryan Blaney$17.00
Chris Buescher$14.25
Michael McDowell$10.25
Bonus WinnerMartin Truex Jr.
Bonus ManufacturerToyota
  
Total$97.25

 

Streak To The FinishKevin Harvick