NASCAR IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE Post #1 – Picks and Projections

This Saturday we’re going to the Bristol Motor Speedway for the Irwin Tools Night Race.  Bristol is a short track with high banks and runs a bit slower than the speeds we saw last week (qualifying speeds were around 130mph vs around 190mph last week).

Note – all salary info comes from DraftKings.  If you haven’t signed up yet and want to play NASCAR with me, sign up here. 

My Favorites

Kyle Busch ($10,300) – Kyle just finished winning the NASCAR XFINITY race at Bristol.  He’s been on fire lately and had a strong performance last week even after switching to his backup car (and starting last).  He’s almost a requirement in your lineup this week.

Kevin Harvick ($10,500) – Kevin Harvick is always a strong pick.  He has the 3^rd highest driver rating on short tracks and qualified in 7^th posting a 130.3mph top speed.  He’s a great driver and another great pick for your lineup.

Clint Bowyer ($8,100) – Clint performs almost 25% better than his usual statistics on short tracks.  He qualified in 9^th so he’s got some upside in addition to being moderately priced.

Denny Hamlin ($9,200) – Denny won the pole position for this race posting the fastest time.  Denny also has the fastest speed in both qualifying and practice at 131.407mph.  He’s looked great so far this weekend and there’s no indication that he won’t continue that trend.

My Dislikes

Martin Truex Jr ($9,000) – Martin posted a great race last weekend and 72 fantasy points, however, he’s looked pretty average so far this weekend.  Truex qualified 23^rd driving at a much lower speed (128.159mph) than the top finishers like Hamlin and Kyle Busch.  He’s just not a great pick this weekend.

Kyle Larson ($9,500) – Kyle always seems to post great qualifying times but lacks the finishing ability over the entire race.  I don’t expect much different from Larson this weekend.  Larson is 12.3% worse than his driver average on short tracks.  I’d look for more value in tomorrow’s race.

Stay tuned tomorrow for full projections.  Good luck and ABI, my friends,

Rob