Daily Fantasy Nascar Picks
AAA Texas 500

DFSR is proud to bring you Chris Durell. He'll be bringing weekly NASCAR picks, analysis and breakdowns to help you cash on DraftKings & FantasyFeud. If you are new to DraftKings NASCAR DFS be sure to click on the banner below.

 

AAA Texas 500

Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, Texas
Track - 1.5 Mile Quad Oval Intermediate Track
24° Banking in the Corners

What a comeback story this past weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Six time Sprint Cup series champion Jimmie Johnson battled a beat up car and an unscheduled pit stop to claim his ninth grandfather clock on Sunday. Jimmie is now locked into the final in Homestead and will have a great shot at picking up his seventh career championship.

Another big story Sunday was the amount of Chase drivers that got caught speeding on pit road. It forced Hamlin, Edwards and Harvick to all have to work their way through the field leaving Edwards in teh biggest hole with two races to go. He is now sitting in 8th in the standings, 32 points behind the cut line. If you missed the race Sunday you can check out the quick recap video from NASCAR.com:

 

With two races remaining in until the final at Homestead pressure is at an ultimate high. Drivers and teams travel to Fort Worth, Texas for the AAA Texas 500 this Sunday afternoon. Texas Motor Speedway is a 1.5 mile intermediate track with 24° banking the turns. Whenever we get to the mile and a half track the key is to get as many top drivers in your lineup as possible. With there being just eight remaining drivers left in the Chase this shouldn't be problem with so many non chasers coming in as top value plays. Let's get to it!

 

 

The following is the initial schedule for the weekend:

• First Practice - Friday @ 12:30 p.m. ET
• Qualifying - Friday @ 6:45 p.m. ET
• Practice 2 - Saturday @ 10:30 a.m. ET
• Final Practice - Saturday @ 1:30 p.m. ET
• Race - Sunday @ 1:00 p.m. ET

 

Are you looking to streamline your research process and spend more time making lineups? Check out my DFS NASCAR Cheatsheet. If you have any questions about the cheatsheet throw me an email(jagerbombs99@gmail.com) or hit me up on Twitter(@jager_bombs9).

 

Upper Tier Targets ($9,000+)

 

Kyle Busch
DraftKings - $10,200
Practice #1 - 22nd
Qualified - 24th
Practice #2 - 23rd
Final Practice -

Kyle has cruised along so far in the Chase finishing six of seven races inside the Top 10. If not for strategy at Talladega it could have been seven for seven. He started the Round of 8 last week with a Top 5 at Martinsville and now comes back Texas where he won back in April. He has also finished each of the last four races at TMS inside the Top 5 and has six Top 10's and a very impressive 5.0 average finish over his last eight races here. He is inching closer to the final four and a shot to repeat as Sprint Cup Series Champion. With Jimmie Johnson being the man to beat here, I feel much better that he already has a win and isn't forced to push the envelope this weekend. Roll with Kyle at a discount.

 

Joey Logano
DraftKings - $9,400
Practice #1 - 4th
Qualified - 2nd
Practice #2 - 9th
Final Practice - 

He is one of only five drivers to pickup a win here at Texas in the last five years. He won here in the Spring of 2014 and has Top 5 finishes in five of the last seven races here at TMS. He has built up some nice momentum in the Chase with six finishes inside of 11th in seven races including a win at Talladega. He is the cheapest Chase driver in the upper tire and is an amazing value this weekend if he shows us more top speed throughout practice and qualifying.

 

Martin Truex Jr.
DraftKings - $10,700
Practice #1 - 11th
Qualified - 12th
Practice #2 - 19th
Final Practice - 

I have a strong feeling that Truex Jr, the most expensive non Chase driver, will be under owned with Jimmie Johnson just $100 more and Kyle Busch $500 less. I think this presents a great opportunity for GPP's . Although he is yet to win here in his career he is trending in the right direction finishing each of the last three races inside the Top 10. He was on his way to a win here back in April but after leading 141 laps faded to a 6th place finish after the decision was made to stay out on older tires during the final restart.

 

Also Consider - Matt Kenseth

Middle Tier Targets ($7,000-$9,000)

 

Carl Edwards
DraftKings - $8,900
Practice #1 - 2nd
Qualified - 9th
Practice #2 - 22nd
Final Practice - 

It's not quite do or die time for the #19 but it's sure close. Not only did he get caught speeding on pit road last week but he also had right front damage from getting into the wall. He couldn't overcome these issues and ended up finishing 36th and sits 32 points back of 4th place. I think the combination of Edwards current form(back to back 29th or worse), sub $9K price and track history make him an elite play this week. He has three career wins here and over the last 10 races has seven Top 10 finishes. At his price he is safe in all formats.

 

 

 

Greg Biffle
DraftKings - $7,000
Practice #1 - 12th
Qualified - 25th
Practice #2 - 10th
Final Practice - 

Even with one of his best runs of the season, Biffle has seen his price drop to its lowest point since Michigan back in the summer. If he practices well and can give us a little bit of place differential upside I think you can even trust him cash games this week. Over the last 10 races here at Texas he has a win, three Top 5's, five Top 10's and an nice 12.6 average finish.

 

Also Consider - Alex Bowman

 

 

Low End Targets ($6,900 and Below)

 

Aric Almirola
DraftKings - $6,900
Practice #1 - 26th
Qualified - 21st
Practice #2 - 19th
Final Practice - 

If you are looking for track history down in the low tier this week you are in the wrong place. Like I said in the intro you want to get as many of the high end drivers as possible in your lineup. If you are dipping down below $7K this week consider Almirola who is one of only two drivers with a Top 10 here at Texas in the past five years(10 races). He has also scored the most DraftKings points per race over both the last five and 10 races.

 

 

Also Consider - Michael McDowell

 

 

 

Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/rctYlfLJvf

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 3, 2016

 

 

Post Practice & Qualifying Update

Qualifying Top 10

1. #3 Austin Dillon
2. #22 Joey Logano
3. #4 Kevin Harvick
4. #2 Brad Keselowski
5. #42 Kyle Larson
6. #27 Paul Menard
7. #20 Matt Kenseth
8. #21 Ryan Blaney
9. #19 Carl Edwards
10. #41 Kurt Busch

 

 

If you have any questions on lineups or drivers prior to lineup lock scroll down to the comment section and join the conversation.

 

Good Luck everyone!

 

 

 

Chris Durell has been playing Daily Fantasy Sports for three years and fantasy in general for more than a decade. He is active player in college football, NFL, NBA, PGA, and of course NASCAR. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada with his wife and two daughters. You can follow him on Twitter at @jager_bombs9 for advice, strategy, answers to any NASCAR questions or how he copes with the winters up north.