Daily Fantasy NASCAR Picks for DraftKings - Camping World 500

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Camping World 500

Phoenix International Raceway - Avondale, AZ
Track - 1 Mile Tri-Oval Short Track
9°-11° Banking in the Corners

NASCAR Goes West continues on into Phoenix and they couldn't have received better weather. It's hot and I am jealous sitting here in about 45-degree weather. Qualifying and practice are now over and I have crunched the numbers on the cheatsheet and now ready to construct some lineups. If you missed my Race Preview Article be sure to go check that out for some general Phoenix International Raceway trends and pre-practice/qualifying picks.

I will be using a similar strategy to last week but really concentrating on getting the dominator points. It's a shorter one-mile track where track position is key and even more important with the stage racing setup with so much emphasis on points. Like last week, there is a ton of place differential upside both at the top and bottom of the salary. Let's take a look.

 

Drivers to Build Around

Joey Logano
DraftKings - $10,500
Practice 1 - 3rd
Qualified - 1st
Practice 2 - 2nd
Final Practice - 1st

I am a GPP player and not at all worried about last week's post-race incident with Kyle Busch. I lead off with this as both drivers are in my "Drivers to Build Around" section and could end up battling for a Top 5 position once again this week. He won the Coors Lite Pole on Friday evening and carried that speed over into race trim on Saturday finishing 2nd and 1st in the final two practices. He has upside to lead a ton of laps leading to a lot of dominator points. He is safe in all formats.

 

 

Kevin Harvick
DraftKings - $11,100
Practice 1 - 13th
Qualified - 23rd
Practice 2 - 6th
Final Practice - 16th

Once again he will be starting back in the field at a track he has had a ton of success at in the past. He has won six of the last nine races here at Phoenix International Raceway and eight total in his career. I would have like to see more speed out of the #4 in final practice and for that, I only recommend him for GPP's this week. We saw first-hand last week what can happen when you have a fast car come through the field, whether or not the aggression lead to the tire going down.

 

 

Kyle Busch
DraftKings - $10,100
Practice 1 - 6th
Qualified -9th
Practice 2 - 10th
Final Practice - 3rd

I may be a little biased but sure loved the end of the race and the passion Kyle showed. I don't think the punch was warranted and with the place differential points he lost would sure have liked to see some MMA points added. Either way, I will be back on the Skittles wagon this week in Phoenix where Kyle really stood out in final practice leading everyone in 5, 10, 15, and 20 consecutive lap averages and was third fastest. He will start 9th giving him some place differential upside along with some dominator points upside. I won't be running him in many lineups with Joey as they could be battling it out late again and who knows who will come out of it and actually make it across the finish line.

 

 

 

Also Consider: Kyle Larson(Top 10 in all three practices & qualifying)

 

 

Top Place Differential Value Plays

Martin Truex Jr. 
DraftKings - $9,400
Practice 1 - 4th
Qualified - 16th
Practice 2 - 4th
Final Practice - 9th

Last week's dominating race winner doesn't appear to have the same dominating car this week but has excellent place differnetial value. He will be starting 26th and showed Top 5 speed in the first two practices and Top 10 speed in final practice. The Toyota's look fast this week as a whole and should Truex can be targeted in all formats under $10K.

 

 

Daniel Suarez
DraftKings - $6,400
Practice 1 - 26th
Qualified - 27th
Practice 2 - 18th
Final Practice - 19th

The rookie driver of the #19 car started the weekend out slow and qualified way back in 27th for tomorrow's race. This opens up some place differential value as he was much faster in ranking inside the Top 20 in both final practices. He did spin in final practice and had to replace a trackbar but I don't see it being an issue as he was able to get back on track for 20+ minutes. He has yet to race here in the Cup series but has an 11th, 4th, 3rd and 5th last year in the Xfinity series along with a win in the Truck series last season as well.

 

 

 

Bottom Tier Value Play

Chris Buescher
DraftKings - $5,800
Practice 1 - 30th
Qualified - 33rd
Practice 2 - 24th
Final Practice - 30th

Digging deep here for a stars and scrubs value play and ended up with Chris Buescher in a lot of my lineups. He will be starting 33rd and showed Top 25 speed in the second practice and even 30th in final practice isn't bad considering the punt price tag. Definitely GPP only.

 

 

 

Also Consider: Landon Cassill($5,600)

 

 

 

 

For a limited time I am offering a copy of my DFS NASCAR cheathsheet which includes Track History, Current Form, Odds, Track Type History, Practice/Qualifying Ranks and much more. Get it HERE.

 

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.