Daily Fantasy NASCAR Preview & Picks for DraftKings and FanDuel - Wise Power 400 @ Auto Club Speedway

Chris Durell will be bringing you his weekly race breakdown, top trends, and top targets to help you cash on DraftKings and FanDuel. He also provides a comprehensive cheatsheet looking at current and career track history, current form, fantasy averages, trends, practice/qualifying information, and then puts it all together with a customizable model. Get your copy by visiting our "Chris's DFS Sheets" page.

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Track Information

Auto Club Speedway 
Track Type - Two-Mile Oval
14° of Banking

Last Six Winners at Auto Club Speedway

2020 - Alex Bowman(started 3rd)
2019 - Kyle Busch(started 4th)
2018 - Martin Truex Jr.(started 1st)
2017 - Kyle Larson(started 1st)
2016 - Jimmie Johnson(started 19th)

After a jam-packed week in Daytona, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back West for a three-week stretch that starts at Auto Club Speedway for the Wise Power 400. The track is a two-mile D-shaped oval that I categorize with Michigan in my track type database with the only real difference between the two being the banking as Michigan is slightly steeper at 18 degrees. Both tracks are high on the driver's list and it comes down to speed and the fact there are multiple lanes to try and generate speed. Combine all that with the new NextGen car and we should get another exciting race on Sunday.

While we were blessed with four practices for the Daytona 500 last week, things are somewhat rushed and shortened here in Cali this week. This will mark the start of the new practice and qualifying structure in place for the 2022 season. Before we go any further let's have a look at how it will play out.

Qualifying position has proven to be very important here at Fontana as displayed above with the winner coming from a Top 5 starting position in four straight years including from the pole twice. Looking at it from an entire field perspective, Auto Club Speedway has also posted one of the highest correlations from start to finish of all tracks in the series(can find this data on my NASCAR sheet).

Despite needing qualifying data to finalize my picks and exposures in my player pool, let's go over a few drivers who pop early on in the model looking at track history and other factors.

Initial Targets

Kyle Busch

Kyle opens at +750 to win this week which is third right behind Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson(+333) and Chase Elliott(+600). I love the PTS/$ value as he has been elite here at Fontana leading all drivers with three wins and seven podium finishes over the last 10 races here at Auto Club Speedway. Busch has also gotten off to a terrific start in the new car in 2022 finishing runner-up at the Clash, 4th in his Duel race, and 6th at the Daytona 500 last week. We will have to wait for practice/qualifying to finalize our exposure but the #18 is most definitely going to be part of my core this week.

Brad Keselowski

He most definitely didn't make any friends at Daytona with his ultra-aggressive pushing and while that does add some risk to the equation, I love that he is pushing(no pun intended) the new car to find its limits and another great track for that is Auto Club Speedway with its wide track and multiple racing lanes. More good news as he returns to one of his best tracks as he has tallied a Top 5 finish here at Fontana in four straight and five of his last six trips including a win in 2015. To cap it off, he comes at a mid-tier price on both sites which really helps add a ton of PTS/$ upside.

Aric Almirola

No better way for Almirola to kick off his final season in NASCAR than two of his best tracks at the top of the schedule. While he didn't get the win last week at Daytona, he put up another solid effort with a 5th place finish and now returns to Fontana where he has some very nice track history. He has tallied a Top 10 finish(8th, 9th) in each of his last two trips and has finished no worse than 21st in the last six races going back to 2015. That is a very high floor for a driver in the mid $7K range on DraftKings/mid $6K range on FanDuel. Stay tuned for qualifying to see how much exposure we should end up with.

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