Daily Fantasy Nascar Picks
Sylvania 300

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

Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the Sylvania 300? Chris is selling a cheatsheet and lineups for DraftKings & FantasyFeud for $5. Just scroll to the bottom of the picks. This is a separate service than our traditional monthly membership.

Sylvania 300

New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Loudon, NH
Track Type/Length - 1.058 Mile Oval Intermediate Track

Joe Gibbs Racing continued to dominate in the first Chase race. Denny Hamlin punched his ticket into the Contender round by winning the opening race in Chicago last weekend. They made a late pit call to stay out which paid off big time at the end of the race after starting in the 29th position. Teammate Carl Edwards, who started in the 14th position, ended up finished 2nd right behind Hamlin. Matt Kenseth made it three JGR drivers in the top 5 with his 5th place finish at Chicago. Kyle Busch led 121 laps in the race but ended up in 9th and placing all JGR cars inside the top 10 to start the Chase. Team Penske also proved to be strong to kick off the Chase as both Keselowski and Logano spent the entire race inside the top 15 and finished 8th and 6th respectively. Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick looked strong in the first race with Busch finishing in 3rd place. The same strong finish didn't happen for Harvick. On lap 138 Jimmie Johnson was pushed below the apron on a restart and came back up the track and slammed into Harvick which eventually caused a blown tire and a 42nd place finish for the #4 team. There was a confrontation post race between the two which lead to Harvick pushing Jimmie and leaving abruptly. While most believe the feud will carry over to New Hampshire, Harvick has way too much to lose this week to worry about Chicago. Now if it is the final lap and they are fighting for position don't expect Harvick to race clean vs. Johnson. Tensions are definitely growing as we are now in the playoffs and don't expect that to change anytime soon.

This week the teams get ready for a second trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Sylvania 300 and race #2 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The track is very flat with around 12 degrees of banking in the corners. There is usually minimal passing here at New Hampshire making track position very important. Look for teams to spend a lot of time in the first practice on Friday in Qualifying trim trying to get a fast short run setup to have a good shot at qualifying up front. It was the New Hampshire race in earlier this year where Kyle Busch made an incredible 3 car pass to pretty much save his season. He was a lap down at the time with word on the radio of a possible oil spill and upcoming caution. He was right on the tail of leaders Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski when he darted through both of them and a lap car to get back on the lead lap before the caution which came out just 1/2 a lap later. To see the complete video click HERE.

When looking at daily fantasy this week you will want to target drivers who are fast in practice and qualify close to the front. For cash games, filling out your lineups with mostly Chase drivers is again a good strategy. For larger tournaments you can easily fit the top drivers in as there are a few lower end drivers who should present some value. My initial lineups on the cheatsheet are a starting point. The lineups are subject to change once practice and qualifying are over so be sure to check back Saturday for any changes. I will also be active on Twitter leading up to the race so be sure to check out my updates.

Upper Tier Targets

Kyle Busch
DraftKings - $10,800
Fantasy Feud - $275,000
Vegas Odds - 6/1
Chase Standings – 4th
Practice #1 -
Practice #2 -
Final Practice -
Qualified -
He had a good start to the Chase with a 9th place finish at Chicago after leading 121 laps. The entire JGR team looked strong and all finished inside the top 10 last week. I see the trend continuing this week lead by Busch who has been outstanding at New Hampshire. In his previous five races here he has a win, four top 5's, five top 10's with a 3.0 average finish. He has looked more determined than ever to contend for a championship and can slip into the Contender round with a win on Sunday.

Brad Keselowski
DraftKings - $10,600
Fantasy Feud - $260,000
Vegas Odds - 6/1
Chase Standings – 9th
Practice #1 - 3rd
Practice #2 - 3rd
Final Practice - 3rd
Qualified - 4th
He started out the Chase with a top 10 finish and now comes back to New Hampshire where he has had a lot of success. In the previous five races he has a win, three top 5's, four top 10's and a 5.0 average finish. He is probably the most consistent driver in NASCAR over the past two months as he hasn't finished outside the top 10 in ten straight races. In those ten races he hasn't picked up a win so he should come into New Hampshire extra hungry to take the checkered flag and move on to the Contender round. He is a safe play in any format this week.

Matt Kenseth
DraftKings - $10,000
Fantasy Feud - $255,000
Vegas Odds - 8/1
Chase Standings – 1st
Practice #1 - 10th
Practice #2 - 9th
Final Practice - 10th
Qualified - 13th
It is hard to pick against Joe Gibbs Racing right now so I won't. Kenseth has two wins in his previous five races including a 5th place finish at Chicago to kick off the Chase. Besides his teammate Kyle Busch, he has been the best JGR driver here at New Hampshire lately. In the previous five races here he has a win, two top 5's, four top 10's and a 8.2 average finish. He has also led 151 laps here in those five races. Look for another strong finish from the #20 team this week. He will be a safe pick in any format.

Also Consider - Carl Edwards

Middle Tier Targets

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
DraftKings - $8,700
Fantasy Feud - $180,000
Chase Standings – 10th
Practice #1 - 6th
Practice #2 - 6th
Final Practice - 15th
Qualified - 11th
He fell a few spots in the Chase standings with a 12th place finish at Chicago and will be looking to climb back up here at New Hampshire. It is a track he has had some success at recently with one top 5, three top 10's and a 8.8 average finish in the previous five races here. He has also been very consistent over the past 2 months making him a great choice for cash games this week.

Kyle Larson
DraftKings - $8,200
Fantasy Feud - $160,000
Vegas Odds - 34/1
Chase Standings – Not in Chase
Practice #1 - 4th
Practice #2 - 11th
Final Practice - 13th
Qualified - 6th
He isn't in the Chase but presents plenty of upside and should be lower owned than Chase drivers in his salary range. He has raced here three times and has two top 5 finishes to show for it with a 12.0 average finish. He is the kind of driver that takes in all the info from previous races and improves each time out so look for a strong finish and another possible top 5 this weekend. I will be using him in GPP only this week.

Also Consider - Jamie McMurray & Ryan Newman

Low End Target

Aric Almirola
DraftKings - $6,600
Fantasy Feud - $95,000
Vegas Odds - 301/1
Chase Standings – Not in Chase
Practice #1 - 27th
Practice #2 - 19th
Final Practice - 25th
Qualified - 15th
Another driver who is not in the Chase who makes a nice low end option in any format this week. The #43 team has been very consistent lately with four top 15 finishes in their last five races and top 10's in each of the last two. Almirola comes back to New Hampshire with a nice record scoring one top 5, two top 10's and a 14.0 average finish in the last five races here. He provides salary relief this week for cash or GPP formats.

Also Consider - Paul Menard & Justin Allgaier

***Post Practice & Qualifying Update***
Qualifying Top 10
1. #19 Carl Edwards
2. #4 Kevin Harvick
3. #41 Kurt Busch
4. #2 Brad Keselowski
5. #48 Jimmie Johnson
6. #42 Kyle Larson
7. #11 Deny Hamlin
8. #22 Joey Logano
9. #41 Ryan Newman
10. #24 Jeff Gordon

Carl Edwards was fastest in first practice, qualified 1st then was fastest in 2nd practice. He finished Saturday 5th in final practice but had the best consecutive 10 lap average. He should be able to lead some laps early and has a great chance at getting a win and advancing. Kevin Harvick will be right there beside Edwards to start the race and looks to have a great opportunity to get a win. He got better throughout the weekend finishing 2nd and 1st in the final two practices. He is up against the wall and will do just about anything at this point for a win. Brad Keselowski looks to be the Team Penske driver to own this weekend. He was 3rd in both final practices and will start 4th. Kyle Busch's value went up big time after qualifying. He barely made round 2 and was 17th fastest after running about 5 laps. It didn't look to get much better in 2nd practice(18th) but the #18 team seemed to find something in final practice as they ran 2nd fastest and also had the 2nd fastest consecutive 10 lap average. On the low end I am liking AJ Allmendinger(starting 30th) and Landon Cassill(starting 32nd) for values.

Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the Sylvania 300? Chris is selling a cheatsheet and lineups for DraftKings and FantasyFeud for $5. This is a separate service than our traditional monthly membership. Head over to our PayPal payment page, if that's more your bag.

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.