Daily Fantasy NASCAR Race Preview - Kobalt 400 DFSR is proud to bring you Chris Durell. He'll be bringing weekly NASCAR picks, analysis and breakdowns to help you cash on DraftKings. Playing other DFS sports? Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NBA optimizer, NBA Player Lab and our basic NHL projections! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Want to learn some about NBA? Be sure to read our free NBA Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.     Kobalt 400 Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, Nevada Track - 1.5 Mile D Shaped Oval Intermediate Track 20° Banking in the Corners Welcome back for another week of daily fantasy NASCAR. Starting this week I am going to be doing things a bit different. I will be publishing an early look/preview article on Wednesday with a look at the track, stats, trends and some pre-qualifying & practice picks. Then after qualifying and practice, I will publish a more in-depth picks article which will be focused around place differential and dominator picks along with some lower tier value for GPP's. Let's dig in! This week the Monster Energy Cup series heads to Las Vegas this week to start the three-race West Coast swing. The Las Vegas race weekend holds a special place in my heart as it was where I not only got to see my first ever NASCAR race, but I also married my wife the next day. I joke with her all time that if I ever forget the date of our Anniversary I just have to go to historic Vegas races and find Carl Edwards win. She doesn't find it as humorous as I do. Back to racing. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is another mile and a half intermediate track like Atlanta but the comparisons end with the length. Las Vegas has less four degrees less banking in the turns and much more grip than we saw at Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend. One of the biggest challenges at LVMS is the bumps that are very prevalent between turns one and two where the tunnel goes underneath the track. The track is also one of the fastest mile and half's on the circuit and hold a track qualifying record of 196.328 mph(Kurt Busch in 2016). Let's take  a look at some of the stats and trends going into this week's Kobalt 400:  Top 10 Track History at LVMS (2 Year) Brad Keselowski is the defending champion after starting 4th last year and making a last lap pass of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to pick up the win. From a "Dominator" standpoint, it was Joey Logano(74) and Jimmie...

Daily Fantasy NASCAR Picks for DraftKings - Folds of Honor Quiktrip 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. Playing other DFS sports? Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NBA optimizer, NBA Player Lab and our basic NHL projections! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Want to learn some about NBA? Be sure to read our free NBA Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.     Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway - Atlanta, Georgia Track - 1.54 Mile Quad Oval Intermediate Track 24° Banking in the Corners Welcome back for another week of daily fantasy NASCAR. The two weeks of Daytona Speedweeks wrapped up with Kurt Busch winning the Great American Race for the first time in his career. For a complete recap of the Daytona 500 head over to my BLOG where I also break down the ownership and DraftKings points. This week drivers and teams head North to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500. Atlanta is the second oldest racing surface(20 years) in the Monster Energy Cup series circuit and will be repaved following this race. With years of wear and tear, the track is well known as a very slippery track where cars will drive loose. There are also multiple racing grooves which produces excellent racing from a driver and a fan standpoint. This year could be even racier(Been looking for a perfect time to use that word) with the new rules package which will be implemented this week and will be a part of 32 of 36 points paying races this season. The purpose of this change is to reduce downforce on the cars from 3,000 to 1,500 pounds which makes them harder to drive, putting more emphasis on the driver. This package was also used at Kentucky and Michigan's fall August race. Some drivers with notable finishes in both races are: Brad Keselowski - Kentucky(Win), Michigan(3rd) Kevin Harvick - Kentucky(9th), Michigan(5th) Jamie McMurray - Kentucky(7th), Michigan(8th) Kurt Busch - Kentucky(4th), Michigan(12th) When looking at intermediate tracks in your research the best comparisons to Atlanta are Texas and Charlotte which are both 1.5-mile quad ovals as well. It isn't an exact correlation but if you are torn between a couple drivers you can use it as a tie-breaker. From a DFS strategy perspective, this week presents a completely different angle. While we almost exclusively concentrated on place differential plays at Daytona, we will turn our attention to a Dominator model this week....

Daily Fantasy NASCAR Picks for DraftKings - Daytona 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. Playing other DFS sports? Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NBA optimizer, NBA Player Lab and our basic NHL projections! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Want to learn some about NBA? Be sure to read our free NBA Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.     Daytona 500 Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, Florida Track - 2.5 Mile Tri-Oval Superspeedway 31° Banking in the Corners Welcome back DFSR and NASCAR fans. It's finally here. The biggest race in the sport, which also happens to be the start of the season. Drivers, teams, families, media members and fans alike show up at Daytona Beach in Mid-February every year for this historic race. We got to see a very exciting Advanced Auto Parts Clash last week as well as the two Can-Am Duel qualifying races last night. Now it's time for the main event, the Daytona 500. Before getting into this year's race, let us take a look back at the wild finish to last year's race which ended up being the closest in the 58-year history of the race.   Look familiar? If you watched the second Duel race last night you saw Hamlin pull off a very similar move on Dale Jr. that allowed him to cross the finish line first. Could he repeat? We will just have to tune in to see. If you are still a little fuzzy on how the new rules work or how they will affect daily fantasy, please go back and check out my Season Preview article. The Daytona 500 stages will be complete at Lap 60(Stage 1), Lap 120(Stage 2) and Lap 200(Race Finale). Think of these stages as pre-determined cautions being thrown at these lap #'s. They will be handled like a normal caution where drivers will be able to come down pit road and to get fuel, tires, or make adjustments. Laps will be counted while under these cautions(stage breaks). The biggest difference we will notice with the new rules here at Daytona is that we aren't going to see any teams hanging out in the back with points on the line at the end of each stage. This should make for an exciting race from start to finish. No more mid-race naps for me I guess. From a DFS perspective, I will be looking at stacking teammates or manufacturers as much as possible due to the drafting that goes on with Superspeedways. Joe...

Daily Fantasy NASCAR Season Preview & Daytona Clash Picks DFSR is proud to bring you Chris Durell. He'll be bringing weekly NASCAR picks, analysis and breakdowns to help you cash on DraftKings. Playing other DFS sports? Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NBA optimizer, NBA Player Lab and our basic NHL projections! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Want to learn some about NBA? Be sure to read our free NBA Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.   Welcome back NASCAR fans. It's only been three months since Jimmie Johnson was crowned champion at Homestead, Miami but there has been a ton of news and changes within the sport. The biggest change that took place was series sponsor changing hands from Sprint to Monster Energy who receives lead series naming rights(Monster Energy Cup Series) and race sponsorship at the All-Star race. In addition, Monster Energy will also become the Official Energy Drink of NASCAR. It is only the third main sponsor for the lead series in its history and is aimed at drawing a new, younger audience while maintaining the sports values and integrity for the existing fans. The biggest thing I can suggest to those that are still trying to grasp the new rules and points system(I will go over below) is give it time. The more I read and hear feedback from drivers, crew chiefs, owners and fans the more excited I get every day leading up to the first practice. That's right I am a super nerd and try to watch every practice, qualifying and listen to every podcast, radio show to try and gather the most information as possible. Let's get into the on-track changes and new points system. With a new series sponsor comes a brand new style of NASCAR racing as all races will now be split into three stages. For the most part, the first two stages will be 25% of the total laps with the final stage making up 50% of the races total laps. I say for the most part as every track has negotiated with NASCAR on the lap totals which was dependant on track type and other factors. You can find the list of races and their stage lengths by visiting the NASCAR site. The first race with the new stage system will be the Daytona 500. The Advanced Auto Parts CLASH this Saturday night has its own segment setup that we will cover shortly. The biggest change, however, was not the way races are run but how the points are awarded. At first, it seems...

Daily Fantasy Nascar Picks Ford EcoBoost 400 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.   Ford EcoBoost 400 Homestead-Miami Speedway - Homestead, Florida Track - 1.5 Mile Oval Intermediate Track 18°- 20° Banking in the Corners Nine months and 35 races later we have reached the pinnacle of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series season. Four drivers and once race to decide the Champion with some very intriguing storylines. Let's take a look at a few. Jimmie Johnson # 48 Lowe's Chevrolet (Hendrick Motorsports) Jimmie will be looking to join legends and Hall of Fame members Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt by picking up his seventh career Sprint Cup Championship. This is the first trip to the final four for Jimmie in the three years of the Chase format. He has never picked up a win here despite the six championships but never really had to in the format as he had most of those titles wrapped up by now. In 15 career races here he has four Top 5's and 10 Top 10 finishes with a 14.07 average finish. Kyle Busch #18 M&M's Toyota (Joe Gibbs Racing) In a comeback season for the ages in 2015 Kyle Busch raced his way to his first ever Sprint Cup Championship. He will look to be the first to repeat as champion since guess who? Jimmie Johnson. He snuck into the final round after his chances looked slim late in the race. Teammate Matt Kenseth made contact with Alex Bowman which caused a late caution and propelled Kyle to a runner up and into the final. In an interview last week he was one of the drivers who made it clear he would not hesitate to move ANYONE to get the win. Don't expect that to change with a championship on the line. Carl Edwards #19 Arris Toyota (Joe Gibbs Racing) Carl is finally back in position to win a championship after coming so close five years ago. He entered the final race here at Homestead with a three point lead over Tony Stewart but unfortunately finished second to Tony in the race and the championship. It has been an up and down Chase for Edwards who recorded just three Top 10's in the first nine races but one was a win at Texas just two weeks ago. He has a teammate in the final but as he showed earlier in the year he won't hesitate to move another driver out of the way, even if it's another JGR car. Joey Logano #22 Shell Penzoil...

Daily Fantasy Nascar Picks Can-Am 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.   Can-Am 500 Phoenix International Raceway - Avondale, Arizona Track - 1 Mile Tri Oval Short Track 9°-11° Banking in the Corners Rainy weather in Texas that forced the race to start under the lights. It kicked off with Joey Logano dominating early, leading 178 laps which was followed up with the #78 of Martin Truex Jr. running up front for 60+ laps. On lap 258 Carl Edwards took over the lead and didn't look back as he picked up the win after NASCAR called the race on lap 293. With the win, both Edwards and Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson have secured their spots in the final race at Homestead next weekend. That leaves six drivers who will be fighting for two spots this Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. The interesting part is three of the remaining six drivers come from the Joe Gibbs Racing team. Kyle Busch is currently tied with Joey Logano on the positive side of the cut line while Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth are just one and two points back. Expect team work to go out the window this week and for the rest of the season as we are clearly in each driver for himself portion of the season. Hats off to coach Gibbs for bringing these four drivers and teams together and getting all four this far. Kevin Harvick and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch are in near must win situations this week sitting 18 and 34 points back respectively. Don't think about fading them, especially Harvick who has delivered each and every time in the crunch  leading up to this race. Let's dig in and take a look at some of the top plays for this weekend.   The following is the initial schedule for the weekend: First Practice - Friday @ 1:30 p.m. ET Qualifying - Friday @ 6:45 p.m. ET Practice 2 - Saturday @ 3:00 p.m. ET Final Practice - Saturday @ 6:00 p.m. ET Race - Sunday @ 2:30 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+)   Kevin Harvick DraftKings - $10,600 Practice #1 - 15th Qualified - Practice #2 -  Final Practice - He will be the ultimate chalky play this week and for very good reason. No one has dominated a track...