Overview
Week two of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs hits Richmond Raceway for some short track racing. Richmond is a .75-mile flat asphalt short track and it’s very unique with a “D” shape making it a short track that tends to race as a superspeedway in some instances. The drivers will go 400 laps totaling 300 miles as there are plenty or fantasy points to be compiled. Alex Bowman, who started 24th won at Richmond earlier this season. Some of the highlights were Denny Hamlin (207 laps led) finishing second and Martin Truex, Jr (107 laps led) finishing fifth after starting on the pole. There will be plenty of pushing and shoving as the Cup drivers will crowd the short track on Saturday night.
Most comparable tracks: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway
Note: all pricing is DraftKings focused
Dominators
These are the drivers that we can typically expect to, you guessed it, dominate the race. When we think dominator we are looking for guys that will be in a position to lead a hefty amount of laps as well as be able to turn over fastest laps.
In a race with this many laps, I would recommend rostering three potential dominators with there being so man dominator points available.
Martin Truex, Jr ($10,200)
Another dangerous dominator to consider is another Joe Gibbs Racing member, Martin Truex, Jr. Truex has won two of his last five races at Richmond and has finished no worse than fifth in any of those trips. The most promising stat is the laps he’s led over that span, and really over his last seven races here for that matter. 198, 121, 163, 186, 109, 0, 107. That’s pretty good. For someone with the track record he has and the starting position he’s in (he rolls off third) you would think Truex would be extremely pricey. Truex is the sixth-highest price driver on the slate and he’ll be my most heavily owned driver.
Denny Hamlin ($10,400)
Hamlin is coming off his first win of the season and what a time for it to come, in the first race of the playoffs. Locked into the next round with that win, Hamlin virtually has nothing to lose start on the front row in the second spot in this race. Hamlin has finished in the top five in three of his last four races at Richmond and overall has three wins and 14 top five’s in his career. The last time he was here he dominated leading 207 laps and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see him come out on fire again.
Brad Keselowski ($9,300)
When looking at the points Kez needs to make something happen here if he really wants to contend for a championship. He’s found tremendous success at Richmond as far as a dominator goes leading 1,177 laps in 22 career races here with two wins and six top five’s. Brad has led at least 25 laps in each of his last five Richmond races with top 10 finishes in five of his last six. He saw his salary drop $1,100 from last week and he’s at one of his better tracks on Saturday. He’ll roll off seventh and will be in some of my tournament lineups as a second dominator with Truex or Hamlin.
Also consider:
Kyle Larson ($11,000), Starts on the pole.
Joey Logano ($10,700), Starting sixth.
Place Differential Targets
Matt DiBenedetto ($8,100)
Rolling off 28 Matty D continues to race for a job next season as he’ll be out of the 21 car at season’s end. Until then though, there are still some races for him to run well, including Richmond where he’s finished ninth, 17th, and 14th in his last three with his last two coming in the Wood Brothers’ 21 car. A fan favorite and a guy with, once again nothing to lose, DiBenedetto should be a popular P.D. play this week.
Kyle Busch ($11,500)
There isn’t much to say about K.B. other than that if you saw my Xfinity article you’ll see that Busch is sort of in the same spot that Ty Gibbs was, with the exception of limited track experience. Busch will start 15th but he’s also the highest-priced driver. However, if K.B. can get to the front look out because he has six wins and 18 top fives in his career at Richmond. He should be very low-owned.
Daniel Suarez ($6,900)
Suarez has quietly put up some solid finishes this season for TrackHouse Racing and even more suprisingly has fared well ar Richmond over his career. In eight career Cup races here Suarez has an average finish of 14.8 with three top 10’s. Suarez’ success at Richmond started at the Xfinity level, has continued to Cup and he hopes that it will continue Saturday when he starts 22nd.
Also consider:
Erik Jones ($6,600), Starting 31st
Chase Briscoe ($6,500), Starting 26th
Bubba Wallace ($6,600), Starting 27th
Dark Horse Driver
Christopher Bell ($9,600)
Bell will start 10th and is a sneaky contender to win this race. Earlier this season Bell finished fourth after starting eighth and in his first Cup race at Richmond racing for Leavine Family Racing he finished 15th after starting 26th. At the Xfinity level Bell dominated Richmond winning three of six races there leading 238 laps in his last win with 120 led in his first win. He starts 10th in sort of a no-mans-land spot. I don’t expect many to roster him but I do expect him to contend for the win when all is said and done.
Speedy Notes
Driver I have most exposure to: Martin Truex, Jr.
Driver I’m fading that worries me: Chase Elliott
Driver I have zero interest in: Kevin Harvick
GOOD LUCK!!