Overview

The Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 at Daytona is a 60-lap race consisting of 21 drivers. See starting lineup below. Daytona is a 2.5-mile tri-oval that is heavily banked. The asphalt track banks 31 degrees in the turns and 18 degrees in the tri-oval and if you’ve ever had the pleasure of walking on the track you’d know that it is quite a climb up from the infield to the wall surrounding the track. Unlike the Daytona 500 race, we don’t have to worry as much about “the big one” (a wreck that takes out a number of cars) because there are only 21 cars in this race. Below is a simple look at how I’ll be attacking the Duels.

Strategy

Since the Duels are just 60 laps I’m essentially throwing dominator points (laps led and fastest laps) out the window and looking simply for drivers with place differential upside that I think can finish in a top-five position.

Most comparable tracks: Talladega Superspeedway (only real difference is how much wider it is than Daytona)

*Note: all pricing is DraftKings focused

Top Drivers

Justin Haley ($9,000), Starting 14th

Haley has good track history at all of the Superspeedways and he sees some good place differential available to him here. Despite starting in the middle of the field, Haley has shown the ability to avoid trouble on superspeedways while being able to find himself towards the front. It would be no surprise to me to see Haley crack the top seven or even top five in this race.

Kurt Busch ($9,400), Starting 13th

Busch worries me slightly as he’s the only Toyota starting in the first Duel (the other five are running in the second) so he could find himself left out of a potential manufacturer’s chain driving toward the front. Of course, this is all speculation and Busch has a lot of track time at Daytona, but it is worth noting.

Brad Keselowski ($8,700), Starting 9th

Daytona is a track that has always alluded Keselowski, a driver who has essentially accomplished everything in the Cups series except for winning the Daytona 500. He’ll have to wait until Sunday to make that attempt but starting ninth in the first Duel is a good spot for him to make up some place differential points while finishing well.

Erik Jones ($6,300), Starting 12th

Jones has never really lived up to the hype he had surrounding him as a young driver but he’s managed to stick around and finds himself part of the Richard Petty stable once again. He’ll start 12th which offers some place differential value and the upside for a solid finish. I would suspect that Jones is lower owned than most here with a lot of people looking for more name-brand talent.

GOOD LUCK!!