New Hampshire Motor Speedway–otherwise known as Loudon–is a flat 1-mile race track that typically provides some great racing action on Sunday afternoon. From a DraftKings perspective, it’s another one of those races where one bad move or one mistake on pit road can lose you a lot of points. On the flip side of that, there’s quite a few bonus points available this weekend with laps led and fastest laps, and those are probably going to be dominated by the drivers that start up front. So while it’s usually worthwhile to avoid drivers who qualifying well in other races, that may not be the case this weekend at Loudon. By the way, if you would like to play our new Fantasy NASCAR games–which run for the rest of the season, not just one week–we have 2nd half contests that start this weekend at Loudon. Click the banner below for more information!
DraftKings Drivers to Avoid for the New Hampshire 301 at Loudon
Joey Logano ($9,900) – Surprised to see this name on the list? Well, let me explain why he’s here. First, Joey Logano has finished 3rd, 4th, and 1st in the last three Loudon races, which is pretty good, right? He also qualified 6th for this weekend’s race, which is another good sign. However, let’s take a step back and look at what makes a good DraftKings driver: a good finish, some laps led, some fastest laps, and a positive place differential. During Saturday morning’s practice session, Logano said that he had a top 5 car at best this weekend, and that translates to a top 10 car. So unless he gets lucky on Sunday, that eliminates the minimal place differential points he could have had. He’s probably not going to lead a whole bunch of laps because there are other cars that are much faster than the #22 Ford on the long run–which has been this team’s achilles heel all season long. Joey is going to be a solid top 10 fantasy pick here at Loudon on Sunday but we wouldn’t recommend putting him on your DraftKings roster.
Jimmie Johnson ($9,700) – There’s more bad things to say about Jimmie Johnson this weekend than there is good, and that’s why you should consider staying away from him in DraftKings at Loudon. Yes, track position is going to be very important here on Sunday, and yes the #48 Chevrolet is on the pole, but does Johnson really have the speed to stay up there all day? When you pick the pole sitter, he or she needs to lead a bunch of laps in order for your pick to work out. Johnson was 7th-fastest in Happy Hour on Saturday with the 5th-best ten-lap average, but the guy who starts 2nd (Kyle Busch) looked superior in terms of speed and should take the lead from Johnson pretty earlier. In addition to that, this #48 team has had just one top 10 finish since April, and here at Loudon, Jimmie has led just six total laps in the last nine events. He’s a nice pick for a solid top 10 finish this weekend, but that doesn’t make him a good pick in DraftKings.
Martin Truex, Jr. ($9,300) – We’re sticking with the big name drivers as the ones to avoid this weekend and next on the list is Martin Truex, Jr. He qualified 3rd for this Sunday’s New Hampshire 301, which is an awesome starting spot. He also has the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota power, and that should pay some pretty big dividends during the race on Sunday. However, let’s look at how reliable Truex has been this season. Not very. He’s led quite a few laps in quite a few races, but he rarely gets the finish he deserves, and that’s just frustrating in a game like DraftKings. One major negative against this #78 team this weekend is that they didn’t make a long run in Happy Hour and failed to show up on the ten-lap average chart. That’s a big red flag for us, because most teams should make longer runs unless their car is very mad. He was 13th on the speed chart in that session. Truex isn’t going to be a terrible Fantasy NASCAR pick on Sunday and should finish inside the 8th-through-12th mark (like he has in the last five races here) but that makes him a mediocre pick at best in DraftKings.
Matt DiBenedetto ($5,100) – This #83 team had a great qualifying effort here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday, and when you combine that with the fact that DiBenedetto is very low-priced and finished inside the top 10 at Bristol earlier this year–another short track–he might be seen as a viable option for the Loudon race this weekend. Don’t fall for the trap. The chances of DiBenedetto backing up his qualifying effort in the actual race are slim to none, and even if he does pull off a 25th-place finish on Sunday (which would be good for him), that’s only 10 points for your DraftKings team. The #83 Toyota was 35th-fastest out of 38 cars in Happy Hour on Saturday and that’s all you need to know about that.
A.J. Allmendinger ($7,100) – There’s a time and a place to put sleeper picks on your DraftKings team, and this isn’t an example of the right one. Allmendinger was on our radar as a sleeper heading into the New Hampshire 301 race weekend, and while we still think he can be used in certain Fantasy NASCAR game formats, DraftKings is not one of them. Allmendinger qualified 10th for Sunday’s big race, and while he showed top 15 speed during the practice sessions on Saturday, there was never a time that we thought he would be able to back up that top 10 qualifying effort. Looking at his record here, A.J. has never finished better than 10th in Sprint Cup action at Loudon, and that won’t change this weekend. He finished 13th in this race last year, though, and might be able to replicate that on Sunday. This isn’t an “avoid like the plague” ruling, there’s just a whole lot of risk in taking Allmendinger this week and not much potential return.
