The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is set to run 500 laps at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon, and that means one thing for DraftKings players: a lot of FPTS up for grabs. While typically you only target drivers that qualify up front when they can dominate a race, it’s a little easier to justify taking a chance on a pole winner here at Martinsville simply because there are so many laps ran here. There are two races at Martinsville every year, and while we usually see one driver mainly dominate the first event (it was Kyle Busch this season), we usually see two or three split the domination in this second race. We expect the same to happen this weekend. It’s not uncommon for drivers to make their way through the field here, either, so don’t be afraid to target place differential FPTS this weekend, too.
High-Dollar DraftKings Drivers to Target at Martinsville 2 (over $9,500)
Kyle Busch ($10,700) – Kyle Busch is the highest-priced driver this weekend, and for good reason: he absolutely dominated the race the last time we came to Martinsville, and he has a car that could win once again this weekend. Rowdy qualified 9th for Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 but he should be in the top 5 soon after the green flag waves. Here at Martinsville, Busch is a pretty boom or bust driver, with ten top 5 finishes in twenty-two career starts (45.5%). Over his last seven starts here, though, he has posted four top 5s, and with the way this #18 team has been running in this year’s Chase, Kyle Busch should be good for another one on Sunday. We don’t know if Rowdy will lead the most laps this weekend, but we do think he’s going to win the race. The #18 had the 2nd-best ten-lap average in Happy Hour.
Kevin Harvick ($10,300) – This is the lowest salary associated with Kevin Harvick in quite a while, so it makes it easier to include him in your DraftKings lineup this weekend. And because he qualified back in 20th, we expect Harvick’s ownership percentage to be quite high on Sunday. You can interpret that however you would like. As far as his history here at Martinsville, Harvick hasn’t had a top 5 finish at this track in five years, but that could easily change this weekend. He has led 264 laps over the last three races here at “The Paperclip” and should add to that total here this weekend. Our only concern with Harvick this weekend is whether or not he will be simply playing it safe on Sunday, but that’s not enough to make us stay away from him in DraftKings.
Brad Keselowski ($9,600) – Place differential FPTS aren’t the easiest things to come by at a track like Martinsville, so when you have the opportunity to get them, you have to capitalize on that. Brad Keselowski will start back by Kevin Harvick in 19th, but we expect both of those drivers to make their way through the field on Sunday. Keselowski has finished 9th or better in six of the last nine races here at Martinsville Speedway, and that includes top 5 results in two of the last three events here. He wasn’t blazing fast on the speed charts on Saturday, but the #2 Ford did have the 6th-fastest lap in Happy Hour. One thing to consider with BK this weekend is the fact that he is now eliminated from the Chase and will be focusing solely on wins now. That tends to be either very good or very bad for Fantasy NASCAR owners, but don’t forget that this #2 car tends to get the best fuel mileage in the Sprint Cup garage.
Mid-Dollar DraftKings Drivers to Target at Martinsville 2 (between $7,500 and $9,500)
Matt Kenseth ($9,200) – DraftKings players got a couple gifts with Matt Kenseth this weekend. First is that he’s relatively under-priced, considering he’s been one of the stronger drivers here at Martinsville since joining Joe Gibbs Racing. The second gift was his qualifying effort this weekend: 17th. By putting Matt Kenseth in your DraftKings lineup this weekend, you’re looking at 45 base FPTS if he finishes 8th (like we predict), and anything above that is just a bonus. The #20 Toyota had consistent speed in both practice sessions on Saturday and ranked 12th in ten-lap average during Happy Hour. Overall, Kenseth has four top 6 finishes in the last six Martinsville races, and he led 45 laps here back in April before finishing 15th due to getting stuck in the outside lane late in the race. Kenseth will probably be one of the best point-per-dollar DraftKings drivers this weekend.
Austin Dillon ($8,100) – The #3 Chevrolet got into the wall pretty good during qualifying and the team was never able to recover so they’ll have to start from 32nd when Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 goes green. That’s not very concerning to us, though, and for quite a few reasons. First, Austin Dillon is pretty good here at Martinsville, at least from a consistency standpoint; in five career starts here, Dillon has just one finish worse than 18th. He’s also no stranger to coming through the field here, as he started 30th and finished 18th in this race one year ago, and he started 29th and finished 4th when we last raced here in April. Speed-wise, the #3 Chevrolet ranked 16th on the ten-lap average chart in Happy Hour on Saturday. As long as Austin Dillon can avoid going down a lap early on Sunday, he should be a great DraftKings pick.
Kyle Larson ($8,400) – This is the ultimate boom or bust DraftKings pick at Martinsville. Overall, Kyle Larson’s history at this track is pretty bad; in five career starts at “The Paperclip,” Larson has just one finish better than 19th. With that being said, that lone finish came the last time we were here (in April), when Larson finished 3rd behind Kyle Busch and A.J. Allmendinger. Occasionally drivers have that one race where they just figure out a track, and maybe that is what happened here with Larson. What you should like the most out of him this weekend is his speed in Happy Hour: the #42 Chevrolet was not only fastest on the overall speed chart, but also had the best ten-lap average. If that speed stays with Larson throughout Sunday, we could see him challenging for the win once again. It’s nowhere near a guarantee, though.
Low-Dollar DraftKings Drivers to Target at Martinsville 2 (under $7,500)
Paul Menard ($6,400) – As we mentioned in our Drivers to Avoid post, the pickings down here in the low-dollar range are pretty slim. However, there are a couple of drivers that might turn out a respectable performance on Sunday. Paul Menard has turned into a pretty good racer here at Martinsville as of late, posting top 15 finishes in four of his last five starts here. That includes his career-best 8th-place finish here back in April. This weekend, Menard qualified 18th for Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500, so there’s some room for place differential FPTS if he is able to get another top 15 this weekend. Speed-wise, the #27 Chevrolet was 3rd-fastest in the Happy Hour session on Saturday, but its speed on the long run wasn’t overly impressive (27th in ten-lap average). When you get down in this price range, though, you can’t really expect a whole bunch of speed…
Michael McDowell ($5,700) – Michael McDowell continues to be the best low-dollar driver option in DraftKings, and his salary has came back down to earth this weekend after being $6,400 at Talladega last weekend (he was still worth it, though). McDowell has now scored at least 34 FPTS in three straight races and it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see him get close to that mark once again this weekend. He’ll start from 30th when the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 goes green on Sunday, and when we raced here back in April, McDowell came home with a 24th-place finish. This #95 team seems to be running even better than that lately, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see him replicate that finish this weekend.
