These are my final thoughts and strategies to consider for Sunday’s race at Richmond International Raceway, as well as projected FPTS for each driver. The chart below is explained but if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.
- Joey Logano had to change a transmission and will start from the rear of the field because of it. However, in DraftKings, he will still be scored from that 5th-place starting spot. He won’t be on any of my rosters.
- Cheap, cheap, cheap. The average salary of the top 5 qualifiers this weekend is only $8,580. Now the question becomes whether or not they can stay up there.
- Who is going to dominate? The two obvious choices are Martin Truex, Jr. ($9,100) and Kyle Busch ($10,600) but our pole sitter, Matt Kenseth ($8,800), will have something to say about that on Sunday. It’s not uncommon to see one single dominator here at Richmond, and if that driver is Matt Kenseth, there’s some definite fade potential with Martin Truex, Jr. on Sunday, who should be incredibly high owned.
- There are a lot of good drivers starting in that 14th to 20th range on Sunday, so it’s important to grab the one or two that will finish the highest.
- Don’t overpay for place differential points! Yes, Kyle Larson ($10,300) should move up quite a bit on Sunday, but so will Austin Dillon ($7,400) and Trevor Bayne ($6,800). It’d be wiser to use that salary cap money on drivers with dominator potential–unless, of course, there is only one dominator, then having Larson on your roster isn’t a bad idea.
- Speaking of which, with there being 400 laps in this race, that means there’s some significant dominator points being awarded. Typically those who start inside the top 10 are the ones that lead, but this weekend that could be different. There’s 100 FPTS up for grabs for laps led and around 180 FPTS for fastest laps, depending on the amount of cautions.
Projected Base FPTS at Richmond
The following chart takes into account the very basics: the starting position and the projected finish of each driver. The projected finishes are averaged from five different ranking systems, using both mathematical equations as well as personal rankings. This chart also includes the average projected base FPTS–which doesn’t take into account fastest laps or laps led points–as well as the dollar per FPT. I don’t try to project fastest laps or laps led–that’s up to you. You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by the average projected finish of the drivers.
| Driver | DraftKings Salary | Starting Position | Avg. Projected Finish | Avg Proj Base FPTS | Dollar Per FPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Busch | $10,600 | 7 | 02.4 | 47.4 | $224 |
| Kevin Harvick | $10,400 | 6 | 03.2 | 44.2 | $235 |
| Martin Truex Jr | $9,100 | 3 | 03.6 | 41 | $222 |
| Jimmie Johnson | $9,900 | 17 | 06.4 | 48.2 | $205 |
| Clint Bowyer | $8,500 | 8 | 06.8 | 38.4 | $221 |
| Brad Keselowski | $9,700 | 15 | 07.0 | 45 | $216 |
| Joey Logano | $10,100 | 5 | 07.4 | 34.8 | $290 |
| Kyle Larson | $10,300 | 18 | 07.6 | 46.8 | $220 |
| Denny Hamlin | $9,300 | 16 | 08.0 | 44 | $211 |
| Matt Kenseth | $8,800 | 1 | 08.0 | 29.6 | $297 |
| Jamie McMurray | $7,800 | 10 | 08.4 | 37.2 | $210 |
| Chase Elliott | $9,500 | 14 | 09.8 | 38.4 | $247 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | $8,300 | 12 | 12.2 | 31.6 | $263 |
| Kasey Kahne | $7,600 | 19 | 12.8 | 37.4 | $203 |
| Ryan Newman | $7,200 | 13 | 12.8 | 31.4 | $229 |
| Kurt Busch | $7,700 | 9 | 13.2 | 26.6 | $289 |
| Erik Jones | $8,100 | 20 | 14.0 | 36 | $225 |
| Ryan Blaney | $7,900 | 2 | 16.2 | 13.6 | $581 |
| Trevor Bayne | $6,800 | 29 | 16.6 | 39.8 | $171 |
| Aric Almirola | $6,200 | 25 | 17.4 | 34.2 | $181 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | $7,000 | 4 | 17.6 | 12.8 | $547 |
| Ty Dillon | $6,100 | 24 | 18.4 | 31.2 | $196 |
| Austin Dillon | $7,400 | 38 | 20.4 | 41.2 | $180 |
| Daniel Suarez | $6,900 | 11 | 21.0 | 13 | $531 |
| AJ Allmendinger | $6,700 | 22 | 22.0 | 22 | $305 |
| Chris Buescher | $6,400 | 23 | 23.4 | 20.2 | $317 |
| Paul Menard | $6,600 | 26 | 23.8 | 22.4 | $295 |
| Danica Patrick | $6,000 | 21 | 24.8 | 15.4 | $390 |
| Michael McDowell | $5,400 | 27 | 26.2 | 18.6 | $290 |
| Cole Whitt | $5,200 | 36 | 27.4 | 25.2 | $206 |
| David Ragan | $5,900 | 30 | 27.8 | 18.4 | $321 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | $5,800 | 32 | 27.8 | 20.4 | $284 |
| Landon Cassill | $5,600 | 28 | 28.2 | 15.6 | $359 |
| Reed Sorenson | $5,000 | 33 | 32.6 | 11.8 | $424 |
| Timmy Hill | $4,800 | 37 | 33.4 | 14.2 | $338 |
| Gray Gaulding | $4,600 | 31 | 33.8 | 7.4 | $622 |
| Jeffrey Earnhardt | $4,700 | 35 | 34.2 | 10.6 | $443 |
| Corey LaJoie | $4,500 | 34 | 35.6 | 6.8 | $662 |
