DraftKings Charlotte ROVAL NASCAR Plays, Fades, and Driver Point Projections

The much anticipated Charlotte ROVAL race is finally here, and it’s been a doozy of a weekend already. There will be four big name drivers starting in the rear on Sunday thanks to the unforgiving walls on the track, and those guys are Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, and Bubba Wallace. As far as DraftKings goes, though, those drivers will be scored from their original starting spots, so be sure to keep that in mind. The Xfinity Series race on Saturday was relatively clean for what most people are expecting from the Cup race on Sunday, but still had plenty of spins and damage. This is the week to take some chances in Fantasy NASCAR because this could be a wild, wild race as we close out the first leg of the 2018 Playoffs.

DraftKings: Talkin’ Strategy

GPP Drivers I Love For The Bank of America ROVAL 400

Kyle Busch ($11,400) – As mentioned in the video above, I think Martin Truex, Jr. ($11,100) is going to be the highest-owned of the Big Three on Sunday–and possibly overall. And while Truex is a great DraftKings play for the Bank of America ROVAL 400, I think it’s going to significantly lower the ownership percentages of both Kevin Harvick ($11,700) and Kyle Busch. I like being overweight on both. As far as road courses go, Rowdy has the best average finish on this track type over the last two years (5.0) and he’s also projected as the highest average finish in my predictions below. Speed-wise, the #18 Toyota was 5th-fastest in the first practice on Saturday and 11th-fastest in Happy Hour. Busch will be going for the win and nothing else at the ROVAL on Sunday and that’s the kind of mentality I want with my DraftKings drivers.

Jimmie Johnson ($8,600) – Not many drivers made longs during the two practice sessions here on Saturday, and Jimmie Johnson doesn’t really go out of his way to make long runs in practice, either. So the fact that the #48 Chevrolet topped that speed chart in Happy Hour was quite surprising, and tells me that “Seven Time” really likes his car this weekend. From a DraftKings perspective, going with Johnson from the 6th-place starting spot is a big risky, but I love that play in GPP formats. This #48 team has a real shot at getting eliminated from the Playoffs on Sunday, but they can avoid they with a great run in this unpredictable race. In the past, it hasn’t been smart to bet against this guy…

Erik Jones ($7,400) – Erik Jones is one of the drivers that nailed the tire wall in Practice #2 and the #20 team was forced to the backup car. With NASCAR moving the tire barrier after that session, though, it’s unlikely that Erik will make that mistake again on Sunday. Unfortunately, the #20 team never got the backup car ready in time to make laps in Happy Hour, so we don’t really know what kind of speed it has. With that being said, I think that’ll keep Erik Jones’ ownership percentage down in DraftKings, as will the fact that he has to start from the rear (he’ll still be scored from 12th, though). Jones has an average finish of 6th on the road courses this season, though, and as long as he stays out of trouble on Sunday, I think he’ll challenge for at least a top 10, if not a top 5.

William Byron ($7,000) – I’m expecting a great race out of the Hendrick Motorsports cars on Sunday. William Byron has been a bit of a wildcard in the Fantasy NASCAR world this season, but he’s on even playing ground with the rest of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage this week, as no one has ran on the Charlotte ROVAL before. Byron qualified back in 21st for Sunday’s race but I think he could end up challenging for a top 10 finish if he plays his cards right. The #24 team posted a top 10 finish at Watkins Glen back in August, but his inconsistency this season and his 25th-place finish at Sonoma (along with his inflated salary) should keep his ownership percentage down. I’m not going to go crazy heavy on Byron this weekend, but I plan on being overweight for sure.

Driver Point Projections for Charlotte ROVAL

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 + laps led + fastest laps DraftKings FPTS as well as the dollar per FPT. You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by average projected FPTS.