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We’re at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas this weekend, and because it is a brand new race track that the drivers have no experience with, NASCAR gave the teams a practice session on Saturday morning as well as qualifying here on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, same day qualifying makes it absolutely awful for NASCAR Fantasy and DFS players, as we are now into a major time crunch. This week’s DraftKings article is majorly condensed compared to my “normal” stuff, but we’ll get back to the regular breakdowns next week.

Be sure to check out the Algorithm Predicted Finishing Order for this race by clicking here! Also, enjoy the FREE content that this site offers each week? Consider donating to support by clicking here.

DraftKings Strategy & Dominators for COTA

Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott racing in turn at Daytona Road Course 2021
Photo Credit: James Gilbert/Getty Images

This race is only scheduled to be 68 laps long, so finishing position and place differential should be more important in our minds when building lineups than a typical race. In recent road course races, we’ve basically seen two drivers pick up the majority of the dominator points: Chase Elliott and Martin Truex, Jr.

With that being said, at the Daytona Road Course race earlier this year, we saw Christopher Bell pick up the 2nd-most fastest laps, although he only ended up with five laps led with that race win.

Optimal Lineup According to Jordan’s Projections

The optimal DraftKings lineup for COTA according to my Projections is:

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  • Martin Truex, Jr.
  • Denny Hamlin
  • Christopher Bell
    Chris Buescher
  • Michael McDowell
  • Chase Briscoe

Confidence Rating = 7.1/10. I like this as a lineup if you want to get off of the Chase Elliott chalk. Not that I would recommend that by any means, but strategy-wise, there’s an opportunity there for you to be different than most. Still, the fact of the matter is that Elliott and Truex are the best road course racers out there, and they both have place differential potential this weekend. The top lineup with those two according to my projections is: Truex, Elliott, Bell, Buescher, Briscoe, and Preece.

GPP / Tournament Picks

Kevin Harvick Martin Truex Jr Sonoma 2019
Photo Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Kevin Harvick ($9,700) – Understandably, a lot of people are going to be on Kyle Busch ($9,900) this weekend, as he’s a great road course racer and looked awesome in the Xfinity race on Saturday. But give me the pivot to Kevin Harvick in some lineups. Again, I like Rowdy today, but Harvick intrigues me as well. Looking back over the last two years of Sonoma and Watkins Glen data, Harvick averaged the 3rd-most fastest laps, and he starts 11th here at Circuit of the Americas today, so there’s some place differential potential there.

Christopher Bell ($8,300) – DraftKings under-priced Christopher Bell this weekend, and even though he’s starting inside the top 10, he has top 5 finishing potential and might even win this race today. My projections love Christopher Bell this weekend and he’s actually the 4th-highest projected driver on the slate in terms of average points and 3rd-best when it comes to dollar-per-FPT. Yeah, I’m writing up the most recent road course winner; sue me. I know it’s cliché.

Cash Core Drivers

Chris Buescher arms crossed on pit road at Charlotte
Photo Credit: Chris Graythen | Getty Images

***NOTE*** I’m not going to waste time writing up Chase Elliott and Martin Truex, Jr. here. We all know they’re the best on this track type, and neither of them are starting inside the top 5.

Chris Buescher ($6,900) – My projections love Chris Buescher this weekend, and it’s not just because he comes it at a nice salary of $6,900. Buescher is a very strong road course racer and ended up qualifying back in 28th, so… yeah. I’m not sure what happened to this #17 Ford in qualifying on Sunday, but Buescher has solid teens potential and could even steal a top 10. He would be a staple in all of my lineups if I was playing today. EDIT: It was a brake issue for Buescher in qualifying. He will drop to the rear on the pace laps if they fix the issue, but that’s not a huge deal.

Chase Briscoe ($6,400) – Another guy that whiffed in qualifying on Sunday was Chase Briscoe, who will roll off the grid from 27th when the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix goes green. Briscoe has a strong road course resumé in the Xfinity Series, and don’t forget that he was running up near and inside the top 10 at the Daytona Road Course earlier this year before his hood flew over his windshield. Oh, and did I mention that he was doing that with no power steering? I put a small bet on Briscoe at 125-to-1 to win earlier this week, so obviously I’m going to love him in DFS, too.

EchoPark Texas Grand Prix DraftKings Driver Projections

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 six different ranking systems. Also factored in are projected laps led and fastest laps for each driver. You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by average projected FPTS.

DriverDraftKings SalaryAvg Proj FPTSStarting PositionAvg. Projected FinishDollar Per FPT
Martin Truex Jr$10,60058.321703.7$182
Chase Elliott$10,50057.32802.3$183
Denny Hamlin$10,10049.731906.5$203
Christopher Bell$8,30046.181005.8$180
Kyle Busch$9,90045.62404.3$217
Brad Keselowski$9,30044.672411.5$208
Chris Buescher$6,90042.332814.8$163
Kyle Larson$10,20041.33204.7$247
William Byron$9,20039.18505.7$235
Chase Briscoe$6,40038.332716.3$167
Michael McDowell$7,40037.002315.3$200
Ryan Blaney$9,10036.98908.5$246
Alex Bowman$8,90034.951210.7$255
Kevin Harvick$9,70031.331111.3$310
Kurt Busch$8,10030.831312.3$263
Joey Logano$9,50030.17608.8$315
Austin Cindric$8,70029.42311.7$296
Ryan Preece$5,70027.333626.5$209
Erik Jones$7,50027.172922.7$276
AJ Allmendinger$8,50026.40713.0$322
Cole Custer$7,80026.331416.2$296
Ryan Newman$6,70025.833425.7$259
Aric Almirola$7,60025.502622.2$298
Matt DiBenedetto$7,90023.832220.5$331
Ross Chastain$6,00022.502020.3$267
Tyler Reddick$7,20019.73114.7$365
Ty Dillon$5,50018.503328.5$297
Daniel Suarez$6,60015.001521.7$440
Kyle Tilley$4,90013.833933.5$354
Ricky Stenhouse Jr$6,20012.832125.0$483
Anthony Alfredo$5,10012.333733.2$414
Austin Dillon$7,00011.331623.0$618
Justin Haley$5,40011.173030.7$484
James Davison$5,00009.333232.3$536
Quin Houff$4,50009.334036.5$482
Garrett Smithley$4,70008.173836.2$576
Cody Ware$4,80007.833534.7$613
Bubba Wallace$5,80006.331826.5$916
Corey Lajoie$5,20005.672531.0$918
Josh Bilicki$4,60001.333136.2$3,450
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As someone who has always been obsessed with numbers, Fantasy NASCAR has been the perfect fit with me. I pride myself on the quality of my analysis for each race, and am glad that I have been able to help others along the way. I've been a serious Fantasy NASCAR player for over 10 years now, and I'm just getting started.