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FanDuel made some news in the DFS world this week when they announced that they would be entering the Fantasy NASCAR market–and the response has been great. Some of their larger contests were already filled on Friday night, which is surprising considering how many NASCAR players wait until at least after qualifying to reserve their spots.

Most FanDuel players will be crossovers from DraftKings, but it’s important to realize the scoring changes between the two games. With FanDuel, fastest laps are no longer taken into consideration, and drivers will now receive 0.1 points per lap completed. The guy leading will also only get 0.1 points per lap led. In other words, finishing position is going to have more of an emphasis in the FanDuel games, which allows you to pick the guys starting up front with a better success rate than at DraftKings; place differential in FanDuel will only be worth +/- 0.5 points as opposed to a full point with DraftKings.

As mentioned before, this is the first week for FanDuel. I think there are going to be many DraftKings players that migrate over to FanDuel but will stick with the old “I have to get place differential points” mindset. Yes, moving up is still worth a half of a point per position, but if that situation happens, that’ll give you the opportunity to differentiate yourself with drivers that start a little closer to the front.

Oh, and another difference between the two? You’re only selecting five drivers with FanDuel instead of six with DraftKings. Good luck!

FanDuel Projections for the Talladega GEICO 500

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 points + laps led as well as the dollar per FPT. It assumes that all drivers are going to complete the 188 laps. You can click the headers below to sort the chart by that attribute. By default it is sorted by average projected FPTS.

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DriverFanDuel SalaryAvg Proj FPTS Starting PositionAvg. Projected FinishProj Laps LedDollar Per FPT
Ryan Blaney$10,20064.72305.89$158
Joey Logano$12,00063.3903.630$190
Aric Almirola$8,80061.24012.40$144
Kyle Busch$11,60059.01908.411$197
Kevin Harvick$12,30056.5105.839$218
Brad Keselowski$12,10056.01007.620$216
Denny Hamlin$11,80055.2405.612$214
Kurt Busch$10,40053.1206.819$196
Austin Dillon$9,30052.02413.20$179
Kyle Larson$9,80051.52213.02$190
Clint Bowyer$11,40051.4809.411$222
Ricky Stenhouse Jr$10,80050.7709.415$213
Paul Menard$9,10050.01311.02$182
Ryan Newman$9,50049.31813.00$193
Martin Truex Jr$11,00047.6309.67$231
Alex Bowman$7,80045.81113.00$170
Darrell Wallace Jr$6,30044.71515.45$141
Jimmie Johnson$11,20044.31615.82$253
Chase Elliott$10,60043.6512.62$243
Trevor Bayne$5,80043.62117.80$133
AJ Allmendinger$6,60040.52822.20$163
William Byron$7,50040.41718.60$186
Jamie McMurray$10,10040.32722.00$251
Chris Buescher$5,60039.62521.80$141
Matt DiBenedetto$5,00039.43324.60$127
Ty Dillon$7,50038.92923.60$193
Erik Jones$7,60038.3616.41$198
Daniel Suarez$7,20037.11419.80$194
David Ragan$8,10037.11219.21$218
Kasey Kahne$8,50036.52624.20$233
Michael McDowell$5,30035.62022.80$149
Cole Whitt$5,00033.13629.80$151
Timothy Peters$7,00032.93228.60$213
Gray Gaulding$5,00032.73730.40$153
Brendan Gaughan$5,00032.23028.40$155
Reed Sorenson$5,00030.83832.00$162
Ross Chastain$5,00028.73532.40$174
Joey Gase$5,00028.23432.40$177
D.J. Kennington$5,00026.43132.60$189

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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.