BREAKING NEWS: The Bank of America 500 has been postponed until Sunday at 12:00 pm ET.

After a rough week at Dover last weekend, we’re looking for a bounce back here at Charlotte in the Bank of America 500. The last time we ran here, Martin Truex, Jr. absolutely dominated the Coca-Cola 600 by leading 392 of the 400 laps en route to victory lane. We don’t see any one driver dominating the race this weekend, but it’s certainly possible–and if it does happen, it’s either going to be Truex or pole sitter Kevin Harvick. In the races here at Charlotte, we tend to see less “movers’ than normal, as the drivers that qualify up front typically stay there.

Other posts to read: Drivers to Target at Charlotte 2 and Drivers to Avoid at Charlotte 2 posts.

Lineup #1

As we stated before, the driver that leads the most laps tonight is either going to be Kevin Harvick or Martin Truex, Jr. We give the edge to Harvick, simply because he is awesome here at Charlotte and qualified on the pole this weekend. The #4 team isn’t known for their qualifying, so the fact that they were able to pull that off tells us they have a great car.

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Kurt Busch
4. Jamie McMurray
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Trevor Bayne

Lineup #2

On the other side of things, Martin Truex, Jr. does have some place differential FPTS potential (he starts 7th) and he could very well dominate this race as well. If you take Lineup #1 and switch out Harvick for Truex and Hamlin for Logano, the math works out just fine.

1. Martin Truex, Jr.
2. Joey Logano
3. Kurt Busch
4. Jamie McMurray
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Trevor Bayne

Lineup #3

Brad Keselowski should be one of the biggest movers this weekend and if he can pull off another top 5 finish we’re looking at a bunch of FPTS from the #2 Ford. With this Lineup, we’re targeting mainly place differential FPTS with five of the drivers and then hoping Kevin Harvick delivers the knockout punch and dominates this race.

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Austin Dillon
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Aric Almirola

Lineup #4

Don’t count out Kyle Busch this weekend. He’s had a bunch of great races at Charlotte, and although he’s never won here, he’s led the 3rd-most laps among all active drivers. Rowdy starts 4th for the Bank of America 500, and if something happens to Kevin Harvick (bad pit stop, for example), the #18 Toyota will be in prime position to assume the lead.

1. Kyle Busch
2. Joey Logano
3. Kurt Busch
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Jamie McMurray
6. Aric Almirola

Lineup #5

Chicagoland was the last 1.5-mile race track that we were at, and it was Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson that led most of the laps that day, although Martin Truex, Jr. ended up winning. One of our members also took home $10,000 with one of our Lineups that day, and we grabbed $2,000, so we remember that race well. It’s possible that Elliott and Johnson combine to lead a bunch of laps here this weekend, although the former probably has the better chance as he starts 3rd. So if you’re looking for a Lineup to fade both Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex, Jr., here it is.

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Joey Logano
4. Chase Elliott
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Landon Cassill

For the second week in a row, rain has played a major role in the NASCAR race weekend. Weather from Hurricane Matthew hit Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday morning and because of that, NASCAR cancelled all on-track activity that day. Unfortunately for us, that means that the two scheduled Sprint Cup practice sessions did not happen. They did, however, get qualifying in on Thursday, as well as one practice session before that. With that being said, we’re still going to have to lean quite heavily on historical data for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 when building our DraftKings lineups.

High-Dollar DraftKings Drivers to Target at Charlotte 2 (over $9,500)

Kevin Harvick ($10,700) – Chances are the dominator of this race is either going to be Kevin Harvick or Martin Truex, Jr. The former starts on the pole while the latter will roll off the grid from 7th. And while there are some potential place differential points with Truex, we still think the smarter option this weekend is going to be Kevin Harvick. This #4 team isn’t known for their qualifying efforts, and while this will technically be Harvick’s fifth time starting from 1st this season, it is his first actual pole. That tells us that he has a very strong race car and should lead a whole bunch of laps. Harvick is a three-time winner here at Charlotte Motor Speedway and has finished 1st or 2nd in five of the last seven events here. Unless he has another mechanical issue like last week (that killed us, too) Harvick will be a great pick this weekend.

Brad Keselowski ($9,800) – Brad Keselowski comes in at $9,800 this week, which is pretty cheap when you consider the fact that the guy has an average finish of 4.8 over the last six Sprint Cup races overall, as well as seven top 5 results over the last nine. Yeah, it kind of surprised us too, but Keselowski isn’t out there leading a bunch of laps so not many people are paying attention. Here at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Brad has just three top 5s in fourteen career starts (21.4%) but one of those was a win and another came in this year’s Coca-Cola 600 back in May. Currently, Keselowski is on a three-race top 10 finish streak at this track and has ended up inside that mark in five of the last six Charlotte events. He qualified back in 20th for this weekend’s Bank of America 500 but should finish much better than that. Place differential-wise, there probably isn’t a better option than Brad Keselowski this week.

Matt Kenseth ($9,700) – Don’t be worried about the fact that Matt Kenseth qualified 17th this weekend: he tends to start pretty far back at Charlotte. In the last six races here, Kenseth has had a starting spot of 20th or worse in three of those events, but the good news is that he ended up finishing 7th and 3rd in two of those races. And while he hasn’t quite been a guaranteed pick here lately–Kenseth has finished 42nd and 19th in the last two Bank of America 500s–we think that he’s going to be just fine here on Saturday night (or Sunday). This #20 team didn’t finish worse than 9th in the first round of the Chase and that momentum should continue here in the second round as well. Look for Matt Kenseth to be at least top 10 good in this weekend’s race, and as long as that happens he can be counted on for 40+ FPTS in DraftKings.

Mid-Dollar DraftKings Drivers to Target at Charlotte 2 (between $7,500 and $9,500)

Denny Hamlin ($9,300) – Denny Hamlin loves Charlotte Motor Speedway, and although this #11 team didn’t quite have top 5 speed in the first round of the Chase, we think they’re going to turn things up a notch now that we’re down to 12 championship contenders. Hamlin has finished 4th in each of the last two races here at Charlotte, and in the last twelve events here he has ended up inside the top 10 in eleven of them. Six of those eleven were also top 5s. Surprisingly enough, Denny has never gotten to victory lane here, but his career average finish of 12.4 here is 3rd-best among all active drivers. The #11 Toyota ranked 3rd in ten-lap average during the only practice session of the weekend and Hamlin qualified 9th for Saturday night’s race, so there’s some room for place differential FPTS as well.

Kurt Busch ($8,700) – There’s so many things to like about Kurt Busch this weekend that we actually consider him a building block for the Bank of America 500. This #41 Chevrolet has been one of the best performers on the 1.5-mile race tracks this season and Kurt has finished 6th and 5th in the last two races ran here at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Additionally, he has finished 11th or better in each of the last four races at this track as well as 14th or better in six of the last seven. The reason Busch has such high potential this weekend is his starting spot: 23rd. Yes, that’s going to be a hurdle for Kurt to get over whenever the Bank of America 500 goes green, but this is a long race so he has plenty of time. The #41 Chevrolet should be good for at least a top 15 finish this weekend, and with that we’re looking at a 37+ FPTS performance from Kurt Busch.

Austin Dillon ($8,200) – Statistically, Charlotte Motor Speedway is Austin Dillon’s 2nd-best track on the Sprint Cup circuit despite the fact that he has just one top 10 finish in five career starts here (20%). However, Austin has never ended up worse than 16th here, so that helps. This weekend, the #3 Chevrolet will roll off the grid from the 19th-place starting spot, and as long as Dillon can muster his typical top 12 finish here on Saturday night (or Sunday), we’re looking at around a 40+ FPTS week out of him. This #3 team have been one of the most consistent top 15 finishers in the Sprint Cup Series this season and on 1.5-mile race tracks as well. Also, this is around the time where we really see the “Chase Effect” come into play, so you can expect all of the Chasers to run well from here on out. We would like Austin Dillon a lot more if his price was under $8,000 this week, but he’s still a viable option depending on how you build your lineup.

Low-Dollar DraftKings Drivers to Target at Charlotte 2 (under $7,500)

Ryan Newman ($7,400) – Ryan Newman is starting to get into that price range where it might be worth giving him a look depending on how your roster is structured. He qualified 21st for this weekend’s Bank of America 500, and while that would have made Newman an excellent DraftKings driver the last couple of seasons, this #31 team has fallen off quite a bit from that near-championship win in 2014. Still, “The Rocketman” is a relatively safe Fantasy NASCAR pick this weekend and should be good for at least a top 20 finish. In twenty-one career starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Newman has posted thirteen top 10 finishes (61.9%) and he hasn’t ended up worse than 15th in the last seven events here. We’re not expecting a huge race out of the #31 team this weekend but Newman is one of the safer options in this price range.

Clint Bowyer ($7,100) – One of the most consistent performers in DraftKings lately has been Clint Bowyer and don’t be surprised if that trend continues here at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Bank of America 500. Clint wound up finishing 23rd back in this year’s Coca-Cola 600 here at Charlotte and a similar run for this #15 team is well within reach. With his 24th-place run at Dover 2 last weekend, Bowyer has now finished between 22nd and 24th in each of the last five Sprint Cup races overall, and while that may not sound that great, that kind of finish again this weekend would make him a viable DraftKings option thanks to his 31st-place qualifying effort. Bowyer has always been pretty decent here at Charlotte and even got to victory in this race back in 2012.

Aric Almirola ($6,400) – There is quite a bit of risk in putting Aric Almirola in your lineup this weekend but at the same time there is a bunch of upside. This #43 team is in full-out test mode to get ready for the 2017 season, but it’s kind of working out for them lately; over the last four Sprint Cup races overall, Almirola has finished 17th or better in three of those events. He has been a mid-20s driver at most of the intermediate race tracks this season, but considering he starts back in 33rd for the Bank of America 500, that wouldn’t necessarily be terrible: a 25th-place finish from Almirola on Saturday night (or Sunday) would net owners 27 FPTS. As far as his record here at Charlotte, Aric hasn’t ended up worse than 26th in the last six races here and he posted a career-best finish of 10th in this race one year ago.

Thanks to Hurricane Matthew, most of the race weekend has been washed out–and it’s not looking good for the Saturday night race either–although the Sprint Cup Series was able to get one practice session in on Thursday as well as qualifying. Therefore, there are quite a few drivers that had good speed in qualifying that won’t be good DraftKings picks for the actual race, so that’s some good news. The bad news is that they’re all pretty low-dollar drivers so it’s going to be harder to put together a complete lineup. We don’t have much “real” practice data to go off of thanks to the rain, so we’re looking mainly at previous performance here at Charlotte as well as recent results in terms of who to pick and who to avoid this weekend.

The categories we use for different drivers to avoid are as follows: 1.) Over-Qualified, or drivers that will start up front and probably won’t finish there, 2.) Over-Valued, or drivers that simply cost too much for the limited potential points they will earn or are going to be drafted by many other players, giving you an opportunity to fade them, and 3.) Flat-Out Avoid, or drivers that should simply be avoided at all costs. Most drivers will be categorized as either 1 or 2.

“Over-Qualified” DraftKings Drivers to Avoid for the Charlotte 2 Bank of America 500

Alex Bowman ($8,000) – In addition to being very over-priced, Alex Bowman qualified 2nd for this weekend’s Bank of America 500 and we can almost guarantee you that he’s not going to finish up there. We do have Bowman in some of our other Fantasy NASCAR leagues this weekend–like FOX Fantasy Auto, you can see our picks here–but none that take away points for place differential. We saw back at Chicagoland (another 1.5-mile track) that Bowman can run top 10 in the #88 Chevrolet, but unfortunately that’s not going to be good enough for him this weekend. Even if he winds up finishing 10th on Saturday night, that’s only going to be 26 base FPTS in DraftKings, and at $8,000, that’s not very good. He’s probably not going to lead any laps, either. There’s literally no situation where Alex Bowman should make your DraftKings lineup this weekend.

Danica Patrick ($6,200) – Danica is usually a shoo-in on DraftKings with her very low salary and usual positive place differential during the race, but that’s not going to be the case this weekend. The #10 Chevrolet ended up 13th in qualifying on Thursday, and while that is a very good effort but his team and driver, Danica immediately became a driver to avoid in DraftKings as soon as it happened. Charlotte hasn’t been too terrible of a track for her lately–she’s finished between 19th and 22nd in each of the last three races here–but a top 20 finish out of Danica isn’t going to cut it this weekend. And that itself is barely a guarantee: she has just one two top 20s in the last ten Sprint Cup races overall. You’d be much better off drafting someone like Aric Almirola in this price range this weekend (see our Charlotte 2 Drivers to Target post to read why).

A.J. Allmendinger ($6,900) – The Dinger was one of our top sleeper picks for this weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and after he qualified 6th on Thursday that just solidified him as an even better sleeper option…in most Fantasy NASCAR games. Unfortunately, DraftKings is not one of those. Allmendinger definitely has top 15 finish potential int he Bank of America 500 this weekend (he has finished 16th or better in three of the last four races here) but we don’t see any way that he could pull of a top 10 on Saturday night, and that’s the kind of finish we would need out of him to even consider The Dinger in DraftKings this weekend. Like Bowman, there’s no reason A.J. should make any of your lineups this weekend.

“Over-Valued” DraftKings Drivers to Avoid for the Charlotte 2 Bank of America 500

Kyle Larson ($9,600) – Kyle Larson is going to be on a lot of DraftKings lineups this weekend, and for good reason: he qualified 25th for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500, so even just a top 10 finish out of him would net you 49+ FPTS. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Think again. As we stated in the opener of this article, “over-valued” can occasionally mean an opportunity to fade a certain driver, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to accomplish here. This #42 team is back in a slump of sorts, with a best finish of 10th in the opening round of the Chase before their elimination at Dover last weekend. And when you focus on this week’s track, Charlotte Motor Speedway, it’s not like Larson has this place totally figured out: he’s made six career Sprint Cup starts here and has just two finishes better than 21st. Not to be hypocritical, but Larson is probably going to be on one or two of our DraftKings lineups this weekend, but when it’s all said and done on Saturday night (or Sunday), we don’t think you’ll see his name on the winning lineup.

Carl Edwards ($9,400) – We have a hard time putting Carl Edwards on any of our Fantasy NASCAR rosters right now, let alone DraftKings, where his salary is in the upper echelon. The thing with Carl Edwards is that despite the fact that he has been a consistent performer this season, he’s in a bit of a rough stretch–at least in terms of the finishes we’ve come to expect from him. This guy hasn’t had a top 5 finish since the Kentucky race in July, and when you consider the fact that he’s in top tier equipment, it’s actually a little surprising. Now, here at Charlotte, Carl has been a pretty solid pick lately, with nine finishes of 11th or better in the last ten races–and we expect something similar this time around as well. However, the fact that he starts 8th removes any reason to put the #19 Toyota in your lineup. Carl Edwards hasn’t led more than 31 laps in any single race since his win at Richmond back in April, and that’s not going to change this weekend. He’s not worth the price tag in DraftKings this weekend.

Kasey Kahne ($8,500) – Kasey Kahne’s salary took a huge jump this week and he now sits right there on the lower border of high-priced drivers (if that makes sense). Although we do think that Kahne has a car that is capable of surprising some people this weekend–don’t forget that he’s a four-time winner at Charlotte–let’s take a step back and look at this as a whole: this price range is typically reserved for drivers that are going to score at least in the upper-40s in FPTS. In order for Kasey Kahne to do that this weekend, he’s going to have to come home with at least a top 5 finish. This #5 Chevrolet has enough speed in it for a top 10, but we’re not so sure about a top 5. He starts 12th, though, so there’s a little room for place differential FPTS. If you can fit Kahne in a lineup somewhere he might be worth a shot, but we haven’t come up with any that make sense.

“Flat-Out Avoid” DraftKings Driver for the Charlotte 2 Bank of America 500

Greg Biffle ($7,200) – DraftKings is hesitant to drop Greg Biffle’s salary, but honestly he deserves to be down in the mid-$6,000 range. At Dover last weekend, this #16 team posted their first top 20 finish in the last five Sprint Cup races overall, and that’s just their third result inside that mark in the last ten. Biffle hasn’t even sniffed the top 10 since the Loudon race back in July and he has a negative place differential in five of the last ten overall races. Look for him to make it six of the last eleven here at Charlotte this weekend. The Biff qualified 14th for Saturday night’s event–which is good, don’t get us wrong. However, this #16 Ford isn’t capable of actually running that well in the race, unless, of course, Biffle plays the pit strategy game like he does almost every week. The #16 team has had good runs in the last two Coca-Cola 600s here at Charlotte but in the last three Bank of America 500s they haven’t finished better than 16th. That won’t change this weekend.