The field is set for Sunday’s race at Indianapolis with Tyler Reddick and Austin Cindric on the front row. Let’s delve into this week’s top Fantasy NASCAR picks and value plays for DraftKings and FanDuel NASCAR DFS lineups for the Verizon 200.
Fantasy NASCAR Picks: Verizon 200 Values
Tyler Reddick, 1st ($10,000 DraftKings, $12,500 FanDuel)
In back-to-back road races, the polesitter has either led the most or second most laps. This trend looks like it could continue tomorrow with Road America’s winner starting atop the grid. There’s always a bit of hesitancy in rostering the polesitter in a race with so few laps (82), however, there are still plenty of laps on the board for Reddick to garner enough dominator points to be optimal. It happened at Road America with Chase Elliott and it probably would have happened with Kyle Larson at Sonoma if he hadn’t had pit road issues fouling up his day.
As per his car, Reddick has a fast car that posted the seventh-fastest single lap and second-fastest 10-lap average. His only concern is the litany of fast cars starting beside him or behind him that also have Xfinity wins at this track (Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe).
With the litany of place differential options available for Sunday, rostering Reddick is not a must by any means but he’s definitely in play for those wanting to secure dominator points.
Ross Chastain, 21st ($10,400 DraftKings, $13,000 FanDuel)
Opening this week with the second-lowest odds (+700), tied with Kyle Larson, and running the fourth-fastest single-lap in the combined practice sessions, it was a shock to see Chastain run a pedestrian qualifying effort. Now Chastain, one of only three drivers to finish in the top 10 in all three road races this season, starts in the middle of the field with plenty of place differential for a potential winner.
There is some concern that Chastain could get turned again by Hamlin, but considering Chastain’s speed combined with how slow Hamlin has been this season at road courses, chances are Chastain passes by Hamlin with ease.
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Alex Bowman, 28th ($7,800 DraftKings, $ 8,800 FanDuel)
Three of the four Hendrick drivers find themselves starting at or past the middle of the field. Bowman is the cheapest of them all with the most place differential upside. While he may not possess the winning upside that Kyle Larson does, starting 22nd, the discount from Larson to Bowman can’t be understated. With five top-10 finishes in his past 10 road courses, he does contain the potential to be in the optimal lineup. However, even if he doesn’t peak into the top 10, finishing in the top 15 will still make him a great value in cash games.
Austin Dillon, 29th ($6,700 DraftKings, $6,200 FanDuel)
After dropping the 12th-fastest single lap in practice, Dillon followed that up with the fourth slowest qualifying effort in Group A and now starts 29th. At his salary on both sites, Dillon has the easiest path to meeting and exceeding value on Sunday, just by sheer place differential potential. Since really tackling his road racing prowess in the offseason between 2020 and 2021, Dillon has been a consistent source of top-15 results with seven of those finishes in his past 10 road course races.
The three times he failed to finish in the top 15 were due to mechanical failures or wrecks. Gauging Sunday’s race by Saturday’s practice, it appears Sunday’s Verizon 200 should be a tamer event compared to last season’s melee. Thus, finishing positions projections should have Dillon headed for another top-15 finish with a bulk of place differential gained.
Erik Jones, 35th ($7,100 DraftKings, $6,500 FanDuel)
Jones is the quintessential “play in cash, fade in tournaments” option for Sunday. He showed no speed in practice, running the fourth slowest practice time overall, even slower than Loris Hezemans and Josh Bilicki despite better equipment. He followed that up with the fourth slowest qualifying lap. With this starting position, Jones offers a ton of place differential on Sunday, the only question is how much he’s capable of gaining outside of playing pit strategy and hoping it sticks.
Jones figures to garner ownership, as people see nothing but his starting position with no reference to his practice speeds, so he may be bordering into “block” category for head-to-head games and double-ups. However, in tournaments, fading a driver who hasn’t finished better than 22nd in past two road races could pay dividends.
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