The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Circuit of the Americas this weekend in Austin, Texas. This race brings us the return of Shane Van Gisbergen, the Australian Supercars driver who won in his first (and, until this weekend, only) Cup Series start. Let’s get started with our top NASCAR DFS picks for the 2024 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at COTA, including Michael McDowell.
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NASCAR DFS Picks: Top Drivers for the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at COTA
Michael McDowell | EchoPark Texas Grand Prix NASCAR DFS Picks | COTA
This article was written before our NASCAR DFS projections run. Check back on Sunday morning for Stokastic’s industry-leading NASCAR DFS projections, including our top drivers tool!
Few Cup Series drivers are better on road courses than Michael McDowell ($8,000 at DraftKings). While it was a disappointing practice and qualifying run for the Ford camp, I suspect McDowell will bounce back, generating plenty of points from improving upon his 27th-place starting position along the way.
McDowell currently boasts the sixth-best average finish at COTA among drivers with multiple starts at 10.7. He finished P7 here in 2021 before finishing P13 in 2022 and P12 in 2023. Notably, McDowell started each of those races in P20 or worse.
The Gen. 7 car has benefited McDowell greatly. Unlike most NASCAR drivers, McDowell has a background in open-wheel and sports car racing, which gives him an advantage in this car, which was built to emulate sports cars — we just saw an adapted Gen. 7 car complete the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year.
We finally saw McDowell win a Cup Series event on a road course last year, as he broke through at the Indy Road Course and led NASCAR to reverse course on their decision to get rid of stage breaks at these tracks. With stage breaks back in place, McDowell will have more opportunities to make up positions on restarts.
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Ty Gibbs | EchoPark Texas Grand Prix NASCAR DFS Picks
Let’s revisit this Ty Gibbs ($8,700) kid. We were on him last weekend, and he excelled at Bristol until late in the event — but he still racked up plenty of dominator points along the way. He’ll start Sunday’s EchoPark Texas Grand Prix on the front row alongside William Byron, and he should stay up front in his No. 54 Toyota.
Gibbs hasn’t ever dominated at COTA, whether looking at his time in the Xfinity Series or the Cup Series, but he proved that he could hang with the best of the best on road courses last season. He scored top-5s in the final two road course events of the year but failed to lead a lap.
If you’re looking for dominator points, Gibbs makes a good target at a relatively cheap salary — although you should know there won’t be many available. After last weekend’s 500-lap race at Bristol, this weekend’s race is only 68 laps.
