Dominators: Larson, Bell, Byron, Gibbs, Blaney (GPP), Hamlin (GPP), Reddick (GPP)
PD: Elliott, Keselowski, Buescher, Chastain, Hemric, Nemechek, Preece
NASCAR Playoffs continue this week at Kansas. We had a very digestible practice session to go along with plenty of intermediate track data this season. Let’s get down to business and dive right in!
Your top dominator this week is once again Kyle Larson. Larson was undoubtedly the best car in practice and will roll off 11th, giving him some PD upside as well. We recommend starting your lineups with Larson once again this week. Typically, we want to shoot for two dominators at Kansas, so our next optimal choice would be pole sitter Christopher Bell. Bell has the easiest route to leading laps and was a top-5 car in practice. He is the clear optimal pairing with Larson. If you want to be unique, our other top dominators are William Byron and Ty Gibbs. Byron sported the best 10-lap average in practice, while Gibbs seems to have one of the best long run cars in the field. Gibbs makes the most sense in lineups where you fade Bell, due to him being the biggest threat to stealing the lead from Bell early.
Some other dominator options include Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Tyler Reddick, but we prefer the above four in single entry formats, and would just mix Blaney, Hamlin, and Reddick in MME formats.
Moving onto our PD plays, where Chase Elliott is a lock in all formats. Elliott will roll off dead last but was one of the best cars in practice. Enough said. The RFK Racing duo of Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher may come in lower owned than they should be, and are great plays. Both were great in practice, and Buescher nearly won the race here last year. We love both of them. Ross Chastain is very affordable and should pose a threat this afternoon. Ross is always great on intermediates and we expect no different today.
Wrapping things up with some value plays, Daniel Hemric looks elite. Hemric had a top 15 car in practice and finds himself starting 30th. Hemric is our top priority in the value department. Other viable tournament options include John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Preece.
I will be in Discord for any questions, best of luck today!