EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ve brought aboard Mark Michalek, a strong player in the fantasy sports world, to provide weekly fantasy picks to help you make the right decisions when setting your daily NASCAR team. Each week, Mark will give you the plays that could turn into big bucks, so be sure to follow his column.
By Mark Michalek, NASCAR Fantasy Expert
@MarkAMichalek
Welcome back everyone. Quick recap of last weeks Quiktrip 500, we nailed the Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex calls along with Blaney and Ty Dillon being solid. We knew going in that Bueschner was risky and while he didn’t kill you his -1 place differential and 25th finish didn’t help. Either way we are back at it for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This week we are adding some fantasy live picks to go along with the Draftkings format at the end of the article so be sure to scroll down and check those out.
Kyle Larsen- $9,800- Larsen is starting 5th this weekend and as he showed today in the Xfinity race once he gets up front he is very tough to pass. In his 4 career starts here he has 19th, 8th, 34th, and 2nd place finish. In the last 2 practice sessions Larsen was near the top of the speed charts for both single lap and 10-lap average runs. I expect him to run near the front most of the day and would not be shocked if he won a stage or 2.
Jimmie Johnson- $8,900- This is painful for me to write his name down as the start of the season for this team has been pretty awful. He hasn’t shown much speed in the new ZL1 but he was very confident after final practice today that they got the car where it needs to be. He has won at this racetrack 4 times in his career and you have to think that this team is going to figure it out sooner or later. Even though he has burned me the last 2 weeks I’m going right back to the well.
Ryan Blaney $8,700- Blaney unloaded a fast racecar right off the truck on Friday. Hes starting on the pole and is a solid bet to win the first stage. Team Penske has dominated this racetrack over the last couple of years and Blaney looks to have the fastest car of the 3 Penske cars. He had the fastest single lap fun in final practice and although his 10 lap averages were lower on the board his fastest average did come near the end of his run.
Aric Almirola- $7,700- Anyone that watch qualifying should have seen that during his run he got really loose and lost a ton of time of his lap. I thought for sure that he would make another attempt but the team ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth risky the car for a second run. He has looked really good in the 10 car this year with an 11th and 13th place finish in the first 2 races. He’s starting 29th and instantly becomes great place differential as his practice times place him around a top 12 car.
Chris Buescher- $5,700- Yes I know he was awful last week but you have to save salary if you want to be able to fit 2-3 dominators into your lineup. He’s starting 28th had a solid final practice with the 13th fastest single lap run. He did not make a 10 lap run in either practice which is a little concerning but being this cheap his upside is higher than everyone else in this price range.
Fantasy Live Pics- For those of you that only play fantasy on Nascar.com this section here is 3-4 drivers whom I think have the best chance of winning the race or finishing near the front. Since Fantasy Live scoring only takes into account stage points one and final finishing position you want to make sure you have guys that run up front and finish the race up front. My top picks this week are Kyle Larsen, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, and Erik Jones. Remember you can only use each driver up to 10 times in the regular season so you have to plan for races later in the year. Good luck everyone.