2017 Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway

This week we drive north on Highway 75 from Florida up to Hampton, Georgia for the 2017 Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500. Before we discuss this week’s race, let me preface by saying last weeks Daytona 500 was an exciting race to watch with the implementation of the segments, and how much action it created amongst the cars. Congratulations to Kurt Busch on his victory and judicious driving skills and avoiding becoming a part of last week’s carnage as a lot of the field got caught up in wrecks.

First and foremost I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to those men and women who have served in our armed forces and put their lives on the line everyday. Sometimes we in society tend to forget that the freedom’s that we live everyday don’t come free. This weekends race at Atlanta Motor Speedway helps shed light and brings attention to those that we sometimes tend to forget. The Folds of Honor is an organization that provides educational scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled soldiers. It is a fantastic cause, and a great way to give back to those that sacrifice so much for us. To learn more or to donate, please visit www.foldsofhonor.org.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the oldest racetracks that we visit all year. This 1.5 mile quad oval provides some great racing, up to 3 wide on restarts, and the preferred line is down below on the yellow line. After the 2017 season, the track with get it’s first repave since it was reconfigured in 1997. This track will eat up the Goodyear tires this weekend, even though last year we didn’t have that many wrecks. This year with the new rule changes, and average pit stops around 40 laps, we will see the field change positions quite a bit this weekend. The segments will be as follow: Segment 1 – lap 85, Segment 2 – lap 170, Segment 3 – to the completion of the race on lap 325. It will be intriguing to see what the teams will do as part of their strategy with the tire wear, and segments this weekend. Last year, Chad Knaus made a bold call and had Jimmie Johnson come pit on lap 49 and went a lap down. The rest of the field pitted around lap 41. In the end it paid dividends for Johnson as he was able to hold off the field as the lap times evened out between Johnson and the field towards the end, even though he had gotten up to almost a 14 second lead. Tires will be the great equalizer this weekend.

Certain drivers excel at Atlanta Motor Speedway :

Jimmie Johnson – Johnson has won the last 2 races here at AMS. Johnson has 25 starts here, with 5 career wins (20% winning percentage), 14 top 5’s (56%), and has the third highest laps led with 593. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is second with 633 laps led, and Kurt Busch is first with 749 laps led amongst active drivers. Johnson starts 18th on Sunday, and he and crew chief Chad Knaus have a plethora of notes on how to strategize here at AMS, but these segments will throw a little wrench into that strategy. But if there are any driver/crew chief combo’s that can over come these new obstacles, it would be the 48 team. His cost this week on Draftkings is $10,600, and $27.25 on NASCAR Fantasy Live. He will be expensive no matter what format you play, but he is a must play in NASCAR fantasy regardless of format.

Kasey Kahne – Atlanta is Kasey Kahne’s second best track behind Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has 3 career total wins here, with 9 top 10’s, and 7 top 5’s. He had a pour performance at qualifying and will be starting 29th for the Folds of Honor Quicktrip 500 on Sunday. In 20 total races here at Atlanta, this is the second worse starting spot Kahne has had since 2004 where he started 32nd. Kahne’s cost this week is $8,000 on Draftkings and $22.00 on fantasy NASCAR live (he is down $1.50). Barring any wrecks this weekend, he will pay off and has the opportunity to be the best place differential driver available this weekend. He will be possibly the highest owned driver this weekend as he is a free square. Plug and play Kahne no matter what format this weekend.

My super sneaky play this weekend is Aric Almirola. Almirola will be starting this week from the 30th position. The Richard Petty 43 is coming off a strong finish of 4th at last weeks Daytona 500, and they will strive to continue that momentum into Atlanta. In 6 total races here, Almirola has finished 21st, 32nd, 20th, 9th, 11th, and 15th. He has only finished higher that 30th once, and has positive place differential in the last 2 races of 12 positions both times. His cost is $6,700 on Draftkings, and $12.50 on fantasy NASCAR live. For a low costing driver regardless of format, he will be well worth his weight in bacon

Each week the Rubbing is Racing boys provide a free fantasy racing show containing content to help you win your GPP’s, heads up, and all other Draftkings & fantasy NASCAR tournaments and leagues. You can find our weekly video’s on YouTube or www.fantasydonks.com. Please let us know if you have any questions about this article or specific drivers for this weekends Folds of Honor Quicktrip 500. Thank you for your support, and enjoy the race and your weekend!!

Opinions reflected in this article are my own.

Jamie “TheLJet” Liehr

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daytona 500 2017

Here we are in the best week of the 2017 Monster Energy Nascar Series and it starts with the first official race of the season. This is the only sport in America that starts its season with the equivelant of the super bowl to football. For a fantasy Nascar enthusiast, this week it doesn’t get any better with four different racing contest all within a span of seven days. With the clash this past Sunday, both Duel races to determine the rest of the field, and the Daytona 500 this coming Sunday. It is a fantasy Nascar players dream week with all the different tournaments offered on draftkings during this entire week. Specifically since during the rest of the season you only have the ability to play one race per week thru the entire Nascar season. If you are one of the winners of any tournaments this week, it will set you up for the entire 2017 campaign in fantasy Nascar.

There have been a massive amount of changes in Nascar from the rules changes, to drivers changing teams, and teams changing manufacturer’s. Nascar has implemented segments in all the races this season, and breaking up the races into three different stages. The drivers who finish in the top ten in each stage will earn championship points, and to the stage winner an additional point will be awarded if that driver makes it to the 2017 Nascar playoffs. A caution flag will fly to signify the end of a segment. After the second segment is started, the race will continue until completion of the race. All drivers will receive championship points, and the winning driver will receive an automatic bid into the playoffs and an additional 5 bonus points that will be carried thru the round of 8 during the 2017 playoffs. This new utilization of segments will induce a more competitive race week to week with drivers striving to gain those points in each segment. This will segway into teams not just trying to strategize how to win each race, now they have to take their strategy for each segment to gain those precious points. There will be limitless different strategies this season from teams trying to gain advantages of the new rules. If the race also happens to be impacted by weather this season, the race will not be considered official until the completion of the second segment.

Additional key rules for the 2017 season, is if your driver is involved in a wreck and sustains relatively minor damages, Nascar will allow them 5 minutes in pit road to repair the vehicle. If the vehicle suffers a major wreck, Nascar will not allow the team to repair the vehicle, and get back on the track to try and earn additional points. This is for the safety of the drivers, and also to limit the exposure of additional accidents or debris cautions from these wrecked vehicles.

The draftkings fantasy nascar rules have not changed. They are the same as follows:

• Place Differential = +/- 1 PTs
• Fastest Laps = +0.5 PTs
• Laps Led = +0.25 PTs
• Finishing Position Scoring
o 1st: 46 PTs
o 2nd: 42 PTs
o 3rd: 41 PTs
o 4th: 40 PTs
o 5th: 39 PTs
o 6th: 38 PTs
o 7th: 37 PTs
o 8th: 36 PTs
o 9th: 35 PTs
o 10th: 34 PTs
o 11th: 33 PTs
o 12th: 32 PTs
o 13th: 31 PTs
o 14th: 30 PTs
o 15th: 29 PTs
o 16th: 28 PTs
o 17th: 27 PTs
o 18th: 26 PTs
o 19th: 25 PTs
o 20th: 24 PTs
o 21st: 23 PTs
o 22nd: 22 PTs
o 23rd: 21 PTs
o 24th: 20 PTs
o 25th: 19 PTs
o 26th: 18 PTs
o 27th: 17 PTs
o 28th: 16 PTs
o 29th: 15 PTs
o 30th: 14 PTs
o 31st: 13 PTs
o 32nd: 12 PTs
o 33rd: 11 PTs
o 34th: 10 PTs
o 35th: 9 PTs
o 36th: 8 PTs
o 37th: 7 PTs
o 38th: 6 PTs
o 39th: 5 PTs
o 40th: 4 PTs
o 41st: 3 PTs
o 42nd: 2 PTs
o 43rd: 1 PTs

This weeks strategy will remain the same as it has always been with restrictor plate races. You want to have the driver who leads the most laps/fastest laps, the largest place differential driver, the winner, and a few other low salary cap drivers who start towards the rear, and obtain at least ten positive place differential points. There will be 200 laps for Daytona, with 100 dominator points for fastest laps and 50 dominator points for laps led. With 150 dominator points up for grabs, you will need to identify which driver can obtain these points.

Certain drivers excel at these restrictor plate races :

– Dale Earnhardt Jr – Jr has the most wins among active drivers for Daytona with 4 wins. He also has the most laps led with 593 in 34 total races. He is the most expensive driver this week at $10,600. He has also locked up the 2nd starting position on Sunday, so you know he will lead some laps. The interesting part here is Jr is coming back from his 2016 concussion issues that kept him out for the second half of the season. He also got married over the offseason.. I know you are saying what does this have to do with Daytona. He will be having a tremendous amount of emotions on Sunday, and don’t forget that this is the track that claimed the life of Dale Earnardt, so this will be a huge race for Jr. I will have some exposure to Jr, but with his salary and all the other extenuating circumstances that surround him this weekend, I will need more time to put all my funds into him to start the season.
– Denny Hamlin – Hamlin has really started to really perform well at the restrictor plate races. Hamlin won the Daytona 500 last year as he led 95 of the 200 laps and was the dominator. He was out front with the clean air, and depending on where he starts Sunday, he has a great chance at repeating. He dominator the clash race this past Sunday. His cost this week is $9600, and that is a bargin for the reigning champion. He has raced here 22 times, with 1 win (2016), 6 top 5’s, and 7 top 10’s. He is second behind Jr. in laps led with 369 of them. He will probably he highly owned, but he could be that dominating driver to take down a tournament.
– Kyle Busch – Rowdy is one of those drivers that no matter what type of track he drives, he is always a consideration to be on my fantasy team, and Daytona is no exception. Kyle has raced here 23 times, with 1 win, 7 top 5’s, and 8 top 10’s. Only in recent years has Rowdy really starting performing great at Daytona. He has 2 top 5’s in his last 4 races, but has only led 35 laps out of 722 laps in 4 years. That is only 4.8% of the laps did he lead. His cost this week is $9,400, and will be hard for him to be the absolute overall dominator this week. He has the chance to score enough points though that he is a must play in most lineups. He will start top 10 most likely, but he will need a top 5 finish, and obtain some fastest laps and laps led.
– Team Penske – If anyone was paying attention to last season, you would know that Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano both had really good seasons. Kes won 4 races, and 2 of those were restrictor plate races, including the summer race at Daytona. He was the most dominate car that was on the track this past weekend for the clash, if Hamlin doesn’t block into him, he would have won. Kes will need to be in lineups, but he is the second highest costing driver this week at $10,300. Logano won the Daytona 500 in 2015, and has also included 2 top 5’s in his last 4 races. He won the clash this past weekend, and will be rolling that confidence into the 2017 Daytona 500. He has not led very many laps here, but has shown great driver ability, and his teams crew chief Todd Gordon’s restrictor plate strategy and excellent equipment they have, he is always a viable option. His cost this week is $9,900, so you will pay up for him, but he is a risky player with high dominator ceiling potential.

– Each week the Rubbing is Racing boys provide a free fantasy racing show containing content to help you win your GPP’s, heads up, and all other draftkings NAS tournaments. Please let us know if you have any qustions about this article or specific drivers. Thank you for you support, and enjoy the 2017 Daytona 500!!

– Opinions reflected in this article are my own.

Jamie “TheLJet” Liehr