NASCAR

NASCAR Daily Fantasy Helper: Toyota 500K

If you are looking for an action-packed way to get your sports fix, NASCAR may be a great avenue to explore. Far from just driving in circles, some of the world's best compete nearly every weekend from February to November on tracks across America. NASCAR drivers are scored ultimately based on how they finish in the race, how many spots they advance from their starting position, and how many laps they finish and lead. Avoiding drivers that crash out of the race is a must, of course!

Here at numberFire, we've always got you covered for everything NASCAR DFS. Every week, in addition to this helper, we have a betting guide to discuss the smartest places to lay money for this weekend's race, and our Heat Check Podcast with Jim Sannes gives you insight to how he is approaching this slate. We also have a current form, stats, and track history breakdown to dive deeper into this weekend's action.

NASCAR's return Sunday was an overwhelming success. Action felt very normal given such strange circumstances, and it was very normal to see Kevin Harvick in victory lane after a dominating performance. Harvick beat the field, but they will have their chance to unseat him again Wednesday night, where the drivers will face off again at Darlington Raceway. 500 kilometers is on the table, so another shorter race is to come as NASCAR continues to make up its schedule.

With still no practice and qualifying, the starting order was set in a way unique to this race. Positions 1-20 were inverted from Sunday's finishing order to set the Top 20 starting spots -- meaning race winner Harvick will start 20th. Positions 21-40 are determined from Sunday's finish order with no inversion. There is also a severe threat of weather for this event, which could postpone the race to Thursday evening just as Tuesday's Xfinity Series race was.

With that, let's break down the Toyota 500k at Darlington Raceway on FanDuel:

Higher-Priced Drivers

Kevin Harvick ($13,200): Where else could you start than Harvick, as he led a dominant 159 laps in his win on Sunday. The interesting twist with the inversion rules is that Sunday's dominant car now also has pass differential upside because he is now forced to start 20th. The only potential downside with such a dominant car Sunday was that event took place during the day, whereas this event will take place in the night time. Still, with Rodney Childers on his box as one of the best crew chiefs in the sport, the 4 team dialed in Harvick on Sunday and will be a favorite to find the formula again in this one.

Kyle Busch ($13,000): Busch scrubbed the wall and consequently the speed off his race car on Sunday, which led to a myriad of issues and a disappointing 26th-place finish. Still, his sparkling record at Darlington has seven top-10s in the last nine races, and he was able to find a Top-10 running position quickly after starting from the back, so his car evidently has speed to pass again from 26th on the grid. With the inversion and a lack of trustworthy drivers starting near the front, Busch is a high-floor, high-ceiling option even at this expensive price tag.

Mid-Priced Drivers

Jimmie Johnson ($10,000): A nightmare. That's the only way to describe Johnson's day ending on the final lap of stage one trying to lap another car as the leader. Johnson was poised to contend for a win on Sunday before that accident, and the consequence of the wreck is that he starts a deep 37th in the field. It will take a while to find the front from there, but his misfortune raised his floor to an astronomical level, and combining that with his race-leading speed from Sunday, Johnson will be justifiably popular in all formats.

William Byron ($9,000): Johnson's teammate William Byron suffered a similar fate after a cut tire, which put him several laps down and buried him to 34th in the finishing order. Starting in the same spot for Wednesday night, Byron has the same formula as Johnson, with a high floor and a race car that led on Sunday as well. He will be even more popular than Johnson given the smaller price tag, but considering another Hendrick car in Alex Bowman finished second on Sunday, it may not be wise to stray away from one of the most impressive teams in the sport so far in 2020.

Lower-Priced Drivers

Chris Buescher ($7,300): The car Johnson was trying to lap and ran into? That was Chris Buescher, who never quite found the same speed after his incident and contact with the wall. It will mean he starts deep in the field, as he'll roll off 32nd on the grid. Buescher has Darlington success under his belt, though, with top-15s in two of his last three, so it is important to not let one incident cloud his record at the track. Buescher will be popular just like the other cars starting deeper in the field, but some of his ownership may be pulled by drivers starting higher up that showed more speed Sunday, such as Tyler Reddick ($6,700).

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($6,400): The theme of the helper has been "starting deep in the field", and none will start deeper than Ricky Stenhouse Jr, as the Mississippi native lasted two corners in Sunday's 400-mile race. It was a disappointing result for the 47 team after the accident, but it has to be encouraging that teammate Ryan Preece had a top-20 average running position and will start this race from the pole as a result. If you're looking for a place to pivot in tournaments, however, Stenhouse's dreadful 26.0 average finishing spot at Darlington may mean his actual ceiling in this spot is lower than you would project for this team and driver. Still, with many lower-priced options starting up front with the inversion, Stenhouse will be the sub-$7000 building block of a majority of FanDuel lineups.


Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.