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AustYn

This 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season has been an interesting one. Each week provides a new style of track, and this week will be no different. Chase Briscoe won his 1st career Cup race at Phoenix last week and did it in convincing fashion. Stewart-Haas Racing struggled in 2021 and this victory will help solidify some momentum for this season. The next stop for the NASCAR Cup Series will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but not the track we are used to…I will touch on that later. Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano are the favorites to win at 10/1 according to CBS Sports.

Now to describe the new track. Atlanta had the oldest surface in NASCAR and produced a strategic style of racing that many drivers and fans loved. With the deteriorating surface, the track was repaved, and the banking has been adjusted in the corners from 24 degrees to 28 degrees and the width was adjusted down from 55 feet to 45 feet. The desired result of the track “re-makers” was to create pack-style racing. After watching practice on Saturday, they achieved that. With 325 laps to be completed, laps led will be an interesting stat. The question is, will there be many lead changes? How will the race flow? These are all aspects that you must look at when creating your lineup. The field has already been set, with Chase Briscoe getting the pole, due to qualifying being cancelled. They could have qualified on Saturday as scheduled, but NASCAR elected to run practice instead, even though they could have done both…but I digress. Also, fastest laps will be important, as many cars trailing the pack will be faster than the lead cars. I foresee many wrecks and the best strategy is to pick cars towards the back. When wrecks happen, which they will, it will collect so many cars due to the narrow racing service. I really hope this isn’t the plan for the rest of the 1.5-mile tracks. Why would a sporting organization create racing that breeds havoc, destroy cars which then lead to financial burdens…oh and the fact that there is a new car that many parts are hard to attain…it’s not my money, but it makes you think. Anyway, enough of my rant and on to the picks!

Top Pick: Denny Hamlin ($10,100) Starting 15th

I really like the #11 Joe Gibbs Toyota at the new Atlanta. Hamlin’s lap averages were the best among 10, 15 and 20 lap averages. Tire falloff will not be a major factor here, but drivers who can keep their tires fresh will run the fastest laps and move through the field easier. Hamlin is known to be one of the best superspeedway drivers, so in a race that has a similar style of racing, I don’t see him disappointing.

Supporting Cast: David Ragan ($5,400) Starting 35th & Josh Bilicki ($5,000) Starting 36th

Sticking to the superspeedway strategy, gaining positive EV is crucial to a winning lineup. David Ragan is a Georgia native, driving the #15 Rick Ware Racing Ford and is known to be one of the best superspeedway racers out there. He also is known to not destroy equipment, which is exactly why I am going his way here. Wrecks will inevitably happen, and I think Ragan can keep it clean for 325 laps. Josh Bilicki was fast in practice sessions, 13th in 10 lap averages, ahead of some Hendrick cars, which is pretty impressive. This is another choice though that I hope gives me enough of a buffer to allow me to be more aggressive in picking the top-tier drivers.

FanDuel Preview

Yacs

The cars are back on the East Coast and we’re back at the newly configured Atlanta Motor Speedway. Things look a little different here. The banks are steepened, the turns are more narrow and we’ll see more pack racing than the traditional 1.5-mile speedways normally offer. As for us racing fans, we’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of this, but for the drivers, they’ll have their hands full. It should be a fun race and we’ll get to watch 500 miles of it. Last week, Chase Briscoe picked up his first career Cup Series win at Phoenix and what a performance he put on. It looks like a new crop of talent is steadily rising and it’s going to be an interesting season.

My strategy today for FanDuel will be based on what we are told. The reconfigured Atlanta is supposed to run like a Superspeedway and I think we have enough evidence of that from practice. So, we’ll use the same strategy as we would for Daytona or Talladega. We’re going to pick drivers that are going to climb. Here’s the thing though, As opposed to the 200/165 laps at Daytona or 191 laps at Talladega, we’ll see 325 laps at Atlanta today. Laps led will become a factor, but to be fair, I don’t think we’ll have a huge discrepancy between lap leaders. I think it will be fairly even. We’ll see how it turns out, but here’s my breakdown.

First Pick: Christopher Bell ($8,000); Starting 27th

Right off of the bat, we’re going with Bell. He has a decent history here, not that it’s really going to matter with this new configuration, but it is a little helpful. I could see this being one of his signature tracks as he gets more and more experience. This starting spot for him is too difficult to pass up and the price point is a great value. With that being said though, expect him to be picked quite a lot.

Superspeedway Stars: Denny Hamlin ($12,000), Starting 15th; Michael McDowell ($5,000), Starting 29th

Again, I think we may be going a little chalky with our lineup this week, but I don’t think you can miss out on these guys. Our limited knowledge tells us that this new track is going to run like Daytona or Talladega, so you better believe we’re going to put some good Superspeedway drivers in the lineup. Both of these drivers’ resumes speak for themselves at the bigger tracks and they should be fast today. Hamlin had the 8th fastest practice time and McDowell was 6th fastest. That tells me that they have Top 10 potential and hopefully that will be the case in the end. Hamlin has gotten off to a slow start, but I think that could work in our favor here in terms of ownership.

Best of the Rest: Kyle Larson ($14,000), Starting 21st; Martin Truex Jr. ($10,000), Starting 26th

We’re getting two top level drivers here for our scraps, so I think our lineup will be just fine today. If you’re following along, with the drivers we have to pick from, we have $25,000 to spend. That gives us a lot of options, but we’re simply just going to go with passing potential. Larson will be picked a lot even though he is the most expensive option, but he’s good everywhere, so you would be missing out if you don’t pick him. As for Truex though, I could see it going either way for him. He doesn’t have a bad track record here, again, not that it really matters. He’s been hit or miss this season, so hopefully we’ll have a big day from the 19 car.

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