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AustYn

What a dramatic ending to the NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season…Austin Dillon won at Daytona, locking himself into the NASCAR Playoffs and the 16 drivers have been set. Kurt Busch withdrew his spot from the Playoffs as he is still not able to participate in races due to his concussion symptoms. I cannot think of any better place to have the start of the Playoffs than Darlington Raceway. Honestly, this would be a great place to end the season too. Chase Elliott is the points leader as he accumulated 4 wins and many playoff points due to his consistency and truthfully, he was by far the most consistent. This season has been so wild, with 16 different winners and the new car, it has brought forth many challenges for the best teams in NASCAR. Bubba Wallace has switched over to the #45 for the remainder of the season, because 23XI has that car in the Owner’s Points playoffs…or I think that is what it is called. Opinion time here…but I don’t understand why they can’t have total points for that, everything doesn’t have to be a playoff “cut-style” thing. If you want to reward a team, reward the team who performed the best all year, not just the last 10 races. I get it from the driver standpoint, but it just seems silly to do Owner’s points like that. Either way, it makes me feel odd…not bad but odd that Bubba is driving that car number, hopefully it doesn’t lead to drivers getting swapped out in the future.

Enough of the drama talk and let’s get to the Cook Out Southern 500. I love Cook Out and am so excited that this brand has their name on this race. Joey Logano was the winner in the spring race and is sitting P1 for this event. Teams will be given 13 sets of tires to use, and the right-side tire code has been used a lot this season (Fontana, Vegas, Kansas, Texas and Nashville) so crews will have some familiarity with it. Darlington is very different as you all know from the tracks that I listed. Performance wise, Denny Hamlin is the best here, averaging a 7.8 finish in his career, but I am leery of selecting Hamlin after he pulled out of the Xfinity race due to soreness from the Daytona wreck. My strategy for this race is definitely a tournament one. I have a couple drivers up my sleeve that I believe will shock people tonight. Daniel Suarez is undoubtedly going to be the most owned because of his 36th starting spot. Aside from what I am about to write, my best piece of advice for you when formulating your roster is to pick as many Playoff drivers as you can, they are ultimately the safest bet…Darlington shows what teams are legit and eats up the ones who aren’t.

Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Top Pick: William Byron ($8,900) Starting P3

Yes Yes…get back off the floor or clean your screen, because I know you either fell out of your chair or spewed your favorite beverage all over your phone or computer. My top pick today is #24 William Byron. Mainly because of the speed he showed in practice…he wasn’t the fastest in any of the long runs, but he did put down the 2nd fastest lap, and he is starting higher than any of his counterparts that were faster in 5 and 10 lap sessions. Once he gets out front, I look for Byron to dominate today. I know that his season has been far from that, but I have a great feeling about Hendrick cars in general tonight.

Supporting Cast: Austin Cindric ($7,600) Starting 6th & Ty Dillon ($5,800) Starting 29th

Team Penske showed speed in practice and that isn’t a shock, but Austin Cindric being the fastest driver in 5 lap runs and laying down the fastest lap overall was. The #2 car is always known as being a competitive car and with Cindric being in the Playoffs, I think he is a sneaky choice today. His starting spot is prime, and I don’t see him making may mistakes today. He is an “experienced” rookie if you can say that or at least his driving style is, and I already like how they are coming out of the gate today. His fall-off wasn’t bad either in long sessions, so I like Cindric as my dark horse. Ty Dillon may not be coming back to Petty GMS next season, but the #42 driver has been putting together a solid campaign as of late. He didn’t finish outside of the top-20 in the month of August and his average finish at Darlington is 18.7. This track is a strong one for him, considering he has never been in anything fast here and averages a top-20 finish. Staying on the lead lap is always a challenge here and I look for Dillon to get us a quality top-20 tonight.

FanDuel Preview

Yacs

We’re back at Darlington, but this time we’re playoff racing. This will be the first race of the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs and I think it is the perfect place to hold the first playoff race. Austin Dillon locked in his spot last week at Daytona with a win and Martin Truex was left out of the playoffs this year despite having a really solid regular season. Daytona is a tough elimination race, but we move on.

Darlington is one of the most legendary and unique tracks on the circuit and it’s great to see it being featured twice a year again. The fun really is going to begin this week and tensions will be extra high. For some, this race isn't a race where you have to do exceptionally well, but obviously you want as good of a finish as possible. We have the benefit of having a prior history with this car build at Darlington, so it gives a little bit of insight as to who might be good at the track, but with these cars, things are so unpredictable. This track usually has a lot of green flag laps, but here lately, it hasn’t been that way. The lap leader normally hovers around 150-200 laps in the 500-mile race, so having the lap leader could be a bonus. In the past, climbers weren’t really that prevalent. It is difficult to pass at Darlington, but in the last race, there were a lot of drivers that made the climb, so I would say you don’t have to be as cautious as you normally would. Let’s dive into FanDuel for this week.

Ford Playoff Drivers: Joey Logano ($11,500) Starting 1st; Kevin Harvick ($8,800) Starting 18th

With the playoff starting, you want to get as many guys in the playoffs as possible, especially in the early rounds. Kevin Harvick has gotten hot at oval tracks at the right time and we still have plenty of those left. I’m not too worried about his practice times this week, because I know how well he can run here. He has 3 career wins and has the best average finish in the last 6 races here at 3.3. Look for Harvick to have another solid run and hopefully he can get somewhere within that average finish in his last 6.

Logano was the last winner at Darlington. He won here back in a May and I think he will be tough to beat again today. Again, with Logano, I’m not too worried about practice times, although he did crack the Top 10. It’s going to be a long race and there will be plenty of chances to find speed. Like Harvick, Joey has a good track history at Darlington and I’m not too worried about him. Also, he will be a lesser picked driver I feel like. I expect DFS players to jump on Larson or Reddick this week heavily.

Chevy Playoff Drivers: Daniel Suarez ($8,200) Starting 36th; Austin Dillon ($7,200) Starting 13th

Daniel Suarez failed inspection 3 times and wasn’t allowed to qualify and will have to serve a pass-through penalty, but I wouldn't be too worried about that. It will obviously hold him back on the first green flag run, but he should be good to go once the first caution flag waves. Suarez got a Top 10 back in May and I think he can do it again. He will get those climbing points and he ran pretty decently in practice and his teammate, Ross Chastain, had a decent run as well, so I wouldn't be worried about him too much.

Austin Dillon is fresh off of a win and he’s looking for more. Good thing he has a decent track record at Darlington. Somehow, Austin Dillon finds himself in the mix of these endurance races every time. He didn’t have a particularly good run in practice, but I’m not worried. I’m going to ride that momentum and hope for the best. I’m not expect him to win today, but I think he could definite get a Top 10.

Final Pick: Martin Truex Jr. ($10,500) Starting 17th

I know, I know. Martin Truex isn't in the playoffs. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I’m not worried. Truex has a great track record here. He’s won twice and has had races where he absolutely dominates at this track. Denny Hamlin has the best track record here in his career, but Truex is a close second. It’s true that he isn't racing for the title, but he’s still a racer and he’s still going to race for wins regardless of his playoff situation. Expect Truex to run well tonight and he may even run mad and win the thing.

Yacs

NASCAR Cook Out Southern 500 DFS Preview