NASCAR Daily Fantasy Helper: Hollywood Casino 400

If you are looking for an action-packed way to consume sports on the weekend, 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 who crash out of the race is a must, though!

FanDuel Research is always your home for fantasy NASCAR advice. In addition to this helper, Jim Sannes takes a look at the best bets of the weekend in his betting guide.

With all of this in mind, let's preview this weekend's Hollywood Casino 400 from the perspective of playing daily fantasy NASCAR on FanDuel.

Weekend Primer

NASCAR's late-season stretch used to be chalk full of cookie-cutter, 1.5-mile ovals. Now, they're a bit of a rarity despite producing the best type of racing in this next-gen car.

Kansas Speedway will play host to the first of the 2023 playoffs, and we should be in for a treat if the last lap of the May race was any indication. There are several grooves and moderate tire wear on this oval, so passing is actually possible without driving someone directly into the wall like Denny Hamlin did Kyle Larson there.

It'll be a fairly routine weekend with a conjoined practice-qualifying session on Saturday, but we enter this weekend with a pretty good idea of who will be fast. In addition to the May race at Kansas, two other 1.5-mile ovals with moderate tire wear have been run this season.

However, surprises could be had as teams unload their top game with a win meaning an automatic berth into the next round of the playoffs. We'll still want to gobble up that practice data.

General Lineup Strategy

This next-gen car has done away with the extreme domination we used to see at 1.5-milers.

The highest percentage of laps led by a driver here in Kansas with this car configuration was 43.4% by the now-retired Kurt Busch in May of 2022. No one broke 100 laps led in this season's race here. That means no driver secured at least 10.0 FanDuel points for laps led -- and that a driver making up 20 spots from the start of the race would have had a higher bonus than any "lap leader".

As a result, I don't find an extreme reason to go out of my way to secure early laps-led points from drivers in the first two rows. If the fastest drivers in practice are starting outside of the top five, I'm comfortable waiting for the cream to rise to the top. As mentioned, passing is surprisingly effective here.

I still want fast cars that can win for at least three -- and hopefully four -- lineup spots, and the spring race's evidence would concur. Just one driver who started outside the top-20 spots finished in the top 10. This isn't a spot like Daytona or Atlanta to chase place-differential points because there's a significant chasm between the haves and have nots on this track type.

Driver Rankings

Below are my pre-qualifying rankings for each driver based on equipment, track history, recent form, and overall talent level -- in that order. Only drivers with a win probability above 0% in Jim Sannes' win simulations or a top-20 finish this season were included.

MLT Rank, the driver's weighted average median lap time ranking at the relevant sample of similar race tracks to this weekend, is a great indicator of overall speed. The prior races in the sample (with weight percentage) this week are:

• 2023 Kansas (Spring) - 40.0%
• 2023 Charlotte (Spring) - 35.0%
• 2023 Las Vegas (Spring) - 25.0%

For dominator viability, the driver is ranked 0-10 on a scale to potentially lead laps and win the race if they start upfront. A "10" is among the favorites to win the race, and a "0" has no realistic chance of leading the race at any point.

For flex play viability, the driver is ranked 0-10 on a scale of potentially finishing inside the top 15 spots. These drivers will be better daily fantasy plays the further back in the field they start for optimal place-differential points.

Obviously, Denny Hamlin ($14,000) and Kyle Larson ($13,500) dueling to the last lap of May's race rightfully puts them at the front of the line as contenders this weekend.

Of the two, I'd have to give the nod to Hamlin, who has held a top-three median time at all three 1.5-mile ovals this year. He's been consistently excellent, and teammate Martin Truex Jr. ($13,500) is the other with a top-five median time at all three events.

Both ran into issues at Charlotte to derail a chance to win, but they were further in contention than Larson, who never made much noise with the eighth-best median lap. Larson also locked himself into the next round of the playoffs, which does cloud how much his team is investing into this particular weekend.

Tyler Reddick ($12,000) was actually quicker than all of them in Charlotte with the second-fastest median time, and he seems to be peaking at the right time after leading 90 laps in a second-place effort last week. I'm expecting a solid run from last fall's polesitter at Kansas.

Kurt Busch won the spring race in 2022, but in Busch's car due to injury last September, Bubba Wallace ($10,500) followed that with a second straight Kansas win for the #45 machine. Wallace has a top-nine median time at all three tracks in this weekend's sample, so he hasn't slowed down since that victory.

Larson's teammate William Byron ($12,500) is a worthy consideration. He had just the 15th-best median time at Kansas in May, but two top-six results at the other 1.5-milers shows he's likely a threat this weekend.

There's a pretty small list of contenders with just Kyle Busch ($11,500), Charlotte winner Ryan Blaney ($9,500), Kevin Harvick ($8,000), and Ty Gibbs ($7,000) holding median lap time rankings blends of 13.0 or better. Everyone else is at 15.0 or lower.

The only reason Ross Chastain ($10,000) isn't on that list was a dismal race at Charlotte, posting a top-13 median time at the other two tracks. He rebounded with decent speed for the first time in weeks at Darlington; I would significantly buy into quick practice times again this weekend.

Of course, I'd also be remiss to not mention Chris Buescher ($8,500) as a contender with four straight top-three finishes on ovals of any kind. He just seems to be a driver of destiny this year, and he's just not appropriately salaried on FanDuel. Teammate and owner Brad Keselowski ($7,800) hasn't been far behind, either.

All year at larger ovals, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($7,200) has popped with speed. He finished 12th in the May race at Kansas, and the fastest median lap blend of a driver below $7,000 belongs to Aric Almirola ($5,000), who finished right behind him in 13th. Almirola's lone drawback is not being a playoff driver, but he finished 14th last week with that the case.

There are also a couple of situations to watch in practice from guys significantly down this list. Erik Jones ($6,000) has surged since the middle of June, which is well after the last 1.5-miler we saw. It was one of his best track types last year, so fast practice times should give us reason to buy in. Chase Briscoe ($6,000) was also untouchable at 1.5-milers earlier this season, but perhaps new crew chief Richard Boswell -- hired in June -- produces a faster car for him this weekend.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.