Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Drivers Start your engine.
Speaker 2 00:00:22 What's going on? FA Nation, welcome back. This is The Fantasy Alarm, NASCAR D f S podcast. I'm Dan Malin. Uh, many thanks to Ed Rouse for covering for me last week, but I am joined as always by Matt Sells. He is our f ss w a three-time NASCAR writer of the year. Matt, how you doing? How did you enjoy the first race of the 2023 playoffs for the Cup Series?
Speaker 3 00:00:42 I thought that was a great Darlington race. I thought it was Fantastic Tire where it definitely played a role. Um, in that race we saw a bunch of different grooves working. Um, it was not just a runaway like some folks, uh, it thought you could actually pass. It was pretty nice. And the winner of the race was in the playoffs. Unlike last year where the first four <laugh> races in the playoffs were won by drivers not in the
Speaker 2 00:01:08 Play. Yeah, 2022 was so weird with all the different race winners. And then the playoffs started with four different winners that weren't even in the playoffs. It was, it was, it was such an odd season for the next gen car.
Speaker 3 00:01:17 It, it was so, you know, the, the playoffs got off to a, uh, rip roar and start. I thought it was a pretty good, pretty good race. Now we turn our attention to a track that had just a phenomenal race earlier this year. Um, one of the best races in recent memory to be, to be honest, that can,
Speaker 2 00:01:34 I think you can make that argument pretty much every race at Kansas since they introduced the next gen car. Like this car races really well, you can, you can pass, uh, you can get multiple leaders. Uh, the Toyotas have dominated, they've won all three series or all three races at Kansas since they introduced the next gen car. Uh, very excited for this race this weekend. It just kind of sucks that it falls on week one of N F L Sunday.
Speaker 3 00:01:57 It does. And um, you know, we saw some, we saw some drivers in attendance at the Chief's Lions game, uh, you know, on Thursday. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> 'cause was definitely there cheering on his, uh, home state lions. So it's pretty, I don't know if they timed it, but it, it works pretty well that you have the start of N F L about, uh, I don't know, 15 miles down the road from one of the great NASCAR tracks in the playoffs there. So we'll see. But you wanna know something interesting. This is the first time since Memorial Day weekend that the Cup series is on a one and a half mile track.
Speaker 2 00:02:39 I, uh, I did catch that because as I was doing, I was doing some early work and I was even look when I was working on the Xfinity Playbook and I'm like, I was looking at the tracks they've run this year and I'm like, there just aren't that many like tracks that the Xfinity series has run that correlate right to Kansas. And it's like they have Vegas. Yep. They have Charlotte and then pretty much they run a ton of road courses in short flat tracks. Um, so I can see why AJ Inger probably wants to go back to that series <laugh>. Um, but yeah, it, it's kind of crazy that like we, like, you know, these cookie cutter intermediates are supposed to be like the bread and butter of Mascar or they, or at least they were right for most of NASCAR's scheduling in previous years and, and it's kind of wild that it's been over three months since we've been to. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:03:24 You have to go back to the Coke 600 for the last time. Now does that mean that we haven't been on an intermediate? No. I mean I think technically you could consider Michigan to be a two mile intermediate, right? Nashville in is an intermediate, it's not one and a half miles. Yeah. Uh, Nashville not quite one and a half miles. Um, so you have some that are close, but a true one and a half mile track hasn't been released in the Cup series since Memorial Day weekend is the capstone to um, you know, the greatest day in racing. So that was, that was interesting to me. But there are tracks that we can, you know, compare. I know some sites are telling you, well you can only really compare Charlotte and Texas and Kansas and Vegas together. I don't think so. I think mission race is like Kansas. Um, I think you can take a little bit from Homestead 'cause it's a multi groove track. Yeah. Um, I think you can take a little bit from Nashville 'cause Kansas is a little bit flatter of a mile and a half than some others are. So I, I think we can get a little bit interesting with our comps this week.
Speaker 2 00:04:36 Okay. So let's talk practice and qualifying. They happened uh, early Saturday afternoon, two cars. Uh, I believe they both had the same issues. Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs. Yep. Uh, both had tires go down. They both tagged the wall. Gibbs is definitely going to a backup car. Correct. He will start at the rear. Kyle Busch is gonna start pretty far back anyway. He's not going to a backup car. I think they, that tells me that they loved the speed that they had in the initial car and they don't want to risk losing. Well they
Speaker 3 00:05:05 Should. That car was fast before he Right.
Speaker 2 00:05:07 So it was Austin Dillon. So Richard Childress racing did something to set these cars up pretty well.
Speaker 3 00:05:12 Right. Um, so yeah, Kyle bus will start 35th. Ty Gibbs will start 36th. It is a little di and Kyle Busch kind of alluded to it in his post crash interview. He was like, well we have their data and you had two different manufacturers using that data referring to Goodyear and have tires go down. So there's some questions as to whether or not the floor for the P s I is too low right now that Goodyear told them because it's not too j g R cars that went down. Right. It's an R C R car and a J G R car. So a Toyota and a Chevy, which is a little disconcerting. Uh, Kyle Busch did not take a qualifying lap. So he will start 35th and be counted as 35th. Now do we wanna turn our attention to William Byron who had a part brake on his car, uh, in the right front suspension, if I believe it's a bolt that I guess goes to the upper control arm I think is what they were saying. Um, that appeared to break during practice and he wasn't sure if they were gonna fix it in time to take a qualifying lap. They did. He took qualifying laps. He will start ninth then there was a debate as to whether that counted as an unapproved adjustment, which is huge for us because if it counts as an unapproved adjustment, he would've to drop to the rear at the start of the race but still be scored from P nine from
Speaker 2 00:06:42 Ninth. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:06:42 However, thank you NASCAR for not counting it as an unapproved adjustment and counting it as fixing a part that broke and not, not tweaking the car. So he gets to start ninth and be scored from ninth and not have to drop to the rear. So,
Speaker 2 00:07:00 And those Hendrick cards are quite sporty.
Speaker 3 00:07:03 What
Speaker 2 00:07:03 The Hendrick cards are pretty sporty this week too. Like Larson's on the front row, chase Elliot qualified Well and Byron's also in the top 10. I don't really know
Speaker 3 00:07:10 Bowman,
Speaker 2 00:07:11 I don't know what's wrong with Bowman <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:07:13 His back, his back is still wrong with Alex Bowman. I don't know. Um, now the downside to that is I think his val, his his D F Ss ownership just went B uh Byron that is went through the roof now for sure because he will start ninth and be scored that way as opposed to be scoring ninth but start 36th and have to get back to ninth to get positive pd. Now he gets to start ninth and if he moves up to eighth off off the jump, you're getting positive pd. So things are it, it was a weird qualifying session to be honest for D F s. Like I object.
Speaker 2 00:07:50 Well especially because in the regular session <laugh> Ross Chastain laid down such a great qualifying lap and
Speaker 3 00:07:58 He, it was like the second faster than anybody <laugh>. It was insane. It, it
Speaker 2 00:08:02 Was wild. And so he gets into the top 10 then doesn't lay down as good of a lap in in like the final round of qualifying, but he still gets to start top 10. And so I don't really know what to make of that. But then you chimed in in the NASCAR D F SS discord and you said of all the mile and a half intermediate tracks that they've run in the next gen car, Ross Chastain is the only driver's go to complete every lap. And so now I have the internal struggle of trying to decide do I wanna play Ross Chastain on Sunday or do I want to leave Ross Chastain outta my player pool, which is what I've done the last couple months since he won in Nashville and it's done. Okay.
Speaker 3 00:08:38 Right. So to be clear that's, that is for nine races, it's the mile and a half intermediate. So we're not talking about Darlington or Nashville or Michigan or if you want to count home, you know, um,
Speaker 2 00:08:53 You're talking Vegas, Texas, Charlotte, Kansas,
Speaker 3 00:08:56 And uh, homestead
Speaker 2 00:08:59 Okay.
Speaker 3 00:09:00 Is also a mile and a half intermediate. So if you count those, he's completed every lap and he's the only one to finish on the lead lap and complete every lap in all nine races. Which is interesting given his history of, you know, causing mayhem on the track.
Speaker 2 00:09:17 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:09:18 However, it doesn't necessarily mean he's finished better than he started in every one of those. He's just racing at the end. So I guess it helps more for FanDuel, uh, to get those tenths of points added to your score.
Speaker 2 00:09:33 Well let's uh, dive into uh, Sunday's race. Uh, we have five drivers that are priced at $10,000 or above. We have Denny Hamlin, the car looks fine, he just didn't make the final round of qualifying. He's $11,000. That's
Speaker 3 00:09:46 Fine. He didn't start in top 10 in May when he won it Anyway, so
Speaker 2 00:09:50 Yeah, so he starts P 14. Martin Truex Jr. Is 10,700. Looks pretty good in the long run. He's P three Kyle Larsson 10,500 also looked good in the long run and he's coming off his first career cup series win at Darlington. William Byron who we've touched on is ten two. He starts P nine and Christopher Bell is back on the poll for the second straight week. Didn't really get to take advantage of that uh, shiny new pit crew that he had last week at Darlington. He started on the pole for that race as well. Finished 23rd but did lead 40 laps. Uh, are we just expecting him to I guess, turn it around and have a much better week this week? Do you think he can lead the entire first stage age?
Speaker 3 00:10:29 That's an excellent question by the way. I don't know if you can hear the background thudding happening. My neighbor's bumping music through his boat in his driveway I guess.
Speaker 2 00:10:37 Yeah, I mean my parent, my neighbors are moving out above me. So
Speaker 3 00:10:40 Yeah, I am not at a rave. Um, although my neighbor apparently thinks he is. Um, I don't know. This is an interesting, this is an interesting pricing scheme. The way that this broke out. Um, if DK knew what they were doing then their geniuses, uh, if they just lucked into it, well then good for them. I don't know if Bell leads the whole first stage.
Speaker 2 00:11:09 I would with uh, his teammate starting behind him and Larson's starting next to him. I don't think he does either. I don't know if he can manage tires in the long run as well as the other two.
Speaker 3 00:11:18 Also, Reddick was fast on the long run too and he's starting fit
Speaker 2 00:11:22 Right.
Speaker 3 00:11:22 So he's got some real quick cars on the long run that's behind him. And Bell has never been a guy to be a front runner. Like if he's on the pole in his career, he usually doesn't do all that great in the race. Doesn't mean we're avoiding him for the No, I think in GPP as you play him I think you cash you avoid 'em. Um, same thing as a normal bull sitter on an intermediate track. But I, I think the way that this qualifying wound up is setting up to be very interesting for how to build lineups because I'm either gonna write up like eight dudes in the playbook or I'm writing up everybody in the playbook. I haven't fully figured it out yet. <laugh> because like, I don't know if you can make a case for Bel, you can make a case for Larsson Truex Reddick uh, Chastain theoretically right, there's the top six. Okay. I don't know how we're splitting hairs between these guys this week.
Speaker 2 00:12:22 That's fair. Um, do you want to just, I guess cast a wide net and just give a blanket discussion on the forwards? 'cause they looked terrible in practice and qualifying. They only have one driver starting in the top 10. That's Michael McDowell. I'm kind of operating, by
Speaker 3 00:12:35 The way, would not have been my pick for the Fords to <laugh> starting in the
Speaker 2 00:12:40 Uh, it probably could have been Kevin Harvick and honestly Chase Briscoe didn't have a terrible speed in practice, although he didn't really, I don't think he made a 15 lap run. Um, but I probably, they
Speaker 3 00:12:50 Almost lagano. I guess he's starting 11th but like they kind of look mid.
Speaker 2 00:12:56 Yeah, they didn't look very good, which is surprising 'cause they were pretty good. They had great speed and practice in qualifying last week at Darlington.
Speaker 3 00:13:03 Yes, yes they did. Um, now I would be careful 'cause Darlington Eats tires in Kansas. Yeah. Eats substantially less tires, um, than that. But I am a little surprised at Ryan Blaney starting 17th. This is a track he's been really quick at previously and he flat out dominated the Coke 600 at a fairly comparable Charlotte race. So I am a bit surprised to see him starting 17th. I think there's a decent amount of people that will wind up playing him, especially in that eight k range. 'cause I think he's the one you can make the best argument for. Aside from Chase Elliot.
Speaker 2 00:13:45 But Blaine was also,
Speaker 3 00:13:47 He was slow in practice though too.
Speaker 2 00:13:49 He was slow in practice.
Speaker 3 00:13:50 Like I am waffling between putting him in the playbook to be honest. I've had him in, I don't
Speaker 2 00:13:55 Blame you
Speaker 3 00:13:55 Out. I've had him in, I've taken him out. Like I, 'cause part of me is like, well he wanted Charlie and nobody expected that. And then part of me is like, yeah but they've had bad speed this week. So like, and it's Ryan Blaney. He always finds ways to screw stuff up. Sorry Ralph, but like that's that's true.
Speaker 2 00:14:17 <laugh> uh, would you rather go to any of the R F K guys? Butcher is priced to 8,600 starting P 13 Klowski ISS 8,300, uh, bla sandwich right between them. Would you feel better about those two four drivers?
Speaker 3 00:14:30 It's kind of interesting 'cause we've got a Penske sandwich and our R F K sandwich. Right? Because you got Lacan, then Butcher, then Blaney, then kz. Oh yeah. Two Penskes and then you've got <laugh> two rfk. I feel better about the R F K team. Like they're just consistently quick.
Speaker 2 00:14:45 Yeah. Buscher we live in a day and age where Chris Buscher now has three wins in one season.
Speaker 3 00:14:49 Right. He's also, I think if we were still using the Old Point system, I think he's third or fourth in points.
Speaker 2 00:14:57 Damn good. Wrong
Speaker 3 00:14:58 Points in K's fourth and points, something like that. Like they've been consistent all year. Um, I'm fine. I don't know which one to tell you to play. 'cause I feel like the cars are so identical every time. I think Ke has the upper hand that Busher just shows up. And I don't know if they're giving slightly more to Busher because he's higher in the, in the points. But th those cars are good. Those that might be my standout Ford team. I don't think it's any, I I don't think it's, what am I trying to say? They're clearly the best Ford team in the garage. <laugh>. And I don't think that there's really an issue with, with that argument that they're
Speaker 2 00:15:45 Go ahead.
Speaker 3 00:15:46 That they're just the, the best one. I mean, Penske's not been good most of the year. S h r you can count on Kevin Harvick and that's it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:15:58 Fair. Uh, I do feel bad 'cause we did kind of gloss over like the elephant in the room and that is Kyle Busch at 9,600. He starts P 35. We then have Ty Gibbs at 7,600. He starts P 36. We mentioned at the top of the show that Bush and Gibbs had issues in, in practice. Uh, are you just plugging these guys into your cash game lineups, kind of setting it and forgetting it, eating the chalk? Yep. And then, all right. And, and are you okay playing them in tournaments or would you rather leverage them? Because Gibbs had a very, very fast car prior to the tire going down and getting into the wall as did Bush. But Bush is at least gonna fix, try and fix this car and Gibbs is going to a backup. Gibbs going to a backup. You don't really care. He starts dead last. Can't get you negative points. You just Okay. Rolling him out.
Speaker 3 00:16:41 I mean the backups nowadays are the same as the primaries just unwrapped. Right.
Speaker 2 00:16:47 And it's not like it's a backup from maybe colleague or
Speaker 3 00:16:51 Right. It's a J G R backup.
Speaker 2 00:16:52 It's a jgr backup. But like,
Speaker 3 00:16:55 You know, I'm, I'm perfectly fine with that. I think in a cash game you're plugging in Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs <laugh> and you're having fun with a lot of leftover salary from from there on out. Um, I I don't see any reason why you wouldn't play them in cash. Now the the tournament angle is an interesting one. I'm higher on Ty Gibbon tournaments than Kyle Bus. I think you leverage Kyle Busch
Speaker 2 00:17:26 Well I mean he saves you two grand as well. Right. And Bush has been on a very, uh,
Speaker 3 00:17:31 Unlucky streak.
Speaker 2 00:17:32 Just hasn't had a good run since I guess his last win.
Speaker 3 00:17:35 It also concerns me that they're trying to fix that. Like you're not gonna take a qualifying run, so why try to fix the car?
Speaker 2 00:17:45 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>
Speaker 3 00:17:47 Like I, I don't know if he did some, I'm sure they looked it over, right. But let's say he bends something that makes the car handle a little differently and then it's more likely to break rather than getting a brand new untouched backup out. I, I don't know. I, I'm more comfortable with Gibbs in tournaments than Kyle Oblation tournaments.
Speaker 2 00:18:10 Yeah, I'm probably with you there. Uh, Alex Bowman 7,800 P 23. What are we doing?
Speaker 3 00:18:16 I don't know what he's doing. Uh,
Speaker 2 00:18:18 I can get, I'm kind of operating under the assumption that most people will just see the name recognition. They'll see the price tag and they'll just plug him in. I don't really know if I want to go that route. I'd rather I guess avoid that chalk and maybe, I can't believe I'm saying this. I'd rather just go to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Starting P 16.
Speaker 3 00:18:36 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:18:37 Or Eric Jones. I don't know.
Speaker 3 00:18:39 Both of whom are in the playbook.
Speaker 2 00:18:41 What
Speaker 3 00:18:43 Shocker.
Speaker 2 00:18:44 Good guess by me. <laugh>. Um, let's dip into the value tier. Um, it's kind of a hard range to read. I did mention that I like Chase Briscoe a little bit and I know we did say that the forges are terrible. They all look pretty slow in practice. Briscoe I think in his five and 10 lap averages was top 15 in speed. Uh, and he's only 6,600 and he starts P 26. So when a guy starts P 26 and the practice speeds were telling me that he had arguably a top 15 car, I'm inclined to play him. Uh, and he is also a guy who has bad luck as well and I don't know if he's necessarily a great tire manager. He did have some good finishes and, and a win in the Xfinity series of a track like Darlington. Uh, but I think that I'll go to Briscoe this week. Um, I kind of like the value
Speaker 3 00:19:33 I do too, by the way. In a cash game lineup. I just plugged in Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs and then I went with Larsson and then you get some fun choices. I went with Suarez Lajoie and Chase Elliot after, it's not
Speaker 2 00:19:47 Bad.
Speaker 3 00:19:47 1100
Speaker 2 00:19:49 I, I have a similar lineup for that uh, Draftking survivor contest. Uh, I went with Bush and Gibbs just ate the truck because that contest is essentially finishing the top half every week and you move on. So it's a cash game. And so I went, I currently have, yeah, yeah I currently have Bush and Gibbs, but then I went with two Dominators with Larsson and Truex just because they both had, I liked the long run speed that they showcased in practice. Yep. And then I went Briscoe and Ty Dylan who I wanted to get to and, and talk about because he starts outside the top 30 and I can't believe we're gonna dedicate time to Ty Dylan on this podcast. Uh, <laugh>. But he starts outside the top 30. He's the cheapest driver in the field. And it was discovered on Twitter earlier this week when a fan was doing a tour of Richard Childers's racing's uh, facility that they've been that Ty Ty Dylan's car was just sitting there in the garage and they had the hood up and they were working on it and it became kind of public knowledge that Ty Dylan's car has been set up by R C R the last few weeks.
Speaker 3 00:20:49 Interesting. Did you
Speaker 2 00:20:50 See that?
Speaker 3 00:20:51 I did not. I missed it. But then again I've been like,
Speaker 2 00:20:54 But it makes sense because he is Richard Childress hiss grandson.
Speaker 3 00:20:57 I mean it would be weird if like one of them was an R C R car and the other one, like one grandson got a perfectly specked R C R car and the other one had to go beat off scraps. Like so I guess that's good news. Do we think that he finds speed? I don't. Do we wanna talk about last week when he put up 24 points 'cause he had 30 fastest laps at Darlington.
Speaker 2 00:21:26 Yeah. I also didn't watch last week's race. Uh, I had a previous commitment but that is wild. Um, I think he made the optimal lineup because of those 30 fastest laps. Yes. Was that just a thing where he got way off cycle and had
Speaker 3 00:21:37 He got off cycle and got new tires and Jen <laugh> just made fast laps? Uh, 'cause he started 26, finished 29th and put up 30 fastest laps. So he made optimal going backwards.
Speaker 2 00:21:54 <laugh> good for him.
Speaker 3 00:21:56 Which doesn't happen very often but like it's also back to back really good weeks. He's actually had sneaky good like he ran well at Michigan. He had a good road course. Wasn't
Speaker 2 00:22:10 He top 20 at Michigan?
Speaker 3 00:22:12 Yes.
Speaker 2 00:22:13 Yeah. Good for him.
Speaker 3 00:22:15 So you know what you're turning my, you're turning my outlook around. I will add <laugh>. There's another guy that right up.
Speaker 2 00:22:21 Well because even at that price ranges where he is, yeah. He's the only driver that's under five K and whenever I see a driver that's under five K that starts outside the top 30, I'm not even asking them to hit five x value and get 25 points. I'm like if they can finish 28th and I have the two or three guys that are nailing the do points correct, I can hit the optimal lineup and he could just be in there getting me 15 to 18 points and I'll be happy with it.
Speaker 3 00:22:43 Ooh. I get reddick, I get Reddick and Larsson and Suarez and Ty Dill and Gibbs and Bush.
Speaker 2 00:22:51 It's a nice build,
Speaker 3 00:22:52 I'll take it.
Speaker 2 00:22:55 Uh, but as we explore this value tier a little bit more, are there any other drivers that kind of stick out to you? Um, I, I wanna believe in Justin Haley. Uh, 5,800. He starts P 30. I think it's like a, he has a top 25 car. I just don't know if there's much of a ceiling there. I also don't know if I really want pay 5,800 for Justin Haley. He probably should probably be more like 52, 5300
Speaker 3 00:23:16 Probably. Um, I mean I like the Todd father hard not to like him at that price. He's got some pd. I think Lejo is still starting in a spot where we can play him. Even though he is starting 24th, he's run pretty well at mile and a halfs in intermediates of late.
Speaker 2 00:23:35 And plus if you think about it like this multi-group track, let's assume that they're, that tires are not an issue tomorrow even though they very well could be. Um, starting P 24 isn't necessarily a bad thing if there are longer green flag runs because that probably, and as long as he stays clean it probably keeps him on the lead lap longer.
Speaker 3 00:23:53 Correct. Yeah. Um, I am, I don't know what to do with Kosin. Carson Hovar,
Speaker 2 00:24:05 What car is he in? Uh, the Legacy car.
Speaker 3 00:24:08 Yeah. But it looked reasonably quick at practice and he did basically hold his spot at Darlington. He started 15th finish 17th. So
Speaker 2 00:24:26 I think you could probably expect him to do arguably the same thing in this race where, and what I mean by that is he's probably finishing within two spots of where he starts. So he can either finish right 19th and get 26 fantasy points or he finishes 23rd and gets you 17th fantasy points.
Speaker 3 00:24:44 Yeah, I mean I haven't, I haven't thought about putting him in the playbook yet 'cause I don't know where the value upside is. Yeah. 'cause they jumped, I mean he was 5,700 last week and now he's 6,400. That seems like a pretty decent
Speaker 2 00:25:01 Jump
Speaker 3 00:25:03 Uh, for a guy who did okay last week. I mean he didn't even hit value last week. That's just a solid, he didn't kill you but he also didn't <laugh> add value. Um, so I don't know, it's just an interesting name to look at in that range. I don't, Austin Dylan is interesting starting eighth too.
Speaker 2 00:25:30 He is because no one's gonna really wanna play him.
Speaker 3 00:25:33 Right.
Speaker 2 00:25:34 Um, and it really boils down to do you think he can finish top 10 and of course he can. I um, but he's so cheap. What is he 6,800?
Speaker 3 00:25:46 6,800
Speaker 2 00:25:47 If he was to just hold his spot and finish where he starts, that's 36 points and that's paying off his price tag. Right. And if he can just somehow finish six, that's 40. Who knows, maybe you can get a couple facets last if he gets on the right cycle really though, like as long as he finishes top 10 I'd be fine with it.
Speaker 3 00:26:07 Right.
Speaker 2 00:26:08 Um, and he could do that. He's done it a couple times this year. But
Speaker 3 00:26:11 I mean, let's put it this way. I'd rather play Austin Dillon than McDowell.
Speaker 2 00:26:17 I probably would too. Um, I have less faith in McDowell's equipment. Correct. Which I think he would've. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:26:25 Correct. I I just don't see he's been spending way too much time going backwards of late. I mean Daytona, he moved up but he started 39th so there was nowhere for him to go but up. Right. He won the road course. Okay. But he's a road racer. Yeah. If we go and look at more standard races, started night and moved back to 32nd last week at Darlington. Not a great day. Moved back one spot at Michigan, moved back at the cookout, 400, moved backwards at the high point 400, which was Pocono. You know, it just hasn't been a great run even at Charlotte. It's not like he did very much so I, I just don't trust this equipment starting seventh and like I said, uh, there's no way I would've guessed that McDowell would've been the highest qualifying forward coming into this weekend.
Speaker 2 00:27:28 Uh, we have a few minutes left. Do you have any, uh, tips or strategies for constructing lineups assuming you know there are enough lapse in this race to just go and get two to three dominators in your lineup?
Speaker 3 00:27:40 Yeah, I would say we're looking at a two dominator build. I feel like the race is, is kind of 10, you know, trending that way. Um, you may have a few guys that are gonna lead 20 or so laps, but I think there's really only two that are gonna like really, um, lead enough to make a huge difference in your lineups. Kansas is a track where you can drive anywhere, move up pretty well. So track position is not, um, we're not really a slave to track position here like we are, I'd say Vegas or Darlington last week, um, the May race was bonkers. It was, it had everything. It had some wrecks, it had a bunch of passes for the lead under green flags. It had pit strategy. Um, it was phenomenal. There was passing up and down the field basically the whole race. So you can go a lot of places with these builds this week.
Speaker 3 00:28:38 I feel like this is one of the more open build weeks that we've had based on how the pricing worked out and how qualifying worked out. I mean you heard there's five guys above 10 K and three of them are starting in the top, you know, top three and all of them have <laugh> have a case to lead laps. Byron's got a shot to lead laps here starting ninth. He could dominate. Um, Denny Hamlin won this race. He's starting 14th. He won it in May and he started a little, basically right about there. So you can, it's a pretty wide open week, which is why I am unsure of exactly who's in the playbook right now. And it's five 30 on Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 2 00:29:22 Uh, well Matt, we will let you, uh, get away and finish the NASCAR D F SS playbook for the Hollywood Casino 400. Uh, thank you so much for your time as always, and best of luck to you for Kansas and best of luck to the FA Nation.
Speaker 3 00:29:33 Best of luck FA Nation.
