Brad Keselowski is the most expensive driver heading into Sunday’s Daytona 500 — and he’ll start almost at the back of the field.
Is he worth the pick for your DraftKings lineups, given his upside for position differential? Well, you’d think he would be highly owned — given fantasy owners often don’t need to max out their salary cap to get a winning lineup at a restrictor-plate race. But at $10,600, your money might be better spent elsewhere if you’re looking for someone to fade.
The same could be said for Kyle Busch ($9,600), who is the seventh-most expensive driver. He’ll start below 30th, so he seems likely to gain a ton of spots in position differential. But you might need to fade him as well, depending on where you fall on strategy.
One thing to think about is this could be a Daytona 500 where one driver leads a ton of laps. Even though there aren’t many points available compared to a typical race in terms of laps led, there could potentially be a dominant driver if the race stays single file against the wall like it did in the Clash and both Duels. You’d think that driver would be one of the Fords — either from Penske or Stewart-Haas — but that doesn’t exactly narrow it down since so many of them start toward the front.
As for value picks? Brendan Gaughan ($6,000) isn’t bad, but people have caught on to his restrictor-plate prowess and he’s actually more expensive than 12 other drivers in the field.
Ty Dillon (10th in his Duel) seems to have a fast car and Matt DiBenedetto (fourth in his Duel) are both cheaper than Gaughan — but they’re starting too close to the front to capitalize on position differential. A real bargain could be Parker Kligerman, who is tied for the cheapest driver in the field at $4,500 — yet is a good plate racer and has potential to gain a ton of spots.
Here’s a look at the Daytona 500 starting lineup, with each driver’s DraftKings price in parentheses:
1. William Byron ($6,800)
2. Alex Bowman ($8,000)
3. Kevin Harvick ($10,200)
4. Joey Logano ($10,400)
5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($9,800)
6. Clint Bowyer ($9,900)
7. Paul Menard ($7,400)
8. Aric Almirola ($9,200)
9. Matt DiBenedetto ($5,900)
10. Denny Hamlin ($10,000)
11. Martin Truex Jr. ($8,800)
12. Kurt Busch ($8,700)
13. Bubba Wallace ($7,200)
14. Ryan Blaney ($9,000)
15. Chris Buescher ($6,300)
16. Jamie McMurray ($7,500)
17. Jimmie Johnson ($8,500)
18. Chase Elliott ($9,400)
19. Ryan Newman ($7,000)
20. Austin Dillon ($7,600)
21. Ryan Preece ($6,500)
22. Ty Dillon ($5,600)
23. Daniel Suarez ($8,400)
24. David Ragan ($6,200)
25. Parker Kligerman ($4,500)
26. Kyle Larson ($7,800)
27. Landon Cassill ($5,200)
28. Erik Jones ($8,200)
29. Daniel Hemric ($6,600)
30. Brendan Gaughan ($6,000)
31. Kyle Busch ($9,600)
32. Corey LaJoie ($4,900)
33. Matt Tifft ($5,000)
34. Michael McDowell ($5,900)
35. Brad Keselowski ($10,600)
36. Ross Chastain ($4,800)
37. Cody Shane Ware ($4,500)
38. BJ McLeod ($4,600)
39. Tyler Reddick ($5,100)
40. Casey Mears ($5,400).