DFS NASCAR: Kobalt 400 Track Breakdown

Well, well, well…we have arrived at Las Vegas for the Kobalt 400 this Sunday afternoon after what have been exciting and tumultuous races at Daytona and Atlanta. It is a second-straight week at a 1.5-mile circuit though this track is a bit different than Atlanta. There is progressive banking in the turns ranging from 12 to 20 degrees as you get nearer to the outside wall, so don’t expect the same speeds as other tracks at this distance. Pay close attention to laps led and positional differential this week as there are only a few laps led dominators but drivers don’t have much of an issue moving up through the field.

Track Data

Top-15 Drivers at LVMS

Key Drivers at 1.5-mile Tracks

Drivers to watch this week:

Kevin Harvick: Harvick, as probably isn’t a shock at this point, leads the field in laps led the last two years at LVMS to go with his win and seventh place finish in the last two years. He is likely to be fairly upset with himself over the sin (get it we’re in Sin City) of getting a speeding penalty in the pits with just 15 to go after leading all day at Atlanta, which could factor into a strong performance. Harvick is the most expensive option on both sites ($10,700, $28.00) so bargains will have to be included to get him in the lineup.

Kyle Busch: It’s the hometown track of the Busch brothers this week and Kyle has performed admirably here in the past. He has only raced here once in the past two year, having missed the 2015 race with a broken leg sustained at Daytona. In 12 career races here, he has a win and five top-fives under his belt and sits fourth in laps led with 230.  The younger Busch brother has been strong in parts of races this year but just hasn’t put a full effort together yet. He very well could this week.

Joey Logano: Logano is one of only three drivers in the field this week with more than 50 laps led in the past two races as LVMS combined; He has 121. In the last 25 1.5-mile races Logano owns 15 top-five finishes and 19 top-10s. Point being, it’s hard to look past that consistency from him when you combine his history here and on similar tracks.

Kurt Busch: Like his brother, he is coming to his hometown track and also like Kyle, he’s only run once here in the last two years. In that race he won the pole, led 31 laps and finished ninth. The rest of his stats at this track in his career and other tracks of the same distance aren’t phenomenal but he has been a different driver so far this year as has his car.

Ryan Blaney: Blaney could very well be the sleeper pick of the race. He comes in owning one of the best positional differentials in the field at +9.5 in the last two races, his only two on the circuit and has performed well in the past two races this season. Blaney is the 15^th best driver at the distance and has four top-10 finishes to his credit over the last season and a half. He is however being priced in the middle of the pack in both Draft Kings and NASCAR Live so the sleeper status may not make him quite as affordable as one would think.