DFS NASCAR: O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Lineups & Playbook

O’Reilly Auto Parts 500

Texas Motor Speedway

Martinsville saw the first short track of the season and perhaps one of the most exciting races as well. Brad Keselowski notched his first win at the track and the second on the season, taking home a brand new grandfather clock. Kyle Busch and Keselowski swapped the lead several times over the last 160 laps of the race but with 43 laps to go Brad took the lead for the final time. The victory also marked the first win for Ford at The Paperclip since 2002.

The Lone Star State hosts its first senior Cup Series event this week with the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on the 1.5-mile quad-oval layout of Texas Motor Speedway. It has a similar design to that of Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway as well. Though it should be noted that the track was repaved after the fall race and redesigned at the same time. The previous design had banking of 24 degrees in all four turns, however now the banking in Turns 1 and 2 is a lower 20-degree slope. In addition to lower the banking, the asphalt path has been widened to 80 feet from 60 feet, which will have the effect of changing the approach angels entering and exiting the turns. With the repave comes a new set of grooves to be worn down over the next few years, so some of the stats may not hold true in this race.

At an 81-percent rate, eventual winners start in the top-five here at Texas. Races at Texas have just about eight cautions per contest with 88-percent of laps being run under green flags. This week there were an unusual amount of cars to have issues with pre-qualifying inspections, so much so that they failed to run a qualifying lap. In all nine drivers will start towards the end of the pack in the grid and value can be found there, based on practice runs.

DFS Playbook

Optimal Lineups

The cash lineup this week takes advantage of some of the drivers starting towards the back with Kyle Larson ($10,300), Kyle Busch ($9,900) and Chase Elliott ($9,500). All three of those drivers have top end speed but never got to show it during qualifying due to a delay in inspections. However all three have shown that speed during practice sessions. Daniel Suarez ($7,200), A.J. Allmendinger ($6,700), and Aric Almirola ($6,400) finish out the lineup. All three have shown very good speed this week but may not be the idea of a safe bet. This week’s showing matter more than the previous histories for each driver and with them showing top-10 times, they make the lineup.

The GPP Draft Kings roster again leads the way with Kyle Larson ($10,300) but then follows up with three Hendrick Motorsports drivers in Jimmie Johnson ($9,700), Chase Elliott ($9,500), and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ($8,500). Those three drivers will start further back than most though with J.J. leading the way at P24. However they have all shown top-five speed at the most recent two practice sessions. They will start with a lot of traffic in front of them and could get caught up in issues trying to move forward. Aric Almirola ($6,400) and Michael McDowell ($5,500) finish out the GPP six-driver squad. Those two have shown great lap times at practice on Friday and Saturday and McDowell offers positional differential points at a bargain price.

The NASCAR Fantasy Live group of five has familiar names in a combination between the DK Cash and GPP lineups. Each driver in the lineup gives a great combination of price and upside, which is what we want to see in this type of scoring format.