Jacob Nelson 
Join us in the #nascar Discord channel to discuss your QuikTrip 500 DFS picks. The following is intended for FanDuel GPP purposes only.
Follow Josh on Twitter at @dfs_noshame.
THE SLATE
NASCAR Cup Series returns today with the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
This race is 325-laps, or 500.5-miles, on this 1.54-mile track.
The optimal lineup to begin race will be Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, and Chris Buescher.
THE PICKS | FanDuel
CHASE ELLIOTT – Elliott starts on the pole today and has been one the strongest performing drivers recently. With a victory and four top-five finishes, Elliott offers salary relief from Harvick and Kyle Busch and appears to be in a better position to dominate this race. Starting on the pole does present risk of negative place differential though, so looking for laps led and top-five finish from Chase if he is going to be rostered.
MARTIN TRUEX JR. – Truex had one of the better cars last time out at Atlanta. Starting 11th, Truex provides some place differential upside in comparison to the other top-twelve drivers and is $1,800 less than Harvick.
KEVIN HARVICK – Harvick is the highest-priced driver on this slate and the favorite to win. Starting 9th, Harvick has positive place differential potential and the ability to lead laps in this race. Harvick should garner a considerable amount of ownership today.
BRAD KESELOWSKI – Keselowski is coming off two recent victories and has six top-ten finishes this season. Starting 6th, Keselowski has the potential to lead laps and finish top-five in this race.
JIMMIE JOHNSON – Johnson does not offer the same dominator potential as the other drivers listed above, but starting 15th, and projected to finish 9th, he has the positive place differential upside at a reduced salary. Johnson feels safer than many plays available today, but he’s not a requirement in every line.
CHRISTOPHER BELL – Bell is starting 27th today, provides salary relief, and positive place differential upside. Be careful with punting on FanDuel, so outside of Custer and McDowell, avoid rostering any drivers below Bell.
Additional options: Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, Matt DiBenedetto, Cole Custer, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Chris Buescher, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
NON-LEAD LAPPERS
NOTE: Be sure to roster drivers that finish on the lead lap.
The following drivers have not finished on the lead lap during the 2020 Cup Series: Josh Bilicki, Garrett Smithley, BJ McLeod, Timmy Hill (with exception for the Supermarket Heroes 500), Joey Gase, Quinn Houff, JJ Yeley (with exception for the Fan Shield 500), Reed Sorenson, and Brennan Poole (with exception for the Daytona 500).
Timmy Hill finished 19th at the Supermarket Heroes 500, but he does not provide sufficient upside due to the unlikeliness to achieve a top-ten or top-fifteen finish.
SLATE ANALYSIS
LAST TIME OUT AT ATLANTA
The last time out at Atlanta, Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher, and Daniel Suarez.
Kyle Larson in the number 42 car, now driven by Matt Kenseth recorded the most laps led with 142. Harvick led 45 laps, Ryan Blaney led 41 laps, Almirola led 36 laps, Keselowski led 33 laps, Joey Logano led 22 laps, Truex led four laps, and Kurt Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. each led one lap.
Larson also recorded the most fastest-laps with 54 laps. Harvick and Truex recorded 38 fastest-laps each. Keselowski recorded 28, Kyle Busch recorded 25, Logano recorded 24, Blaney recorded 17, and Almirola recorded 14.
The optimal FanDuel lineup for the 2019 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 included Keselowski, Truex, Kurt Busch, Jones, and Buescher with a total of 382.8 points. The driver’s salary ranged from $6,000 to $13,000 and left $100 salary remaining.
The optimal DraftKings lineup for the 2019 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 included Keselowski, Truex, Larson, Jones, Buescher, and David Ragan in the number 38 car. The total score was 382.25 points, the driver’s salary ranged from $5,800 to $11,100, and left #-0- salary remaining.
RECENT CUP SERIES RACES
The Cup Series has raced three times at mile-and-a-half tracks during 2020, most recently at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The optimal lineups for the 2020 Alsco Uniforms 500 were (FD) Elliott, Hamlin, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse Jr., and (DK) Elliott, Harvick, Logano, Blaney, Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon.
The optimal lineups for the 2020 Coca-Cola 600 were (FD) Elliott, Keselowski, Johnson, Blaney, Custer, and (DK) Truex, Elliott, Bowman, Blaney, Custer, McDowell.
The optimal lines for the 202 Pennzoil 400 were (FD) Logano, DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse Jr., Wallace Jr., and (DK) Harvick, Logano, Stenhouse Jr., Wallace Jr., Ty Dillon.
2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES PERFORMANCE
The following drivers have taken the checkered flag during the 2020 Cup Series: Keselowski (2), Hamlin (2), Logano (2), Elliott, Harvick, and Bowman.
The following drivers have top-five finishes during the 2020 Cup Series: Harvick (5), Kyle Busch (5), Elliott (4), Keselowski (4), Hamlin (4), Blaney (3), Kurt Busch (3), Logano (2), Bowman (2), Bowyer (2), Jones (2), Johnson (2), Stenhouse Jr. (2), DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, and Buescher.
The following drivers have top-ten finishes during the 2020 Cup Series: Harvick (8), Keselowski (6), Kurt Busch (6), Kyle Busch (5), Elliott (5), Hamlin (5), Logano (4), Jones (4), Johnson (4), Truex (4), Blaney (3), Bowyer (3), Austin Dillon (3), Almirola (3), Bowman (2), Stenhouse Jr. (2), DiBenedetto (2), Buescher (2), Byron (2), Reddick (2), Wallace (2), Bell (2), Nemechek, Custer, and Newman.
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RESOURCES
- The starting line up is available here.
- Pit stall selections are available here.
- Driver rankings are available here.
- Race results for the last time out at Atlanta are available here.
- Loop data for the last time out at Atlanta is available here.
