NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Cup Series from Martinsville 11/1/20

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Sunday afternoons Cup Series race from Martinsville Speedway! Only Joey Logano has clinched his spot in the Championship season finale race next Sunday in Phoenix meaning we have 3 spots with 7 drivers trying to fill those spots. Kevin Harvick ($11,000) is practically a lock to make it unless something drastic occurs. After Harvick, it gets a little tighter in the standings. Both Denny Hamlin ($10,200) and Brad Keselowski ($11,400) have fairly large leads but would love to win this race and not have to worry about making the finale. All four of Bowman, Elliott, Truex, and Kurt Busch pretty much have to win to get in. Both Bowman and Elliott are only 25 points out, so they will be looking to earn stage points to help bolster their chances so they will stay out if cautions occur close to the end of Stages 1 & 2. Martin Truex Jr. ($11,800) is the highest-priced driver on the slate and will be one of the most popular drivers on the slate I presume. Dominator points will be key in this race as we have 500 laps of points available.

NASCAR DFS: Dominators

Martin Trues Jr. ($11,800)

Starting Position: 2nd

They need to consider renaming this track Martin Truex Jr. Speedway with how he has dominated here over the last 5 years. Truex has nine top 10 finishes in his last eleven races at Martinsville, he also has five top 5 finishes (all within the last 6 races) and Truex has won the last two races here at Martinsville. In his back to back wins, Truex Jr. led 596 laps and has led laps in 8 of his 11 races here. Truex needs to win this race to advance to finale next week, and I think he will while leading a good amount of laps.

Brad Keselowski ($11,400)

Starting Position: 1st

If there is someone who could steal the win from Truex, it could be Keselowski. In the same time period (since 2015) as Truex, Keselowski has ten top 10 finishes including nice top 5 finishes and two wins as well. Keselowski has finished 3rd to Truex in the previous two races. Like MTJ, Keselowski has led laps in 9 of the last 11 races including 446 laps in his last win in the spring of 2019.

Other Options (in order of preference): Joey Logano ($9,900), Chase Elliott ($10,400), Denny Hamlin ($10,200), Kyle Busch ($9,600)

I am not rostering Kevin Harvick ($11,000) this week for the first time in a while. Harvick has not led a lap here at Martinsville since the Spring race in 2016 and has not won a race at Martinsville since 2011. For Harvick to be able to pay off this price tag he will need to lead laps, and I think that the six drivers mentioned above offer much more upside for their price than Harvick does.

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

This week the mid tier is pretty barren. There are a few drivers in this price tier worth taking a shot on, but for the most part I will be passing on this section in general. I instead will focus on taking 3 dominators from the top tier and working in that value drivers into the majority of my lineups on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson ($9,300)

Starting Position: 27th

Jimmie has collected many the grandfather clock from winning races at Martinsville, 9 to precise, but he hasn’t been great here of late. Johnson has struggled overall and at this price he might come in at very low ownership on Sunday which we can take advantage of. While he has struggled, he knows this track better than anyone in the field and starting 27th he offers a ton of place differential point upside with a top 10 not being totally out of the question here.

Clint Bowyer ($8,300)

Starting Position: 16th

Bowyer is an expert on short tracks and will most likely be pushing for the win on Sunday with only two races left in his NASCAR career. Clint is a straight GPP play for me because of the boom or bust possibility. Bowyer could win this race or at least finish top 5, or he could end up 23rd as he tries to play the strategy game for the win. Bowyer won this race in 2018 while leading 215 laps, he has been fast of late and been up front in multiple races of late so leading laps is definitely a possibility on Sunday.

Other Options: Erik Jones ($9,000), William Byron ($7,700)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Bubba Wallace – $7,200 – P32 – Hasn’t finished lower than 17th in his last 3 Martinsville races. Has huge PD upside
2. Ryan Newman – $6,500 – P21 – Has 2 top 10’s in the last 4 races here and a 12th place finish
3. Michael McDowell – $6,100 – P24 – PD upside for cheap
4. Chris Buescher – $6,700 – P28 – After an early crash last week we get Buescher cheap and offering up huge PD upside
5. Ryan Preece – $5,600 – P22 – Has finished top 20 in 7 of the last 8 races
6. John Hunter Nemechek – $5,700 – P23 – Has great stats at Martinsville in the Truck Series
7. Ty Dillon – $5,900 – P25 – Has top 15 upside, offers some good PD upside for the price
8. Corey Lajoie – $5,500 – P26 – See Ty Dillon
9. JJ Yeley – $5,100 – P38 – If you need a punt, Yeley is the man for the job.
10. Christopher Bell – $6,800 – P11 – Starts a little too high, but has some upside and makes for a good GPP play.

Thanks for reading this article on the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Cup Series 11/1/20 from Martinsville Speedway! Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up to date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow for all things Fantasy Sports! You can find more FREE NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!