Motorsport News

EchoPark Automotive GP at COTA

#1: Ross Chastain, TrackHouse Racing, ONX Homes / iFly Chevrolet Camaro

Who’s ready to see which drivers take the best slipstreams to pass their competitors and earn a good finish?

Oops, wrong series.

The NASCAR Cup Series takes on Circuit of the Americas this week for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, airing Sunday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Let’s get those daily fantasy NASCAR DraftKings lineups ready!

It’s the first road course of the season and it comes with a twist (besides the ones on the track). There won’t be cautions for stage breaks, but stage points will still be awarded. This will likely create multiple pit strategies throughout the first two stages.

Also new this weekend is the low downforce package that was first run at Phoenix Raceway. It will be interesting to see whether this greatly affects the action on the track, or if it’s just similar to past road-course races.

Additionally, the choose rule for restarts marks its debut on a road course, which could alter who we might see up front. If there’s a preferred line like there was at Atlanta Motor Speedway, more drivers might take that side. However, I think they’ll likely go for the track position instead, as that’s always important on this track type.

So, with all the new and different packages and rule changes, how do you prepare for DraftKings? Well, one of the things you can obviously look at is how drivers performed at COTA. Also, examine last year’s stats at road courses, since it was the the opening season for the Next Gen car.

Plus, drivers got an hour of practice on Friday; examine those results as well as the five-lap averages. Those speeds can help determine who will be fast on Sunday.

Qualifying is set to run on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. ET and airs on FOX Sports 1.

Before I move on to this week’s picks, take a look at the results from Atlanta Motor Speedway:

DraftKings Salary Driver DraftKings Score
$10,900 William Byron -10.2
$10,400 Ryan Blaney 35.15
$10,000 Ross Chastain 41.65
$7,800 Daniel Suarez 9.9
$7,500 Erik Jones 60.95
$6,100 Justin Haley 22.5
$6,000 Corey LaJoie 71.5

Well, instead of Chevrolet dominating, it was mostly Fords, with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski taking the top two spots. William Byron crashed out early and had a negative score as a result. Daniel Suarez also was involved in a wreck and didn’t reach 10 fantasy points.

On the bright side, Corey LaJoie and Ross Chastain showed strength and speed all race long, with LaJoie earning a top five after starting 31st. And how about

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …