Darlington

I've got some thoughts on the Darlington Cup race (other than play Chase Elliott in cash games) that I'll post late on Saturday night, so check in before you finalize your lineups for Sunday's race. 

Cup Notes

• For cash games, we've got a good number of guys starting 30th on back with good cars and track history. I don't love starting guys this far back because if they struggle on the first run of the day and it goes long, they do risk going down a lap. But all of these guys have a good chance of passing some of the weaker entries that happened to qualify ahead of them on Saturday.
  • Chase Elliott leads the way in this group. Getting a Hendrick car starting 31st for under $10k is close to a must play in cash games. I'd be OK fading him in tournaments because he probably needs an alternate strategy and lucky caution to really go off and finish up front with laps led.
    
  • Josh Berry and Noah Gragson are teammates in pretty similar situations. Gragson in particular catches my eye because he had a ton of success at Darlington in the Xfinity series and he really performs well at these old, worn out surfaces where riding the wall can be the fastest way around (see Homestead). Berry was never quite as strong in the Xfinity series so I don't think he has quite the same upside as Gragson, but he's also $500 cheaper so he's still certainly in play.
  • Eric Jones always seems to have speed at Darlington so he's definitely an option along the lines of Berry and Gragson. He wasn't great in practice though and I've got some concern about how his back holds up over what will be a long and grueling race on Sunday.
  • Harrison Burton is a dart throw punt play. He wrecked out of last year's Fall race at Darlington but had three decent finishes (6th, 21st and 14th) before that. 
• I'm still working through who I want as more expensive lap leader/race winner types. There are a lot of good options there with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney all under consideration.