daytona cup

It's a short article here because the cash game strategy is pretty obvious this week. We always want to be conservative with guys starting from 25th on back at the plate tracks. And we've got some really good drivers with strong teams starting back there. So there will be a lot of duplicate, "chalky" lineups focused on these guys.

• Denny Hamlin - The best plate track driver starts 25th. He's won the last two Daytona 500 races and finished 1st, 4th, 3rd and 1st in the four plate track races last year. Denny is very smart in his approach and will back out of things when it gets too aggressive for his liking. That's exactly what we want for cash games. It's rare that Denny starts far enough back at a plate track to make him a cash game target, so we'll take advantage of that here.
• Austin Cindric and Kaz Grala - Drivers with experience at plate tracks (mostly in Xfinity) on competent teams starting in the last two spots. High floor and incredibly high ceilings. Should be near 100% ownership in cash games.
• Eric Jones - Both Jones and his new #43 team have had decent success at the plate tracks. Jones won the Fall Daytona race in 2018 and had two Top 5 finishes at the plate tracks last year. Starts 31st, so offers a solid floor and upside.
• Ross Chastain - Starts 34th in the #42 for Chip Ganassi Racing. Ross can be overly aggressive at times, which makes me nervous. But he's also done very well at plate tracks in the Xfinity Series. Worth the risk starting 34th.
• Martin Truex and Cole Custer - Starting 26th and 27th. Neither has a real good plate track record, but both will be in strong cars and will finish really well if they can avoid the wrecks.
• Anthony Alfredo - Starts 36th and I really like this for cash games. He's with Front Row Motorsports and they have the approach to plate track races that we want. Last year, this team only ran about 30% of the laps in the Top 15 at these tracks. That tells us they should be pretty conservative giving them the best chance to be around at the end of the race. It always makes me nervous to use a rookie, but I will strongly consider Alfredo in this spot.