kansas cup

We had three cars that didn't take qualifying times and will start in the back. Let's deal with them first--

• Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse - I don't see how you can not use them in cash games and most single entry contests. Buescher in particular is one of the steadier drivers in the series and a very safe play. Stenhouse can be erratic, but has his best two finishes of the season the last two weeks. I'm not feeling real good about any other sub-$7k plays other than Todd Gilliland at $4,900. That's a crazy cheap price with him starting that far back with a safe floor.
• Joey Logano - Logano is a little trickier for me because I really like a lot of guys hovering around the $10k mark. Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin all look good to me, so it's difficult deciding among this group whether you want to go for laps led and fastest laps potential or go the position difference path. At the end of the day, Logano offers such a super safe floor, with tremendous upside, that it will be hard to fade him. I could see it though if you feel strongly about others in this price range.
• Brad Keselowski - $7,400 is a real attractive price tag with Brad starting back in the 30th position. If all he does is finish 18th, you've still got your 5x return. 
• Kevin Harvick - Harvick has finished no worse then 4th in the last four Kansas races. He starts 23rd on Sunday and offers a good +15 position difference upside. The question is whether he's worth the $8,700 salary when you have someone like Keselowski sitting there at $7,400. Harvick should clearly finish this race better then BK, but who will offer the better bang for the buck?
• Ross Chastain - Ross had the #2 green flag speed earlier this year at Las Vegas - which is the closest comp to Kansas this season. He started 18th, finished 3rd, led 83 laps and ran 28 fastest laps for 89 DK points at Vegas. He's been #1 in green flag speed the last two weeks at Dover and Darlington. It's hard to bet against him being one of the best cars out there on Sunday.
• Kyle Busch - Was a close 2nd to Christopher Bell in 10-lap average speed in practice on Saturday.  Going back to Las Vegas, he started 37th, finished 4th, led 49 laps and ran 26 fastest laps for 101 DK points. He was also really fast at Dover just two weeks ago - which isn't a crazy comp to Kansas.
• Chase Elliott and William Byron - Really in the same boat to me as guys who we can expect to finish in the Top 8 or so at Kansas. They weren't great in practice or at Las Vegas earlier this year, though, so this is more of a faith in prior performance here moving them towards the front. 
• Denny Hamlin - He had the top green flag speed at Las Vegas earlier this year, so there's good reason to think he'll be fast on Sunday. My concern is the mistakes. This team has one Top 12 finish in twelve races this year. With Denny starting from the rear, there are just more opportunities for mistakes. I can see it working out, but it's too risky for me. 
• Christopher Bell - Reasonable salary and he probably leads some early. My concerns include mistakes from this team and the likelihood we see an early Stage 1 competition caution because of heavy rain overnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Can he hold the lead through two starts and a pit stop cycle?

​Kevin Harvick +700 Top Ford