Kansas

Notes for the Cup Series race will be posted late Saturday night. Nothing for the Trucks with same day qualifying.

Cup Series Notes

• William Byron starting 36th is obviously a great play in all formats. He was arguably the best car in practice, ranking 1st or 2nd in all longer run categories.
• I love both Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick starting 14th and 15th, respectively. Hamlin's timing in practice got better the longer the run and he ended up 1st in 25-lap average. Reddick has been the fastest car at 1.5 mile tracks this year - finishing 2nd (3rd in green flag speed) at Las Vegas and 4th (1st in green flag speed) at Texas. Both have the potential to lead laps and win the race.
• Kyle Larson is always in play and starts 4th which gives him a decent shot to lead laps early in the race. I do question why he didn't do a really long run in practice - even though his 10-lap and 15-lap speeds were 2nd and 1st, respectively. He won the Las Vegas race and put up 110 DK points that day at what is the best comp track to Kansas that they've run so far this year.
• Bubba Wallace has a win at Kansas and has been awfully fast the last three races here. He starts 23rd, so gives you a good +15 position difference upside. There's always some volatility with Bubba, so I like him better in tournaments than cash games but he's definitely usable in either format.
• I don't know what to do with Ryan Blaney starting 26th. Penske as a whole was really bad in practice so it's not like he can just flip to a teammates set up to gain some speed. Unless they can find a way to flip the race through strategy and a timely caution, I just don't see the upside to justify using him in tournaments. His safe floor and reasonable salary does leave him in play for cash games.
• Brad Keselowski starts 30th at a sub-$8k price tag, so there's a lot to like there. He was one of only three cars to do a 30-lap run in practice and that tends to signal he was generally happy with the car. Seems like a cash game lock to me.
• Choose your own adventure in the $5k and $6k range.
  • I will say Justin Haley is a reasonable punt at near minimum salary. Not sure why he's cheaper than Harrison Burton and Riley Herbst, among a few others.
  • Be cautious with Daniel Hemric. He lucked into a T20 at Texas despite being 34th in green flag speed because the caution came out at the right time for him. He's playable but temper expectations. 
  • I kind of like Ryan Preece but his price is getting up there a little bit higher than I'd like. If you have the room, fine, but I'd prioritize getting the guys you want at the top of your lineup. 
• Martin Truex and Alex Bowman are two lower owned guys that could make good tournament pivots off more popular guys right next to them on the salary chart.