las vegas

As a NASCAR fan, I'm very excited for the playoffs.  It will be fun to watch how the Big 3 do and who might join them as top championship contenders.  Keselowski is hot going into the tournament so it will be interesting to see what he can do.  Lots of people turning their attention to fantasy football right now, but I hope we still see people interested in our NASCAR stuff.  It's a great time for fantasy sports -- stretch run in NASCAR and baseball all while football ramps up.  Here's our top list of guys to focus on heading into the weekend:

• Kevin Harvick -- Absolutely punked the field earlier this year in Vegas -- although he was penalized post-race for the collapsing rear window deal.  He also dominated the 2015 Vegas race when he started 18th, but finished 1st while leading 142 laps.  So he's been THE GUY in two of the last four Vegas races.  Has 3 wins and 6 Top 5 finishes in the 7 races at 1.5 mile tracks this season.
• Kyle Busch -- Has not won here since 2009 and has a grand total of 100 laps led in the last five races here.  Harvick is $500 cheaper on DK and looks like the better cash game option heading into the weekend based on salary and recent history at this track.  But, KB has finished in the Top 10 in all 7 races on 1.5 mile tracks this year and has 3 wins in those races.  So Harvick and Busch combined to win 6 of the 7 races on the 1.5 mile tracks so far this year.  KB is definitely in play as a potential dominator but is probably more of a tournament play this weekend.
• Martin Truex -- He is under priced at $9,900 DK, which is $1,800 less than Harvick and $2,400 less than Busch.  Truex won here in 2017 and led 150 laps in that race.  He started 4th and finished 4th here earlier this year.  In the seven races on 1.5 mile tracks this season, he has one win and six top 5 finishes.  He will likely be a cash game lock.
  
• Brad Keselowski -- He's hot coming into the playoffs and this is a very good track for him and his Penske teammate Joey Logano.  BK has two wins in the last five races here and his worst finish in that span is 7th.  He's also led laps in 4 of the last 5 races here -- including 89 laps led last year.  Decent value at $9,600 DK.  Has Top 10 finishes at 5 of the 7 1.5 mile track races this season.
  
• Joey Logano -- Has 5 straight Top 10 finishes here and has led laps in each of the last five races here.  Excellent value at $8,800 DK.  Has 6 Top 10 finishes in the 7 1.5 mile track races this season.
• Kyle Larson -- He's finished 2nd and 3rd in the last two races here.  He finished in the Top 10 at 6 of the 7 1.5 mile tracks this season, but he still has never won a points paying Cup Series race at a 1.5 mile track.  At $10,700 DK, it's hard to justify playing him in cash games because the 78, 2 and 22 look like better values.  But he's a tournament option for sure.
  
• Jimmie Johnson -- $8,300 DK is just too cheap.  This is actually one of Jimmie's better tracks of late.  In the last five races here, he has one awful 41st place finish, but he also has 3rd, 6th, 11th and 12th place finishes.  He's also led laps in four of the last five races here.  He's squarely in play pending practice performance and qualifying spot.
• Austin Dillon -- Seemingly very under priced at $6,700 on DK -- which is just $200 more than his brother Ty.  His ownership will probably be sky high and that's probably the right play in a cash game, but know what you're getting.  In all of 2017 and 2018 to date, he has finished in the Top 10 at a 1.5 mile track one time.  That's 18 races with 1 measly Top 10 finish.  And that 1 Top 10 finish was the 2017 Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte that he won by max saving fuel and making one less pit stop than everyone else.  So go ahead and take him in a cash game, just have the proper expectations -- a fringe Top 20 finish is most likely.  Given this discussion, he's probably a good fade in tournaments.  And I'll probably run away from him altogether if he qualifies well.
• Clint Bowyer, Eric Jones, Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez are also high on the list of potential values pending their practice speed and qualifying spot.  None of them has any remarkable good or bad history here.  But they're all solid drivers on top teams with reasonable salaries.

Check back throughout the weekend as we'll have more leading into Saturday's Xfinity Series race and Sunday's Cup Series race.