Note: Below is a Fantasy NASCAR Martinsville Speedway preview article from Wheels (@DK_Wheels) and PJ (@PJFrapDFS) of the Power Hour DFS (@PowerHourDFS) crew.
For more Fantasy NASCAR insight from them, CLICK HERE

Race number six on the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series brings us to the paperclip! Martinsville is a flat half mile oval that is shaped like a paperclip with long straightaways and sharp flat corners. It is really hard to pass here so certainly expect a lot of bump and runs this weekend. This gives the guys a chance to get back to their roots and really beat and bang on each other.

Bottom line, this weekend's race should be entertaining. The last time we were here we had the Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott incident in the playoffs where Denny just kind of drove through Chase going into turn 3 and Chase wrecked. The sights and sounds after that moment were pretty wild, Denny is from Virginia and he was getting booed off pit road after the race by the fans and just the opposite the fans were going crazy for Chase.

Maybe we see something like that again but at the very least we can expect to see some great racing and plenty of beating and banging for position.

Now that the West Coast swing is behind us, let's take a look at our top scorers from last year's Martinsville races: 

2017 Spring:

Kyle Busch - 164 DK pts (Dominator Play)

  • Finishing Position: 42 pts
  • Dominator: 114 pts
  • Place Differential: 8 pts

Brad Keselowski - 123 DK pts (Dominator Play)

  • Finishing Position pts: 46 pts
  • Dominator pts: 74 pts
  • Place Differential pts: 3 pts

AJ Allmendinger - 67 DK pts (Place Differential Play)

  • Finishing Position pts: 38 pts
  • Dominator pts: 5 pts
  • Place Differential pts: 24 pts

2017 Fall:

Kyle Busch - 137 DK pts (Dominator Play)

  • Finishing Position: 46 pts
  • Dominator: 78 pts
  • Place Differential: 13 pts

Brad Keselowski - 124.5 DK pts (Dominator Play)

  • Finishing Position pts: 40 pts
  • Dominator pts: 81.5 pts
  • Place Differential pts: 3 pts

Trevor Bayne - 66.5 DK pts (Place Differential Play)

  • Finishing Position pts: 38 pts
  • Dominator pts: 0.5 pts
  • Place Differential pts: 28 pts

 

Kevin Harvick - I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that I think we were robbed of a GREAT battle between Harvick and Truex last week. He was coming and was coming fast before ultimately wrecking out while battling for 3rd place with Kyle Larson and ending his hopes for a 4th consecutive win. Harvick is the most expensive driver again this week at $11,600 but something tells me that it's going to be the next two guys that steal a lot of the ownership this week.Kevin Harvick - I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that I think we were robbed of a GREAT battle between Harvick and Truex last week. He was coming and was coming fast before ultimately wrecking out while battling for 3rd place with Kyle Larson and ending his hopes for a 4th consecutive win. Harvick is the most expensive driver again this week at $11,600 but something tells me that it's going to be the next two guys that steal a lot of the ownership this week.

Kyle Busch - Rowdy has been dominate here at Martinsville lately to say the least. He has rattled off five consecutive top 5's, including two wins while leading 813 laps during this stretch. That all equates to a 128.32 Driver Rating over that same period. He is going to be highly owned this week and he deserves every bit of your attention this weekend.

Brad Keselowski - You can almost copy/paste the same write up from Kyle Busch… He has rattled off 4 consecutive top 5's including one win while leading 367 laps, which is good for a 120.7 Driver Rating over that stretch. It is going to be VERY hard not to just lock in Kyle Busch & Brad Keselowski this weekend, especially if we end up getting all of this weather that is in the forecast for Saturday which MAY wipe out ANY on track activity before the race on Sunday… Just line them up and let them loose!

**As a disclaimer for this next section, a lot of DraftKings (DK) plays are dependent on Qualifying and Practice speeds, but we want to give you our initial thoughts on 2 Dominators, 2 Value Plays and 1 Punt Play**

ROSTER CONSTRUCTION

With our first 500 lap race of the year, we will NEED to nail down the top two dominators this weekend. On many different occasions we have seen four different drivers score 30+ dominator points within a Martinsville race. So, the easy answer here this week is a wide range from two to four dominators.


DOMINATORS

Dominators are drivers who earn bonus points by dominating the race through laps lead and running the fastest laps during the race.

PJ's Dominators:

  • Kyle Busch ($11,000)
    • Five straight top 5's here with two wins included
    • Led a total of 458 laps in the two races here last year
    • Kyle has led the second most laps of his career here trailing only Bristol
  • Brad Keselowski ($10,100)
    • Just like Busch, Brad has had five straight top 5's here with one win
    • Led a total of 224 laps in the two races last year
    • Brad has scored 10 top 10's here in 16 tries

Wheels Dominators:

  • Kyle Busch ($10,000)
    • 8 Avg the last three years
    • Posted monster scores of 164 and 137 in the 2017 races & 180.5 back in 2016
    • Recent form has been solid, and Rowdy has put himself in position all season, so definitely fire him up this weekend where he has been ELITE.
  • Brad Keselowski ($10,100)
    • 5 Avg the last three years
    • Like Rowdy, Brad also posted monster numbers in 2017 (123 and 124.5) - Rowdy and Brad finished 1-2 (DraftKings points) in BOTH 2017 Martinsville races
    • Neither of these guys have scored less than 43 DK pts over the last 3 years (a combined 11 races between the two of them)

VALUE PLAYS

Value plays are the drivers who usually start in the middle to rear of the field that can stay clean, move up, and gain place differential points. Most importantly get you a good finishing position at the end of the race.

PJ's Values:

  • AJ Allmendinger ($6,400)
    • This price is just foolish - last year he was more than $8k for this race
    • AJ has three top 10's in his last four races here
    • Easily one of AJ's best tracks
  • Austin Dillon ($7,700)
    • Two top 10's in his last four races here
    • Has never finished outside of the top 20 in the races that he run all the laps
    • Absolutely one of Austin's best tracks historically

 Wheels Value Plays:

  • Clint Bowyer ($8,300)
    • We all know that SHR is head and shoulders above the field right now
    • 9 DK Avg all-time
    • 24 Martinsville races under his belt and AGAIN, he is in the best equipment that he has even been in for his entire career.
    • Bowyer hasn't been a dominator in quite some time, but don't be surprised if you see him rack up some Laps Led and Fast Laps this weekend as he looks to end his winless streak
  • Austin Dillon ($7,700)
    • 8 DK Avg all-time (8 races)
    • Has scored 39+ in seven of his eight races and has been a model of consistency at Martinsville

PUNT PLAYS

Punt plays are your $6k & under drivers who usually start in the 30's and can move up a couple spots, maybe break into the top 25-30 if all goes well. Most of all your punts allow you to jam in multiple Dominators into your lineup to cover your bases since there are many occasions that a race will have multiple Dominators.

PJ's Punt:

  • Trevor Bayne ($6,000)
    • Another surprising price, Bayne finished 13th and 6th here last year
    • Has had positive place differential in every race that he hasn't had issues
    • Also one of Bayne's best tracks historically

Wheels Punt:

  • Trevor Bayne ($6,000)
    • 2018 has been a struggle for this team, and I am betting that this team can't wait to race this weekend as this is a track that Bayne has fared pretty well at - 30.2 DK Avg all-time (seven races)
    • He posted scores of 34.5 and 66.5 in 2017…66.5 DK Pts was good for the 3rd best DraftKings score last season