The second-to-last race of the regular season takes place when drivers hit the track for today’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3:00 p.m. ET, USA).
As the fifth road-course race of the year, we have plenty of data to rely on in addition to practice and qualifying times.
Watkins Glen was repaved in 2015, meaning tire wear should be low. Add in high speeds, and the road course that least compares to The Glen is Sonoma.
However, as we’ll see, some drivers are just fast at all road courses, and we’ll be keying on them today.
Before we jump into my picks, don’t forget all my NASCAR projections can be found in the NASCAR Models on FantasyLabs, complete with floor, ceiling, median, and ownership projections.
Let’s not skip the best part — my Perfect% metric — a metric that tells you how often certain racers appear in the optimal lineup when running 10,000 race simulations.
And don’t forget about the tools that FantasyLabs has to offer, like our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 150 lineups, or our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.
Here are my NASCAR DFS picks and strategy for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen.
Watkins Glen DraftKings DFS Cash Game Picks
Christopher Bell ($8700): Bell blew an engine in practice, which meant he was unable to make a qualifying lap.
That puts him in the 38th-place starting spot, where he becomes an absolute lock for cash games. He’s been the best Toyota driver this year and should come forward to at least mid pack, which is plenty to get him into winning cash-game lineups.
Joey Logano ($8200): Logano was fast in practice, posting the seventh-best time over five consecutive laps in practice.
He only qualified 20th thanks to a caution coming out during his qualifying run, which hurt his hot lap.
While the road courses have been a struggle for Logano this year, Watkins Glen is one of his better ones. I think we can get a discounted, lower-owned, cash-game play here by riding with Logano.
Watkins Glen DraftKings DFS Tournament Picks
Chris Buescher ($7800): It feels like a Buescher kind of week. He’s an extremely smooth driver who doesn’t tend to mix it up or get in wrecks. That means he’s a bit less likely to have a poor day despite having a fast car compared to some other drivers who may have a similarly fast car.
Buescher qualified seventh, which is right in that zone where people don’t feel comfortable using him by starting on the pole, but he’s also not far enough back to feel like a great place-differential play.
But Buescher was fourth in five-lap average, showing he has an incredibly quick car.
He also did the tire test here in May, which should give his team some extra data to work with. There’s plenty of tournament upside here.
Joey Logano ($8200): Yes, I wrote him up as a cash-game play. But I also love him in tournaments. I think he won’t be in enough DFS lineups thanks to his struggles on road courses this year, as well as some additional chalk starting farther back.
Guys like Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., and Ryan Blaney will absorb plenty of ownership, leaving Logano in a nice tasty spot.
This could be extra useful if at least one of Truex or Blaney points race, thus taking the suboptimal strategy for finishing, as they are the two drivers battling for the final playoff spot barring a new winner.
Watkins Glen DraftKings DFS Paul Menard Pick of the Week
The PMPOTW this week goes to Justin Haley ($6000), who has shown tons of speed this weekend.
Haley was 12th in practice, and while he didn’t make a five-lap run, he backed up his speed with a 13th-place qualifying effort.
Haley has strong road-racing credentials, winning in the Truck Series as well as grabbing several podium finishes in the XFINITY Series.
With this being teammate A.J. Allmendinger’s best track, there’s plenty of good feedback on this team for car setup.
Don’t be shocked if Haley pulls off a top-10 finish if there’s some attrition.
