Wednesday night the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Thunder Valley for the 2020 All-Star race. The race will not have any points on the line. Instead, the winner will receive one million dollars. Second place will receive nothing except for being the first loser. It will be checkers or wreckers for every one of these drivers so we will get to see them leave it all on the line for the top prize. That will make daily fantasy very tough to pick this week.
Last week at Kentucky we got to see one of the wildest finishes of the year. Cole Custer became the first rookie to ever win at Kentucky. He was able to take his car four wide and make it stick on the final lap to secure his first cup series victory. That will lock him in the field for the All-Star race Wednesday night.
The field will consist of 20 drivers. 16 from the winners in 2019 until the most recent race at Kentucky, former all-star race winners, and former champions. Three drivers will advance from the open race before the main all-star race. The open is three segments with the winner of each segment advancing. The last driver will be voted in by the fans. The All-Star race’s main event will be four segments long with 140 total laps. With only 20 cars in the race and only 140 laps to lead place differential and finishing position will be key. Time to dive into my top drivers for this potentially crazy All-Star race.
Dominators
Chase Elliott ($9,700 DK)
Elliott was running strong at Bristol back in May. He won stages one and two. Elliott also led 88 laps. He was in position late in the race to win the race but ended up dive-bombing into the turn three and wiping Joey Logano out in the process. Wednesday night he will be starting 13th. Elliott has had solid runs at Bristol in the past and with him starting further than mid-pack he should be a great driver for the All-Star race.
Ryan Blaney ($8,000 DK)
Even though Blaney is starting towards the front, I believe he can still provide some value. He has shown that he can lead laps at Bristol. He has led over 100 laps in three of the last five races. He’s starting towards the front in third and with there being a limited amount of laps those early laps could be crucial. It will take a good restart to secure the lead, but he had a strong car at Bristol in May and was able to lead 60 laps before getting loose and wrecking out of the race. Look for Blaney to have a strong car, lead laps, and contend for the win.
Value Drivers
Erik Jones ($7,200 DK)
Jones has been one of the toughest drivers to pick this year. He has had some very solid runs but has also had some bad finishes. Jones is very good at Bristol and will be starting 16th. He has raced seven times at Bristol in the Cup series. Three of those resulted in top-five finishes. He’s a little risky with how much he’s wrecked this year. However, it’s the All-Star race and anything can happen. Keep in mind Jones won the other exhibition race in the Clash at Daytona in February so maybe he will make it two for two this year in exhibition races.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($6,000 DK)
Stenhouse has had some very solid finishes at Bristol. I know he’s not locked into the field. However, with him starting in fourth and there only being 35 laps in the first open stage I like his chances to win that segment. If he’s not able to win the first stage he has two more chances. If he does in fact win one of the open stages he will be starting either 17th, 18th, or 19th. That gives him plenty of room for improvement and will allow him the chance to score place differential points.
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