Following the completion of the second of two Cup Series events in Daytona, NASCAR moves just a half hour down the road to Homestead. Once known for being the track that hosted the season finale for the cup series, Homestead-Miami Speedway is a 1.5 oval track with a banked three degree straightaway.
Denny Hamlin will lead the field with Joey Logano seated opposite him on the front row.
Let’s delve into the driver options for Sunday’s Cup Series event. I have broken down my selections between high salary and value play. Included are player salaries from both FanDuel and DraftKings. Best of luck to everyone with their lineups this weekend. Let’s try to carry over our success from last week.
High Salary
Kevin Harvick ($14,000 FD, $10,100 DK)
We are going to throw out last years result as it is a rarity to see Harvick have such a poor finish at Homestead-Miami. Keep in mind that prior to last season’s event, he had gone 13 years without recording a finish outside of the top-10.
An old vet when it comes to this track, Harvick leads all current drivers in top-five placing, top-10s, and average finish. Only Kurt Busch has competed in as many Homestead events.
Harvick qualified fourth for this race and is among a handful of potential dominators for Sunday. Consider that in five of his last seven visits, he has led at least 40 laps or more. Also, if you are thinking of putting a couple of bucks down on the outright winner for Sunday, the California native currently holds the second-best odds at 11:2.
Kyle Larson ($11,300 FD, $10,700 DK)
Although Larson has never closed the deal in his seven attempts on this track, he has been on the cusp a couple of times. He would collect back-to-back podium finishes here during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Now with Hendricks Motorsports supplying the equipment, he is not going to have a better opportunity to finally pick up that first Homestead win as a cup regular.
Having qualified 17th in the running order for this event, it leaves plenty of points potential for both place differential and fastest lap. Additionally, keep in mind that Larson is not to be sold short as a dominator and has led a combined 322 laps over a three race span at Homestead.
Value Play
Austin Dillon ($8,000 FD, $7,700 DK)
It’s been a mixed bag of results for Dillon in the season’s infancy. After a podium finish in the season opener, he would then come back down to earth last Sunday in the road course event. Since capturing a 25th-place result at Homestead back in his rookie season, Dillon’s numbers have only continued to grow over his last six visits. Eventually, he would manage to crack the Top 10 in 2019, picking up a top-eight finish. Dillon was then able to better that result in 2020, moving past nine other cars before earning himself a seventh place outcome.
Slated to start 22nd off the line this Sunday, Dillon should be a sneaky source of points through place differential. Matching Dillon up with his Childress teammate could be the wise move here.
Tyler Reddick ($9,200 FD, $8,500 DK)
Arguably one of Reddick’s most important NASCAR tracks historically when you crunch the numbers. Reddick most recently picked up a fourth place result at Homestead as a Cup Series rookie. Outside of a runner-up result at Fort Worth, it was his best finish as a cup driver so far.
It was also at this track that Reddick won back-to-back titles as an Xfinity driver. Having come out of the starting gate with a pair of rough outcomes, he is in desperate need of a solid response. Given his 35th-place starting position, another top-four run could be tough to accomplish. However, a finish among the top-11 drivers seems realistic.
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