Daily Fantasy NASCAR DraftKings Forecast: 2023 Advent Health 400 at Kansas

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for its second non-pack racing 1.5-mile oval event of the season. Read on for my daily fantasy NASCAR DraftKings picks for the Advent Health 400, airing Sunday, May 7, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

It’s been a number of weeks since Cup visited an intermediate track like Kansas, with the last one coming two months ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Atlanta Motor Speedway was changed to a type of superspeedway, so it doesn’t count). Though there haven’t been many intermediate races this season, there were several races on this track type in 2022, when the Next Gen car debuted.

So you can take a look at these events to see which drivers generally have performed well on this track type in this car. Also, examine specifically the historical stats from Kansas, as some drivers know how to run up front there.

Additionally, practice and qualifying are scheduled to run on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. ET (FS1). While practice doesn’t last very long, you can still look at the five-lap averages to see who looks like they might be fast during the race. And obviously, if a driver in good equipment starts in the back, he should be a lock for DraftKings.

Before I share my DraftKings picks for Kansas, here’s a look back at the results from Dover Motor Speedway:

DraftKings Salary	Driver	DraftKings Score
$11,500	Kyle Larson	0.4
$10,000	Martin Truex Jr.	92.85
$9,300	Kevin Harvick	18.8
$7,500	Josh Berry	50
$7,300	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	25.15
$6,900	Ryan Preece	39
$6,600	Michael McDowell	30

Yet another race where Kyle Larson encountered trouble when I discuss him on DraftKings. This time, Ross Chastain ran into Brennan Poole from behind. Poole slid down the apron and back up the track, right into the path of Larson.

Kevin Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t do as well as I thought (though Stenhouse had started ninth after qualifying had rained out). But at least we had the winner, Martin Truex Jr., in my picks.

Here’s a closer look at the DraftKings scoring rules …

The winner on the racetrack tallies 45 points, while second place gets 42, third 41 and so on. 10th place scores 34, while 11th gets 32 and decreases by one from there through 20th. This pattern repeats for 21st through 30th and again from 31st through 40th.

Additionally, drivers can earn or lose a point depending on where they began the race. For example, if William Byron started third and won, he would gain two points in addition to his finishing position points, totaling 47 fantasy points.

Drivers also can earn .45 points for each fastest lap and .25 for each lap they lead.

NASCAR DraftKings Scoring

Also, I will be hosting a free NASCAR DraftKings league that will run each week for the Cup Series only. It’s free to join, but as of now it’s just for bragging rights. You’ll get to compete against me and some of my colleagues here at Frontstretch.

Here is the link to the league:

2023 Frontstretch NASCAR DraftKings League

Now, here are my picks for Kansas!

DraftKings Picks: Top Tier ($9,000-$11,200)

William Byron ($10,900)
Career at Kansas: 10 starts, 0 wins, 1 top five, 6 top 10s
Average finish at Kansas: 15.1

Byron won at Las Vegas after an overtime restart, but he had the best car all race long. He dominated, leading 176 laps and recording 59 fastest laps on the way to victory. In fact, he’s been one of the quickest cars all season, leading 64 or more laps in four races. Last week at Dover, he led 193 circuits but ultimately came home fourth.

At Kansas, the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports driver has run fairly well and led some laps in a few events, the most being in fall 2021 when he led 57. Byron finished sixth in that race and duplicated the effort the following year in fall 2022. Though his lone top five came back in 2019, Byron’s strength and speed this season shows that he might just dominate once again and earn a good finish.

Christopher Bell ($10,200)
Career at Kansas: 6 starts, 0 wins, 2 top fives, 4 top 10s
Average finish at Kansas: 12.8

In both Kansas races last year and at Las Vegas in March of this year, Christopher Bell has earned top fives. Though he didn’t lead many laps or record as many fastest laps as his fellow Toyotas, he still showed that he can run near the front at 1.5-milers.

Bell has two other top 10s at Kansas, in fall 2020 and 2021. Meanwhile, this season, the No. 20 of Joe Gibbs Racing has a win at the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track as well as five top fives and eight top 10s. It looks like he just needs a little bit more speed to dominate and potentially earn his second win of the year. Could it happen this week?

Bubba Wallace ($9,000)
Career at Kansas: 10 starts, 1 win, 1 top five, 2 top 10s
Average finish at Kansas: 21.9

Bubba Wallace earned his second career victory last fall at Kansas, helping his 23XI Racing team sweep the 1.5-mile course. He was out front for 58 laps and posted 17 fastest laps; if he can get good track position, he’ll have a good chance of mimicking that performance.

Two months ago at Las Vegas, Wallace drove from 13th to fourth place, his first top five of 2023. Since then, he’s struggled to earn top 10s, with his only other one coming at Martinsville Speedway. However, Kansas could be the race to set him back on the right track and rebuild his confidence.

Look for Wallace to continue his top 10 streak at Kansas.

Middle Tier ($7,000-$8,700)

Josh Berry ($7,700)
Xfinity Series career at Kansas: 2 starts, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 1 top 10
Xfinity average finish at Kansas: 20.5

This is Berry’s first visit to Kansas in a Cup car, but he does have a little bit of experience there. In the Xfinity Series, he earned a top 10 there last fall, though there were only 93 laps run.

With such limited experience there, why is he on my initial DraftKings list? Well, he’s done fairly well this year filling in for Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. Berry didn’t have a good finish at Las Vegas, but he was 10th last week after starting 23rd at Dover. Also, at Richmond Raceway he advanced from 30th to second place, while at Phoenix Raceway he came home 10th.

Besides all that, he’s in the same car that Bowman led 107 laps in last fall. I think he’ll do just fine this weekend.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Career at Kansas: 20 starts, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 1 top 10
Average finish at Kansas: 20.1

I know, Stenhouse didn’t do so well like I thought he would last week in Delaware. I still have my eyes on him, though, as he gained 28 positions in last spring’s event at Kansas, claiming his first top 10 there. He even led three laps.

One thing I noticed with Stenhouse is that he’s scored 32 fantasy points or more on DraftKings in seven events this year. Most of those were at either superspeedways or on the dirt, but one was at Martinsville. This shows that the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing car can get up front with the right strategy and if luck can go his way.

Low Tier ($4,500-$6,900)

Austin Cindric ($6,500)
Career at Kansas: 3 starts, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s
Average finish at Kansas: 15.0

Austin Cindric has struggled mightily so far this year, as he only has two top 10s. One was at Circuit of the Americas, but the first one came at Las Vegas; he gained three spots en route to sixth. In that event, he totaled 41.5 DraftKings points.

Last season at Kansas, the No. 2 Team Penske pilot finished 11th and 12th. These results are fine on their own, but not as much on DraftKings, as he started within the top 10, losing positions by the end of the race. Still, Cindric should be able to build off of what he learned then and at Vegas to earn a good finish this weekend.

Justin Haley ($5,800)
Career at Kansas: 4 starts, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s
Average finish at Kansas: 30.8

Justin Haley‘s season has been similar to Cindric’s, though his top 10 was at Bristol dirt instead of COTA. But in March, Haley advanced 19 positions to place eighth, earning 57.7 points on DraftKings. He could use another effort like this at Kansas.

Speaking of which, Haley gained a few spots in last fall’s race at Kansas, though it wasn’t as high of a finish (19th). But it was his best result there, as his other finishes were in the 30s.

Last fall at two other 1.5-milers, Haley also moved up several spots to top 15 finishes. At Las Vegas, he drove from 28th to 14th, while at Texas he started 31st and finished third. Hopefully he can channel that same strength this week at Kansas.

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