Kansas Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions (UPDATED)
Race #12 of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season is under the lights at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night, as the Digital Ally 400 is set to kick off around 7:45 pm ET. This is an impound race, so even though the starting lineup was set on Friday night, it is still unofficial until after inspection on Saturday afternoon (it starts at 2:30 pm ET). Any car that fails inspection will have to start from the rear for the race, and the driver will also be scored from back there (so adjust your Fantasy NASCAR rosters accordingly). The rankings below will be adjusted after inspection with any failures that happen.
Kevin Harvick is on the pole for Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400, and all four of the Stewart-Haas Racing Fords swept the top 4 in qualifying on Friday. The full starting lineup for this year’s first Kansas race can be found by clicking here. You can find the practice speeds for Saturday’s practice sessions here: Practice #1 — Practice #2. You should also read our in-depth notes for those sessions: Practice #1 — Practice #2. [themify_box ]Want to be a better fantasy racer? Get the ifantasyrace advantage and read all of our full, exclusive content. We offer tons of content every week to help you dominate your leagues, both season-long and DFS weekly. Click here to Join Now![/themify_box]
Final Top 25 Fantasy NASCAR Rankings for Kansas
1. Kevin Harvick – Starts 1st – DraftKings Price: $10,600 – FanDuel Price: $14,000 – Slingshot Price: $12,400
In 2019, Kevin Harvick and the #4 team haven’t been their dominant self of yesteryear, but that doesn’t mean “Happy” isn’t still his normal top 5 contender each time we visit a 1.5-mile race track. Over the last 14 races at this track type, Harvick has put up 10 top 5 finishes, and looking at Kansas specifically, he’s the defending winner of this particular race and has also finished 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in 7 of the last 11 events at this track. This weekend, the #4 Ford looks solid, posting the 9th-fastest lap in Practice #1 on Friday before ending up 4th-fastest in Happy Hour. Looking at the ten-lap average charts, Kevin ranked P1 on both of them. We haven’t had a win from the pole yet in 2019, but I think it happens this weekend with Kevin Harvick.
2. Kyle Busch – Starts 8th – DraftKings Price: $11,900 – FanDuel Price: $15,000 – Slingshot Price: $13,500
Last weekend at Dover, Kyle Busch and the #18 team had a rare off weekend. And guess what? Rowdy still finished top 10. And you know what else? It’s rare for the best driver in NASCAR to have two bad weeks in a row, and it’s probably not going to happen at Kansas on Saturday night. Dating back to the first Las Vegas race in 2018, Kyle Busch has a series-best average finish of 5.2 on the 1.5-mile tracks, and is 3-for-3 when it comes to finishing inside the top 10 on them this year. Looking specifically at Kansas, Rowdy got off to a rough start here in his career–he had two top 10s in his first 14 races here–but in the eight races here since then, he has yet to finish worse than 10th and also has six top 5s, including a win in 2016. This weekend, Busch was 3rd-fastest in Practice #1 and then ranked 7th-fastest with the 12th-best ten-lap average in Happy Hour. There’s no reason to go against Rowdy on Saturday night.
3. Clint Bowyer – Starts 2nd – DraftKings Price: $8,500 – FanDuel Price: $11,500 – Slingshot Price: $10,900
Clint Bowyer already has two top 5 finishes at 1.5-mile tracks this season (Atlanta and Las Vegas), and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if he adds a third here at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night. This is Bowyer’s home track, and even though he’s never won here or really had a great track record here, he’s gotten progressively better since joining Stewart-Haas Racing, and these SHR cars are blazing fast this weekend. In addition to taking the top 4 spots in qualifying on Friday, the SHR Fords showed a ton of speed in practice as well. Bowyer specifically was 2nd-fastest in the opening session before posting the 3rd-fastest lap in Happy Hour along with the 3rd-best ten-lap average. It’s been six years since Clint posted a top 5 finish at his home track but I think he has a legitimate shot to do so this weekend. the #14 Ford will roll off the grid from 3rd on Saturday night and should stay toward the front for most of the Digital Ally 400.
