Indianapolis Pre-Qualifying Fantasy NASCAR Predictions
We’re going to do things a little bit different this weekend since NASCAR decided to switch things up with the schedule for this year’s Brickyard 400 race. In an effort to “bring more value” to fans on race day, the Cup Series cars will hold off on qualifying until Sunday morning, with the race set to start a couple hours later. Unfortunately for Fantasy NASCAR players, that puts us in a time crunch for making picks, but we’ll have to make do. As far as final rankings, please check back after qualifying on Sunday to see my Final Post Qualifying Predictions for Indianapolis. The rankings below are not taking qualifying into account.
There were two practice sessions held on Saturday, and the speeds from those can be found here: Practice #1 — Happy Hour. You should also read our in-depth notes for those sessions: Practice #1 — Happy Hour.
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Top 25 Fantasy NASCAR Rankings for Indianapolis
1. Erik Jones – DraftKings Price: $9,400 – FanDuel Price: $11,300 – Slingshot Price: $11,100
Don’t be surprised if Erik Jones competes for another win on Sunday. The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas swept both Pocono races this year, and they all look very fast here at Indianapolis this weekend as well. As far as Jones goes, Erik finished 2nd in the 2018 Brickyard 400, and he swept the top 3 in the two Pocono races this season as well. Pair that with Jones having five top 5s in the last seven Cup Series races overall and we have a very good Fantasy NASCAR pick on Sunday. The #20 Toyota ranked 13th-fastest in Practice #1 here on Saturday and 3rd-fastest in Happy Hour later that day (with the 5th-best ten-lap average).
2. Brad Keselowski – DraftKings Price: $9,800 – FanDuel Price: $13,300 – Slingshot Price: $11,700
With his 5th-place finish at Darlington last weekend, Brad Keselowski now has back-to-back top 5 finishes in the Cup Series, as well as five top 10s in the last six, as this #2 team continues to build momentum heading into the Playoffs. Now we’re at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Kez is the defending winner of the Brickyard 400. Even though he only led 9 laps in last year’s race, it was the #2 Ford that was in victory lane at the end of the day, which gave Brad two straight top 2 finishes here at The Brickyard. And this weekend, Keselowski has good speed once again, posting the 3rd-fastest lap in Practice #1 on Saturday before ending up 13th-fastest in Happy Hour (with the 2nd-best ten-lap average). One thing you have to like about BK here at Indy is his ability to get to the front; Kez has led nine or more laps in each of the last four races at this track, and in six of his nine starts here as well.
3. Kyle Busch – DraftKings Price: $12,000 – FanDuel Price: $15,500 – Slingshot Price: $13,500
Kyle Busch should be a contender here at Indianapolis on Sunday. He’s a two-time winner of the Brickyard 400 and both of those victories have came in the last four years. Additionally, Rowdy has four finishes of 5th or better in the last seven races here, and over the last nine Indy events, Kyle has finished outside of the top 10 a grand total of once. Looking at the Pocono races from earlier this year, Rowdy went to victory lane in the June event and then led 56 laps before finishing 9th in the July race. Kyle came in at 7th-fastest in the final practice session of this weekend and should be able to run inside the top 5 all day long once the green flag waves here on Sunday.
