RaceGuru Thunder Hour EP 26: Daytona Recap, 2025 Schedules, Darlington Picks & More With Mark Hogan

[Music] yeah all right I always find for this music whenever it comes on but you know that's how the way it goes by the way welcome to the race Guru Thunder hour I am your lead host Sean angle you can find me on or Twitter the Xbox machine however you want to say it at Shan e247 and you know we got ourselves another NASCAR show I know last week we did were not able to uh get one episode of the podcast together but here we are this week we got ourselves another fun show lined up for today covering Darlington so before we get on into that and what's on docket for today let me quickly tell you all about about fantasyguru.com so over there at fantasyguru.com you can get the MVP all in package for just $39.99 gets you NBA plus NHL NCAA PGA MMA soccer and racing all for the really really nice price of $40 so many sports and you're covered for an entire year so that is a really really cool deal but you know we're getting into the midst of football season it's almost time for the football action to hit hit the internet hit the viewership at the US and all over the world so we have other packages for that you can get the fantasy Guru NFL draft guide right now and on top of that you can also get the MVP Platinum package which contains all those Sports I previously mentioned including NFL and including baseball you get that package over at fantasyguru.com you get yourself a great and fantastic deal gets you all the knowledge you need in order to win all that money back and then some if you want to know where you can get the best deal for that in mind you can go and email support fantasyguru.com that is support fantasyguru.com and they'll talk to you about the best possible deal you can get so I know there's certain prices listed on the site but going in emailing support is the best way for you to get the best possible deal so you do not want to miss on that now speaking of things you do not want to miss well this is a very interesting show and you know we I'm not actually alone this time rich is not here he cannot make it this week but instead we got ourselves another member of the fantasy Guru team back at it again with us and he's now a part of the podcast here on a more regular basis we got DFS Marlin Mark Hogan with us welcome back to the Thunder hour good to see you join us for today how are you doing doing well Sean thanks for having me back on good evening and excited to talk some NASCAR get after it here a little bit more consistently and uh should be a fun weekend this weekend as well so looking forward to making some money yeah it's always fun whenever we go out there and make some big cash big some big money make some fun calls and just sit back and just enjoy ourselves while it all happens isn't that right Mark oh yeah oh yeah and this this should be a a fun fun race especially after you know what happened earlier this year uh so really looking forward to to seeing what happens and I think there's a lot of different directions that people are going to go so we might see some a nice uh even spread on ownership as well that's a very nice uh way in order to preview and tease the weekend but you know before we get to this weekend we have to take a look back towards what happened in Daytona because what happened in Daytona certainly sets the stage for what's going to happen this week so let's get right on into it here so we had ourselves a Full Slate of races and well the truck series they didn't actually race at Daytona they raced at Milwaukee overall there mark so uh were you able to catch this race first of all yeah I did watch some of the trucks um you know unfortunately I uh I I just missed the green um but I did uh I I did get on a few guys including you know I I think the problem was for me I went um think I went Lawless Allen off the top of my head so um he did not work out and uh um but Lane Riggs I mean hey I had him on my lineup so that's kind of what got a little bit of my money back and ultimately it was nice I mean the guy just he just looked fast he he he started in the 16th position he quickly moved up into the top 10 and just kind of inched his way closer and closer until he could take the top spot and then just you know it was a competitive finish obviously but at the end of the day he definitely his car stood out for sure oh that is for sure we've talked about Lane rigs All Season at the shorter tracks Rich mto's mentioned it in some of his articles in the past you've mentioned it sometimes in the Discord chats he finally pulls through for the Victory overall but you know the truck series is already in the middle of its playoff run this was the first race of the truck series playoffs there uh Mark and what's interesting is that eight of the top 10 truck series playoff drivers all finished in the top 10 right behind Lane rigs you had Ty maesi in second chrisis third Nick Sanchez in fourth Taylor Gray in fifth Tyler anram in sixth Cory Heim seventh Daniel Dy eighth and Ben rhods ninth what do you think think about this and how how it says this about the uh strength of the playoff field this year there mark well I think I mean to me it feels like you know this circuit is you know these guys are starting to separate themselves and make you know push for you know maybe more opportunities higher up so uh at the end of the day we've got the same guys showing up in the top 10 I I feel like this can definitely continue because these are a lot of the the familiar faces right so um you know just going down the list maesi ekas Sanchez these are the guys that when you pull up the sports books um they're they're often the favorites to to win these races on a week in and week out basis so I'm not too surprised I think we're gonna as we get as we push further along these guys are going to get more aggressive and um we'll probably see a little bit more variance uh when it comes to where they finish um in relation to you know where they stand amongst the field that is very true in some good points race stuff there overall it is a pretty strong classic playoff competitors even the two drivers that didn't finish inide the top 10 that are in the playoffs they certainly didn't even have the worst of days either you had Grant and finger in the 13th position and then Raja kth ended up finishing 18th but he did have to start from the rear of the field in that race there mark yeah it's a tougher track obviously to to get that track position back too so um you know I I I'd expect Roga kud that would actually be you know the next trucks race that would be a driver I would Target because probably flying under the radar um likely not going to start at the back of the field the following so you know I I think he could be kind of a sneaky play in the future here yeah that is definitely something we have to keep an eye on the trucks they're not going to return until Midway into September when we hit Bristol but that's another short track so we do but people are GNA forget that's the opportunity that is very true Bristol is an opportunity because it is a very unique short track overall when we get towards that there mark so okay let's get ourselves into the top Place differential plays of the week for the truck series these are the drivers that made fancy players very happy overall if you use them in lineups now the top driver well it was laye rigs who ended up getting 15 positions he started 16th and finished first up 10 positions from their starring position was Jack wood a driver who we've been on and off about using this year he started 25th ended up finishing 15th and then gaining nine positions there was Ben rhods who started 18th and ended up finishing ninth so solid DFS days there for those three drivers bark yeah especially wood I mean you know Dirt Cheap driver that you know goes from 25th to 15th in a race that um you don't see as much you know Place differential for so um 100% but and then rigs obviously you know getting into that first position getting laps L going from you know half the field up I mean that was the money maker right there pretty much so now on the opposite end of that we have the worst place differential plays of the week for the trucks 16 positions back was bayy Curry he started 13th finishing 29th then 10 positions back was Raja karuth started eighth and finished 18th and then Tanner gray who started second ended up finishing 11th these three drivers they were the ones that ended up contributing towards losing lineups this week overall Mark yeah and we got to put the asteris next to next to kth right so I mean again an opportunity where a lot of people probably felt burned but that that came out before the race right I mean we we knew about that 20 minutes before yeah the news that he was going to be starting from the rear definitely came out before the race was able to be to uh start so it just goes to show it's very important in order to pay attention to pre-race updates to know to change and adjust your lineups especially in conditions such as like a short track for example where it's not going to be as easy to pass you know that these drivers are going to have a much harder time in order to make that position back up and really be worth the salary there mark That's I mean Sean that's the value of the Discord too right I mean I I I did wasn't rostering kth but it's like you know when I see a notification from someone posting in the Discord about Kut like that might be the first time I hear about it so when you're not in there and you're not staying active and keeping up with it minutes leading up to the race like you're already you're already putting yourself at a disadvantage and this goes for any sport I mean you know I we're I've been doing coverage for NFL preseason the last couple weeks it's the same exact thing you have to be you have to be looking at your lineup like a hawk you know for a lot of these Sports to make sure that you don't miss out on any late news and don't pigeon hole yourself before the the Slate even locks that is very true and I couldn't have put it any better right there and with the NFL connection it all fits because we're getting into football season here before we know it too so there you go now getting into the uh stage winners Ty Dylan ended up winning the first stage Christian ekis ended up winning the second and lap leaders Christian ekis led the most laps at 71 Lane rigs LED 53 laps Tai maesi LED 45 laps and Ty Dylan only LED six laps so only four drivers ended up leading laps in the whole entire truck race there mark sounds about right on this track right I mean eus 2 he's he's a driver that uh started at the front what was he the two or the three spot to start with so um you know it makes sense but I mean rigs again just coming through in the clutch if you rostered him you were probably cashing so now okay that it we've covered all the background here we have our list of finishers Matt Crafton snuck into the top 10 there in the 10th position Kaden Honeycut ended up finishing 12th Williams a wallich in the 14th position Ty Dylan despite winning that stage he ended up finishing 16th expected more out of Samy Smith in the 17th position Dean Thompson 19th Stuart F was 20th and well that's pretty much what rounds out the top 20 there is there any other drivers on this list that you think we should Spotlight here Mark before we move on well I mean I was um into fre and perie I was a bit surprised they weren't able to gain a few uh spots in track position there so that was that was quite a bummer and then um I mean honey cut just keeps quietly hanging around the top 10 so I think that's a that's a guy to watch um as we close out the year so I think honey cut stands out to me and then you know disappointment and fres and and Pie um I'm still trying to digest that part because I had those two guys in my lineup and that that definitely hurt a lot yeah sometimes these drivers just don't have the circumstances with the track come to them or they just don't the team does not tailor the truck in the correct way and that could just kill their day right from there harsh but true yeah it it might be a lesson though for me in in lineups as well is you know going after some of these guys that I I I think generally speaking just throwing in maybe too many value plays in one lineup uh is there's a reason why their value plays and so there's more downside than you think when it comes to some of these mid- tier uh low priced guys that um when you look at the odds and you look at everything else like some of the numbers line up but you got to be careful not throwing too many of those guys in your lineup and making sure you get some safe options too it's true you got to have a nice balance some of the most successful lineups out there have that sense of balance where you just got the value drivers you got yourselves your favorites and even some mid- tier guys in between to or to really just make it all worth the while there all right so let's move on towards the exfinity series race and recap that so with the expin series they were at Daytona Ryan Truex ended up nabbing his second win of the year he's been on a part-time schedule and he got it ahead of Chandler Smith and Parker cerbin there mark uh first reaction towards the expin race I mean it seems like you know that's that's a TR X type of race so it's it's nice to see Trux up there but uh I don't know I I Parker cerman still got stood out to me here um and Chandler Smith is a familiar face so um couple surprises I would say yeah Daytona is usually known for their surprising finishers uh speaking of some surp surprising names we had three of them inside the top 10 overall uh Jordan Anderson in the sixth position Leland Honeyman in ninth and Kyle weatherman ended up fishing in the 10th position that there mark uh but you know it also was a pretty good day overall for Joe gibes racing considering that all four of their entries placed 12th or better we had Ryan TRX winning Chandler Smith second uh Sheldon Creed ended up in the top 10 10 in the eighth position and Joe graph Jr ended up coming with a decent finish in the 12th spot there mark yeah and I mean even to round it out in the top 15 bla Perkins 14th Kyle SE 15th I think where where did Perkins start in this race uh Perkins he started quite back he started in the uh mid to late 20s so that's some pretty RSS racing by the way which I mean they did pretty good in general right Ryan SE in fifth and you know so I mean de benedetto uh crashing out was probably the only downside there yeah but otherwise for RSS racing over there as well they had a pretty solid day for their standards they're a team that usually you expect just Ryan SE inor to be the most competitive and Kyle SE to be one of the more consistent value drivers but playing Perkins in 14th was uh little bit surprising to me overall but he pulled on through absolutely I which he doesn't always do that for us either I've been burnt by playing Perkins too so that is very true I I think what was O overall kind of surprising to me was just the speed that the Toyotas have shown in this particular race Daytona and the expin series in particular that's a track where they just haven't shown as much muscle as say the Chevys or the Fords and then Toyota they ended up leading a lot of laps and then they scored the one-w finish that there with TRX and Smith so yeah pretty surprising to me with that yeah that seems like a big deal I mean it like you said Daytona though I Feel Like Anything Can Happen on any given any given race so see if it continues true true true all right now let's get into the top Place differential plays of the week for expin now now these are the three these are the drivers that made fantasy players very happy if you use them so the one driver that ended up earning the most positions was Sam mayor he started 38 he finished 13th then plus 21 positions was Ryan SE as mentioned he started 26th and finished in the fifth position and then we had two drivers each gaining 19 positions of place differential Jordan Anderson who started 25th and finished Sixth and then Kyle se he who started 34th and finished in the 15th position there bark quite something yeah Sam mayor is probably the least surprising obviously but uh you know some of these other guys especially Jordan Anderson I think that's the that's the one that sticks out to me yeah for sure and uh we know that mayor was probably the chalk of the race considering that it's a Junior Motorsports driver starting all the way in the back there so there you go kind of a a layup there uh to a certain degree but I don't know we gota we gotta look Jordan Anderson's way a little bit more like I gotta do I got to do some more digging on this guy here and see what's going to happen with him moving forward well he's actually the owner of Joe oron Anderson racings which Fields entries currently for Jeb Burton and Parker Roff and uh both of those drivers at certain points during this Daytona race showed a little bit of speed and muscle there too so it just goes to show even though the other two drivers didn't really finish up there as much per se you got to watch for that team and Jordan Anderson especially because he's usually priced the lowest during these particular super speedway races we have to always keep an on them as of value 100% this is the type of stuff though where you just have to take note because like you know I can't I I really can't express how valuable it is to hear from you hear from Rich like you know even some of the guys in the Discord just the knowledge on some of these race teams and and keeping an eye on how these race teams are doing and but I'm serious like you you got to take note put it in like a Word document put it in a note on your phone I don't care where you put it but label it you know Daytona Raceway or Speedway right and then you know the next race that comes up you need to pull out your notes that you wrote down and this is gold right here just remembering this type of stuff which teams did well in most recent history like that type of stuff I cannot express enough how important it is to take notes and reflect back on those when we re revisit racetracks this is why it's we always do a recap segment when we're doing the podcast because from looking back towards past races you can assess who the standown drivers are and which drivers you would have to watch for not just races when we go to this exact track but similar types of tracks as well because there's a lot of tracks on these NASCAR schedules that do share similarities with each other all right now let's get into the worst place differential plays of the week for the expin series Austin Hill ended up just killing lineups and this was a driver we expected a lot more out of just wasn't his day he started in the second position finished 31st AJ almond Dinger man he was competitive up until the end when basically he got turned by uh Parker cerman started third finished 24th and then Parker rlof he did show some speed earlier on but just did not have the Finish to show for it he started 15th finished 34th there Mark I forget how much Parker redav was for this race but those I mean those uh I I will say this it takes some guts to go after like a 60700 guy you know who's starting ninth right because odds are they're probably gonna move back but like at the same time it's a huge opportunity because think about how many people get guys like Parker redoff or maybe like a Josh Barry who you know Josh Barry's another guy who can go either way in some of these races and you know a player like that that from 15th to 34th we're talking like negative 20 something points and that you there there's it's very hard to cash when you have negative 20 points in your lineup um yeah it's it's a different story when you get like a high price guy who gets like you know records a bunch of laps LED but then maybe goes from first to like seventh because they make up for it in you know getting all those extra points or fastest laps so I will say this again it goes into the same concept we talked about earlier where you don't want to overload too many of the same type of drivers in your lineup uh same goes with some of these value guys make make sure you're not fluttering too much of your lineup and being too topheavy um and and maybe chasing after one of these drivers who uh you know starts off high and can fall all the way to the very back because they just can't keep up with the group around them yeah that is very true but at a track like Daytona where that can go either way way it's a little bit trickier in order to play that sort of game but usually I like playing the place differential game overall when it comes to these sorts of tracks not that that's going to apply as much for the coming week but it is something that we do have to keep in mind overall so there you go getting into the stage winners and the lap leaders Justin Aly he swept the first two stages by winning both of them and as far as lap leaders are concerned AJ almond Dinger let the most laps at 35 Ryan TRX LED 28 Justin Aly LED 16 Chandler Smith 15 Sam Mayer LED seven and Riley herps was able to score one lap LED in this race there mark yeah all guy I mean rough uh I guess you know you win both stages so that's that's pretty unfortunate then to to not take the race either but it's it happens especially at dayona so yeah it's very very tricky to just sweep the stages and win Daytona I'm trying to think back towards the last time that happened I find a very very uh very difficult in order to think back towards the last time that happened off the top of my head p p sitters don't do very well at Daytona right I mean more often than not but uh there have been exceptions especially I remember back in the day like if you get yourself a top driver like say uh Joey legado used to be really especially good at these sorts of tracks sometimes when he started right from the front you would not see him leave the front until like late into the third and final stage sometimes so sounds like a familiar race it happens but it's not something that we can comfortably rely on often it depends on who exactly starts towards the front and who exactly starts towards the middle you could say I'm curious what you think so do you think some of these guys intentionally qualify towards you know the middle or or or you know maybe not the back end of the pack but maybe they don't want to you know you know stay in the top five at the beginning of the race I would think more often than not they usually try to go for it J either way just because even if you don't get the top position you you'll you definitely want to be either towards the front of these sorts of packs of Daytona or towards the rear rear when you know you can avoid a lot of these accidents but another thing that factors into qualifying a lot in particular is Pit Road selection because where you start and which position you get as far as where you're starting also affects Pit Road selection all the teams have to go forth and and depending on like say if you qualify in the first position it means you also get your first pick of the stall on the Pit Road and on some tracks that could be very advantageous the only reason why I even was thinking about that is I was watching the race and they were talking about you know finding the spot um amongst the pack where you can save the most fuel and it looked like in the Cup Race at least which I know I'm kind of jumping ahead but it looked like it was around the 11 or 12th spot where it was like the optimal place to to save fuel save the most fuel um so I was like oh maybe some of these guys are are targeting like that kind of middle of pack spot to start the race so that they can save fuel and um be in a better spot towards the end of it but I mean it's one variable like you said I mean you got pit pit stops and everything else you know um I mean there's there's a lot of other factors that play into it so I'm sure that's not the only thing they're thinking about oh yeah there's a lot of elements just that all just come into play overall now getting towards some of the other finishers within the race here for Xfinity Riley herps was fourth Justin alar was in the seventh position despite winning both stages Josh Williams had a pretty decent day in the 11th spot uh Brennan P finished 16th Jeb Burton who's part of Jordan Anderson racing as mentioned earlier was 17th Patrick Emerling was a sneaky value play ended up finishing in the 18th scoring some nice place differential there as well as CJ mlin in the 19th spot and Joey gase in a 20th position but we also had some disappointing days from Jesse love in the 21st spot Brandon Jones in 22nd Sammy Smith in 23rd Shane Van gisbergen finished 25th Anthony Alfredo 26th and and Cole kuster who ended up getting involved in an accident ended up 32nd overall there mark yeah weird seeing um the difference in SVG in this race versus the other one um like you said Emerling is certainly the standout amongst this group I feel like this is kind of like a outlier with emmering more than anything um I don't know how many times I'm GNA be suggesting Patrick Emerling here but um and then yeah Jesse Jesse love that's I feel like it's been pretty down for Jesse love recently as far as Jesse's results are concerned he's been a little bit up and down overall this season he's had Peaks and valleys you could say yeah so I don't know if I want to catch that that falling knife here at any point I guess moving forward and then Brandon Jones too that was that was kind of a weird one to see him down there yeah Brandon Jones over all he's been very Boomer bust this season but uh to be fair he's still on a long streak of not finishing in the top 10 ever since he finished as the runner up in Charlotte all the way back at the end of May so man it's been that long that's crazy to think about it's the the months are going by quick yeah and even getting back to Jesse love he has failed to finish inside the top 10 since the Chicago street race at the beginning of July there you go yeah it's I what is going on with Jesse love man that's I haven't obviously you know with him on the decline here I haven't been targeting him much but now I'm I'm curious just what the problem is I'm going to say that part of it is circumstantial when it comes to Jesse love overall because it's not like he hasn't been towards the front he's actually LED laps in three of the last five xinity events so he's been trying he's just been having issues either when it comes to his car just been unfortunate on Pit Road or he just lost positions really that's sometimes all it comes down to maybe we got to keep an eye on Jesse love here see if he starts further back get some place differential out of them but those RCR cars usually qualify pretty darn well most weeks so that's tough to calculate but something to keep an eye on now let's quickly uh recap the uh Cup race here so uh you could say this might be the uh shocking result of the Year overall because uh Harrison Burton ended up winning he got his first ever Cup Series win and he's going to join the playoffs he vaulted past Kyle Bush and Christopher Bell after getting a push from Parker rlof so uh how about that for a shocker Mark yeah I I wasn't expect I don't think anyone one was expecting Harrison Burton to win uh I probably even if they're if they redid the race I wouldn't be betting on Harrison Burton but um that was wild to see him come around the end like that he just came out of nowhere and stole it from I mean that was that was a crazy push towards the end of that race and um you know look I I'm glad it kind of happened because even though it's disappointing for Bush I feel like bush is being overlooked right now and in my personal opinion I was thinking this last week and it seems like it I think this past race now um you know supports my opinion but I feel like bush is starting to take a turn back towards the positive trend here and he's he's finishing the season strong and he's he's doing what he can to to try and stay alive here so um things I feel like are re are working out recently for Bush a lot of people I think still want to stay away from him just because of you know all the problems they had earlier this season but um I feel like he's still under the radar after losing a heartbreaker to to Harrison Burton here yeah that race was just his to lose and then uh that push from rlof got buron over the edge there and Burton just never looked back I mean it's crazy to think if you uh were on the betting boards probably earlier that week Burton has been the worst performing driver All Season he's been the lowest driver in points out of all full-time drivers 34th in points that is really crazy and insane to think about he probably odds are I'd say uh if you ended up putting a w outright winner bet on him earlier in the week he probably would have been maybe even 500 to one maybe in some books something insane like that for sure and I mean now he just stole a spot he just made the he just made the final a couple spots here of this playoff race just absolutely insane so yeah absolutely Bonkers well regarding the Cup race uh both RFK racing cars ended up finishing inside the top 10 Brad K lski eighth and Chris busher 10th so good day for RFK uh there also were some surprising names in the top 10 of this one there too now we mentioned Parker rlv who made the final push he ended up in the seventh position Daniel hemrich snuck into the ninth position for a top 10 there and then Cody wear in fourth he got his first career top five finish ever in the cup series there yeah this was a this was a bizarre I you definitely can't anyone that has these optimizers or these simulators I don't think this would have been an outcome in any single one of those Optimizer so um you know seeing some of these some of these names that finish and like there was some crazy things that happened too I mean Ross Chastain um his car was pretty much ruined I mean his car after that first I think there was a wreck pretty early on in the race and it just didn't seem like it was the same after that no um I mean SVG SVG was racing well he was what in the top 10 at some point so I don't know I think I I think there was a lot of there was a lot of issues brag K getting a restart penalty that ultimately saved him from that next wreck that was going to happen a few laps after that happened yeah that was a there were some massive wrecks here I mean um I was obset I okay so here I I think this is an opportunity I know I'm jumping ahead here but that wreck with Joey Lano Justin Haley and McDow with like 10 to go or something like that um a lot of people on loano a lot of people were on Haley especially Haley he was a value driver that I think a lot a lot of people the industry we're talking about this might be a great bounceback opportunity where a lot of folks got burned on Haley and they're not going to go back to the well I might be interested in going back to the well here true that's a nice little tease for later there uh keep listening to the show when we cover our DFS pick so there you go uh so I just found it interesting about Cody wear with his top five finish there too as well Mark uh he scored a top five finish before Kyle Larson had has even scored a single top five at Daytona absolutely insane to think about interesting and another another kind of nugget to to just put in your back pocket and remember the next time Daytona comes around truly so let's quickly go over the rest of the notes Here top Place differential plays of the week for cup Cody wear started 33rd finished fourth he gained 29 positions Carson josar gained 26 positions by starting 37th and finishing 11th and then Christopher Bell gained 24 positions by starting 27th and finishing in the third spot there mark yeah Christopher Bell I think I gave out as a lock and then it was him and I think it was him and Chastain unfortunately so um was it yes and you know Chastain I mean even after that issue he still finished 12th to to finish the race um but Chris Bel Christopher Bell I mean 66 points he was 45% owned I think in this this high stakes contest that I played um but 8,400 bucks it just seemed like you know sometimes you see these PR the pricing on these drivers and that just the pricing on draftking seemed way off for a guy like C Bell so yeah because he's typically not a driver you associate with success at these this style of racing but he surprisingly had some pretty decent results before in the past too so was overall a pretty solid fit for lineups this week that might be you know what you just said too it might uh indicate a a turn for him like almost he's becoming a more well-rounded driver and maybe it's something to take note of like to just consider him consider him across the board you know he he's he's he's getting more experience and the more experience he has the um the more weaknesses that he can you know work on and everything else so I know sometimes these guys these reputations hey this guy you know this guy's a draft the guy or this guy's a a short track driver but um as they get older they change they change as a driver and their their teams change and everything else so it's true worst place differential plays of the week Ryan priest bit bit lineups more than anybody there starting in the fourth position finishing 39th Michael mcdal he was the poll sitter started first ended up finishing 30th after getting involved in a wreck there as mentioned and Joey Lano lost 28 positions there started third finished 31st involved in the same wreck as Michael McDow overall yeah that was really unfortunate about legano because I was pretty heavy on him uh and I mean wrecks happen and there's not a whole lot you can do about him you can try to predict who's going to get an arck and who's not but you know at the end of the day if you if you can correctly predict who is going to wreck on any given race um you're going to be probably winning more money than anyone else betting and playing DFS and NASCAR so it's true it's true so um stage winners Josh Barry and Joey lagano uh first stage and second stage respectively uh lap leaders there was a lot of drivers that led in this race Lano led the most at 34 followed by Michael mcdal at 26 Justin Haley L 21 Bubba Wallace L 16 Austin Centric with 15th Chris busher with 10 Josh Barry with nine Brad kazlowski with eight as well as Kyle bus Todd gilland and Kyle Larson both LED five laps Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Chase Brisco All LED two and then William Byron Carson hos ofar and Harrison buron all LED one lap but in Bon's case he led the most important one there 100% I mean this is part for the course though for this this track uh you know I think historically speaking we see you know 15 drivers or something like that on average uh you know be lap leaders so um just goes to show just again this is that's that plays into the strategy and making sure you're not you know targeting people for for laps Le because it's going to be pretty spread out in a track like this yeah before we move on uh any other finishers you want to Spotlight in the field here well you know I mean I think the the biggest frustration is just all these big names towards the back because of the wrecks I mean you got Denny Hamlin Ryan blay Chase Elliott Tyler reick Martin shx William byon I mean I think I don't think the tricks wreck I don't think he did but he was running at the end he just did not have the position yeah and but you know I mean you have a lot of these guys towards the back because of all these burnouts so it's like we we're saying it in the Discord all week like Daytona is a little bit of a lottery ticket here Harrison Burton won the race so we you know it's like it's just you know you never know what's going to happen at this type of track so um my closing remarks uh here I would just say make sure you manage your bankroll accordingly whenever they go to datona and just have fun with it don't go too heavy maybe focus on some of the other tracks if you want to play more when it comes to NASCAR because this is just this is always a crap shoot I would say yeah usually is more of and then not usually you get a mix between some favorites surviving until the end and competing for the win some mid tier drivers that end up just doing enough to be respectable plays and then value drivers that nobody's on in order to finish well so that sums it up there in a nutshell right there for sure so getting into the next section of our show there is one big new story that came out this week that I thought was very important into cover overall but that was NASCAR releasing the 2025 schedule for all three Series so we've been waiting on this for months and months to know which venues are going to be receiving NASCAR action next year we finally got it so let's go through all the schedules here real quick uh Mark I actually have them right over here let's start with the Cup Series schedule for next year so uh right now we have ourselves a lot of similar things towards last year but here's a few notable Notes The Clash boobs from the LA Coliseum to Bowman Gray the cup series is off on Easter Sunday Mexico City is going to be in and we'll replace the Spring Richmond race brand new track for the cup series uh got ourselves A rad course in for a short track there Darlington Gateway and New Hampshire are going to be in the playoffs while Atlanta Homestead and Watkins Glenn are out of the playoffs and then Talladega will move on to the round of eight in the playoffs it's from the round the 12 there mark uh pretty interesting stuff overall uh some interesting changes here yeah nice to see uh you know with the Olympics out of the way um you know we're getting Darlington again and then uh so the difference I'm curious to see what the difference is between um you know the Clash at you know going to The Clash at Bowman Gray versus the Coliseum so that race I mean that's like a Denny Hamlin type of race normally I'm I'm curious if that changes at all when it comes to our strategy so we got to remember that one other one that popped out but I guess it's not that big of it oh the Mexico City one what is going to happen with that like who where I mean have we done this before I I I haven't been looking at that too too closely um and you know what what are what's the track G to look like I mean I feel like there's a to me there seems like a lot of unknown on that front there is a lot of unknown because the cup series itself has never raced at Mexico City before the uh Truck Series in expin series did actually head there but not since the mid to late 2000s overall so there are some drivers that do have a little bit of experience there in the cup field now like you could say Danny Hamlin and Brad k lski like some of the veterans a cup now have raced at the track before but that was in an entirely different car compared to what we're driving now and the layout is going to be a little bit different it is going to be a little bit similar to how F1 drives the track but with some minor adjustments overall interesting interesting yeah I mean that so that'll be a very I would say that would be a light race for next year when it comes to bankroll and then um probably you know I just I think any of the changes are are going to be the ones that need to mark down to maybe go lighter on here so as you can see like look like when it comes to DFS it might be daily we might only start talking about some of these races for a week but the more we can take notes as we see it in the front end the more that we can reflect back in in the future and and see everything that we've jotted down over over the period of time the better off we're going to be here oh for certain and you know even the teams themselves are going to be taking notes because you know we see some changes in the playoffs in particular next year with some of those tracks and uh we have Talladega moving at a round of eight that right there is Big just becau because the fact of the matter is is that instead of it being Midway through the playoffs now it actually has big implications for who can make it into that Championship round for Phoenix and then we have some different tracks over here some of these teams are going to be looking back at their notes uh from the races r that the tracks are going to be in the playoffs next year even more intently than before and just really try to make sure that they're going to have their stuff ready for these races overall yeah it should be interesting to see how they adapt and um we're going to see some new teams next year as well so there's going to be a lot that changes even between now and then it's true all right so for the xinity series schedule it is a little bit shorter of course as per usual compared comped to cup but it also has some adjustments too Rockingham Mexico City Gateway and a second Bristol date are added for experity next season while Richmond New Hampshire and Michigan are taken off while Darlington loses one of its two dates next year interesting that we're we're seeing um Darlington uh drop off there and then we get Bristol Bristol in the playoffs here the Mexico City one again I mean I'm just very curious how that goes Homestead Miami that should be interesting and Rockingham yeah Rockingham I'm excited to see back on the schedule that is a classic track right there that uh Nascar has not visited since the 2000s good to see it back very interesting short track venue and very unique one do with that so we'll have to see how it all shakes out next year but lot to uh really keep in mind over there especially with Gateway also being the uh Reg their season finale for expin what do you how do you feel about the Chicago street races uh the Chicago street races I think they're a very interesting experiment as it is overall and uh we did see a good race over there in the xinity Series this year it was some of the best racing of the year as far as I'd argue uh some of the roaded street courses over there and we had some of the best action with SVG and Larson B Bing it out over there in that particular race so yeah and that was an exciting finish even in the cup at least at the end of it the the Cup race that was kind of that was a mess for you know a second year straight but at the end with reic kind of blowing that by hitting the wall that I thought that was that was a fascinating finish I think I think the concept is good they just need a they just need a good quality you know weekend to do it yeah it's true and not one where uh rain will affect it too too badly exactly so yeah now the truck series schedule here it is we have Rockingham Lime Rock Watkins Glenn New Hampshire Michigan and the Charlotte roal all being added so quite a few additions towards the truck schedule but we have Gateway Milwaukee and Kota taken off while Kansas will lose one of its two dates for the truck series next year mark yeah this I mean I would expect more changes this seems like more changes than the other two but um I feel like in the truck series that that you can get away with that so um I don't have a whole lot on this one here but um good to see some movement and a little bit of a a different approach this year yeah uh very curious to see how the trucks are going to handle Rockingham and Lime Rock Park because uh both of those tracks are completely new to the truck series and trucks hasn't mentioned at Rockingham none of the current d drivers have seen that track there other than maybe iRacing so far so very interesting to see how it'll all shake out but that is the 2025 schedules officially for next year so that's all there is to it a lot to look forward to and from there we'll see how it all happens but let's keep the show running and going and flying here so how about we get towards prev this week's race let's preview Darlington here Mark uh this is a track where you know they nickname it track too tough to tame the lady in Black so many different nicknames for this track because it's one of the most famous tracks in N all of NASCAR there it's a unique oval there where each pair of Corners has different degrees of banking and length it is a total challenge for the drivers in order to nail this track because typically we usually see a lot of teams nailed the setup for one pair of corners but maybe not so much in the second pair of Corners there we're uh using the intermediate Speedway rules package overall there mark so that's the package that's similar toward it'ss the mile and a half races you could say like Texas Kansas Las Vegas Charlotte those races we can definitely look back at on as a point of reference for this week's race yeah I think the the approach is definitely a balanced approach um you need some dominators you you definitely need some place differential as well so that's what I was saying at at the very beginning of our conversation is this definitely feels like a race where we're going to see ownership probably spread out relatively across the board um but uh you know and there's there's a few different Pro approaches that I think you can take with your lineups too uh to get to that to get to that top spot so you're G to be looking for laps Le you're G to be looking for Place differential qualifying is going to be everything here oh definitely for sure and practice is also going to be very big too just in the fact of the matter is even if say practice doesn't deliver the same exact conditions as race day a lot of these drivers and teams they are going to want track time just to get accustomed to the track it's one of the toughest tracks on the NASCAR schedule and a lot of these younger drivers that in all three all the uh series the uh expin and Cup Series this is typically a track where if you don't have as much experience and don't take it to it right away you're not really going to be that good here here and this track favors veterans that have experience so overall that's something to keep in mind but then it's like what do you do because you know you want to go after the experienced guys the experienced guys a lot of them are towards the top the guys that have the best history here are the highest priced of course and that means you're going to have to punt somewhere so um it's it's the the punt options I that's why I just think we're going to be all over the place we're gonna have some people who throw in uh two dominators some people who throw in one some people who try to just thin it out and go mid pricing across the board that can you can fall flat on your face doing that too so um I think it's going to be a very interesting approach here oh definit for sure and another thing that we have to really keep in mind for the Cup Series this week this is the cut off race pretty much uh I'm going to go forth and share my screen real quick just so we can get a sense of the playoff picture there we go so you see over here this is how the playoff picture currently shakes out overall and with that in mind we have know that that this is the very very last chance that drivers have in order to make the postseason for the cup series bartin TRX Jr Ty Gibbs and Chris busher are ahead of the playoff cutof line there uh TRX is pretty much all but just about locked in as long as he doesn't have a terrible day uh Gibbs just needs like a little top 10 top 15 run and he's basically good now Chris busher he's in a position where he he can't afford to have a bad day and then you have Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain within Striking Distance that they could still potentially Point their way in but anybody from below Ros Chastain down you could see Kyle bus Brisco Gillan josar McDow and so on they have to win in order to get in so that's going to really affect a lot of the strategy this week as well their bark and so I think if you compare this so this is why looking at the the playoff picture is very important going into a race like this because um Ty Gibbs Chris busher Bubba Wallace Ross chesting Kyle Busch they are all so they're all fighting for these spots but they're they're also they're all priced around the same range here so there's gonna be a lot of people I was just talking about before where we have the mid someone just attacking a bunch of mid- tier drivers not looking at the playoff picture and realizing like you have to take some stands right here you can't just play all of these guys and expect that lineup to to go off in my opinion because at the end of the day someone's going to get probably taken out of this group here and I don't know who it's gonna be but that is where you might want to spend more time researching as we get closer to the start of the race because you know at the at the end of the day when you're playing DFS you have to take a shot if you play too safe you're never going to cash high you're never going to get that top prize so um I just think this is important to understand why we're looking at this because there's going to be a lot of people out here that just Hammer that AK price range oh for sure and the thing is too is that for a lot of these drivers their season is on the line with this exact race it's go big or go home some Drive pretty much like I said there Bubba Wallace and Ross chest danain they can still Point their way in but everybody else below them they have to win in order to get them in there's no possible way for them to point their way in and with th those drivers in mind they're going to try to bring their best stuff their their Best Equipment their best setups just for this week and that's going to be a very important thing to note even though some of these drivers at the top there too uh that's another thing we have to keep in mind there's another battle that people aren't talking about as much here as well uh Mark that's also important is the battle for the regular season Championship as well because that contains a lot of bonus play off points for the that whoever ends up as the regular season champion and Tyler reick is currently on top of that over Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott by 17 and 18 points so and that's going to get settled within this race too and so for some of those favorites right there they have incentive in order to race well hey Tyler reick and Chris Bucher what happens between those two though yeah that's true now that busher basically he's in the hot sea right there while reck is fighting for the regular season title so reck owned up to it and going back to the ra race back in May right I mean he owned up to to what happened but I don't know busher is busher is coming for it and I we could see something between those two in this race if they both get to the front that is that's true that's true because you know never know a team could go forth and bring their best stuff but if they get the car set up wrong that's going to kill their entire weekend right there too so like just looking at the odds though I mean reic is minus 110 to finish in the top five where you know we compare that to Chris busher and he's plus 180 yeah just goes to show pretty interesting overall so before we get on into the uh let me let rattle up off the uh notable and part-time starts for the uh series this week here uh in expin we have Greg van Al the SS Green Light number 07 Chad fincham in the SS Greenlight number 14 Joey lagano is in for Am racing in the number 15 Ford Chase Elliot this is one we have to watch for exfinity in particular too he's in that that number 17 for Hendrick Motorsports that right there is going to be big to or to keep in mind uh Joe graph Jr is back in the number 19 for Joe Gibbs Racing this week Christopher Bell is in the 20 that's another big name that we have to keep in mind because those gies cars are always very good in Infinity Cory Heim is in the 26 for Sam Hunt racing this week Noah greggson is in the number 30 for Rhett Jones racing another name that we have to watch right there uh David star is expected to be in the number 35 for Joey gase Motorsports Garrett smithley in the number 45 for Alpha Prime racing Dawson grem in the number 74 cars quapo always a name to watch uh in the number 88 for Junior Motorsports and then Ross Chastain is in the number 92 for DGM racing so that could be an interesting play right there too now in the cup series we have Cas groin the 15 for Rick wear racing good to see him back in there Shane Van gisbergen is doing double duty and is in the cup field this week as well driving the 16 for col racing and then there's Timmy Hill and the number 66 for power source which I am not expecting to be a factor at all this week I think I think SVG could be sneaky like he he looked good he looked good last week he he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time um positive news like Good Vibes coming out you know here for him going into 2025 I mean he's probably gonna drive you know race loose so um I mean obviously qualifying is going to be a huge impact on whether we whether or not we target him but at 6,400 bucks on DraftKings if we can see him pretty far back I mean he might be a very low owned value play it's true especially because SVG he's mainly doing this just for cup experience he's not looking or expecting to win unless he's in a position to do so through pit strategy and callic racing is not one of the top teams that they're not really going to be going for a really high-end finish unless they play on that Str straty game if it the opportunity arises but like one of those things though like 6,400 bucks if he starts 29th and finishes 14th like that would that would more than pay off and he's not like you said he's not going to be maybe as aggressive as some of these other drivers who can get in some wrecks here so might be a safer value play it's possible certainly possible right there now before we get into our driver picks and go through our core fours and bets uh be sure to if you're listening to this podcast uh go over to fantasyguru.com get the MVP Platinum package which has everything and anything you need in order to win bit big and DFS and betting and just plain old enjoying Sports the best way possible so go over there uh get any of the NFL packages you can always go forth and get the MVP Allin pre premium package there for uh NBA NHL NCAA PGA MMA soccer and Racing for a low low price there to get covered for a year as it stands go over her an email support fantasyguru.com they'll be sure to get you the best possible deal and well you know it just goes forth into we speak upon our product here it's a very darn good product if I do say so myself and we help people even win their money back just even paying the $40 for the MVP PL package so uh go forth get get the MVP package get the Platinum package get ready for NFL season because it's right here and uh you're going to be contributing more to the uh NFL content this year is that correct there mark yeah I just did some NFL preseason I gotta say I mean um I joke around about it with uh my family at this point but it's like Q4 of the year when it when football season starts this is this is when this is financially my favorite time of year because of what we do in the Discord what we do um with the amount of content that's coming out especially on the football uh landscape it football is by far my most profitable Sport and that's mainly because I have all the content that I can utilize from everyone else here at Fantasy Guru apply my own process and it's the most opportunity there's so many more contests in the NFL there's so many more contests when it comes to college football for so many so much bigger um amounts of of money and prizes so um if there's any time of year where you're going to be you know going in on one of these packages this is the time to do it couldn't have said it better myself right there mark uh you sold the product very well so there you go all right let's get into our picks here let's start with our top price picks to watch there now uh as far as the three drivers each chose for this category we actually overlap on two out of the three each we're both on Denny Hamlin and Ty of the reic overall I love these two drivers there this place pretty much used to be been known as Denny's house because he really knows how to get it done here he has so many great finishes this is one of his very best tracks even since early on in his career and he's been very consistent when it comes to Leading laps in a lot of the recent races at this track and Tyler reck well I mean uh Denny Hamlin owns his car he's a co-owner so of course reic probably also gets tips from Denny Hamlin in order to really Drive well and re's been really good at this track in recent races he almost won this race earlier in the year so definitely cannot ignore that now where we differ is that you have Kyle Larson as your third driver there mark uh explain to the audience here uh what makes you on Kyle Larson this week yeah I mean Kyle Larson you know going back to last year he actually LED uh 55 laps and and won the race so when he started in the 18th position so obviously going to be interesting to see where he uh qualifies again but he's the type of driver that can move up in the field so quickly that I'm always targeting him quite frankly um and you know I also like car Kyle Larson because I think between him and Denny Hamlin he's going to be the lower owned driver for some of the points that you just made and I think all those points are fairly it too right I mean um at the end of the day Denny Hamlin has a ton of laps LED in this on this track historically um but I I I think what like what I like about lison is the fact that he will be lower owned because the most recent race we saw him we saw him wreck so I think he finished yeah he finished 34th and he led 15 laps so you know people might look at some of the historical data and and that skews the numbers a little bit but um I think that's where the opportunity is in NASCARs you get these people applying analytics and crunching the numbers from previous races and accidents are just so like you know it's it just skews data in my opinion and so that's why that's why in my opinion um I gotta I gotta look after Kyle lson and then um like you said same reasons for Denny Hamlin and Tyler Tyler reic so it I agree with the call for Lon I think he should really be up there as well I I think uh had there been four drivers he probably would have been the fourth on my list that I would have put down really there too he this is one of larsson's better tracks overall too and for a while there before he ended up winning uh a little while ago he did have a streak of about four third top three finishes Podium finishes right there so he's really really good at this track and he has extra motivation because he's one of those three drivers that are still eligible to compete for the regular season Championship over all there too so and another point to keep in mind for why Larson could be one to watch I didn't think of that yeah but as far as uh my last driver on the top price list it actually is Brad keslowski the winner from earlier this year that I have this has been a good track for Brad he's finished in the top 10 in the last four Darlington races overall and for the price point as far as that is concerned I really like it a lot because he's under that 10K range of DraftKings he's 9,800 and then when you even get towards FanDuel he's a flat 11k for a driver that ends up really being consistent at this track in recent years with Brad keslowski I think you've really got to like the price and RFK they've been really good at this track in recent years a lot to like there I think you hit a really good point um with FanDuel too like Brad kislowski presents an extra bonus over on FanDuel I wouldn't be surprised if he'll be chalky over there but quite frankly I'm willing to eat that type of chalk um the other thing about brag K is like I just feel like if he if he's going to qualify uh top five or somewhere around there like that's even more of a confirmation that he's going to have a good race like if you look at the last two races for example he started in fifth and he finished in Sixth and then he started in second and he finished in first so um it seems like on this type of track he holds his position and um typically is going to be towards the front um when and you know it's crazy to think about how many times this season that Brad keslowski has scored positive Place differential overall it is actually he's been one of the best of the year in that particular stat and you even look back to towards the last couple of races each the last five races Brad Kay has scored positive Place differential every single time so he knows how to be consistent and the thing is he's not always going to get the best qualifying effort but like you mentioned if he does get a really good qualifying effort that only just makes it even more scary for the fact fact of the competition that he's going to be really good 100 per. I think it's a very strong play and just for the price point I think it's just perfect in order to slot them in easily absolutely so now getting into our mid-tier drivers to watch this is going to be interesting as it is I ended up picking four drivers and as for Mark well he took the whole a whole group of five here but we pretty much are paying attention towards all the same drivers here too so let's just discuss it here Chris busher Ty Gibbs Ross chain bubble Wallace Kyle bus these Five drivers I think it's very safe to say because they're all fighting for the playoff spot that these are the drivers that we really have to keep our eye on for sure I think this mid tier um this is make or break like what you side here is going to determine how well you do this weekend um I threw in Kyle bus because I just feel like if you look at this whole group here um he's the one driver that most people are going to gravitate away from and maybe go after like the other four and gives Bush or Chastain and Wallace so um for me I like Bush the most because I just don't I'm G to try and Zig when everyone else is zagging or vice versa so um I like Bush I think people are going to get scared off of him I think he's trending upwards uh it's my favorite of the group but every single one of these guys I mean are are certainly in play I I'm also I'm really into Ross Chastain for a bounceback so again I think my Approach when I'm looking at this is just which of these guys are going to be the lowest own that's where I'm going to take my shots on and I feel like chest Dane and Bush are probably going to be those two guys I definitely agree about the bush Point that he's probably going to be the top contrarian play of the group but without question just because RCR they've been very mixed at this track sometimes they've had good runs at this track with Austin Dylan and Kyle before or even uh Tyler reick when he used to drive this car he had some uh runs where he's been up and down too so depends on how they nail the setup definitely good for gpp I'd say overall there and the thing is is that bush he's had some bad Lu F in recent Darlington races too I still remember his last race at at Darlington in 2022 when he was driving for Joe gives racing his last start at the track for that team he was leading over a 100 plus laps and then he ended up blowing his engine bad luck right there so that that's a case for Kyle bus I I think especially when you notice that RCR they've been putting out some more speed than normal the last couple of weeks I mean Austin Dylan wed Richmond Kyle Bush nearly wanted Daytona this past week something we just have to keep in mind overall uh Ty Gams he's a driver I like particularly for DraftKings because the price over there is friendly enough whereas at vanuel he is a very big difference in price compared to the rest of the group pretty much because he's a flat 10,500 over there while all these the other four drivers are around like that 8,500 range or less so something to keep in mind there even even though Tai Gibbs finished as the runner up earlier in the year at Darlington now as for Chast Dan he's a driver that's had some good runs he's led a lot of laps before I think Duke he's definitely in play I like Chris buscher a lot because he nearly won this race earlier in the year he's had some strong runs at the track recently and then Bubba Wallace he's on a streak of top 10 finishes ever since the next gen Carr debuted he's not finished outside of the top 10 and Arlington and he needs to have a really good run in order to make the playoff so right there any of these drivers are in play if there is a a driver that I feel like is going to take a shot in this race it's going to be Bubba Wallace and if there's a driver that I feel like is not going to finish this race of this group it might be Bubba Wallace as well and I just think that I I feel like this is the race where he gets super super aggressive and he takes his takes his shot here especially with you know um you know reck's out there and you know obviously there's there's Hamlin with an investment I mean there's a lot of elements that go into play and him probably thinking that this is the this is the track to to make a move here so I mean Bubba Wallace would be like one of those I don't know if I'd play him in a DFS lineup but that might be a good I don't think I put it down but I think that might be a good bet to you know make for a winner as well it's especially interesting because DFS wise Bubba is actually the cheapest of all these drivers in order to put into a lineup too I but I think he's going to be the highest own because of all this like I from a DFS perspective I feel like I'm I'm going I'm going the route of betting him versus playing him in DFS that's fair and valid if anything I definitely would place a top 10 BET considering he has four consecutive top 10 at this track going into the spray so I like that yeah lock it in lock it in ch Ching boom let's get into our uh potential sleepers and values so for this list over here there is one driver that we can both safely agree on and that's Justin Haley I mean we nickname him the free Square on this podcast just because he's consistently delivering results without spending too much money this is actually a really really solid track for Haley as well he has three top 10 in the cup series at this track overall now interestingly enough none of them have come within the uh August or September races at Darlington they were all in the spring but that being said though he did put himself in a pretty good position earlier in the year and ended up scoring a top 10 finish out of it and just for the price point alone and here's the other thing too Rick wear racing they are aligned with RFK racing with a tech Alliance so although Rick wear is not going to be as good as RFK we can trust them in order to actually be a decent ride overall there so wouldn't you agree that that makes Haley a really appealing play yeah I think I mean all of those reasons that you just mentioned from a NASCAR perspective I mean the the other race back in September he started 29th and finished 24th and even if that happens that doesn't kill you you know at his price point and it allows you to pay up for you know some of these higher owned guys so um and then I think I mentioned it earlier briefly but it's just like with Haley um you know we get the recency bias to play into this as well where there's a lot of DFS players last week that got burnt by him uh from you know going multiple laps down early on in the race and never being able to recover so you know I myself got burned by him but it happens sometimes they're not going to pay off every single race especially a guy like this um and I love the concept of getting him on the bounce back and watching all those other DFS players in their misery you know being like why why this week when I decided to not play him and it's like well because you are only looking at the recent results from last week and trying to compare it to this you know this other track here so um I I love Haley for all the reasons that you said and I also love Haley for all the DFS strategic reasons um that is why it's going to be very hard for me to come off of him at the $5,700 price point on DK and 3500 on FanDuel yeah very very cheap and very effective now the other three drivers you mentioned on your list are Eric Jones Josh Barry and Shane Van gisbergen so I can definitely understand the Jones call considering his history overall and then Josh Barry uh he ended up scoring a top five finish earlier in the Year too and then Shane Van gber and you kind of teased it earlier what are your thought thought further thoughts on uh why you like these three as well this week well I think Eric Jones SVG um both of them I just I like that the fact that they've been racing well as of recent um Josh Barry is up and down Josh Barry is uh quite the roller coaster but like you said I mean um you know going back to to May of this year he was in this he was 33rd and and finished third in this race so um can he do that again I don't know if he's going to do anything like that again by any means but if he finishes if he starts 33rd and finishes 20th um he's gonna you know that's going to work out here for us as well so uh I he's probably my least favorite of the four that I mentioned I think SVG is really really interesting um especially if we get him in like the you know the 28 29 30 range at 6,400 bucks um and I just think there's a lot of positives coming out of that camp here so I would also say in my opinion of this group SVG Haley is still probably going to Garner some ownership SVG will probably be um the lowest owned that makes sense especially considering that SVG he's he's just a part-timer in Cup this year too part-timer so he's not going to take maybe as many risks and I just um I I look at him and say like this is another one of those drivers we were talking about it with Christopher Bell before where maybe they're taking a turn and maybe they're in some of these other tracks that they're not necessarily known for having a whole lot of success with improving on and becoming just a better driver overall like they're just hitting that point of their career where they're taking another step forward and I just feel like SVG is that guy given the news given how he's been racing recently and last week was just you know he got he got wrecked and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time he was racing very well last week so um I I've got a lot of points as to why maybe s SVG could be a Difference Maker in your lineup this weekend very interesting over all to say now uh within my list here I have the Todd father Todd gilland anchoring uh that he's 6,800 on DraftKings and in FanDuel he's only 5500 he's a driver that regardless of track he's he's usually been a lock for a top 20 finish within that front row Motorsports equipment and if he qualifies say around like the the mid to late 20s definitely one driver that I have my eye on especially because he typically finishes close to the top 20 or gains Place differential every time he comes to Darlington now we I met we talked about Haley but for my uh last drivers well really it's kind of a split depending on which site you play on if you're going on DraftKings I say Ryan priest is a total bargain in order to consider as just for the place differential aspect alone in fact actually Ryan priest he has nine starts at this track only twice has he failed to score positive Place differential so that's seven out of nine times he has scored positive Place differential regardless of where he started at Darlington and for the price point on DraftKings in particular for him he is 5600 that is really really cheap especially for production like that whereas FanDuel he's a flat 5K he's not as usable there but another driver that you can find to be pretty useable in FanDuel in particular I think is Carson josar 3,800 he's another driver that's been consistent with finishing in the top 20 regardless of track type and now he has some experience because he finished into the top 20 earlier in the year at Darlington he's only 3,800 on FanDuel whereas uh draft case he still fairly useable to there he is a flat 6K overall on DK so PRI and HOSA are I think are two other drivers to watch and I know I didn't list this other driver here but I feel like uh this is another one that I think people are not going to talk about and not mention but Harrison bton the driver that just won we know Harrison has a reputation of not being exactly the best driver for most of the year but when you break look at the numbers and you look at his past Darlington finishes you'll see that other than maybe one or two results he's actually scored positive Place differential more often than negative at this track and for the uh price point overall he's 5900 on DraftKings and 3200 on fandel he's not my Top Choice but I do feel like just based on the numbers alone and the fact that I think nobody is going to be playing him this week and I mean absolutely nobody is going to yeah I think you you kind of have I'm just gonna have to throw the name out there just period I mean you know the interesting thing about Harrison Burton on FanDuel is he really allows you to get different um because you get to go all the way down to 3200 versus Hal like Okay so the one thing about Haley is even though he'll probably be less ownership than last week I still think he's going to Garner some ownership so the three guys that you just mentioned you have priest hos ofar and Harrison burton all those guys are in similar price ranges and are probably going to be lower owned than than Haley um but the thing about Harrison Burton is on FanDuel because of how cheap he is over there you can build a very very different lineup and so I like what you're saying with Harrison Burton specifically on FanDuel because of how contrarian I can I can look at my lineup and how topheavy I can then go um over there which I don't I just don't think many people are going to do oh yeah and even under that same sort of logic another driver that I think we can also keep in mind too that I think nobody's going to be playing but could be worth a look just based on his recent finishes and this despite the inexperience at this track zann Smith 5400 on DraftKings and he's just the flat 3K on FanDuel wow there's there's a lot of different directions you can go with this here I mean that and that's what we've been saying I think this is just going to be very spread out there's a lot of different approaches that you can take and it really just depends on the format you're playing the the type of contest that you're playing in and um and even the site it's true very very true all right so let's get into our core fours here real quick let's start with the betting core four I have uh for my betting core four for outright winning Kyle Larson at plus 550 Denny Hamlin at plus 600 Tyler reck at plus 650 and Chris busher at plus 1400 my two long shot calls I have two this week that's right uh Bubba Wallace and Ross chest danain they're both at plus 2000 so uh overall I think these drivers have a chance over here uh Mark give us your betting four yeah I agree with the the strategy of getting two mid-tier guys uh you know some of those playoff guys that are going to be looking for a win so busher at plus 1400 I think is a great uh play and then I'm also in the same camp of getting one of these plus 2000 guys in Ross Chastain uh Tyler reick I mean he's looked really good in this track I'm probably not targeting in him in DFS so that's why I like him I like getting him a little bit of exposure here in my betting core for at Plus 650 and then uh you know Kyle Lon I just think at plus 550 uh again I think he's going to be a little bit different uh I think as we get closer to the race after qualifying happens probably GNA see even you know it might go up to maybe plus 500 or plus 450 or something like that so um I like I like this one early for Kyle Kyle Larson as well not a bad call all right so for our DFS core fours I'm going to get into mine here this could apply to either site I like these drivers I have Tyler reick he is 10,500 on DraftKings 13,500 on FanDuel like the price on both sites to since he's not the most expensive driver on either site uh Chris busher he's 8,500 on both DraftKings and FanDuel I especially like him for FanDuel this week uh Bubba Wallace he's 7700 on draftking 7,800 on FanDuel and then rounding it out is Justin Haley at 5700 on DraftKings and 3,500 on FanDuel that is my favorite DFS core 4 right there mark let's hear yours I've got Denny Hamlin on DK at 11k and FanDuel 13k and Kyle Larson at 10,700 FanDuel 14,000 so as you can see the reason why I'm setting this up with these two dominators is I really think you need two dominators in this race and we can find Place differential in other spots I think we can certainly get a lot of place differential out of R Chastain over on DK at 8 Grand and fandu 8200 and so there's your mid- tier option and then your your value play I'm in agreement with Justin Haley uh as my core uh at DK 5700 bucks 3500 bucks on FanDuel and when you do that on both of those sites it allows you to get different it allows you to still have some flexibility to do what you want in your lineup and then I I would say on FanDuel there's a little bit more restriction because there's there's one one less spot but um there's still some some creativity that you can throw in there with with these guys I like it I like it a lot uh that's a strategy that I think I'm going to be using in some of my lineups when I'm setting that up this weekend there well anyway Mark uh it's been great having you on the Thunder hour how do you feel after all this love it man I'm excited to to continue to get more integrated with the NASCAR team really excited for for this weekend's races um got some you know be contri on on that front here as well uh so you know I I I would say the biggest thing is that there's a lot can change you know from now into the races as we all know so we'll keep up with you all in the Discord um I would say as we get closer and active uh closer to these races we'll be we'll be more and more active in on that front as well uh I really can't stress enough how important I think the Discord itself is as a tool I think you get your money's worth just directly through that um and I try to stay very active on that front so looking forward to keeping up with you all um behind the scenes and making us all some money this weekend love it love to hear it man uh that that's the way to do it and that's the way we roll here at the race Guru Thunder hour everyone thank you for watching or listening be sure to like subscribe to the podcast here on YouTube uh be sure to check it out the post on fantasyguru.com all of our latest content over there mark over here here he's handling the article for the Infinity Series race this weekend I'm handling Cup Series duties so be sure to look forward to that interact with us on Discord and we'll get you all revved up and ready to roll so we can see you all in Victory Lane with some big fat cash all right that'll do it for this this week's race Guru Thunder hour this is that's Mark Hogan DFS Marlin I'm Sean angle thank you very much for watching or end or listening deuces