NASCAR DFS Busch Light Clash Playbook & Top Picks
The 2024 NASCAR season gets underway tonight! Yes, we have a Saturday night Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum instead of Sunday thanks to the atmospheric river heading to Los Angeles tonight. This bump up from Sunday to Saturday has some key implications for us for DraftKings and FanDuel DFS — both of which moved up the start time. Weather forecast aside now, how are we approaching tonight’s race and how is the field being set for the The Clash now that the race moved up? We’ll get to that as well as my favorite plays from each salary tier on DraftKings and FanDuel below.
How Is The Busch Light Clash Field Being Set?
The simple answer is practice. They are running practice at 5:35 pm ET on Saturday. The fastest 22 drivers during the practice session will make the field for The Clash that starts at 8pm ET on Saturday night. The final 23rd spot for the main event will be filled by the driver who finished the highest in the 2023 points standings who didn’t finish high enough in practice to make the field on speed. This means that even if Ryan Blaney is slow in practice, he’ll make the field being he is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. NASCAR has scrapped the heat races and the LCQ (Last Chance Qualifier) so if you’re slow in practice, you just go home.
Entry List For Busch Light Clash
Below is the full entry list for the Clash tonight. Reminder, this is the full list and only 23 of these drivers will make the race following practice.
Practice Results For The Clash
Below is the practice results for the only practice run on Saturday. It is only showing the top-22 speeds plus the driver who qualified on 2023 points.
Coming soon…
DFS Lineups For 2024 NASCAR Busch Light Clash
So with the rush of the race and less time to see cars on track, how are we building lineups for DraftKings and FanDuel for the race? Well, practice speed will be nice to go off of, though that can’t be the only thing. The track shouldn’t change that much between practice and the race since there is only a few hours between the two events and the new surface won’t take a lot of rubber. So using practice speed is helpful to see who should be able to run up front, but remember race speed and race situations are totally different from practice. There will be a lot more bumping throughout the field during the race than practice since no one wants their car screwed up during practice. For example, last year no one touched Denny Hamlin in practice but running up front in the race he was bumped out of the lead fairly quickly.
While the track is small, a quarter-mile in length, and tight, passing was possible last year in this car as Kyle Busch showed. That being said, we also shouldn’t bank on a driver moving from the back of the field to the top-10 that easily, or at all. Below are the results from the two clashes that have been held at the coliseum. Take the results with a grain of salt though as there were far more cautions in the second race than the first race. So in general what does it come down to for building lineups?
Firstly, with a smaller field, rostership will be high for the most popular drivers. So in a way we want to get a bit weird, if going with multiple builds, and hope for a bit of chaos. Secondly, while there are 150 laps in the race, with only green flag laps counting, don’t expect a single laps led dominator tonight. Last year there were a few drivers that split those 150 laps with the winner only leading 25 laps. Lastly, we’re looking to get as many drivers in the build who can finish top-7-10 that we can since finishing position points will be the largest portion of DFS scoring tonight.
Previous Busch Light Clash Results
| 2022 Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum Loop Data Results - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | |||||||||||||
| Driver | ST | FIN | AVG | PC D | Pass | Passed | PS D | Q PASS | Fast | %T15 | TOT Led | Laps | Rating |
| Joey Logano | 4 | 1 | 2.5 | +3 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 9 | 20 | 100.0% | 35 | 150 | 133.7 |
| Kyle Busch | 1 | 2 | 1.7 | -1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | 23 | 100.0% | 64 | 150 | 134.3 |
| Austin Dillon | 10 | 3 | 6.9 | +7 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 13 | 7 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 94.2 |
| Erik Jones | 16 | 4 | 8.3 | +12 | 17 | 5 | +12 | 17 | 9 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 88.5 |
| Kyle Larson | 8 | 5 | 4.3 | +3 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 9 | 9 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 105 |
| William Byron | 7 | 6 | 5.5 | +1 | 12 | 12 | +0 | 12 | 4 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 93.5 |
| Cole Custer | 14 | 7 | 10.9 | +7 | 23 | 19 | +4 | 23 | 8 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 80.9 |
| Christopher Bell | 11 | 8 | 10.3 | +3 | 18 | 13 | +5 | 18 | 9 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 74.8 |
| AJ Allmendinger | 21 | 9 | 12.8 | +12 | 27 | 15 | +12 | 19 | 5 | 71.3% | 0 | 150 | 57.4 |
| Kevin Harvick | 19 | 10 | 13.1 | +9 | 26 | 19 | +7 | 16 | 13 | 70.7% | 0 | 150 | 72.3 |
| Chase Elliott | 15 | 11 | 12 | +4 | 21 | 5 | +16 | 19 | 5 | 88.7% | 0 | 150 | 64.3 |
| Harrison Burton | 22 | 12 | 15.9 | +10 | 16 | 12 | +4 | 7 | 0 | 39.3% | 0 | 150 | 54.2 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 9 | 13 | 18.3 | -4 | 12 | 17 | -5 | 4 | 0 | 24.7% | 0 | 150 | 48.2 |
| Daniel Suarez | 5 | 14 | 11.2 | -9 | 16 | 37 | -21 | 14 | 2 | 82.7% | 0 | 150 | 66 |
| Martin Truex Jr | 23 | 15 | 17.8 | +8 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 4 | 2 | 23.3% | 0 | 149 | 38.3 |
| Michael McDowell | 12 | 16 | 14.3 | -4 | 15 | 32 | -17 | 12 | 0 | 75.3% | 0 | 149 | 50.5 |
| Ryan Blaney | 13 | 17 | 11.7 | -4 | 13 | 13 | +0 | 12 | 3 | 76.0% | 0 | 147 | 52.7 |
| Bubba Wallace | 20 | 18 | 19.9 | +2 | 9 | 9 | +0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 146 | 32.3 |
| Justin Haley | 3 | 19 | 7.3 | -16 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 9 | 12 | 76.7% | 0 | 116 | 101.3 |
| Ryan Preece | 18 | 20 | 19 | -2 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 0 | 0 | 0.7% | 0 | 75 | 32.8 |
| Tyler Reddick | 2 | 21 | 14.6 | -19 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 3 | 6 | 35.3% | 51 | 53 | 94.3 |
| Chase Briscoe | 6 | 22 | 16.1 | -16 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 | 1 | 35.3% | 0 | 53 | 57.5 |
| Denny Hamlin | 17 | 23 | 21.9 | -6 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% | 0 | 52 | 31 |
| 2023 Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum Loop Data Results - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | |||||||||||||
| Driver | ST | FIN | AVG | PC D | Pass | Passed | PS D | Q PASS | Fast | %T15 | TOT Led | Laps | Rating |
| Martin Truex Jr | 2 | 1 | 2.2 | +1 | 8 | 29 | -21 | 8 | 14 | 100.0% | 25 | 150 | 120.8 |
| Austin Dillon | 10 | 2 | 4.7 | +8 | 19 | 34 | -15 | 19 | 3 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 102.5 |
| Kyle Busch | 6 | 3 | 8.5 | +3 | 39 | 30 | +9 | 29 | 7 | 83.3% | 0 | 150 | 110.8 |
| Alex Bowman | 5 | 4 | 5.7 | +1 | 19 | 31 | -12 | 18 | 5 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 87.2 |
| Kyle Larson | 14 | 5 | 9.5 | +9 | 19 | 56 | -37 | 19 | 1 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 79 |
| Tyler Reddick | 11 | 6 | 8.4 | +5 | 16 | 73 | -57 | 15 | 4 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 86.8 |
| Ryan Preece | 16 | 7 | 6.1 | +9 | 23 | 54 | -31 | 22 | 13 | 100.0% | 43 | 150 | 78.5 |
| Ross Chastain | 12 | 8 | 11.9 | +4 | 19 | 63 | -44 | 19 | 0 | 96.0% | 0 | 150 | 69.7 |
| Denny Hamlin | 3 | 9 | 10.8 | -6 | 24 | 83 | -59 | 13 | 17 | 70.0% | 26 | 150 | 111.7 |
| William Byron | 4 | 10 | 5.4 | -6 | 17 | 32 | -15 | 17 | 6 | 100.0% | 0 | 150 | 91.5 |
| Justin Haley | 9 | 11 | 14.5 | -2 | 36 | 75 | -39 | 20 | 0 | 47.3% | 0 | 150 | 71.3 |
| Kevin Harvick | 18 | 12 | 17.9 | +6 | 38 | 80 | -42 | 13 | 5 | 25.3% | 0 | 150 | 55.3 |
| Christopher Bell | 23 | 13 | 19.3 | +10 | 37 | 72 | -35 | 4 | 4 | 8.0% | 0 | 150 | 58.8 |
| Noah Gragson | 13 | 14 | 13.7 | -1 | 40 | 76 | -36 | 26 | 0 | 67.3% | 0 | 150 | 55.3 |
| Chase Briscoe | 7 | 15 | 12.7 | -8 | 33 | 61 | -28 | 24 | 4 | 76.7% | 0 | 150 | 79 |
| Joey Logano | 17 | 16 | 13.5 | +1 | 31 | 61 | -30 | 20 | 1 | 70.0% | 0 | 150 | 57.8 |
| Ryan Blaney | 15 | 17 | 21 | -2 | 30 | 64 | -34 | 11 | 1 | 16.0% | 0 | 150 | 49.8 |
| Aric Almirola | 1 | 18 | 15.3 | -17 | 27 | 77 | -50 | 7 | 13 | 33.3% | 16 | 150 | 78.2 |
| Daniel Suarez | 19 | 19 | 16.3 | +0 | 24 | 82 | -58 | 12 | 4 | 62.7% | 0 | 150 | 59.3 |
| AJ Allmendinger | 26 | 20 | 20.7 | +6 | 42 | 97 | -55 | 11 | 0 | 20.7% | 0 | 150 | 40.3 |
| Chase Elliott | 22 | 21 | 22.5 | +1 | 27 | 64 | -37 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 150 | 39 |
| Bubba Wallace | 8 | 22 | 4.2 | -14 | 16 | 62 | -46 | 16 | 11 | 94.7% | 40 | 150 | 87.8 |
| Todd Gilliland | 25 | 23 | 22.4 | +2 | 23 | 56 | -33 | 0 | 0 | 0.7% | 0 | 140 | 30.5 |
| Michael McDowell | 21 | 24 | 17.7 | -3 | 37 | 98 | -61 | 9 | 1 | 27.3% | 0 | 137 | 53.5 |
| Austin Cindric | 27 | 25 | 23.5 | +2 | 22 | 49 | -27 | 0 | 2 | 0.0% | 0 | 106 | 32.5 |
| Ty Gibbs | 24 | 26 | 23.7 | -2 | 32 | 66 | -34 | 0 | 5 | 0.7% | 0 | 81 | 30.3 |
| Erik Jones | 20 | 27 | 26.2 | -7 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 16 | 23.2 |
If any driver below doesn’t make the field, the write-up maybe swapped out for another driver in that salary range.
Top Tier Salary Plays
Kyle Larson
He’s one of only three drivers to finish in the top-five in both Clashes in L.A. Aside from that he’s one of the top short track drivers in general. Larson does come at a cost, being the priciest driver on both site, but the consistency in races like this one, on tracks like this, is what you’re paying for. We’re not as concerned with the typical 5-6x value we’re hunting with guys like this, we just need a good finish from him to make him worth it.
Denny Hamlin
Not only is Hamlin on the pole but he's also very fast. He had the fastest track time in practice by more than a tenth of a second, which is huge here. Hamlin did have a fast car last year before being shuffled back early in the race and never quite getting on a good foot. He'll be aware of that this year and likely be better at defending it but expect him to be the most popular pick for laps led.
Kyle Busch
Finishing P3 here last year was notable for how many cars he actually passed to pull that off. He moved up from the back a few times thanks to being stuck back there on restarts. If he can figure out the passing once more, the speed, or lack thereof, shouldn’t be a concern. Not to mention that if he starts near the front, lap traffic might not be as much of a problem for him with him figuring out how to pass better than most.
Mid-Tier Salary Plays
Ryan Preece
Like I mentioned on the podcast earlier this weekend, Preece group on in this style of racing on this style of track. He's made for this and has a car designed for it too. The SHR Fords were better on shorter flatter tracks than most other setups last year and that appears to be holding true to start this year. Preece is gonna be a popular pick in the mid-field for his history and successes last year at similar tracks.
Bubba Wallace
Yes, we’re back with Wallace to start the year but frankly it’s warranted. He led nearly 40 laps in this race a year ago before being unceremoniously bumped off the lead and finishing P22. The Toyotas as a group were quick in the short track package and Bubba really made gains in his short track performance in general. He may be the most popular driver thanks to performance and salary.
Ty Gibbs
The Gibbs cars are fast this weekend. Rolled off the track fast and that showed with a high qualifying spot. That speed won't matter that much if he gets bumped and bullied a bit. That's the risk here is that he falls back, much like his JGR teammate last year that he gets shuffled back. He maybe the least played JGR car in the race as a bonus to go with this price tag.
Value Tier Salary Plays
John Hunter Nemechek
This is by no way a comfy feeling pick, but then again no one in the value tier is, at least for Saturday. He’s back in the Cup Series after a successful couple of years in the lower divisions. So why Nemechek? He’s in a Toyota for Legacy Motor Club and Toyotas were typically good in this package a year ago. Also expect them to showcase their newest team well early in the season. While he’s not run this event previously, he was solid on short tracks the last time he was in the Cup Series.
Todd Gilliland
The Todd father was one of our favorite value plays last year and that's not changing this year, at least for this race. He had solid speed in practice and qualified his way in to the main event on that speed. We don't need much from him as he can hold his spot and be useful for us.
Driver Pool To Build From
| DRAFTKINGS | ||||||||
| Top Tier | Mid-Tier | Value Tier | ||||||
| Kyle Larson | 10400 | Tyler Reddick | 8600 | Michael McDowell | 6400 | |||
| Martin Truex Jr | 10200 | Brad Keselowski | 8500 | John H. Nemechek | 6300 | |||
| Denny Hamlin | 9700 | Corey Lajoie | 5600 | |||||
| Kyle Busch | 9500 | Ryan Preece | 7800 | Todd Gilliland | ||||
| William Byron | Bubba Wallace | 7600 | ||||||
| FANDUEL | ||||||||
| Top Tier | Mid-Tier | Value Tier | ||||||
| Kyle Larson | 13000 | Tyler Reddick | 10500 | John H. Nemechek | 7000 | |||
| Martin Truex Jr | 13000 | Ryan Preece | 10500 | Michael McDowell | 6500 | |||
| Denny Hamlin | 12500 | Brad Keselowski | 10000 | Corey Lajoie | 6000 | |||
| Kyle Busch | 12000 | Todd Gillland | ||||||
| William Byron | Bubba Wallace | 8500 | ||||||
Player News
Experience Jackson is excited to announce a 2022 sponsorship of NASCAR driver Ryan Vargas. This will be Experience Jacksonâ??s third time partnering with the JD Motorsports team and their second time on the No. 6 Chevrolet.
Vargas will be on the track during the August 6, 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. His car displays the Experience Jackson logo, with a white, blue and neon green design. His racing career has spanned a decade, winning the NASCAR stock and late model divisions, including the 2015 NASCAR Super Stock Rookie of the Year at the Bullring at LVMS. Ryan was the recipient of the 2016 and 2017 Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award. His NASCAR Xfinity Series career started in 2019.
DGM Racing and Mason Massey introduce a first-time sponsor to the NASCAR Xfinity Series. PRO-SET® Epoxy (PRO-SET) will serve as the primary partner of the #91 Chevrolet Camaro in the New Holland 250 at Michigan Intâ??l Speedway (MIS) this weekend.
Heading into this weekend, Massey is ready to build on his recent success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Just a few weeks ago, Massey claimed his second Top-10 finish (ninth) of the season (and his career) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Massey was also awarded for gaining the most spots during the race (+21 positions); he became the 15th driver this year to earn the Arrowhead Brass â??Arrow Upâ? Hard Charger Award. In 13 starts with DGM Racing, Massey has added to his driver resumé two Top 10 and four Top-20 finishes, surpassing the three Top-20s he earned in the previous 23 races he competed in.
Tom and TJ Keen of Keen Parts (CorvetteParts.net) announced that they will run a special Autism Awareness paint scheme in this weekâ??s NASCAR Xfinity Series New Holland 250 at Michigan Int'l Speedway with driver Ryan Ellis and Alpha Prime Racing.
The scheme was thought of by the family of former NHL Player and Stanley Cup Champion Chris Thorburn and his wife Sara. Their three children, Bennett, Mary, and Oscar created the hand-drawn colorful scheme aimed at raising autism awareness. Bennett, an avid-NASCAR fan, was diagnosed with autism at the age of four and learned number recognition and counting through race cars. Since then, the Thorburn family has been attending races in Michigan for several years. Mary and Oscar, as always, were by Bennettâ??s side, assisting him with the scheme â?? writing, â??Autism Lives Matter, Be a Friendâ?, powerful words that will be represented on the lower quarter panel and bumper of the No. 44 Keen Parts Chevy.
Jeremy Clements Racing is excited to step back in time with Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet in a Dale Earnhardt inspired Pink #51 machine at Watkins Glen on Saturday, August 20th.
It will be the second consecutive year Kevin Whitaker Chevy will be the primary sponsor for JCR at The Glen and 10th season overall that Whitaker has supported JCR. Additionally, Circle B Diecast will make their 2nd appearance in 2022 as associate sponsor. Plus, The Runnerâ??s Roost out of Orchard Park, NY, will make their XFINITY Series debut as associate sponsor as well. â??How cool is this car! Our partners have really brought it with the paint schemes this year. Kevin and Ryan Whitaker just added another historic one to the mix with Earnhardtâ??s first race car!â? Clements said.
Sam Hunt Racing (SHR) announced that 23-year-old Trans-Am driver, Connor Mosack, will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race with the team at Watkins Glen International (WGI) with RadCats on board of the No. 26 Toyota GR Supra.
Mosack, who currently competes full-time in the Trans-Am series and competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and NXS, will make his second career NXS start in 2022. Earlier this season, the young, road course ace competed with Joe Gibbs Racing at Portland International Raceway giving him valuable seat time on a road course in an NXS car this season. Additionally, Mosack is a former winner at WGI in the TransAm TA2 Series with TEAM SLR.
GMS Racing announced a brand-new partnership with e-commerce platform, SureDone, and existing team partner AutoParts4Less, which will see the companies adorn Grant Enfingerâ??s No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado at Richmond Raceway.
Through their relationship with AutoParts4Less, SureDOne looks to enter the NASCAR sponsorship scene for the first time with a championship-winning organization in GMS Racing.