DailyFanRacing Newsletter - Martinsville & Japan
We have yet another incredible weekend of racing action with all three NASCAR Series tackling Martinsville plus Formula 1 is heading to Suzuka for the Japanese GP. I love these four race weekends because we have so many chances at big wins.
Speaking of big wins, last week was incredible for us at DailyFanRacing. We won nearly every single contest offered for the Xfinity Series race due to our play of Logan Bearden hitting perfectly at just 4% ownership. Chris & Will took home the $10 Piston while Daryll & myself took down the Chrome Horn. We also had a DFR sub take home $25k on the Cup race plus I went 4 for 4 on Premium bets which equaled out to 5.52u of profit. Monster weekend all around.
Hopefully we can continue that success this weekend!!!
*Special announcement*
This weekend we will be hosting a free to enter contest for DailyFanRacing subscribers. Anyone with a paid subscription this weekend can enter with $100 to 1st and $50 to 2nd. Also, Will (WPHSU) is going to give the winner of this contest a bottle of his Ginseng Whisky to celebrate with! The contest link will be posted in the Cup Series Breakdown article.
Not currently a subscriber to DailyFanRacing.com? Then sign up now. Try us out. Get full coverage to all FOUR races this weekend plus access to a small GPP with a chance to win some cash!
Martinsville will deliver us more short track racing for the third time out of four races…. or four out of five if you count Phoenix as a short track. Martinsville is a 0.500-mile flat, short track with long straights and incredibly tight corners. I’m not sure this has ever been said before but it kinda looks like a paper clip….
This is now year three of the spring Martinsville race being 400 miles in length. Our lineup constructions for this race should resemble what we saw last week with the 400 lap race at Richmond. You will need to hit on two or maybe three dominators and then fill out the rest of the lineup with the best place differential plays available.
It probably won’t not surprise anybody but Denny Hamlin has shown elite speed here at Martinsville with the NextGen car. For pure speed, he has ranked 1st, 1st , & 2nd in the last three races here. Oh, and his speed at Phoenix and Richmond this year was elite as well. It’s easy to see why he is the favorite heading into the weekend at +500.
Martinsville Cup Series races have evolved into track position battles. This is largely due to the aero platform, lack of tire fall off, and gearing that the current Cup cars have. Passing is incredibly difficult. After the Bristol race, there is some hope that we see higher tire wear due to cool temps and concrete corners here but I do not expect that to be the case unfortunately.
The three races here prior to the NextGen car at Martinsville saw 15, 15, & 12 cautions. Since then we have only seen 4, 6, 5, & 7. We are seeing far less in terms of on track contact & chaos and WAY less passing overall. This can be good from a predictability stand point but also makes for a frustrating race overall.
Laps led by Pole Sitters during NextGen Era
2022 Race 1: 185 laps (Elliott)
2022 Race 2: 68 laps (Larson)
2023 Race 1: 135 laps (Preece)
2023 Race 2: 47 Laps (Truex)
One of the big questions for this DFS slate will be how many laps the pole winner will lead to kick things off.
Make sure to check out our How to Retire from NASCAR DFS show this weekend. Jason & I will breakdown the slate on Saturday night directly after the Xfinity Series race. With such a busy weekend for myself, I appreciate being able to do this podcast Saturday night to get up and available for everyone. If you are available, join us live. We love to interact and answer questions during the show and lastly please subscribe. We are only 50 subs away from 500!!
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Check out the schedule for this weekend’s Martinsville action:
Friday, 4/5 - 3:00 pm ET - Craftsman Truck Series Practice
Friday, 4/5 - 3:40 pm ET - Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying
Friday, 4/5 - 5:00 pm ET - Xfinity Series Practice
Friday, 4/5 - 5:40 pm ET - Xfinity Series Qualifying
Friday, 4/5 - 7:30 pm ET - Craftsman Truck Series Race
Saturday, 4/6 - 4:35 pm ET - Cup Series Practice
Saturday, 4/6 - 5:20 pm ET - Cup Series Qualifying
Saturday, 4/6 - 7:30 pm ET - Xfinity Series Race
Sunday, 4/7 - 3:00 pm ET - Cup Series Race
Formula 1 - Japanese Grand Prix
We also have some F1 action this weekend as the Japanese Grand Prix makes its move to Springtime. Much like the Australian GP which always marked the start of the F1 season, the Japanese GP always represented the end of the season. Even if it wasn’t the final race, you knew once you got to the Japanese GP that the season was almost over. This will definitely have a weird feeling for me personally.
This race will also be a huge litmus test for teams. Suzuka is a high downforce circuit with significant tire wear and only 1 DRS zone. Passing is difficult and track position is important. There is a ton of lateral load here and the rear tires take an absolute pounding. This circuit can really separate the best drivers from the rest of the field.
Probably doesn’t surprise you then to find out that Max Verstappen has destroyed the field in each of the last two races here.
The biggest battle to watch this weekend is likely going to be Ferrari and McLaren. Ferrari have started the season incredibly well but this is a much different style of track than we have seen the last two events. I have a sneaky suspicion that McLaren, and more specifically, Lando Norris, will be fighting for a podium finish this weekend.
Final Lap
We will have much more lineup construction tidbits and advice in our race breakdowns, so join DailyFanRacing today to take advantage of the most comprehensive fantasy NASCAR coverage in the industry!
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Have a great week, and we’ll look forward to you winning with us again this weekend!