It’s time for the Shriners Children’s 500 PPN DraftKings Plays.
Shriners Children’s 500
The NASCAR Cup Series is making its first trip of the year to Phoenix Raceway for the Shriners Children’s 500, just four weeks into the 2024 season. Denny Hamlin earned his first pole position, and his teammate Ty Gibbs will join him on the front row.
This weekend’s race will showcase NASCAR’s new aerodynamic rules package for short tracks and road courses in 2024, following the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022. NASCAR has made some fundamental changes to the rules package, including a simplified rear diffuser with fewer vertical strakes, a strake-free engine panel, and a slight increase in spoiler height to three inches. The purpose of these changes is to reduce front downforce and improve the ability to race in traffic.
Since DraftKings has signed on to be NASCAR’s official partner, we will use their odds to determine what drivers we want to wager our units on. This year, we have ten units for each cup race (six for race winners and four for prop bets). Last week we correctly picked Kyle Larson and also had a strong DFS line up.
PPN Plays
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The first unit is being allocated to Denny Hamlin (+900). Although he came in fifth in the consecutive 20-lap run, his long-run speed was not impressive. However, considering his short and long-run speed, along with the advantage of the number one pit stall, I am confident in placing a unit on him.
Christopher Bell (+1000) practiced with the new short track package during off-season testing, and it has reflected in his practice speeds. He ranks second or first in every speed category higher than single lap speeds. His speed is a sole reason why I will place a unit on him.
Plays for the Winner
This week, we will be placing one (1) unit on each of the following drivers for the win:
Denny Hamlin (+900) in the #11 Mavis Brakes Plus Toyota
Christopher Bell (+1000) in the #20 Rheem Toyota
Bubba Wallace ( +3000) in the 23 US Air Force Toyota
Ryan Blaney (+700) in the #12 Advance Auto Parts Ford
Joey Logano (+1400) in the #22 Hunt Brothers Pizza
Ross Chastain (+850) in the 1 Kubota Chevrolet
There are still many unknowns with this new rule package, and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Prop Bets Plays
(Photo Credit: Alex Slitz | Getty Images)
Following the practice session, I identified a few prop bets that seem promising. Firstly, I have chosen Toyota at +115 as the winning manufacturer. Additionally, I believe Chris Buescher will finish in the top 10 with odds of +125. In my match-up bets, I prefer Logano over Truex for -115 and Noah Gragson over Josh Berry for +100
 Daily Fantasy Sports Picks
(Photo Credit: James Gilbert | Getty Images)
I plan to start my DFS strategy with Hamlin and believe in his abilities to get dominator points early. I will be investing heavily in him. Additionally, after considering Hamlin, I also recommend Blaney. I am going to place differential. Blaney should give you access to dominator points if he leads late in the race. To diversify my bets, I plan on adding Bell and Wallace into the mix, and for my value play, I will be looking at Corey Lajoie. Kyle Busch or Josh Berry could also be excellent place differential plays
