 Hey everybody what's going on I am Greg Sussman joined today by Jim Sonnis who's here to break down the Daytona 500 this Sunday what's happening Jim? We are doing all good Greg last night's qualifying races weren't too wonky but they did give us some really good studs starting further back which is exactly what you want for Daytona so I am feeling good feeling ready it's Valentine's Day so we're all good here how you doing? I'm doing fantastic I'm sure your fiance is going to be pumped when you're watching the Daytona 500 and the XFL and Gauffo weekend so things will be well in the Sonnis household I'm sure. Absolutely you know last year we actually got engaged during the Daytona 500 last year so I will make some sacrifices but hopefully I can get some leeway this year to make up for it and watch it this time around. I mean if you're a married man you won't. Let's begin with your favorite play in DFS this week at the Daytona 500 and it's one of the favorites it's Kyle Busch who's $14,000 on Fandle why are you going in on Kyle Busch? In general for tracks like Daytona what you want to do is you want to target drivers who are starting further back because there aren't a lot of laps to be led and it's very easy to pass on these tracks so our mindset in general is going to be we want to target drivers starting further back and Kyle Busch allows us to do so without sacrificing quality because he is starting 28th of this race but I would agree he's still one of the favorites to win this race he had a really fast car in both the clash last week got wrecked there and then was fast in the dual race last night as well but then got shuffled outside of the pack and couldn't quite make up that ground before the end of the race. Now Kyle Busch has never won the Daytona 500 but he's won pretty much everything else you can win in Daytona so he's a good driver on this track he hasn't won this specific race came very close last year finished second there behind his teammate Danny Hamlin we'll talk about in just one second Joe Gibbs racing one two three in that race and they won two of the past three races at Daytona so the equipment's good the driver's good the starting position is great I think that Kyle Busch is the number one guy you lock in for cash games and a great play for tournaments as well he's very expensive but you can make it work with some of the value plays we'll discuss later on so Kyle Busch really a no-brainer for me for the Daytona 500. Kyle Busch belongs in your line-ups don't overthink this cash game tournament doesn't matter Kyle Busch in there well next Danny Hamlin's always a threat at the Daytona 500 he's expensive though Jim why are you putting him in your line-up yeah the defending champ of the Daytona 500 last year got the win which was his second Daytona 500 win he also won in 2016 and he kind of just has a knack for avoiding trouble at these tracks and his car is good enough to allow him to capitalize on that when he is around at the end and he talked about that this year how he has kind of like a sense for when the big wreck is gonna happen he'll pedal things back get out of the way let the crash happen around him then continue on his way and that does show in the data too which means he's probably due for some were crashing regression but hey you know we'll certainly take it here because he's starting back in 21st which means he's gonna get you good place differential upside he still has the ability to win the race so checks a lot of the same boxes as Kyle Busch and we saw how fast his car was despite being super banged up in the bush clash on Sunday he was able to push his teammate Eric Jones to win even though both their cars were bad I think Joe Gibbs racing has some super fast cars this weekend and I can get to Joe Gibbs cars starting further back who have that upside that we do like for place differential and Denny Hamlin again like Kyle Busch can win from here I think you can stack these two guys together and if they decide to link up late in the race you're gonna be sitting pretty made DFS perspective and there's a lot of value here as well so affording both Hamlin and Busch in the same lineup not that hard to do I'll be looking to do so this weekend because both those guys have the ability to win and are starting further back that's exactly what you want for Daytona. Denny Hamlin defending champ starting a little farther back Joe Gibbs racing the cars are ready to rock this week they're running fast and Hamlin do it again when he belongs in your lineup just think he does. Another rider that's worth putting in there this week is Ryan Blaney who's priced at $11,000 why is the Blane train in the lineup? Because he's got to win me money at some point I have been on Ryan Blaney in the Busch Clash on Sunday and he wrecked I was on him for the dual races last night he wrecked again so full me once shame on you full me twice shame on me there is no thing for full me three times so we're gonna run it back with Ryan Blaney one more time and see what happens because of that crash in the dual race last night he is starting back in 27th that's really good it also needs to go into a backup car so he will physically be starting this race even further back but from a place differential perspective he is starting 27th and that is a good number if you look at you know I have a model for each race and before the dual races Ryan Blaney actually ranked second behind Joey Logano as being the best driver overall I think that's overrating him a bit but he is in really good equipment with Penske racing he has done well in Daytona in the past almost one year finished second a couple years ago then led 118 laps two years ago so he's used that equipment well and can run up front and he's got a lot of really good teammates in this race including Joey Logano starting all the way up in third spot he's a really good driver really good equipment starting further back and it's a little bit cheaper than Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin as well so if you can't quite talk yourself into the value plays at least as much as I can I can understand trying to save some salary going down to Ryan Blaney but if you also want to get crazy you can fit Blaney Hamlin and Busch all in the same lineup so I am looking to go a little bit top-heavy this weekend and go in stars and scrubs Ryan Blaney fits with that and hopefully he does not continue to drain my bankroll as he has done so far during speed weeks alright Ryan Blaney who's cost him way too much money over the years and certainly this season maybe this is the time he's had some success at Daytona can this be the one where he finally wins it all we'll find out on Sunday. Up next is we get a little bit cheaper here Jim we get into Clint Boyer who this week is priced at $9,000 at Daytona this is kind of the end of our higher price guys why are we kind of stopping the buck here with Boyer? Yeah this range is really bad there are a lot of drivers in this range who are starting further up and that's not what we want for Daytona especially for guys who are a little bit cheaper because it means their odds of winning are lower you can tolerate a guy up front if he can win not a lot of guys here can do that though but Clint Boyer is kind of like the shining star he's starting all the way back in 29th that is the lowest any starting position for any driver on a top-end team in this entire race and it makes it pretty easy to buy into Clint Boyer he's with Stuart Haas racing and he's an afford those are two things that I really do value for this race because the forwards have looked good and nothing I like about Clint Boyer is he can sometimes be an odd duck and he likes to hang out in the back and try to avoid calamity and you know at of place like Phoenix or Homestead or whatever that's not a good thing that's not what you want but in Daytona I want my drivers to finish the race and it's hard to finish the race if you wreck so I kind of like you and guys like Clint Boyer hang out in the back and I would not be shocked if he does so during Sunday's race if you use Clint Boyer and you see that he's hanging out in 30th and you're kind of confused maybe annoyed with me hold off be patient because he will charge when it does matter got the horse power to get it done when he wants to move forward and try to win this race and he does fit a balance approach really well again I'm going to try to go a bit more top heavy so I may not wind up on Clint Boyer as often as I wind up by guys like Ryan Blaney and Kyle Bush but dollar for dollar Clint Boyer is probably one of the best plays in this entire field really good equipment starting far back he's got good experience he's good driver on these drafting tracks so Clint Boyer is someone I definitely want to target if I wind up in this mid-range on Sunday it's not exactly easy here this week with a guy like Clint Boyer and as we get cheaper in our Fanduul lineups but Boyer does make some sense as Jim described for the Daytona 500 so if you want to take a shot on Clint Boyer well it could be worth it now let's get really cheap here Jim as we got to save some money in order to get the Kyle Bushes and Denny Hamlin's in there and that begins with Ryan Priest he's fifty five hundred dollars why do you think he has a shot here on Sunday yeah I've spent the past couple of weeks talking of Chris Busher a lot because Chris Busher is a guy in new equipment and he did he had done well in Daytona in the past well the guy taking over in Bushers new car he was Bushers teammate last year but now moving to Bushers old car is Ryan Priest. Ryan Priest is starting all the way back in 31st but we know he has the equipment to get the job done here because Chris Busher did so in the past we saw Ryan Priest finish eighth year last year as well and his teammate Ricky Svendavs Jr. is on the pull for this race so the engine under the hood is really good which makes us feel good about Ryan Priest and Priest showed some talent as well in Talladega so it seems like drafting tracks do suit him pretty well so I think that things line up here pretty well if I were to outline one knock on Ryan Priest for this race it is that he's driving a Chevy as mentioned the Chevy's have new new bodies for this year and they haven't shown the ability to bump draft all that well that's a little bit concerning we did see William Byron and Jimmy Johnson finish first and second in last night's second dual race so that's definitely good but I do have some overall concerns about Chevy's for this race but the good thing with with Ryan Priest that he's starting all the way back in 31st which does help you quite a bit he has a good engine I think that's helpful as well we don't need him to win to pay off which lowers my concerns around him being in a Chevy so Ryan Priest starting super far back we do that concern about the Chevy but that starting far back gives him a lot of upside and I think that he does have the equipment to get the job done as he has shown in the past as well so a little bit of risk with Priest for sure because he's not on a top flight team but I do like the upside and I do like the fact that he is proven he can do well here in the past as well there is upside with Ryan Priest and there is the history but with the lack of confidence in your in his team I think there are question marks with Priest but that's okay it's $5,500 you're not breaking the bank for him we're the shot in the Daytona 500 one last driver to get to Jim and that resistant Michael McDowell he's the chiefest player or chiefest driver rather in your lineup here this week $5,000 why are you taking the shot at McDowell yeah it's another guy with a proven history at Daytona and I think that's really valuable because he is an afford which I definitely like but also as mentioned he has done it in the past he's starting back in 26th that's a good number from a starting position perspective and he enters this race with four top tens in his past seven Daytona races he has finished outside the top 15 just once and if you get a top 15 out of a driver in this salary range who is starting back in 26th that's going to give you a really good advantage for this race because it allows you to afford really high up upside guys like Kyle Bush and Denny Hammond you don't need this guy to win the race for him to be a good DFS player I think that's a pretty big luxury for Michael McDowell he should get help from other four drivers if he does work his way to the front as we've seen him do in the past and he's actually helped push people to wins before as well so the equipment is not great for Michael McDowell but the driver is and I think that's valuable for a guy starting back in 26th now if you want to get really wild and want to jam in like all those duds we discussed before Brendan Gaughn is $2,500 he is starting 39th he is the second to last driver in this race but pretty fast in qualifying he actually earned his way into the race on qualifying alone and he's done well at Daytona and Talladega in the past so if you want to get really wild which I will want to do every now and then for this weekend for sure Brendan Gaughn makes sense at $2,500 but if you want to play it a little bit safer get access to those forwards get access to better equipment I think Michael McDowell is a really solid option at $5,000 I think you want to do both right I think you want to be conservative and play it safe but also take some of that risk I think that's what McDowell is right it's not as crazy as paying $2,500 for a guy but you know the the offside may not be as high either I think there's two different mindsets you want to do a little bit of both in order for you to be successful on Sunday at the Daytona $500 Jim we appreciate the time good luck this weekend I'm sure this week this Daytona $500 probably won't be as good as your last one no probably not but that's okay I can accept that for sure hopefully it'll be a profitable one for GFS to make up for the engagement last year so I'll see how that goes but appreciate it Greg I hope you have a great Valentine's Day weekend and we'll talk to you again soon sounds good man I'll talk to you next week for sure enjoy the Daytona $500 enjoy the XFL enjoy your weekend for Jim Sonos I'm Greg Sussman we'll see you back here next week for another edition of the FanDuel Hurry Up