One of the primary facets of being successful in the NASCAR betting and DFS landscape is not just choosing who will win the race or perform the best each week. It’s identifying drivers who are slept on and not necessarily a trendy pick but can deliver a good finish nonetheless and turn a good fantasy day into a great one.
As the Cup Series summer stretch rolls on, Erik Jones and the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club team have become one of our favorite sleeper picks. Jones has finished in the top-11 for four of the last five races and each of the last three, a far cry from early in the season, when a top-15 finish was a surprise.
Erik Jones: A Sneaky Fantasy NASCAR Pick Building Momentum & Making Noise
Both driver and team didn’t shy away from the rough performances this year, but Jones was optimistic the team could continue its upward trajectory following Sunday’s race at Pocono, where Jones finished ninth.
“We’ve made big gains,” Jones said in a July 23 post-race interview, opining that the No. 43 has gone from being about the 25th-fastest team on track to a top-12 team in recent weeks.
That checks out – since May’s Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, Erik Jones has finished no worse than 18th on an oval track. Generally, the team has put together consistent enough performances to be reliable enough in your fantasy lineups in the upper to middle tiers. Jones is priced on DraftKings this week at $6,300 and has relatively favorable odds on Caesars Sportsbook for a top-10 finish at +800.
But in terms of race-winning speed, which Erik Jones will need to make the playoffs at this point, he and his team “need another step.”
“We need some more speed to get into winning position,” Jones said.
His odds to win on Caesars match up with that as well, as a ticket for the No. 43 car to win at Richmond is currently at +25000. But there are some more opportunistic tracks for Jones upcoming before the playoffs begin.
“Daytona’s obviously going to be an opportunity,” Jones said, “but we need another step going to a place like Michigan to contend for wins.”
Consistency is perhaps the most important thing toward a playoff-contending Cup Series season, and Jones may just be building some at the right time. If he can get in, the opening race of the playoffs is one in which he won last year at Darlington – so don’t be shocked to see the No. 43 making some noise in the stretch run and beyond as summer begins to come to a close.
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