Matt Vecchio 
Welcome to the first NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the 2021 season! If you’ve been with us before then you know the drill, but if you are new the WinDaily Sports or to my NASCAR content, welcome! I break down the field each week and give you my favorite plays for each race in three different price categories.
Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial as well to make sure you are ready and have an understanding of how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/). You will notice that all pricing is for DraftKings in these articles since they are the only site that has contests for all three series (Trucks, Xfinity, Cup) and is the site I mainly play on. All plays in the Cup Series’ article will translate to FanDuel if that is where you play.
This is the first race of the 2021 season, but it is pretty much just an exhibition race for the 21 driver field. There are no points on the line, just money, and pride for the drivers. Last year’s champion, Chase Elliott ($10,500), is expected to dominate this race as he has dominated previous road course races. Pricing is a little different for this race because of the smaller field, so don’t get used to seeing guys like Keselowski and Logano in the low $8K range. Remember, that since this is a road course race place differential points are not something we need to key on, instead we want to focus on finishing position and picking up the few dominator points that are available.
NASCAR DFS: Dominators
Chase Elliot ($10,500)
Elliot is the new road course dominator in NASCAR and should dominate and win this race on Tuesday. Now, we need to wait until Monday night to see where he starts in the field, but no matter he should be upfront the majority of the evening. Over his last five RC races, Elliott has earned an average of 55.5 DKFP per race and led 179 laps. Last season on this track Elliott led 34 laps, had 18 fastest laps, and got the win. I am locking the champ into practically all my lineups on Tuesday and not worrying about it.
Martin Truex Jr. ($10,000)
If Chase Elliott is the current road course dominator in NASCAR, then MTJ is a very close second. Truex is another driver who excels at these tracks and had a great race here at the Daytona RC last season. With the way the pricing is on both sites, you can conceivably roster both Truex and Elliott and I plan on doing that. Truex finished 3rd here in 2020 and led 10 laps while having 16 fastest laps leading to 10.5 dominator points.
Other Options (in order of preference): Kevin Harvick ($9,200), Denny Hamlin ($9,500)
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier
Ryan Blaney ($8,600)
Blaney is another driver whose price is adjusted down for this race, he will most likely be in the low $10K range to start the season. While Blaney is not a dominant driver at road courses his numbers are good enough to consider him as a dark horse to win this race. Blaney has an average finish of 10.4 over the last 5 road course races and has led 14 laps in that span.
William Byron ($7,700)
Willy B is a driver that is usually lower owned because of his propensity to have poor finishes after solid starts. We saw Byron earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory last season and he does have good history on road courses overall. Last season at the Daytona RC, Byron finished inside the top 10 (8th), and while he didn’t do much in the dominator department that’s ok. At this price tag, we don’t need dominator points to make value, just a solid finish. If we can get another top 10 out of Byron he should make for some great value.
Other Options: Brad Keselowski ($8,400), Joey Logano ($8,100), Kurt Busch ($7,400), Erik Jones ($7,200)
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings
- Matt DiBenedetto ($6,900)
- Aric Almirola ($6,600)
- Cole Custer ($5,800)
- Chris Buescher ($5,900)
- Tyler Reddick ($6,300)
- Ryan Newman ($5,600)
- Ty Dillon ($5,500)
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($6,100)
- Austin Dillon ($5,700)
Thank you for checking out the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop! Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up to date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow for all things Fantasy Sports! You can find more FREE NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!
