Matt Vecchio 
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. Below you will find my rankings for the drivers in this race.
A Group: Drivers I will have the most exposure to and are high-priority
B Group: This group is drivers I feel have a high upside and are great filler pieces to pair with the A Group
C Group: The drivers in this tier are risky but could still be optimal. This group should be used in GPP’s
F Group: These drivers are on my do not play list
(Starting position in parenthesis)
Drivers in BOLD are potential dominators
(All pricing is for DK)
| A Group | B Group | C Group | F Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denny Hamlin (4) – $11.5K | Harrison Burton (28) – $5.5K | Chase Briscoe (3) – $7.3K | Austin Cindric (21) – $5.7K |
| Joey Logano (15) – $9.8K | Michael McDowell (23) – $6K | Bubba Wallace (6) – $7.7K | Ryan Newman (33) – $5.2K |
| Austin Dillon (26) – $6.4K | Brad Keselowski (6) – $9.5K | William Byron (16) – $11.2K | Todd Gilliland (17) – $5.9K |
| Martin Truex Jr. (1) – $10.7K | Kevin Harvick (8) – $8.3K | Ty Gibbs (2) – $8.1K | |
| Ryan Blaney (11) – $10.4K | Corey Lajoie (30) – $5.4K | Ty Dillon (34) – $5K | |
| Alex Bowman (22) – $7.5K | Tyler Reddick (19) – $9.2K | Ricky Stenhouse (20) – $6.1K | |
| Kyle Larson (5) – $11K | Aric Almirola (12) – $7.4K | Kyle Busch (31) – $9K |
***Synopsis***
This is the second to last race of the season and there are two spots left in the Championship four next week. Larson and Bell are locked in and aren’t racing for points, just the win. Larson has been outstanding on this track type in his career and has finished 1st-4th in four of the five races this season. Hamlin is my pick to win this race, and it may take that for him to move through. Byron is sitting pretty safe 30 points above the cut so we will be racing for stage points and a top 10 to guarantee his spot. Both Hamlin and Truex trail Blaney by 17 points for the 4th spot while the Hamlin owned car of Tyler Reddick is only 10 points out. It will be interesting to see how Hamlin races the 45 today if it comes down to him or Reddick at the end. Blaney was best in his practice group on Saturday, which had the track conditions closer to what we will see in the race today. Blaney is an outside threat to win but like I mentioned, he is in position to move through to the final 4 and will try to race clean and keep himself in position in case one of the driver below him don’t win. Chris Buescher has to win to get in, because of this he is not in my player. Pushing too hard at Martinsville could result in a beat up car that has him finish in the 20’s or worse. You can play him in large field GPP’s though.
Kyle Busch seems like a great play, but he will have a hard time passing here and will be unnecessarily high-owned. I would rather take another dominator over Busch at lower ownership. Burton and Lajoie are my favorite under $6K plays, while Austin Dillon is my top play in the $6K range. Ty Dillon can help you get an extra dominator into your lineups, but don’t expect a high score from him.
