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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Cup Series for the 2022 season! If you’ve been with us before then you know the drill, but if you are new to WinDaily Sports or 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 to make sure you are ready and understand 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 the site I mainly play on. All plays in the Cup Series article will translate to FanDuel if that is where you play.
We’re back baby!
After what seemed like an eternity NASCAR is back! If you haven’t had a chance, please check out my What’s New in 2022 article before going forward. It’s fine, I’ll wait…. ok welcome back! I want to be honest and tell you upfront that I have no idea what is going to happen and how these cars are going to react to the tracks to start the season. Any content provider who tells you they do is lying to you because even the NASCAR teams don’t know what to expect so how can someone from the outside?
Practice speed breakdown
Since this track is set up as a .25 mile track the lap times are quick and the speeds are low. Chase Elliott was tops after Saturday’s two hour session with a top lap time of 13.455 and a top speed of 66.89 MPH. Elliott also had the best 15, 20, 25, and 30 lap average. Kevin Harvick was second quickest at only .002 seconds behind Elliott while also having the best 5-lap average. Kyle Larson, the 2021 champion, had the best lap average and Kyle Busch had the best 10-lap average.
About this article
This race is unique and in turn my breakdown for it will be as well. Sunday’s 23 car field will be set by four heat races (top 4 from each qualify for main event) followed by two last chance qualifiers (three drivers from each qualify) and the one driver who didn’t qualify through the qualifier races who had the most points in 2021. Since the field will be set so close to the start of the race I cannot give you my usually style of article, so I will go heat by heat and tell who I think moves on into the field. It will be vital that you come back to discord before lock to see my updates.
Each of the four qualifying heats are only 25 laps so it will be difficult for the cars starting towards the back to get into the top four. As for the last chance qualifiers, they are 50 laps each which will give the drivers starting towards the back in those more time to get through the field.
NASCAR DFS: Heat 1 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)
Heat 1 Lineup: #18-Kyle Busch, #99-Daniel Suarez, #47-Ricky Stenhouse Jr., #12-Ryan Blaney, #11-Denny Hamlin, #10-Aric Almirola, #78-BJ McLeod, #38-Todd Gilliland, #1-Ross Chastain
Both Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez appear to be locks for the main event on Sunday. Both Busch and Suarez looked fast in practice and put down two of the top times in qualifying. Because of his price Suarez ($5.9K) is one of the top plays in this race. As long he qualifies for the race, Suarez makes fitting practically any build you want possible. I expect to be using him in the majority of my builds on Sunday
Others from this heat to qualify LCQ: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
NASCAR DFS: Heat 2 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)
Heat 2 Lineup: #8-Tyler Reddick, #41-Cole Custer, #21-Harrison Burton, #48-Alex Bowman, #23-Bubba Wallace, #3-Austin Dillon, #14-Chase Briscoe, #6-Brad Keselowski, #19-Martin Truex Jr.
This group is pretty tricky to predict with only Tyler Reddick seeming like a sure thing. Chase Briscoe was a top three car in practice but put down a terrible qualifying lap which leads me to believe his car is in race trim and better on the long run. Both Cole Custer and Alex Bowman will have track position to start the race so I think that is what will get them through into the field.
Wallace and Burton were bad in practice but did seem to make adjustments to improve their cars so they could beat out Briscoe, but I think it’s unlikely. Similar to Suarez, Reddick ($6.7K) is priced at a point where he is a top play and is my favorite play under $7K.
Others from this heat to qualify in LCQ: Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon
NASCAR DFS: Heat 3 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)
Heat 3 Lineup: #31-Justin Haley, #9-Chase Elliott, #24-William Byron, #20-Christopher Bell, #16-AJ Allmendinger, #4-Kevin Harvick, #17-Chris Buescher, #7-Corey LaJoie, #51-Cody Ware
Chase Elliott was the top car in practice and laid down a great lap in qualifying on Saturday. Elliott is my top play from the $9K plus drivers because of this. Using Suarez and Reddick with Kyle Busch and Elliott leaves you $9.6K per driver for your final two spots which allows you to roster practically whoever you want. Justin Haley ($5.3K) is another top value play on this slate. Haley was top 5 in both individual lap time and average lap time on Saturday in practice as well as putting down the third best qualifying lap.
Others from this heat to qualify in LCQ: William Byron, Christopher Bell
NASCAR DFS: Heat 4 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)
Heat 4 Lineup: #22-Joey Logano, #5-Kyle Larson, #34-Michael McDowell, #77-Landon Cassill, #2-Austin Cindric, #43-Erik Jones, #15-Ryan Preece, #45-Kurt Busch, #42-Ty Dillon
This is the weakest heat by far with only two drivers who stand out as quality drivers. Both Joey Logano and Kyle Larson are locks but outside of them it’s pretty open. Any of the other drivers in this field could come through but I don’t think there will be much of a desire to roster any of them. Landon Cassill was top 10 in practice and put down a good qualifying lap as well. Cassill does potentially have some value if he finds his way into the main event coming in at $5K.
Others from this heat to qualify in LCQ: Kurt Busch
Once again, make sure you are in discord after the heat races are complete where I will update my picks based on the results of the qualifying heats and starting positions.
Thank you for reading my weekly NASCAR DFS Pit Stop articles and 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 NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!
