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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte! First off, Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone.
This race is the longest race of the year, with 600 miles (400 laps) of racing coming to you on Sunday night. One good thing NASCAR did was have these cars practice and qualify under the same conditions they will be racing in on Sunday night. If you’ve looked over the starting grid this is going to be a race of place differential. We had three drivers either not make a qualifying lap or spin out on their lap. There were also a few cars that showed good speed in practice but qualified in the 20s.
Roster Construction:
With 280 dominator points available in this race, we will need to get our dominators right. Since 2018 (5 races) one driver lead at least 116 laps in four of those races. Two times one driver led over 325 laps, including last year when Kyle Larson led 327 laps. With Larson starting at the rear he won’t lead laps like he did last season, but there are a few cars near the front that I could see being dominant. Going with 2-3 dominators is how I plan to build my lineups on Sunday.
NASCAR DFS: Top Tier (Dominators)
Kyle Larson ($11,300)
Starting Position: 36th
Kyle Larson hit the wall in practice and was unable to make a qualifying attempt he will start at the rear. Larson is usually a popular play, but with him starting P36 he will be extremely chalky, probably hovering near 60%. Since there are also two other chalk drivers in the $6K range, and under $5K it will be easy to fit Larson. Similar to Ty Gibbs in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, Larson will make his way through the field and be a top 5 car at the end of the day. Before he hit the wall, Larson had posted the fastest single lap speed, a speed which held up throughout both practice sessions. If you are playing cash, you have to play Larson. In single entry contests you should play Larson…oh forget it, just play Larson in any contest type.
Kyle Busch ($11,100)
Starting Position: 4th
Busch has been dominant at Charlotte over the previous five races here. Over this span of races at Charlotte, Busch has the second-best average finish (8.2) and laps led per race (91.4). Busch also averages more fastest laps per race (48) than any other driver in the field. Looking at him from a DFS perspective, Busch averages more DKFPTS/R than any driver and the second most FDFPTS/R. Needless to say, Busch loves coming to Charlotte and he is one of the drivers I see as a potential dominator on Sunday night.
Martin Truex Jr. ($10,200)
Starting Position: 14th
Truex has been one of the best drivers at 1.5-mile tracks in 2022. This season at this track type, Truex has the 3rd best total speed ranking and the 5th best average finish and average running position. Since 2017, minus his 29th place finish because of a tire going down last season, Truex has an average finish of 3.8 and averages 87.8 laps led per race.
Chase Elliott ($10,700)
Starting Position: 13th
Earlier I mentioned how Kyle Busch has the second-best average finish and FDFPTS/R, well the one driver who bettered him was Elliott. This season at this track type, Elliott finished 9th at Vegas and was running in the top 5 at Kansas before a flat tire late in the race sent him back to 29th. That finish was only the second time Elliott finished outside the top 15 in 2022 and on Sunday I see Elliott as a contender for the win and a top 5 candidate.
Other Options: Denny Hamlin ($10,500 – P1), William Byron ($10,000 – P5), Ross Chastain ($9,800 – P22)
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($7,400)
Starting Position: 29th
Stenhouse comes into the 600 with three straight top 10 finishes and has run well at this track type in 2022. This season at 1.5-mile intermediate tracks, Stenhouse has finished 8th (Kansas) and 10th (Auto Club). Stenhouse was running in the top 10 at Las Vegas before a pit road penalty took him back to 21st. Last season at Charlotte, Stenhouse finished 12th and had the 14th best speed ranking. In fact, Stenhouse has finished in the top 15 in six of the last seven Charlotte races.
Erik Jones ($7,600)
Starting Position: 25th
Jones has been good at this track type in 2022 and has shown top 10 upside in every race at 1.5-mile ovals. At Fontana, Jones came home 3rd and he wrecked at Vegas but was in the top 10 at the time of the incident. We all saw the tire issue this team had two weeks ago at Kansas, before this happened Jones was running near the top 5. Jones has some of the best PD upside in this tier.
Austin Dillon (8,200)
Starting Position: 16th
Dillon has been consistently good at 1.5-mile tracks since 2021. Outside of Atlanta this season, Dillon has a 10.8 average finish and has finished 14th or better in every race. On FandDuel his price is too low again for his upside, so I love this play over there, but he is still a solid play on DK too. In the last three Charlotte races, Dillon has an average finish of 9.7 and an average running position of 8.2.
Other Options: Joey Logano ($8,900 – P23), Kurt Busch ($8,600 – P2), Kevin Harvick ($8,000 – P18), Christopher Bell ($8,400 – P3)
NASCAR DFS: Value Rankings
- Corey Lajoie ($4,900 – P37)
- Brad Keselowski ($6,600 – P35)
- Aric Almirola ($6,500 – P24)
- Ty Dillon ($5,400 – P28)
- Bubba Wallace ($6,900 – P7)
- Ryan Preece ($5,200 – P26)
- Chris Buescher ($6,700 – P19)
- Kaz Grala ($5,600 – P34)
- Justin Haley ($6,300 – P20)
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/).
There were a lot of changes in the cars and what driver is in what car/truck in 2022. Check out my What’s new in 2022 article (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-whats-new-in-2022/)
