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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the Cup series for the 2022 season! If you’ve been with us before then, you know the drill, but welcome if you are new to WinDaily Sports or my NASCAR content! 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 with 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. 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/)
The Great American Race!
It’s finally here, we are finally going to drop the green flag officially on the 2022 season at the most iconic track in the United States of America, Daytona!
After a long offseason (not really) the Cup series is back on the track this weekend from Daytona! There have been a lot of changes during the offseason with top drivers from the Xfinity Series and Truck Series making the jump to “the big leagues”. Included in those drivers are former Xfinity champion, Austin Cindric. Harrison Burton and Justin Haley also make the leap from the Xfinity series and Todd Gilliland comes up from the Truck Series. We also have a couple of other drivers doing one-off rides in this race like Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson.
Another change this season is the series is moving on to the Next-Gen car (more on that in my “What’s New” article) as well as going back to practice and single-lap qualifying. When we had qualifying in 2021 we typically had great days if you were in discord and made the appropriate changes. A lot of times the field will set their lineups and not come back to check who makes the race and where they start.
Roster Construction
If you’ve played NASCAR DFS before then you probably have an idea of how we build lineups for tracks like Daytona. If you don’t, well there’s a hashtag for it, #Stacktheback. You want drivers from the back, specifically 20th and back. Looking back at the 500 from 2021, the optimal lineup only left $2,400 of salary on the table. In fact, the top 5 lineups left on average $3,500 of salary with only one of those lineups being higher than $3,100. I believe we will see similar salary figures for the top lineups with so many of the drivers starting towards the back having high salaries. Of the top 5 projected point totals, Aric Almirola is the cheapest at $8,000. I still think there should be some salary remaining when building, probably around $1,500-$3,000, since you don’t want lineups with all the chalk drivers. It will be in your best interest to pick 2-3 of the top drivers and then use some of the lower owned plays to fill out the remaining spots.
**** DISCLAIMER ****: I will be building over 20 lineups for this race as I have over 20 tickets entered in the Millionaire Maker contest on DraftKings. I will have exposure to drivers not in this article. I will be doing this to try and strengthen my odds in this contest. These are drivers that are incredibly risky and I would not suggest using if building under 5 lineups.
NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)
Denny Hamlin – $10,500 (Proj Ownership: 53%)
Starting Position: 30th
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Hamlin is tops in this tier for Sunday with his amount of success here in recent years coupled with his poor qualifying effort. Hamlin has won three of the last five Daytona 500’s and was the top-scoring driver on DraftKings. Hamlin came home fifth after starting 25th and led 98 laps and we should expect a similar outcome from the #11 team on Sunday. As long as he can keep himself out of the big one(s), Hamlin is as much of a lock for a top 5 as any driver in the field.
Joey Logano $9,800 (Proj Ownership 30%)
Starting Position: 20th (but will be starting at the rear for going to his backup car)
We go from the driver with the highest projected ownership (Hamlin) to a driver who saw his ownership projection drop after his last-lap wreck in his Duel this week. Logano is a Superspeedway master and was leading this race last season until a last ap wreck took him out. In 2022 so far it appears the 22, and the Ford’s in general seems to have this car figured out. Logano has won his heat at the Clash, won the Clash, and was about to win his Duel before he had failed block attempt on the last lap. I think Logano going to the back will keep people off him for Sunday but with all the carnage expected to happen, I am will not worry about that.
William Byron $9,400 (Proj Ownership 20%)
Starting Position: 23rd
Byron is another driver who excels at Superspeedways. Daytona was the site of Byron’s first win and he has to be seen as a favorite to win this race on Sunday. Dating back to 2019, when Byron can avoid the wrecks he finishes exceptionally well with a 1st and a 2nd place finish in the two races where he stayed clean. The Hendrick Chevy’s almost always run well at Superspeedways and Byron should be in contention on Sunday.
Kevin Harvick $9,200 (Proj Ownership 17%)
Starting Position: 22nd
In four Superspeedway races in 2021 nobody was better than Harvick’s 7.75 average finish and his three top 10’s. Harvick is a two-time winner at Daytona and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 4 in victory lane at the end of the night. We have already established that the Ford’s are fast this week so I expect Harvick and his Ford teammates to dominate this race with Harvick leading the charge. Harvick ran fairly well in his Duel this week even though at times he seemed disinterested in really running that race.
Other Options: Chase Elliott ($10,400 – P11), Kurt Busch ($9,000 – P17), Ryan Blaney ($10,000 – P7)
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier ($7K – $8.9K)
Austin Dillon $8,400 (Proj Ownership 46%)
Starting Position: 36th
Dillon has rarely had a bad race at Daytona and this is why he is so highly ranked for me, well that and his starting position. The 2018 Daytona 500 winner has been Mr. Consistent at Daytona with six finishes of 17th or better in his last eight races here. Last season in this race Dillon was top 5 in both stages and then finished 3rd in the race.
Aric Almirola $8,000 (Proj Ownership 49%)
Starting Position: 38th
Similar to Dillon, Almirola is a great driver at this track type. If you look at his recent results, Almirola has not been great, but he is an excellent Superspeedways through no fault of his own. Almirola has six top 10’s and nine top 15’s in his last 16 Superspeedway races.
Daniel Hemric $7,000) (Proj Ownership 28%)
Starting Position: 33rd
Hemric will be in the Kaulig #16 Chevy on Sunday and he should be in position for a good day. Kaulig traditionally prepares great cars for Superspeedways and Sunday should be no different. Hemric ran well in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race in his Kaulig #11 car until he got caught up in the big one. With his cheap salary and low starting position, Hemric is a great value piece to help you fit the higher-priced guys we want in this race.
Other Options: Justin Haley ($7,400 – P25): Haley is Kaulig’s second car in this race and Haley has been great at this track type in his career. Bubba Wallace ($8,300 – P16), Tyler Reddick ($7,700 – P15)
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings
- Noah Gragson ($5,300 – P39): Gragson is running his first ever Cup Series race on Sunday but he has been successful in his Xfinity SS races. This car has had some good finishes at this track type.
- Ty Dillon ($5,200 – P26): Dillon has a 14.9 finish in his last twelve Superspeedway races
- Cole Custer ($6,500 – P31): Custer has not performed well at Daytona in the past and he should go overlooked on Sunday. The Fords have been fast all week and if Custer can avoid the carnage he could be one of the top scoring drivers in this race
- Ross Chastain ($6,700 – P19): Chastain has three straight top 20 finishes at Daytona, including a 7th place finish at the Daytona 500 last year.
- Corey Lajoie ($5,500 – P24): Some how Corey Lajoie always manages to avoid all the wrecks and pull out superb finishes. Lajoie has three top 10’s and an average finish of 12th over the last five races at Daytona. With Lajoie starting P24 he may be overlooked which is what we want as he could be the key to a takedown.
- David Ragan ($5,100 – P34): Ragan has won this race before but he also gets caught up in the wrecks as well. Ragan is a risky play but he does know how to work the draft and stay out of trouble, similar to Lajoie he could be the key to a big day.
- Daniel Suarez ($5,800 – P21): Suarez has had some bad luck at Daytona, whether he caused the wreck or just got caught up in it. I feel like he is due and now with Chastain and the Hendrick cars working with him he could have a solid day on Sunday.
Play these races light and use them to pick up some tickets for Sunday’s race. There are A LOT of satellites in the lobby for these races. There are all kinds of price points and sizes, depending on your budget you should be able to enter a few of these contests.
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!
