NASCAR DFS Pit Stop Rankings Cup Series Cookout 400 – Richmond 8/11/24

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

(Starting position in parenthesis)

Drivers in BOLD are potential dominators

(All pricing is for DK)

Driver Notes:

• Denny Hamlin loves it when the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond. Since 2019 (10 races), Hamlin has finished outside the top 5 twice and has led at least 5 laps in eight consecutive races here. You can even go back to 2016 to see his dominance here. In 16 races Hamlin has finished outside the top 6 just three times since 2016. Unless his car decides it doesn’t want to work on Sunday, Hamlin will be in contention at the end.
• Similar to his teammate, Martin Truex Jr. has been dominant at Richmond in recent years. Since 2018 (12 races), Truex has had three wins and five top 3 finishes. On top of that, he has only finished outside the top 10 twice. When looking at the numbers all the Joe Gibbs Toyota’s (Bell and Gibbs) seem to be in a great position on Sunday which is why all four are in the rankings this week.
• Kyle Larson did not run well in Saturday’s practice or qualifying but I don’t think that will carry over into Sunday. Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, Larson has one win and four top 6 finishes in just seven races with the team at Richmond. Larson is arguably the best driver in all of motorsports and he will find a way to get this car inside the top 10 by race end.
• Joey Logano is a great driver to pair with two of the three drivers mentioned above for today. Taking three drivers over $9K can be difficult, but as you can see we have so much value that has PD upside that we can afford three high-priced drivers today. Looking back on Logano’s history at Richmond, since joining Penske is 2013 Logano has 12 top-five finishes in 22 races and has finished top 7 in seven of the last eight races here. Logano offers some small PD upside and is a longshot dominator play as well.
• Speaking of value plays, Daniel Suarez is not someone I generally write up, but he has fared decently at Richmond and has run well in the last few races before the break. Suarez has three straight finishes of 16th or better and five in seven, not to mention he has top-5 speed in practice on Saturday. While drivers like Justin Haley and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have more PD upside and are better plays for cash, using Suarez in SE or GPP is a solid way to get different.
• Remember that this is a 400-lap race, so you want two dominators in your builds, and if you can fit three comfortably, go for it!

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

If you want to bet conservatively on a driver to win, both Hamlin and Truex have decent odds around the industry and would be my picks to win this race. I will give you a couple of other options with longer odds below:

Joey Logano (+1400 – DK/FD)

Christopher Bell (+500 – FD)

Chris Buescher (+1600 – Caesars) or Top 5 (+180 – DK)

Alex Bowman Top 10 (+200 – DK/FD)

Longshot To Win:

Ty Gibbs (+2600 – FD)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Joey Logano (-130) vs Chase Elliott

Kyle Busch vs Ross Chastain (+115)

Ryan Blaney vs Tyler Reddick (+100)