Matt Vecchio 
1.7K
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Blaney (32) – $9.8K | Todd Gilliland (31) – $5.5K | Riley Herbst (36) – $5.1K | All Drivers Starting |
| Kyle Busch (34) – $9.7K | Corey Lajoie (29) – $6K | Brad Keselowski (16) – $9K | inside the top 10. |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (35) – $8K | Daniel Hemric (37) – $5.3K | Ross Chastain (21) – $8.1K | There is no upside in |
| David Ragan (40) – $6.5K | Bubba Wallace (24) – $8.5K | Jimmie Johnson (23) $7.7K | these drivers. |
| Anthony Alfredo (39) – $5.2K | Martin Truex Jr. (27) – $8.2K | AJ Allmendinger (28) – $6.2K | |
| Noah Gragson (38) – $6.3K | Josh Berry (30) – $6.6K | Kaz Grala (26) – $5.6K | |
| Austin Dillon (33) – $7.3K | Ryan Preece (25) – $6.8K | William Byron (18) – $8.7K |
DFS NASCAR – Driver Notes
- This is the crown jewel of NASCAR, the Super Bowl of Motorsports, but it’s one of the WORST for DFS. Superspeedway racing in general is terrible for DFS purposes because of the plethora of wrecks that are likely to occur. NASCAR is one of the most high-variance sports in all of DFS and you can times that by 10 for Superspeedways.
- Place differential is pretty much the only thing that matters for these types of races. Laps led and fastest laps will be spread throughout the field with multiple drivers earning those points. You will notice that the majority of the drivers in the rankings start 20th or worse. Only on extremely rare occasions are these races uneventful with few wrecks.
- Ryan Blaney is one of NASCAR’s best Superspeedway drivers and the reigning Cup Champion. Blaney will probably be the most popular driver on the slate and fading him is risky. Blaney has five top 10s in his last eight races at Daytona and has only wrecked out twice. Once again, he will be chalk, but most likely good chalk.
- Another driver that will be popular is Kyle Busch. I don’t love playing KB because I usually roster him on his bad days, but this feels like a spot where he can’t really hurt you. Starting 34th, he doesn’t offer much downside and his price is not a hindrance since most lineups will have thousands in salary leftover.
- The 2023 Daytona 500 winner, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., will also be chalky in this race. Stenhouse starts back with Blaney and Busch and should finish much further up.
- Both David Ragan and Anthony Alfredo start in the last row and cannot get you negative points. Again, they will be chalky but there is some merit to playing a full chalk lineup in a race like this because it has a good chance to cash. If you are playing SE or cash games load up on the drivers from group A.
- Austin Dillon is a former Daytona 500 winner and should avoid the early chaos and be around at the finish. Starting from P33 gives him plenty of upside.
- With their new Penske alliance in place, Front Row Motorsports should be a much-improved team in 2024. Todd Gilliland will reap the benefits of this, starting at Daytona. I love this play today and is one of my favorite low-tier drivers in this race at less-than-chalky ownership.
- Bubba Wallace will most likely carry some ownership, but this track type is where he shines. Of course, the risk of wrecking out early is here but that goes for EVERY driver in the field. I will probably over the field on Bubba in my lineups.
- Another Toyota driver I like is Martin Truex Jr. Truex is the opposite of Bubba and usually does not fare well at Daytona. We will hear plenty from the broadcast team about how long MTJ has been racing without a win at Daytona (19 years). I don’t think Truex wins, but a top 10 would be a great day for the 19 team and us in the DFS world.
