Matt Vecchio 
662
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 highlighted in yellow are potential dominators
(All pricing is for DK)
| A Group | B Group | C Group | F Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael McDowell (39) – $7.8K | Erik Jones (24) – $6.7K | BJ Mcleod (38) – $4.7K | Chase Briscoe (1) – $6.6K |
| Alex Bowman (31) – $7.6K | Brad Keselowski (12) – $9.3K | Chandler Smith (36) – $5.4K | Ryan Preece (9) – $6.4K |
| Chase Elliott (23) – $10.5K | Daniel Suarez (22) – $8.4K | Christopher Bell (15) – $8.1K | Harrison Burton (3) – $5.6K |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (32) – $8.5K | Joey Logano (14) – $9.8K | Austin Cindric (16) $7.3K | Riley Herbst (6) – $5.3K |
| Corey Lajoie (37) – $6.3K | Denny Hamlin (19) – $10K | Kyle Busch (18) – $9.6K | |
| William Byron (27) – $9.5K | Ryan Blaney (8) – $9.9K | JJ Yeley (33) – $5.1K | |
| Todd Gilliland (35) – $5.9K | Ross Chastain (25) – $8.3K | Justin Haley (28) – $6K |
*** NOTES ***
- This is Daytona, if you know, you know. If you don’t know, this means we will see carnage and lots of it. This is the last race of the regular season and there is one spot left in the playoffs. There are about 15 drivers fighting for that one spot, which means if someone who has won a race in 2023 wins on Saturday, Bubba Wallace most likely make the playoffs. If it’s a new winner, then that driver makes it.
- Michael McDowell starts dead last and is one of the best SS drivers in the Cup Series, but he said there is an issue with his car. If NASCAR lets them diagnose it and fix it he is the top play, if not we may have to move off him.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the Daytona 500 this year and is another great SS driver. Stenhouse will be a top-10 car if he can avoid the carnage.
- Corey Lajoie is another driver who excels on this track type and is priced way too low. He will be highly owned but has an outside chance of being the highest-scoring driver in the field.
- Brad Keselowski is one of the few drivers starting inside the top 15 you will see in the player pool this week. Kes is a great Daytona driver and would love to get himself a win in 2023 to keep up with his teammate, Buescher.
- I don’t think Denny Hamlin really tries to get near the front early on, but he will be there at the end. Hamlin loves to win at Daytona and he is competing for a regular-season title and this win will get him there (I believe).
- Remember that it is okay to leave salary, even thousands, on the table for this race. Don’t feel like you need to spend all $50K, which I know is hard for DFS players to do.
