Matt Vecchio 
272
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Bell (29) – $10.2K | Ryan Blaney (25) – $9K | Ross Chastain (19) – $9.2K | BJ McLeod (21) – $4.7K |
| Kyle Larson ((14) – $10.8K | Erik Jones (27) – $6.3K | Corey Lajoie (31) – $5.4K | Noah Gragson (12) – $5K |
| Chris Buescher (26) – $7.7K | Chase Briscoe (20) – $7.1K | Ty Dillon (34) – $4.9K | |
| William Byron (6) – $9.9K | AJ Allmendinger (36) – $6.2K | Daniel Suarez (33) – $7.8K | |
| Michael McDowell (18) – $5.9K | Joey Logano (23) – $9.7K | Bubba Wallace (5) – $7.5K | |
| Martin Truex Jr. (10) – $11K | Denny Hamlin (3) – $10.5K | JJ Yeley (35) – $4.8K | |
| Aric Almirola (24) – $7.3K | Kevin Harvick (8) – $10.1K | Tyler Reddick (1) – $8.9K |
*** NOTES ***
- On Sunday, the Cup Serie goes short-track racing. This means dominators will be KEY. In this race, we have 400 laps which means 280 dominator points available. It is a little bit easier to pass at Richmond as opposed to New Hampshire where no one could pass a few weeks ago. I will be locking a minimum of 2 dominators per lineup.
- How can I guy starting 29th be a potential dominator? Christopher Bell was incredibly fast in practice and is good at this track type. This car will find its way to the front at some point during this 400-lap race on Sunday.
- Well, if I think Bell is going to potentially lead laps, I have to also think Kyle Larson will. No one has been better at this track type in 2023. Larson won the first race this season at Richmond, leading 93 laps in the process after starting P9. Larson is also the only driver to finish top 5 in every race on this track type this season (Richmond1, Phoenix, New Hampshire, and Gateway). Larson has the best avg place differential and avg DKFP per race while being second to only Truex in avg laps led on this track type in 2023.
- Michael McDowell has been outstanding on this track type in 2023. In four races on short-flat tracks, McDowell has a 10.3 avg finish. McDowell has finishes of 13th, 6th 9th, and 13th in those four races. At his salary and top 10 upside, I love McDowell as the top value play on the slate.
- Coming off his win a few weeks back at Loudon, Martin Truex Jr. has to be considered one of the favorites again on Sunday. Truex has the most avg laps led per race, thanks in part to his 254 laps led at New Hampshire.
- Ryan Blaney wasn’t the fastest car in practice and he hasn’t been great on this track type in 2023 (one top 10 in four races) but I have high hopes for the 12 car on Sunday. Blaney has an avg running position of 9.4 in the four races on short-flat tracks this season but has an avg finish of 14th. To me, that just screams bad luck, if we can get a 9th place finish from Blaney on Sunday I will be very happy.
- If you take out his 34th-place finish at Gateway, Chase Briscoe has been a rockstar on this track type in 2023. Briscoe has an avg finish of 9.7 this season in the other three races on this track type this season. Briscoe’s only career win in the Cup Series came at Phoenix in 2022.
- Kevin Harvick will be lower owned today because of salary and starting position, but there is some big upside here. Harvick is the only driver besides Larson to have a top 10 at all four previous races on this track type and he also has three top 5s.
