Chase Elliott

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. In this article, I list my favorite plays in different categories to help you build your lineups for today’s race.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Top Priority Plays

• Denny Hamlin (37) – $9.1K: Everyone who knows NASCAR knows that Hamlin is one of the best to do it at superspeedways, but he hasn’t had much luck at Atlanta. Hamlin only has one top 10 at the new Atlanta and four finishes of 23rd or worse. With that being said, it’s hard not to love Hamlin on Sunday when you consider his starting position and price.
• Christopher Bell (32) – $8.2K: Similar to his teammate listed above Bell has not run exceptionally well at Atlanta. Bell does have two top 5’s here, but the rest of his run here has been 23rd or worse as well. But, like I said about Hamlin, it’s hard to ignore Bell’s starting spot and price.
• Daniel Suarez (29) – $8.1K: Unlike the two drivers listed above him, Suarez has the best track record at the new Atlanta. In six races here, Suarez has only finished lower than 6th one time (2023). In the other five races here, Suarez has finishes of 4th, 6th, 2nd, 1st, and 2nd. That is a pretty solid run from a driver who struggles pretty much everywhere else outside of road courses.
• Ty Gibbs (36) – $7.2K: It seems like all the Joe Gibbs Toyota’s had issues qualifying this weekend which in turn makes them all great plays for DFS. Gibbs has only run here four times in the Cup Series, but his track record is much better than his teammates. In his four races here, Gibbs has two top 10’s and a 17th-place finish. His one poor finish was a 34th place finish where he had damages and finished 35 laps down.

Top Value Plays:

• Corey Lajoie (35) – $6.2K
• Erik Jones (28) – $6.8K
• Riley Herbst (27) – $6K
• Carson Hocevar (26) – $5.7K
• Justin Haley (21) – $6.7K
• Shane Van Gisbergen (30) – $5.5K

Top GPP Plays:

• Kyle Busch (6) – $8.8K
• Chase Elliott (19) – $9.5K
• William Byron (16) – $10K
• Bubba Wallace (14) – $8.3K
• Ryan Blaney (1) – $9.8K
• Tyler Reddick (18) – $7.8K

Place Differential Plays:

• Ross Chastain (33) – $7.6K
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (34) – $7.5K
• Chase Briscoe (25) – $7.9K
• Michael McDowell (34) – $7.1K

Thank you for checking out the WinDaily NASCAR driver rankings for this week. Make sure to join our Discord (https://discord.com/channels/637247698868633612/637636891176599552) and follow me on bsky for updates https://bsky.app/profile/mvecchio81.bsky.social

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. In this article, I list my favorite plays in different categories to help you build your lineups for today’s race.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Top Priority Plays

• Brad Keselowski (34) – $9.2K – Keselowsksi is a great Superspeedway driver and will, hopefully, avoid all the carnage and be there at the end of the night. The 7-time Superspeedway winner knows how to navigate the field in these demolition derbys and is my pick to win his first Daytona 500 and 8th race on this track type.
• Alex Bowman (38) – $8.2K – Bowman is projected as the highest-owned driver on the slate, but he is in one of the best place differential spots in this race starting from P38.
• Kyle Busch (21) – $9.3K – Kyle Busch is another multi-time Superspeedway winner and some would say he is due. Busch is coming off his first winless as a full-time Cup Series driver and would love to win this race so that doesn’t happen again in 2025. While that may not happen, he is a sure bet for a top 5 if he can avoid the inevitable carnage that will ensure.
• Zane Smith (37) – $5.8K – Zane has little experience in a Cup car at Daytona, but he does have two wins here in the Truck Series so he knows how to win here. Does Smith have a legit shot at winning on Sunday, sure, but even if he doesn’t win a top 10 and an amazing DFS day are all we need out of him.

Top Value Plays:

• Jimmie Johnson (40) – $5.5K
• Carson Hocevar (33) – $6.5K
• Justin Haley (35) – $6.6K
• Helio Castroneves (41) – $6K
• Noah Gragson (32) – $6.8K
• Cody Ware (28) – $5.2K

Top GPP Plays:

• Michael McDowell (25) – $7.1K
• Denny Hamlin (8) – $10K
• Christopher Bell (20) – $8.8K
• Ryan Blaney (16) – $9.7K
• Chase Elliott (17) – $9.5K
• Ty Gibbs (23) – $7.4K

Mid-Tier Place Differential Plays:

• Ryan Preece (27) – $8.4K
• Daniel Suarez (36) – $7.3K
• Ricky Stenhouse (31) – $7.5K
• Martin Truex Jr. (39) – $7.2K
• Josh Berry (29) – $7.7K

Thank you for checking out the WinDaily NASCAR driver rankings for this week. Make sure to join our Discord (https://discord.com/channels/637247698868633612/637636891176599552) and follow me on bsky for updates https://bsky.app/profile/mvecchio81.bsky.social

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. In this article, I list my favorite plays in different categories to help you build your lineups for today’s race.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Championship 4:

• Ryan Blaney (17) – $11.2K
• William Byron (8) – $11K
• Tyler Reddick (10) – $10.5K
• Joey Logano (2) – $10.8K

All four drivers are potential dominators. Blaney was the fastest in practice (single lap and 10-lap avg) and starts furthest back making him the top play of this groups. I think we will need two of these four today and since there are plenty of great place differential plays at cheap salaries making it easy to fit multiple C4 drivers in.

Top Dominator Plays:

• Kyle Larson (4) – $10K
• Martin Truex Jr. (1) – $9K
• Christopher Bell (7) – $10.3K
• Chase Elliott (5) – $9.5K

If you want to only play one C4 driver, you can pair them with one the above drivers. If you want to go full stars and scrubs you roster one of these drivers with 2 of your C4 plays. With there being 312 laps, you will most likely need at least two dominators.

Place Differential/Value Plays:

• Josh Berry (39) – $7.4K
• Daniel Suarez (34) – $7.2K
• Austin Dillon (36) – $7K
• Ryan Preece (33) – $6.9K
• Bubba Wallace (29) – $7.8K
• Zane Smith (28) – $5.9K
• Michael McDowell (35) – $6.4K

GPP high upside options:

• Denny Hamlin (14) – $9.8K
• Chris Buescher (24) – $8.2K
• Brad Keselowski (27) – $8.6K
• Chase Briscoe (12) – $8.4K
• Alex Bowman (16) – $7.7K

Thanks everyone who played along with me this season. It was an up and down season this year and I do not know what the future holds for me. If this is the end, we had a lot of fun over the years and made a little bit of money along the way.

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. In this article, I list my favorite plays in different categories to help you build your lineups for today’s race.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Lock:

Austin Cindric (36) – $7K

I’d presume Cindric is not going to win this race or even be a factor, but he should be one of the highest-scoring drivers at the race end. Cindric has finished top 20 in both of his starts at this track and his practice speed on Saturday was also top 20. I won’t say you MUST play Cindric, but he is cheap and could be one of the top DFS plays today.

Top Dominator Plays:

• Tyler Reddick (1) – $10.5K
• Christopher Bell (3) – $10.8K
• Kyle Larson (2) – $11K
• Denny Hamlin (4) – $9.8K

If you can make it work, I will recommend playing two of these drivers. Reddick and Larson are my favorites, but if you can’t find the extra $200 for Larson, Bell is a suitable pivot.

Place Differential Plays:

• William Byron (25) – $10.3K
• Ross Chastain (22) – $8.8K
• AJ Allmendinger (32) – $7.3K
• Ryan Blaney (20) – $10K
• Brad Keselowski (18) – $8.4K
• Chris Buescher (21) – $7.7K

GPP high upside options:

• Bubba Wallace (8) – $7.8K
• Alex Bowman (11) – $8K
• Ty Gibbs (14) – $8.2K
• Joey Logano (26) – $9.3K
• Noah Gragson (16) – $7.4K

Logano would be considered a good PD play if he had a reason to push himself. Logano won last week locking himself into the Championship race in Phoenix. Also, they had power steering issues on Saturday and if those arise again, they won’t hesitate to call it a day.

Value Plays:

• Todd Gilliland (31) – $5.8K
• John Hunter Nemechek (29) – $6K
• Harrison Burton (34) – $5.5K
• Austin Dillon (30) – $6.7K
• Ryan Preece (35) – $5.9K
• Erik Jones (28) – $6.6K

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Top Manufacturer Bets: (all on DK)

Longshot To Win:

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. Below you will find my rankings for the drivers in this race.

I am going to try something different for tonight’s race. Instead of the usual driver rankings list, I will give out four different categories of drivers and a little snippet breaking down how to play each group.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Lock:

Ryan Blaney (37) – $9.3K

Blaney starts dead last in Sunday’s race, but there’s no doubt he will get to the front of the field and stay there at some point. In Saturday’s practice session, Blaney had a tire go down, resulting in him hitting the wall hard and requiring the 12 team to go to their backup car.

Top Dominator Plays:

• Kyle Larson (5) – $11.5K
• Tyler Reddick (2) – $10K
• Christopher Bell (1) – $10.3K
• Denny Hamlin (4) – $10.6K
• William Byron (9) – $10.8K

Kyle Larson has won back-to-back races here in Vegas and has four top 2 finishes in the last 5 races at this track. If you are only making one lineup, Larson should be in it. Tyler Reddick hasn’t had as much success as Larson, but he does have four top 10s in his last five races at Vegas. Bell has a terrible day here in the spring, but he did finish top 5 in both races last season here in Las Vegas.

Place Differential Plays:

• Chris Buescher (22) – $7.7K
• Kyle Busch (20) – $8.5K
• Bubba Wallace (19) – $7.5K

GPP high upside options:

• Martin Truex Jr. (12) – $9K
• Ross Chastain (7) – $8.8K
• Chase Briscoe (24) – $7.4K
• Zane Smith (14) – $6.1K
• Erik Jones (27) – $6.8K

Value Plays:

• Ryan Preece (32) – $5.6K
• Daniel Hemric (33) – $5.1K
• Corey Lajoie (35) – $5.2K
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (25) – $6K
• Todd Gilliland (30) – $5.8K

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Kyle Larson (+300 – Caesars)

Kyle Busch (+2000 – FD/Caesars)

Christopher Bell (+750 – FD)

Ryan Blaney Top 5 (+270 – FD)

Chris Buescher Top 10 (+180 – FD)

Top Manufacturer Bets: (all on DK)

Chevy: Larson is the obvious pick (+100), but I will also throw Kyle Busch out there (+900)

Ford: Chris Buescher (+600)

Toyota: Christopher Bell (+300)

Longshot To Win:

Ryan Blaney (+2200 DK/Caesars)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Denny Hamlin vs William Byron (+105)

Kyle Busch (+100) vs Ross Chastain

Christopher Bell (-105) vs Denny Hamlin

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. Below you will find my rankings for the drivers in this race.

I am going to try something different for tonight’s race. Instead of the usual driver rankings list, I will give out four different categories of drivers and a little snippet breaking down how to play each group.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Lock:

Chris Buescher (29) – $9.1K

Buescher is a talented road course racer and should end up as the pace differential play on this slate. Since 2022, Buescher has finished in the top 10 in 13 of 16 road course races and has an average finish of 8.3. In the two ROVAL races since 2022, Buescher has finished top 10 in both and has an average finish of 6.5.

Top Finishing Plays:

• Shane van Gisbergen (1) – $10.3K
• Kyle Larson (6) – $10.2K
• AJ Allmendinger (3) – $10K
• Tyler Reddick (2) – $9.3K

My plan is to roster at least two of these drivers with Buescher in all lineups.

Place Differential Plays:

• Martin Truex Jr. (30) – $8K
• Noah Gragson (32) – $6.6K
• Justin Haley (33) – $6.3K
• Ty Gibbs (19) – $8.5K
• Alex Bowman (17) – $8.1K
• Michael McDowell (21) – $8.7K

GPP high upside options:

• Denny Hamlin (18) – $7.1K
• Ross Chastain (16) – $8.8K
• Kyle Busch (11) – $8.3K
• William Byron (10) – $9.8K
• Chase Elliott (7) – $9.5K
• Ryan Blaney (14) – $7.8K

Value Plays:

• Erik Jones (37) – $6K
• Ryan Preece (34) – $5.6K
• John Hunter Nemechek (35) -$5.5K
• Carson Hocevar (20 ) – $6.1K
• Bubba Wallace (9) – $6.5K

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Top Manufacturer Bets: (all on DK)

Longshot To Win:

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. Below you will find my rankings for the drivers in this race.

I am going to try something different for tonight’s race. Instead of the usual driver rankings list, I will give out four different categories of drivers and a little snippet breaking down how to play each group.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Lock:

Chase Elliott (38) – $10K

Elliott starts DFL after having to change his engine on Saturday. Like Heim on Friday night, if Elliott does what I expect him to do, you won’t have a chance without him in your lineups. I don’t think Elliott sees ownership over 85% like Heim did, but 40-50% is possible.

Dominators:

• Kyle Larson (11) – $11.5K
• Denny Hamlin (8) – $11K
• Christopher Bell (1) – $10.3K

GPP Dominator Options:

• Tyler Reddick (4) – $10.5K
• Ty Gibbs (2) – $9.2K

With only 267 laps you won’t necessarily need to roster more than 1 dominator. I will most likely have 2 dominators in my lineups, but I won’t force it.

Place Differential Plays:

Safe SE or Cash options:

• Brad Keselowski (26) – $8.3K
• Chris Buescher (25) – $8.5K
• Ross Chastain (20) – $7.8K
• Alex Bowman (12) – $8K
• Martin Truex Jr. (19) – $9.5K

GPP high upside options:

• William Byron (6) – $9.7K
• Bubba Wallace (13) – $9K
• Noah Gragson (24) – $7.2K
• Chase Briscoe (9) – $8.1K
• Carson Hocevar (14) – $6.6K

Value Plays:

• Todd Gilliland (33) – $6K
• Daniel Hemric (30) – $5.3K
• Ryan Preece (37) – $6.1K
• Justin Haley (23) – $6.4K
• Josh Berry (29) – $6.9K
• Ty Dillon (32) – $5.2K

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Kyle Larson (+450 – FD)

Ty Gibbs (+1300 – FD)

Chase Briscoe Top 5 (+550 – FD)

Daniel Suarez Top 10 (+390 – FD)

Top Manufacturer Bets: (all on DK)

Top Chevy: Kyle Larson (+130)

Top Ford: Chase Briscoe (+550)

Top Toyota: Bubba Wallace (+1600)

Longshot To Win:

Chase Briscoe (+4100 – FD)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Christopher Bell vs William Byron (-110)

Ross Chastain (+120) vs Alex Bowman

Erik Jones vs Justin Haley (+110)

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. Below you will find my rankings for the drivers in this race.

I am going to try something different for tonight’s race. Instead of the usual driver rankings list, I will give out four different categories of drivers and a little snippet breaking down how to play each group.

(Starting position in parenthesis)

(All pricing is for DK)

Dominators:

Since there are 500 laps in this race tonight, we will NEED dominators to have a shot at winning big. I will suggest rostering 2-3 of the drivers listed below. If you take more than that you are banking on all of them finishing in the top 5 and the chalky PD plays failing to make value. It’s a risk I am not willing to take.

• Kyle Larson (2) – $10.5K
• William Byron (3) – $10K
• Alex Bowman (1) – $7.6K
• Denny Hamlin (8) – 11K
• Martin Truex Jr. (4) – $8.4K
• Christopher Bell (6) – $10.3K

I love all three Hendrick drivers on this list. All three were fast in practice and in qualifying as noted by them starting 1-2-3. Hamlin and Truex must have a big day and finish well to advance to the next round. They will both be playing the strategy game to ensure they advance.

Place Differential Plays:

• Ryan Blaney (22) – $9.4K
• Joey Logano (20) – $9.3K
• Kyle Busch (29) – $8.8K
• Brad Keselowski (23) – $9.5K
• Austin Cindric (27) – $7.2K
• Josh Berry (25) – $8.2K

Blaney was speedy in practice where he put up top 5 in both single-lap speed and 10-lap average. Logano was fast as well, but not as quick as his teammate. I suggest rostering at least one of the drivers on this list with your dominators.

Mid-Priced Options:

• Chase Elliott (10) – $9K
• Ty Gibbs (13) – $8.7K
• Bubba Wallace (11) – $7.5K
• Chris Buescher (17) – $9.8K

I will have minimal exposure to this group. No one here really stands out as a great play, but if you can’t get up to the higher-priced PD plays they should be good pivots. Wallace was top 5 in single-lap speed and top 10 in 10-lap average, so for his price and with his top 10 upside, he is a good cheaper option tonight.

Value Plays:

• Justin Haley (26) – $5.7K
• Todd Gilliland (24) – $5.8K
• Daniel Suarez (35) – $6.9K
• Erik Jones (32) – $6.2K
• Ricky Stenhouse (31) – $6.3K
• Carson Hocevar (7) – $6.7

As much as we hate to roster some of these drivers, we need them to make our lineups work. Haley and Gilliland have the most consistent value plays all season and should be good value tonight. Suarez has the best upside starting the furthest back in the field of the drivers on this list. Hocevar is the riskiest, but I think he can manage a top 10 here tonight. Even if he doesn’t and finishes where his practice speeds were (top 15) he will make value.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Kyle Larson (+400 – FD)

William Byron (+1300 – FD)

Ryan Blaney Top 5 (+150 – FD)

Carson Hocevar Top 10 (+330 – DK)

Top Manufacturer Bets: (all on DK)

William Byron (Chevy – +400)

Ryan Blaney (Ford – +150)

Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota – +550)

Longshot To Win:

Austin Cindric (+8500 – FD)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Ryan Blaney vs Alex Bowman (+105)

Ross Chastain vs Josh Berry (-130)

Kyle Busch (-110) vs Ross Chastain

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:

• I plan on playing full GPP today for this race. I’m having difficulty finding a solid core of 5-6 drivers I want to build around for this race. If you are playing single-entry, which I know a lot of you do, I would start with 2 of Larson, Reddick, and Buescher. All three are good road course drivers and offer a lot of place differential upside. After that, I would take one of Wallace or Gilliland. Neither are exceptional road course drivers, but they are cheap and should move up in the field giving you some nice PD points. After that, it’s up to you. If you are playing SE, I wouldn’t delve too much into that third column today. At least in my opinion, those drivers are much riskier than usual and are better suited for 3 max or GPPs.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Tyler Reddick (+900 – Caesars)

Chase Elliott (+1200 – FD/Caesars)

Bubba Wallace Top 10 (+800 – Caesars)

Top Manufacturer Bets: (all on DK)

Top Chevy – William Byron (+650)

Top Ford – Chris Buescher (+550)

Top Toyota – Juan Pablo Montoya (+3500) – This is very unlikely to happen, but hey, it’s NASCAR so you never know!

Longshot To Win:

Kyle Busch (+2800 – FD)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Kyle Larson vs William Byron (+125)

Ross Chastain vs Austin Cindric (-105)

Ty Gibbs (+100) vs Michael McDowell

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:

• This is another superspeedway-style race which means there will be some chaos. While there will be some attrition, it shouldn’t resemble a Daytona or a Talladega. I still prefer taking drivers from the back but you can use some of the drivers in the teens and even starting in the top 10.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Kyle Busch (+1200 – FanDuel)

Daniel Suarez Top 5 (+500 – FanDuel)

Corey Lajoie Top Chevy (+2200 – DK)

Longshot To Win:

Bubba Wallace (+3000 – FanDuel)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)