Chase Elliott

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 the last race of the regular season so there could be some carnage late as drivers on the outside looking in try to play strategy to get the win and secure their spot in the playoffs.
• Denny Hamlin has not done well at Darlington in the next-gen car, but that has to change at some point. Hamlin has some solid PD upside with dominator potential as well. With 367 laps, Hamlin has plenty of time to get upfront and pay off his huge price tag.
• Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick run exceptionally well here because of their propensity to run the high line, up against the wall. That doesn’t come without risk though. While they can both run fast laps up there, the chance of getting into the wall and wrecking is high. I don’t think that happens to either and both make for great plays on Sunday night.
• I think Bubba Wallace is a great play after he showed some speed in practice and qualifying (obviously) but he is more of a high-risk/high-reward play. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman and Erik Jones are low-risk/high-reward plays that will be safer and, therefore, more popular. I would lock both drivers into my lineups in single-entry and cash games.
• Todd Gilliland will be the chalky $6K range play on Sunday. I don’t disagree with that notion and will probably be at or overweight on him. Ricky Stenhouse is the pivot off of the chalky Gilliland. Stenhouse starts on the last row of the field and presents some big-time PD upside if the attrition goes in his favor.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Tyler Reddick (+600 – industry-wide)

William Byron (+1100 – Casears)

Bubba Wallace (+1400 – FanDuel)

Todd Gilliland Top 10 (+600 – FanDuel)

Alex Bowman Top 5 (+650 – FanDuel)

Longshot To Win:

Kyle Busch (+2200 – FanDuel)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Denny Hamlin vs William Byron (+115)

Ty Gibbs vs Kyle Busch (-115)

Kyle Larson vs Tyler Reddick (-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.

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:

• It’s Daytona…anything can and probably will happen. Stack the back and hope for the best! There isn’t much else I can tell you because track history and current form don’t mean much.

NASCAR Best Bets: – No bets this week since it’s a superspeedway.

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

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.

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:

• Martin Truex Jr. looked good in yesterday’s short practice session and he offers a lot of PD upside starting 24th. Since this is only a 200 laps race, we aren’t chasing multiple dominators and MTJ makes for a great play to pair with one of Hamlin or Larson.
• Even though he is in lesser equipment and isn’t having a great season, Erik Jones does perform well on intermediate tracks. I see Jones as a high-teens car today and his ownership isn’t astronomical (only around 20%)
• Brad Keselowski ranks 3rd behind only Larson and Hamlin in avg finish this season on intermediate tracks. Keselowski has top 5 upside today so he offers good value for his price.
• AJ Allmendinger is a good value play today and does carry similar ownership to Jones. I prefer Jones over Dinger, but if you need two cheap plays they are good value together for SE or cash. If you are playing GPP only, I would pivot off Allmendinger to John Hunter Nemechek. JHN will be about 10-12% lower owned than Allmendinger, starts in a similar position, and is $100 cheaper.
• Chris Buescher won this race last season and should compete for the win again today. I don’t think this team can get to victory lane, but a solid top 10 or top 5 finish will be great for DFS. Because of the success Ford has had here recently as well as his win last year, Buescher will carry ownership today, around 25%.
• Both Daniel Hemric and Cody Ware are scary plays, but we need to be different in GPPs if we want takedowns. They are the two cheapest drivers and allow you to build any combo of high-priced drivers you want.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Kyle Larson (+600 – FD)

Martin Truex (+600 – DK/FD)

Christopher Bell (+1300 – DK)

Brad Keselowski Top 5 (+135 – FD)

Alex Bowman Top 10 (+165 – DK)

Longshot To Win:

Ty Gibbs (+2800 – DK)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Austin Dillon vs Carson Hocevar (-105)

Group 2 Winner – Brad Keselowski (+245)

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)

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:

• Tyler Reddick dominated everything on Friday and Saturday. Reddick was fastest in all but one practice metric (Larson was fastest in 15 lap avg) and he was the best car in qualifying on Saturday. When you add the speed we saw so far with the price point, it’s no wonder Reddick is my top play on this slate.
• I don’t know what happened in qualifying, but Brad Keselowski was top 5 in both 5 and 10-lap avg in Friday’s practice session, so the speed is there. I expect him and teammate Chris Buescher to have great races on Sunday, but it does come with high ownership. Buyer beware.
• Pricing is soft this week on DK, but if you’re like me and want to pay up for Reddick and two $9.7K and up drivers, you will need some cheap options. That’s where Justin Haley and Carson Hocevar come in. Both have top 20 upside for super cheap prices with great PD upside. They will be a little chalky, which I don’t mind when it’s good chalk like Haley and Hocevar (both drivers project between 17 and 25%).
• All four of Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, and Ross Chastain will be carrying high ownership on Sunday (25%+ on all 4) so if you want to play chalky Reddick/Hamlin/Keselowski, we need drivers to get off the “bad” chalk. This is why I like Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, and Daniel Suarez, with Jones projecting to be the highest owned at just under 15%. All three are similarly priced to the 4 higher-owned plays and could make your lineups different enough to get you that solo takedown.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Tyler Reddick (+425 – Caesars)

Denny Hamlin (+500 – FD)

Chase Elliott (+800 – FD)

Brad Keselowski Top 5 (+195 – FD)

Austin Dillon Top 10 (+750 – FD)

Chris Buescher – Top Ford (+500 – DK)

Longshot To Win:

Chris Buescher (+3000 – FD)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Chase Elliott (+140) vs Tyler Reddick

Bubba Wallace (-125) vs Michael McDowell

Ty Gibbs vs Chris Buescher (+100)

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:

• Since this is a street race, there are only 75 laps so we will not be looking for dominators. We will focus more on place differential and finishing position. While I know teams will try to flip the field, I don’t know which ones will do it when. We saw much of that in the Xfinity race on Saturday, but only a few cars could easily drive through the field.
• William Byron and Josh Berry will be starting at the rear for unapproved adjustments, but I am not concerned because they start so far back already.
• With only three drivers priced at $10K and up, building balanced lineups will be fairly easy on Sunday. There are a few cheap options with upside, but they are limited. Justin Haley is the best of the cheap drivers every week and nearly won this race last season.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

Kyle Larson (+370 – FD)

Tyler Reddick (+950 – FD)

Chase Elliott Top 5 (+370 – FD)

AJ Allmendinger Top 10 (+165 – DK)

Longshot To Win:

Chris Buescher (+5500 – DK)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Chris Buescher (+150) vs AJ Allmendinger

Tyler Reddick (+150) vs Kyle Larson

AJ Allmendinger (+160) 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:

• We have 300 laps of racing from Nashville today, which means we will need a couple of dominators in our lineups. Looking back at last year’s race, three drivers led over 50 laps, which was 76.7% of the race. In 2022, the outcome was similar, with three drivers leading 54 laps or more, which constituted 83.3% of the race. If you add Chase Elliott’s 42 laps led in, it goes up to 97.3%. There are drivers starting in the teens and 20’s that can and probably will lead 20+ laps, so I will stick to rostering just 2 of the highlighted drivers in my lineups for Sunday.
• As I noted in Discord last night, Ross Chastain has been outstanding in Nashville. Chastain lead a race-high 99 laps on his way to the win last year and has never finished lower than 5th in his three Cup Series starts here. Larson/Chastain would be where I start any SE build for Sunday’s race.
• All three of AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, and Bubba Wallace showed great long-run speed in Saturday’s practice session but qualified poorly. I believe all three can improve their positions, especially Blaney. Both AJ and Bubba will be lower owned, in my opinion, than drivers in their price range like Gilliland, Suarez, and Erik Jones making them good GPP pivots.
• Josh Berry, along with his team, are auditioning for their spots with another team in 2025 and have been running hot recently. Berry comes in with back-to-back top 10s and six top 15s in his last eight races.
• Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, and Austin Cindric are risky GPP plays. I could see all three coming in between 10-15% owned and if they are paired with the right dominators and PD plays any one of them could give your lineup the difference needed for a solo takedown.

NASCAR Best Bets:

(best odds and site in parenthesis)

I will start by saying that Kyle Larson is my pick to win this race, but my goal is to find other drivers who have a shot and could give you a big payday if they do.

Martin Truex Jr. (+700 FD/Caesars)

Ross Chastain (+1800 FanDuel)

Austin Cindric Top 10 (+260 DraftKings)

Ross Chastain Top 5 (+230 FanDuel)

Josh Berry Top Ford (+350 DraftKings)

Longshot To Win:

Alex Bowman (+5000 Caesars)

Matchups:

(All bets are from DK)

Denny Hamlin vs Ryan Blaney (+150)

Ross Chastain (+100) vs Chase Elliott