DFS NASCAR

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 a bit 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)

*** Notes ***

• Toyota was terrible here last year, so proceed with caution
• Kyle Busch is in the car that Tyler Reddick drove when he dominated this race last season
• Larson won here last year and is my pick to win on Sunday
• All of Hendrick ran well in 2022 at this track and I see no reason they can’t again
• Stenhouse is super risky starting P2, but he was good here last season and could pay off his price with a top 10 and leading laps early
• Value plays are not too deep this week because there was no qualifying.
• McDowell seems like he could be a solid PD play, but he was terrible at Auto Club and on high tire wear tracks last season. Because of this, I cannot trust he will make up enough spots to pay off his price.
• I am not a big fan of Ty Dillon, even with him starting dead last. He is definitely playable, but he could also be the first car out.

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 a little bit risky, but could still turn out to 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)

(All pricing is for DK)

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Sunday’s Championship Finale from Phoenix!

This is it, the last race of the 2022 NASCAR season. There have been some ups and downs, unfortunately way more downs but it comes to an end this evening when a champion is crowned. Phoenix is a short, flat track that runs similar to New Hampshire and Richmond. This is a race with 312 laps meaning there are 218.4 dominator points available. As it was with the Truck race and the Xfinity race, picking dominators will be key. Whether you build one roster or are MME, you should be getting 2 dominators in your lineups.

Now on a personal note, I just want to thank everyone for reading my articles all season. I don’t know what the future holds for me so I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has been with me over the years here and all the people who interacted in discord and made this fun. Thank you!

NASCAR DFS: Championship 4

Joey Logano ($10,500)

Starting Position: 1st

Logano has been looking ahead to this race since he clinched his spot here when he won at Vegas a few weeks back so they may be the most prepared team. Not only that, Logano excels at this race track. Logano is a two-time winner and in the last five Phoenix races, has three top 3 finishes, and has a series-best 5th place average finish. On another note, the polesitter has won the previous two championship races and championships (Elliott in 2020 and Larson in 2021).

Chase Elliott ($10,900)

Starting Position: 5th

Elliott arguably had the best car here in the spring but struggled late and because of late-race spin, he finished 11th. In that race, Elliott led 50 laps, had the best total speed ranking, and had the 2nd best speed late in a run. It looks like Elliott has late run speed again in this car as he posted top 5 rankings in both 10 and 15-lap averages in Friday’s practice.

Both Elliott and Logano look to be the favorites to lead laps in this race and rack up dominator points on Sunday. Ross Chastain ($10,400 – P25) and Christopher Bell ($10,700 – P17) are the place differential plays of the Championship 4 drivers with limited to no dominator potential. Chastain at least showed some good speed in Friday’s practice session, so if he can find his way to the front he could lead laps here. Bell on the other hand was not fast in practice or qualifying and that is worrisome. Bell does have nine top 10s in the last ten races here and he has shown to be clutch when it counts these playoffs.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier/Dominators

Ryan Blaney ($9,100)

Starting Position: 2nd

Ryan Blaney has yet to win a race in 2022 but there is a really good chance he wins in Sunday’s finale. Blaney has been the best car throughout the weekend and could lead 100+ laps in this race. In Friday’s practice session, Blaney had the 2nd best single-lap (Chastain was first) and the best 5,10,15, and 20-lap averages. In the spring race here, Blaney led a race-high 143 laps, had a 4.5 average running position, and finished 4th. If a non-championship driver were to win this race, Blaney will be that guy.

Denny Hamlin ($9,900)

Starting Position: 21st

Hamlin is a solid performer when it comes to Phoenix. Hamlin is a previous winner here and has finished top 5 in five of the last seven races at Phoenix. Over the previous four, Hamlin has been especially good with three finishes inside the top 4 with an average finish of 5.8 and an average running position of 6.7.

Other Options: Kyle Larson ($10,100 – P4), William Byron ($9,700 – P8), Kyle Busch ($9,300 – P22) – I know, I don’t like it either, but his car did look fast in practice, Martin Truex Jr. ($9,500 – P12)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Kevin Harvick ($8,700)

Starting Position: 7th

Harvick will be looking for his 19th straight top 10 at Phoenix, and I think he does it. Currently, Harvick is tied with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the longest top-10 streak at any track. Harvick has finished between 5th and 9th in seven of the last eight Phoenix races and is a nine-time winner at this track as well. I am not just basing this play on history, Harvick was fast in Friday’s practice session. In practice, Harvick had the 4th best single-lap speed and he was top 8 in 5,10,15, and 20-lap averages as well.

Aric Almirola($7,200)

Starting Position: 13th

Almirola is another driver who historically runs well at Phoenix and shorter flat tracks. In nine of Almirola’s last ten races at Phoenix, he has finished 13th or better including six top 10s in those races as well. Almirola is a low-owned play that will make it easier to fit three top-tier drivers into your lineups on Sunday at sub-15% ownership.

Alex Bowman ($8,000)

Starting Position: 24th

Bowman is returning from a concussion to finish out the season on Sunday. He was cleared to race last week at Martinsville, but Alex wanted to wait one more week before returning. Bowman had a great debut at this track in 2016, but since then it has been a bit all over the place. Bowman finished between 13th and 18th in all of the previous five races here with an average finish of 15th. This spring Bowman finished 14th and had a 10.3 average running position with the 9th-best total speed ranking. Bowman is a top 15 car with top 10 upside in my book on Sunday.

Other Options: Daniel Suarez ($8,400 – P28) – It’s concerning neither he nor Chastain could put down good qualifying laps and he will be chalky, Bubba Wallace ($7,300 – P23), Brad Keselowski ($7,000 – P18), Tyler Reddick ($8,900 – P11)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Todd Gilliland ($5,100) – P31
2. Erik Jones ($6,800) – P30
3. Chris Buescher ($6,700) – P19
4. Ty Dillon ($5,600) – P32
5. Justin Haley ($6,200) – P26
6. Landon Cassill ($4,900) – P36
7. Corey Lajoie ($5,300) – P27

The driver I’m playing you shouldn’t:

Chase Briscoe ($8,200 – P3)/Cole Custer ($6,000 – P9)

Cash Core:

For the cash core, I would pick 2 of the championship 4 and pair them with Todd Gilliland and Denny Hamlin.

Check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial! Ensure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/).

There were a lot of changes in the cars and what driver is in what car/truck in 2022. Check out my What’s new in 2022 article (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-whats-new-in-2022/)

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 from Martinsville Speedway!

Welcome the penultimate race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season from “The Paperclip”, Martinsville. We had a fairly clean race here in the spring with only one caution for incident and one for a stalled Denny Hamlin Toyota. William Byron won that race while leading 212 of 403 laps with Chase Elliott leading the second most, 185, from the pole.

Since I brought up laps led (intentionally), let’s discuss it more. This is scheduled to be a 500-lap race, meaning you will need to find dominators. I will suggest no less than 2 potential dominators in each lineup you build. Some of those drivers who could dominate may not be starting near the front but will work their way there later on. There are a massive amount of dominator points available (350) and if you don’t manage to roster the top lap leader you will have no shot at a takedown.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier/Dominators

William Byron ($10,800)

Starting Position: 25th (Dom/PD)

As I mentioned in the open, Byron is the winner from the spring race here and should be a factor again on Sunday. In practice, Byron was fast as he posted top-ten speeds in single-lap through 15-lap average. Byron has finished 8th or better in five of the last six Martinsville races and in the last three has the best average finish of 3.3. Byron also is the only driver to finish top five in every race during that three-race span. I know that Byron will be highly owned, but with his history of running near the front here, his need to win to lock himself into next week’s championship race, and his place-differential upside I don’t see a reason to fade the 24-car today.

Chase Elliott ($11,200)

Starting Position: 2nd (Dominator)

Like with Byron, Elliott led a lot of laps from the pole here in the spring, so with him starting from P2, there is a good chance he could lead a lot of laps early on in this race too. Elliott ran top 5 speeds in all lap average categories in Saturday’s practice session (5-30-laps) and we should expect this car to be racing near the front all day. Over his last five races here, Elliott has both the best average running position (4.2) and the most average laps led (142.2). Elliott may be relatively safe for next week’s finale, but there is no reason why he won’t try and win this race and leave no doubt.

Christopher Bell ($9,300)

Starting Position: 20th (Dom/PD)

Bell is a driver who must win to get himself into the championship four next week at Phoenix. Even though he starts from P20, that could happen. Bell has a fast car and has run really well at Martinsville but just seems to have some bad luck. Just this past spring, Bell had a top 10 car (finished top 10 in both stages) and while running 11th with just over 100 laps left he had a pit road penalty during green flag stops and ended up 20th. There is no real “similar track” to Martinsville, but the closest one you could compare is New Hampshire and Bell won that race earlier this season.

Joey Logano ($10,000)

Starting Position: 12th (Dominator)

Joey Logano is the only driver in the series who knows that he will be competing for the championship next weekend but that won’t stop him from being aggressive this weekend. Logano is historically great at Martinsville and he will be a contender on Sunday afternoon. As an example, in the spring Logano finished 2nd, had a 4.8 averaging running position, and had the 2nd fastest total speed ranking. Logano also has six race top 10 streak at Martinsville which is why he has a series-best 5.5 average finish and 6th place average running position during those 6 races.

Other Options (Dominator): Kyle Larson ($11,700 – P1), Denny Hamlin ($11,400 – P11), Ryan Blaney ($10,400 – P4) – *** Note ** Both Blaney and Hamlin will most likely need to win this race to secure their championship spot, Larson is just racing for the win

Other Options (PD): Martin Truex Jr. ($9,500 – P27)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Tyler Reddick ($8,400)

Starting Position: 28th

Reddick is priced down this week because, well, he sucks at Martinsville. Normally when a driver is not that good at a track, I pass them over, but when you combine Reddick’s price and starting position he actually has some upside. Now, in GPP’s I wouldn’t have too much exposure, but in cash, you should consider Reddick this week. Reddick has finished 18th here in back-to-back races and his career average here is 16.8. Those are not great numbers, but a plus 10-12 place differential could get it done for him to make value on Sunday.

Kyle Busch ($8,900)

Starting Position: 18th

I know Kyle Busch has faded out and been a non-factor most weeks since the playoffs started, but I hope this week will be different. I do not suggest Busch as someone to play in cash or single entry, but more of a large field GPP play. Martinsville has been one of Busch’s best tracks over his career and he has ten top-10 finishes over his last 14 races here, including two wins. In more recent times, Busch has the second-best average finish (7th) in his last four races here and is one of only two drivers to finish top-10 in all four. After a horrid stretch where he finished no better than 20th and three DNFs in five races, Busch has bounced back with two top 5s and three top 10s in his last three races.

Aric Almirola ($7,000)

Starting Position: 15th

Almirola has a fast Ford this weekend and could be a factor for a top 10. In Saturday’s practice session, Almirola posted the 7th-best 5-lap average and that was his lowest ranking. In 10 through 30-lap averages, Almirola was top 5 including the best 25-lap average among the 19 cars that ran that many consecutive laps. Earlier this season here at Martinsville, Almirola finished 8th at race end after finishing 5th (stage 1) and 7th (stage 2) in the stages and had a 6.3 average running position. Almirola makes a great tournament pivot off a chalky Austin Cindric.

Other Options: Austin Cindric ($7,100 – P30), Kevin Harvick ($8,700 – P8), Bubba Wallace ($7,900 – P24), Austin Dillon ($7,600 – P16)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Chris Buescher ($6,900) – P22
2. Erik Jones ($6,700) – P23
3. Ricky Stenhouse ($5,900) – P31
4. Justin Haley ($5,700) – P29
5. Ty Dillon ($5,300) – P32
6. Cole Custer ($6,300) – P5
7. Cody Ware ($4,700) – P36

The driver I’m playing you shouldn’t:

Chase Briscoe ($8,000 – P3)

Cash Core:

William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Cindric, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr will be leaving you a good $8,350 left per driver for the last two spots making this an easy cash build to fill in.

Check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial! Ensure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/).

There were a lot of changes in the cars and what driver is in what car/truck in 2022. Check out my What’s new in 2022 article (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-whats-new-in-2022/)