NASCAR Cup

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 ***

• This weekend revolves around two things, well according to FOX, the return of Chase Elliott and showing replays of “The Hail Melon”.
• This is a 400-lap race, so I recommend using three dominators for your lineups on Sunday. There are 280 dominator points available (on DK) for this race so it will be vital you try to maximize your exposure to those points.
• Byron and Reddick were tops in speed in their practice sessions on Saturday and should be able to get out front at some point and lead laps in this race.
• Denny Hamlin has been great at Martinsville during his stellar career. Recently, Hamlin has either been top 5 or bust. Since 2018 (10 races), Hamlin has five top 5s but also has three finishes of 24th or worse (his other two finishes were 11th and 12th).
• I expect a lot of long-run stretches in this race. Because of this, I am focusing on drivers who had great long-run speed in Saturday’s practice sessions.
• Truex is similar to Hamlin when it comes to recent finishes at Martinsville. In his last eight races here (2019 – the year he joined JGR), Truex has earned himself three grandfather clocks (winners trophy) but also has three finishes of 20th or worse.
• Ryan Preece is super risky, of course. But, he can pay off his low price if he is able to hold the lead for the start of the race and manages a top ten finish.
• Both the Dillon brothers and Zane Smith get honorable mention nods as they kept popping up when I ran the optimizer, but I don’t know if I end up there in my lineups today.

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 ***

• This race will be a spectacle, to say the least. It could be a fun watch but for DFS purposes it’s hard to really predict what will happen. There were a lot of really fast cars in the heats on Saturday and hopefully that will lead us to the right dominators today.
• While this is only a 250-lap race, getting the lap leaders right will be key. I recommend rostering no less than 2 of the drivers highlighted above.
• Larson and Reddick were the class of the field in the heat races and should be the best cars on Sunday night. If you’re only building one lineup, I would start with the 5 and 45.
• Both Truex and Suarez have had good races on the dirt the past two seasons. They have both led laps and should be the best of the PD plays in this race.
• If Larson and Reddick don’t dominate this race, my money is on Bell to be the guy who does. Logano has an outside chance of leading laps but I will play him a lot for PD upside and finishing position points.
• Gragson is a driver you can feel safe playing. He should have a top-25 finish and is super cheap for the upside.
• Hamlin has plenty of upside today, but he showed little to no speed in the heat races on Saturday.
• Austin Dillon presents some risk starting on the outside pole, but he showed a ton of speed and handling yesterday in his heat. I will have a good amount of exposure as I think he has a long-shot chance of winning this race.
• Chase Briscoe is a world-class dirt racer BUT he did break a finger this week that will require surgery. I am worried about how well it will hold up today, especially after racing in the Truck Series race on Saturday.
• Erik Jones is too cheap on DK. He has had minimal success here, but honestly, if he stay around where he starts he will hit value.
• Some other drivers I have interest in: Bubba Wallace, Jonathan Davenport, Michael McDowell. Realistically, any driver could have a good day here, except BJ McLeod (unless chaos ensues early on before his car overheats)

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 ***

• Track position is key at Richmond. As I posted earlier this week on Twitter, drivers who start near the front usually end up there. Richmond is also a high tire wear track, so I am focusing on drivers who can manage their tires well.
• There will be a few “chalky” drivers in this field on Sunday, but Christopher Bell is probably the best of the bunch. In 16 races on this track type (short, flat tracks), Bell has 11 top 10’s, 5 top 5’s, and one win (Loudon). At Richmond, Bell has four top 10’s and three top 5’s in five career races.
• Austin Dillon is a driver who does perform well at this track type and Richmond in particular. Since 2020, Dillon has only finished outside the top 11 once (16th Fall 2022). Also, with Kyle Busch at RCR with Dillon, this should help him this season at this track where Kyle has been outstanding.
• Kevin Harvick has been dominant, at least DFS-wise, at this track type. No driver has scored more DK and FD points at Richmond in 2022 and Phoenix this season combined.
• I hate Aric Almirola chalk weeks, but here we are again. Richmond is one of Almirola’s best tracks with three top 10’s since 2020 (5 races). Almirola’s only Cup Series win came at Loudon in 2021.
• This is a 400-lap race and you will need dominator points to get to the top. I suggest having two dominators minimum in your lineups. I will try and get three dominators in as many lineups as I can.

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 ***

• I don’t have any drivers highlighted in yellow this weekend because we are not focused on dominators at road courses. There aren’t enough laps to worry about that, instead, we focus on place differential and finishing position.
• Ryan Blaney is going to be incredibly high-owned but he is good at this track type and his upside is the highest-scoring driver on the slate.
• Buescher has been a great road racer recently. Since 2021, Buescher has 6 top 10’s and an 11.1 avg finish in 13 races.
• McDowell is another driver who is sneaky good at road courses. At COTA, McDowell has an avg finish of 10th in two races and was 6th fastest in practice.
• Larson either dominates at road courses or fizzles out. COTA is the perfect example where Larson has a 2nd place finish and a 29th.
• Jordan Taylor is an accomplished road racer and is in the HMS #9 this week for Chase Elliott. This is a really risky play, but a top 5 is not out of the question. Taylor projects for sub 10% ownership and could be a difference maker.
• Both Byron and Allmendinger dominated the Xfinity race on Saturday.
• Kevin Harvick starts toward the back and could be a good PD play. I don’t have a lot of interest because of how poor he generally is at road courses. If you are making multiple lineups you could go here, but in SE, I’d pass.

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 ***

• While Atlanta now races similar to a Superspeedway (Daytona, Talladega) it doesn’t produce the same type of carnage. But, qualifying gave us some outstanding PD plays in this race. There are enough that we don’t need to worry about ownership and there may not be too many duplicate lineups on Sunday.
• For the first time since 1965, Ford will make up the first four rows of the starting grid.
• There are so many great PD plays, but this is a longer race than a typical SS race, so we do need to consider rostering potential dominators.
• Last Spring, Byron dominated this race, leading 111 laps on his way to victory lane. In that race, Byron was the only driver to lead more than 42 laps (Chastain). Byron led 41 laps in the fall, but was caught up in a wreck on lap 170 and had a DNF.
• Ross Chastain was the only driver to finish top 5 in both Atlanta races in 2022. Daniel Suarez finished 4th and 6th respectively.
• Corey Lajoie was the only driver to start P30 or later in either race and finish top 10 (P5 – Spring) in 2022.

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 ***

• Larson was fastest in practice in all facets and kept that speed in qualifying. I know it’s a high price but for a car that could lead the majority of the laps in this race and win, I will pay it.
• While one car can dominate this race, I believe this is a TWO dominator race.
• I think I was an infant the last time Kevin Harvick didn’t have a top 10 at Phoenix and I’m 41
• Blaney has not been great this season but showed speed. If he were having a better start to ’23 he’d be in the A Group. One person even called him a “modern-day” Kasey Kahne this week.
• I think Logano is a great PD play this week, but I don’t know if he leads a lot of laps. I like using him w/Larson and Harvick.
• Byron got us to paydirt last week and is a potential dominator with some upside and risk again this week.
• Almirola will be chalky, but he is the best of the value plays and should be played in all formats. There are plenty of other ways to be different on this slate.
• There is a lot lof great value plays in the $6K range to pivot off chalky Almirola if you feel so inclined.

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 ***

• This is a TWO dominator race. You should be using two dominators in every lineup.
• Ware and Yeley will not finish with positive place differential. While it might be tempting to use them, I don’t recommend it.
• Same goes for BJ McLeod, except he can’t get lose any spots. McLeod will have the slowest car on the track and unless there is a lot of attrition, highly unlikely, he won’t really give you much of a return.
• Larson and Chastain are the chalkier dominators, while Byron and Blaney should be lower owned and riskier. Logano and Busch will both need to lead a lot of laps, which is possible, to make value.
• Trackhouse has been fast this season and were good on 1.5-mile, low tire wear tracks in 2022.
• Bubba Wallace was the fastest Toyota in practice, which gives me hope that Reddick can be fast and get through the field.
• Corey Lajoie is not in the rankings, but he is a super deep, low owned, GPP play. Lajoie has been good this season. If he could finish in the teens for the 3rd straight race, he will smash value.
• I want to say Denny Hamlin is a good play, but the JGR Toyota’s were incredibly slow in practice and I don’t know if I can trust them, outside of Truex.

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)