NASCAR DFS

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 ***

• It’s our third superspeedway race of the season and like with most we want to play the place differential game. Superspeedways are not a track type we chase dominator points, so you won’t see anyone highlighted in yellow this week.
• Chase Elliott had a good week in his first race since breaking his leg in a skiing accident six weeks ago. This week Elliott starts P29 and offers incredible PD, even if it’s at high ownership.
• Brad Keselowski is one of the All-Time greats to ever do it at Talladega. If Keselowski wins on Sunday he will tie Dale Earnhardt Sr. with 7 career wins on this track. Keselowski will be a top-10 car if he can avoid the potential carnage late in the race.
• Erik Jones and Talladega go together like chocolate and peanut butter. In his last four races here, Jones has three top 10’s, an avg finish of 12th, an avg running position of 12.1, and the third most DKFP per race (43.4)
• As odd as this may sound, nobody has been better at Talladega since 2021 without a win than Michael McDowell. In the four races since 2021, McDowell has the best avg finish (7.8), tied for the most top 5’s (2), best avg place differential (16), and most avg DKFP per race (55).
• Remember all those things that McDowell was tops in right above this, well Austin Dillon is second in almost all of them. Dillon is an excellent superspeedway racer and should be a contender for the win on Sunday.
• Riley Herbst is another above-average superspeedway driver and is the #15 Rick Ware Racing car. It is my belief that this car is RWR in name only and it was prepared by Stewart-Haas Racing. Herbst could be one of the top PD plays in this race when all is said and done on Sunday.
• I don’t love Kyle Busch at this track type, but he was set to win at Daytona until one of the late race wrecks took him out. Busch is also way too cheap for his potential place differential upside.

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.