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.

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)

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)