Fantasy NASCAR Picks: Top DraftKings DFS Drivers

The field is set for Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway with Ryan Blaney and William Byron on the front row. Thus, let’s delve into this week’s top Fantasy NASCAR picks and value plays for DraftKings and FanDuel NASCAR DFS lineups for the Toyota Owners 400.

DraftKings Fantasy NASCAR Picks Today: Best Toyota Owners 400 Values

Ryan Blaney, 1st ($9,400 DraftKings, $9,500 FanDuel)

Blaney’s previous five finishes (25th, 17th, 19th, 11th, and 10th) at Richmond give him an average running position of 15.4. Needless to say, for Blaney’s standards, these numbers are not good. However, what matters more is that Blaney starts first, he’s got an incredibly fast car whether, in the short or long run, he’s led laps in every single race this season including 143 at Phoenix where he also started on the pole, and for five straight weeks, he’s had a car that ranked fifth or better in green-flag speed.

Kyle Busch, 3rd ($9,900 DraftKings, $12,500 FanDuel)

Of all the Joe Gibbs drivers, Busch appears to be the one least affected by the switch to the Generation Seven car as he rattled off four straight top-15 finishes, including a near-win at Las Vegas, before wrecking/ spinning in back-to-back events. Judging by practice speeds, he appears to have a fast car initially, so all he may need is a fast pit stop to grab the lead from Blaney, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, or whomever. With Denny Hamlin still finding his sea legs, and Martin Truex Jr. stuck in seventh through 13th, Busch appears lined up to be the driver with former stellar history (six victories, five straight top-10 finishes) at Richmond to surge to the lead and potentially win at 9/1 odds.

At less than $20,000 on DraftKings, pairing Blaney and Busch together as cash-game lap leaders is not only financially prudent, it allows NASCAR DFS players to even go with a third potential dominator or start pairing them with high priced place differential.

Kyle Larson, 21st ($10,200 DraftKings, $13,000 FanDuel)

Larson was going to be a tough sell as a potential lap leader based on his lackluster numbers this season combined with track history that suggests Richmond might be one of the few tracks that he has yet to master. However, with this ridiculous price and place differential, Larson enters the conversation as the third driver added to cash lineups after two hogs have been picked. Should practice from Saturday morning have any bearing on Sunday, Larson shouldn’t have any issue moving through the field, especially as the race goes on with his faster practice speeds coming in the 10-, 15- and 20-lap runs.

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Austin Dillon, 25th ($7,000 DraftKings, $8,000 FanDuel)

People may be turned off from playing Dillon based on his 27th-ranked single-lap practice run, and equally as slow 25th-ranked five-lap average, but don’t forget there will be a near 30-degree temperature difference from Saturday morning to Sunday when the green flag waves. Dillon comes into Richmond Raceway with four top-11 finishes in his past five races here and should expect no issues getting dialed in as the race goes on.

Ty Dillon, 30th ($5,200 DraftKings)

Despite a fifth top-20 finish, in six races, at COTA last week, Dillon only saw a negligible $100 bump on DraftKings keeping him well within the range of reasonable punt options, especially with no one priced above $10,500 this week. History-wise, Dillon has nothing to brag about with recent results of 21st, 26th, and 28th; however, those numbers were during his tenure at Germain, and Dillon does seem to be making the most of this new joint venture between Gallagher Motorsports and Petty Enterprises. At this season’s closest corollary to Richmond (Phoenix), Dillon held an average running position of 20.6 and ended his day in 15th.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 32nd ($6,500 DraftKings, $6,300 FanDuel)

For those convinced that this season matters more than track history then perhaps Stenhouse is a fade with only one finish inside of the top-20 in six races this season. However, if Richmond is its own unique beast with its shape and size, then this should be the week to jump back on the Stenhouse bandwagon, especially in cash games. Dating back to 2019, Stenhouse has four top-20 finishes, including 15.2 fastest laps per race helping to boost his DraftKings score. Starting so far in the back, Stenhouse really can’t hurt lineups but he’s destined to pull ownership, especially with the driver immediately below him having an issue that may lower his ownership.

Justin Haley, 36th ($6,300 DraftKings, $5,000 FanDuel)

After failing technical inspection three times, on Friday evening, Haley’s team was penalized with no qualifying time on Saturday and a pass-through penalty on Sunday. Greg Biffle was handed down the same penalty, so by virtue of points, Haley doesn’t get to start dead last but one spot short of that isn’t bad for Fantasy NASCAR purposes and place differential potential. The only issue with Haley is his pass-through penalty to be served when the field takes the green flag. Compared to Andy Lally from last week, this is a much bigger issue as Haley could be in immediate danger of getting lapped, and should the race stay green until the first segment break, Haley will have a mountain to climb to keep himself the first car one lap down.

For this reason, Haley is not recommended as a cash play for NASCAR DFS lineups because he carries the risk of being stuck in the 30s all day. However, for those willing to embrace the risk, Haley could easily hit the optimal lineup should he stay on the lead lap, or find his way back to it, at a very reasonable price on both DraftKings and FanDuel.

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Author

Phillip Bennetzen

Phill Bennetzen is the creator of the RaceSheets; all-inclusive stats and data NASCAR DFS spreadsheets for the Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup Series. Phill and the RaceSheets can be found at racesheetsdfs.substack.com