The DFS NASCAR rankings below are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings Fantasy NASCAR salaries. The order is not based on the highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by the DFS value of each driver.
The DraftKings NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond slate locks at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $350K ENGINEER [$100K TO 1ST] (CUP)
1. Kevin Harvick ($10,800) — The old man isn’t done. Harvick was on his way to the win at Phoenix several weeks ago before a late-race caution shuffled the field on pit road. He did win the last race at Richmond.
2. Kyle Larson ($10,600) — Speed matters. Luck matters. Larson has all of the speed and none of the luck. No other driver has been faster this season and no other driver has been unluckier.
3. William Byron ($11,000) — Kyle Larson is faster but the breaks have gone Byron’s way. The No. 24 Hendrick Chevy is almost as fast as Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Chevy. It’s not that Byron has gotten lucky. He has elite speed. He just has not caught any bad breaks.
4. Denny Hamlin ($10,100) — Byron and Larson have been the fastest drivers in 2023. Hamlin is a distant third in terms of fast laps. Richmond is a home track for Hamlin. He won the spring 2022 race at this short track.
5. Christopher Bell ($10,300) — Richmond is one of Bell’s best tracks. He nearly won the fall race in 2022. He translated his Xfinity short-track success by winning Cup races at New Hampshire and Martinsville in 2022. Richmond is the next on the list.
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6. Martin Truex Jr ($9,900) — In the spring race at Richmond, Truex unloaded fast but got the strategy wrong. In the fall race, Truex was in the mix again but Ricky Stenhouse wrecked into him on pit road. Before the fall race, Treux had a top-4 driver rating in nine consecutive Richmond races.
7. Joey Logano ($9,400) — Wins are overrated. Logano finished sixth at Richmond last fall but he scored 123 DKFP. A bad day on pit road ruined his 2022 spring race. From 2017 to 2021, Logano earned a top-5 finish in seven of the nine Richmond races.
8. Kyle Busch ($9,700) — He is currently on a streak of 10 consecutive top-10 finishes at Richmond. He could have won the spring race last season but a questionable black flag in Stage 3 (illegal tape) forced Busch to pit under green.
9. Ty Gibbs ($7,300) — The JGR Toyotas had a lot of speed at Richmond last season. They had speed in the Xfinity Series, too. Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek battled it out in Stage 3 with Gibbs pulling out the victory with some aggressive driving on the final lap.
10. Brad Keselowski ($8,300) — The RFK Fords seem to have taken a step forward. His car is not as fast as the Penske Ford he won with at Richmond in 2020, but it’s faster than his salary indicates. At Phoenix, Keselowski ran inside the top 5 for one-third of the race.
11. Ross Chastain ($8,700) — Is there such a thing as a Ross Chastain track? His statistical sample size is small because he has limited experience in great equipment. He’s in great equipment now, and he’s aggressive. Those are two key components for DFS NASCAR picks.
12. Ryan Blaney ($8,800) — Short, flat tracks have been good to Blaney, but Richmond has not been. Blaney will be the first to admit that he struggles at the 0.75 mile, D-shaped, short track. That being said, he may have figured it out. He won the pole last spring, and led 128 laps on his way to a seventh-place finish.
13. Alex Bowman ($9,200) — In 2021, Bowman won at three short tracks. Two of those wins were at short, flat tracks and one was at Richmond. Bowman had a top-10 driver rating at Phoenix several weeks ago.
14. Josh Berry ($7,900) — Chase Elliott is still out. Berry did not run the Cup Series race at COTA, but he earned a top-10 finish in the No. 9 Hendrick Chevy at Phoenix. The late model superstar will get plenty of reps between the Xfinity Series and Cup Series races at the short track in Richmond.
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr ($5,700) — His price does not match his performance at Richmond. Over the last 11 Richmond races, he has averaged a 20th-place finish. His finishes rank in the top half of the field but his salary is in the bottom quarter of the field.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $350K ENGINEER [$100K TO 1ST] (CUP)
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is greenflagradio2) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.