NASCAR is racing under the lights on Easter Sunday. DraftKings is celebrating the holiday by rewarding the winner of the featured fantasy NASCAR contest with a $100K grand prize. Check out the DFS NASCAR rankings below and make your fantasy racing picks for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $400K Engineer [$100K to 1st] (Cup)
1. Christopher Bell ($11,000) — Testing matters. Bell ran the short-track package test at Phoenix. He won the 2024 Phoenix race. Bell tested the new package at Richmond last season. Richmond has always been one of his best tracks.
2. Martin Truex Jr ($10,800) — The short-track package debuted at Phoenix a couple of weeks ago. Christopher Bell and Martin Truex were the class of the field. Truex’s ability to maximize speed on a long run could lead to a top-5 NASCAR DFS score at Richmond.
3. Denny Hamlin ($11,200) — The Toyotas were fast at Phoenix. Denny Hamlin was fast on pit road. The latter might prove to be more significant in the Richmond race. The best place to make gains at this short track is on pit road.
4. Ty Gibbs ($10,000) — It’s Toyota time. It’s Gibbs’ time. The young driver is coming into his own. We are watching the next great driver develop week after week. He’s expected to win multiple races this season. The 2024 Cup Series Championship may soon be the expectation.
5. Chris Buescher ($9,300) — RFK was fast at Richmond last season. Buescher plowed through the field and won the fall Richmond race. Despite starting 26th at a track where passing is limited, he went on to lead the second-most laps and score the most fantasy NASCAR points (103.25 DKFP).
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6. William Byron ($10,500) — Almost all of the boxes are checked. Byron is hot and he ran well at Richmond last season. Contact on pit road ruined his fall race at Richmond. He led the most laps in the spring but wrecked during a late-race restart.
7. Brad Keselowski ($8,200) — His RFK teammate, Chris Buescher, won the race but Keselowski led the most laps at Richmond in the fall 2023 race. Keselowski would likely have won the race if not for a poor pit stop late in the race.
8. Kyle Larson ($10,200) — His team nailed the setup, and he won the 2023 spring race. The No. 5 Hendrick team missed the setup in the fall, and Larson struggled at Richmond. The setup will change this season with the new short-track package. Will Hendrick unlock the new package or will the Toyotas run away with this race?
9. Tyler Reddick ($8,700) — The JGR Toyotas are hogging the spotlight. There is only so much room on the stage. This doesn’t mean that Reddick isn’t a star. He scored the second-highest driver rating earlier this season at Phoenix and led the third-most laps at Richmond last fall.
10. Bubba Wallace ($7,700) — The 2023 fall Richmond race was a comedy of errors on pit road for the 23XI Toyotas. Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace each led the third-most laps at the flat, short track. They both had terrible days on pit road.
11. Ryan Blaney ($9,500) — How quickly things change. Toyota is the talk of the town. The RFK Fords have emerged as contenders. Hendrick is never left out of the conversation. What about Penske? What about the defending Cup Series Champion? Blaney finished fifth at Phoenix.
12. Chase Elliott ($9,000) — Phoenix was one race. It’s a little quick to crown the Toyotas the kings of the new short-track package. They clearly have an edge, but how significant is their advantage? Have the Hendrick engineers closed the gap? Elliott turned 148 laps inside the top 5 and 214 inside the top 10 at Phoenix. The gap wasn’t that wide.
13. Ross Chastain ($8,500) — The smaller teams might struggle with the new short-track package. Trackhouse may be focusing their resources on more winnable tracks. Chastain struggled at Richmond last fall during his summer slump. He finished sixth at Phoenix in the fourth race of this season, but his finish was inflated by a strategy call.
14. Chase Briscoe ($7,600) — Who is the star for SHR? Which young driver is the leader? That remains in question but their speed is not. The SHR Fords had top-10 speed at Phoenix. The entire team had speed at Richmond last fall.
15. Erik Jones ($6,600) — This might not be a premier Toyota, but Jones’ Legacy Motor Club Toyota had speed at Phoenix. He struggled in dirty air but this isn’t a 10K Toyota. A solid finish will suffice. Jones was on his way to a possible top-10 finish at Phoenix, but he wrecked during a Stage 3 restart.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $400K 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.
