The NASCAR schedule makes another hard turn. After a two-week break, NASCAR made its return at a short track with an option tire. The option tire will stay home as NASCAR heads north to the two-mile intermediate track in the Irish Hills of Michigan. DraftKings is celebrating stock car racing in the heart of the auto industry with a $100K grand prize fantasy NASCAR contest. Check out the DFS NASCAR rankings below and make your fantasy racing picks for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $333K Engineer [$100K to 1st] (Cup)
1. Denny Hamlin ($10,500) — The spring schedule featured five consecutive intermediate track races. Hamlin earned five successive top-five finishes including a win (Dover) and a runner-up finish (Gateway).
2. Kyle Larson ($10,700) — The most recent intermediate-track race was the Brickyard 400. Larson won. Indy isn’t Michigan. The package is the same but the setups are different. Hendrick has speed at every intermediate track. They know the setups.
3. Ryan Blaney ($10,300) — Team Penske unlocked speed earlier this summer. All of their cars came to life. Blaney is the most alive. He won at Iowa (short-track package) and Pocono (intermediate-track package).
4. Martin Truex Jr ($10,000) — The No. 19 JGR Toyota was a rocket at Michigan in 2023. Truex was fast in clean air. He was fast in traffic. A poorly executed pass attempt for the lead relegated Truex to a runner-up finish.
5. Christopher Bell ($9,800) — Can Bell run a clean race at Michigan? Bell has been a contender in each Michigan race over the last several seasons. His JGR Toyota had speed but Bell lacked patience. Aggressively driving the car over the edge of grip has thrown away possible wins.
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6. William Byron ($9,100) — The No. 24 Hendrick Chevy has throttled down. Byron started the season hot with three wins in the first seven races. He hasn’t won since Martinsville. The car is fast but it doesn’t look like a championship ride.
7. Tyler Reddick ($9,600) — The 23XI Toyotas are getting hot at the right time. Excluding Iowa, Reddick is averaging a fourth-place finish in the last nine races. Those nine races were at diverse tracks. Weekly speed across the summer schedule is quite the engineering feat.
8. Brad Keselowski ($9,000) — Michigan is Keselowski’s home track. He wants to win at Michigan more than anything in the world. He’s 0-for-26 at the two-mile intermediate track. His teammate won the 400-mile Michigan race in 2023.
9. Chris Buescher ($8,600) — Pit strategy handed Buescher the lead in Stage 3 of the Michigan 2023 race. Buescher took advantage of clean air and held on for the win despite not having as much speed as Martin Truex Jr.
10. Joey Logano ($8,800) — Austin Dillon ($6,300) bulldozed his way to a win at Richmond. Logano was one of the cars shoved to the side. Revenge will come but not at Michigan. This track is too fast for payback. Logano is too fast to risk his car in tit-for-tat payback.
11. Chase Elliott ($9,300) — Hendrick has speed. Hendrick had problems at Michigan last season. Three of their four cars ran into issues during the race. Elliott has cooled off but has a top-10 finish in the last three races.
12. Bubba Wallace ($8,300) — Michigan is a track where Wallace can win. He was the runner-up in the 2022 Michigan race. The track favors equipment over skill. Wallace has skill, but he’s not elite. That doesn’t matter at this intermediate track. The winner needs race-winning speed. The Toyotas have that speed at Michigan.
13. Ross Chastain ($8,100) — Trackhouse Racing put in work over the break. Chastain has been a disappointment in 2024. That changed in the first race after the break. Chastain finished fifth at Richmond.
14. Chase Briscoe ($6,400) — The No. 14 SHR Ford is a top-15 car at intermediate tracks. The SHR Fords have been strong at Michigan over the years. Kevin Harvick drove the No. 4 car to Victory Lane at Michigan in 2022. A win is a reach but a top-10 finish is within reach.
15. Todd Gilliland ($6,000) — The top-20 finishes keep on coming. Gilly has earned a top-20 finish in 11 of the last 12 races. Those 12 races were at diverse tracks. The results are a testament to the growth of Front Row Motorsports and their technical alliance with Team Penske.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $333K 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.
