NASCAR is pack racing for the third time in the last two months and for the second time in the playoffs. DraftKings is celebrating stock cars at the chaotic superspeedway with a $25K grand prize fantasy NASCAR contest. Check out the DFS NASCAR rankings below and make your fantasy racing picks for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $111K Engineer [$25K to 1st] (Cup)
1. Ryan Blaney ($10,000) — Some drivers just know pack racing. Several drivers over the years have beaten the odds and the field at an incredible rate. It’s super-speedway racing. Drivers are supposed to wreck. Blaney doesn’t.
2. Denny Hamlin ($9,100) — This could be Hamlin’s last chance to win the dance. Past JGR drivers who lost their longtime sponsors late in their careers declined in performance. FedEx is shipping out. Hamlin needs to ship up and a superspeedway is a great place for Hamlin to step up.
3. Chase Elliott ($9,500) — The wins are missing but the speed isn’t. Elliott has a top-5 car. He’ll have a race-winning ride at Talladega. The race winner we’ll be an optimal DFS NASCAR pick. Elliott is a favorite to win.
4. Alex Bowman ($7,600) — The 2024 dark horse championship run keeps chugging along. Talladega and The Roval suit Bowman’s strengths. The problem with Bowman isn’t Bowman. It’s DFS. Hendrick always qualifies up front.
5. William Byron ($9,400) — Hendrick Motorsports has the best super-speedway cars. They are all affordable on a Talladega DFS slate. They are also avoidable given their propensity to start inside the top 10. They all can win, too. The winner will be in the winning DFS NASCAR lineup.
For more NASCAR insights and quick DFS help, follow Pearce Dietrich (@Race4thePrize) on X.
6. Justin Haley ($6,800) — His career began with a super-speedway win with Spire. Haley rejoined the team last week. Spire has been competitive at the drafting tracks and Haley has one of the best top-10 finish rates in these races.
7. Ross Chastain ($8,300) — Scared driving is never good. It’s an especially bad idea at Talladega. The playoff drivers are scared. Chastain isn’t scared. He’s never scared.
8. Joey Logano ($9,800) — The Team Penske No. 22 Ford isn’t a championship car. That hasn’t impeded Logano in the past. Logano is a great plate racer. Talladega sets up as a great race for Logano to slide into the next round.
9. Kyle Busch ($8,800) — This is it. Busch knows it. His win streak is on the line. Talladega is the last realistic chance for the RCR driver to extend his 18-season win streak.
10. Kyle Larson ($9,200) — The pitch remains the same. Larson is too good to continue to perform poorly in Cup Series super-speedway races. It’s just luck. It will turn at some time. And yet it never does.
11. Daniel Suarez ($7,400) — A championship run might seem like a stretch, but Talladega and The Roval are winnable races for the surprise Round of 12 playoff driver. Suarez won at Atlanta and has finished 11th or better in three of the last four Talladega races.
12. Austin Cindric ($8,100) — This is a special situation for Cindric. The Cup Series championship is not a pipe dream. Talladega and The Roval are great tracks for the young Penske driver. Cindric must seize the moment.
13. Anthony Alfredo ($5,400) — Beard Motorsports puts together decent super-speedway cars with help from RCR. Brendan Gaughan, Noah Gragson ($7,100) and Alfredo have earned top-10 finishes at pack races in the past. Alfredo finished sixth at Talladega in the spring. He finished 11th and 12th in his other two Talladega races (2021).
14. J.J. Yeley ($5,000) — The NY Racing No. 44 Chevy can compete at Talladega. Yeley finished 23rd at Atlanta but ran all of the laps. Super-speedway racing has changed. The super speed is gone. The cars are equal and the drivers are saving fuel. Yeley’s small team can hang in there when drivers are only running at 70%.
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr ($7,200) — It wouldn’t be a DK Network Fantasy NASCAR Rankings article without a Wrecky Spinhouse appearance. The three-time super-speedway winner enters this race with nothing to lose, so JTG Daugherty will turn him loose. It’s checkers or wreckers. That’s the DFS NASCAR archetype at Talladega, Daytona and Atlanta.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $111K Engineer [$25K 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.
