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NASCAR Driver Rankings: Top DFS Picks for the 2026 DuraMax Texas Grand Prix

NASCAR Driver Rankings: Top DFS Picks for the 2026 DuraMax Texas Grand Prix

DraftKings Fantasy Advice DFS NASCAR

Published:

By: Pearce Dietrich

NASCAR heads west for its annual West Coast swing. After two weekends of super-speedway racing, the format shifts dramatically. The Cup Series drivers will battle it out on the road course in Austin, Texas.

For NASCAR insight and quick DFS help, follow Pearce Dietrich (@Race4thePrize) on X.

Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $400K Burnout [$100K to 1st] (Cup)

Top DraftKings Picks for the 2026 DuraMax Texas Grand Prix

      1. Shane Van Gisbergen ($13,000) — SVG’s fantasy point average was 66.7 in the six 2025 road course races. That’s too many points to fade. No one is in his league.
      2. Tyler Reddick ($9,500) — Michael Jordan’s No. 45 Toyota is on fire. Tyler Reddick has opened the 2026 season with back-to-back wins. Super-speedway wins aren’t great indicators for future performance, but an Atlanta win provided the momentum for Christopher Bell to win the following week at COTA in 2025.
      3. Christopher Bell ($9,800) — The defending champion won three races in a row at the beginning of last season. It wasn’t just a hot streak. Bell averaged the second most fantasy points at the road courses last season (49.4).
      4. Chase Elliott ($9,000) — His reign as the King of the Road has ended. The entire field is competitive on road courses in the Gen-7 car. There’s also the problem with Van Gisbergen making the Cup Series drivers look like kids. Elliott is still top tier, though. He scored over 40 fantasy points in five of the six 2025 road course races.
      5. Connor Zilisch ($11,500) — A rookie is the second-highest priced driver on the DraftKings Circuit of the Americas slate. It’s not shocking. Con-Zilla is a monster. He’s the only driver that can stand toe-to-toe with his Trackhouse teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. This is Godzilla vs. Kong.
      6. Kyle Larson ($9,200) — The defending Cup Series champion is one of the best road course drivers in the sport. Yung Money is the greatest racer on the planet. The track type or surface doesn’t matter for the Dirt King. His 2025 road stats suggest otherwise — 4.6 fantasy points per race. Not 46, four-point-six. It was a bad year.
      7. Michael McDowell ($7,600) — This price is too low. DraftKings can never nail down McDowell. The price is always too high or too low. He may not be an elite road course driver, but he’s a top 10 driver, and the Gen-7 car has created equipment parity at the road courses.
      8. Alex Bowman ($7,800) — The Showman lives up to his ironic nickname at the road courses. He’s not flashy. He quietly earns finishes above expectations. Bowman finished inside the top 20 in every 2025 road race and earned three top 10 finishes.
      9. Chris Buescher ($8,300) — Some things never change. Buescher has proven he’s one of the best road course drivers in the Cup Series. He was a top 10 driver with inferior equipment. He’s a threat to win with RFK. Buescher should cost at least $9,000.
      10. Ryan Preece ($7,000) — DraftKings has to spread the salaries out somehow. Every driver cannot be a $9,000 driver, but the reality is that half of the field could be $9,000 drivers. Preece has a top 15 finish in each of his last five road course races.
      11. Kyle Busch ($8,000) — Rowdy was one of the first drivers to master COTA. He was the runner up at the road course in Austin, Texas in 2023. He finished ninth in 2024 and scored a top five finish last season.
      12. Daniel Suarez ($6,900) — Will Suarez suffer with Spire? The Trackhouse Racing road-course program was elite. Suarez won at Sonoma in 2022, but his finishes were never quite as good as his teammates. That played a part in his departure. Suarez grew up running road courses in Mexico. COTA can be a statement race for the former O’Reilly Series Champion.
      13. Zane Smith ($6,000) — Front Row Motorsports’ former Truck Series Champion had a solid season on the road courses in 2024 — five top 20 finishes. His 2025 season was a step back, but he was an optimal DraftKings fantasy NASCAR pick in two of the six races.
      14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($5,300) — No one believes that “Wrecky” is a good road course driver, but that doesn’t matter with the Gen-7 car in the modern racing format. Good enough is good enough. Good enough is plenty at his price. Stenhouse scored over 30 fantasy points in three road course races last season.
      15. Riley Herbst ($4,900) — It’s inevitable that several top-tier road course drivers will botch COTA qualifying. Van Gisbergen soaks up $13,000 of salary. Punts are plays. Herbst has plenty of road course experience and his 23XI Toyota is more than capable of a top 20 finish. Herbst finished 17th at COTA in 2025.

      Pearce Dietrich

      I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user 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 skills 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.