Pearce Dietrich gives his picks and ranks his top drivers for the 2026 Cup Series NASCAR FireKeepers Casino at Michigan.
The Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400. The two-mile oval sits in the Irish Hills, fifty miles down the road from Detroit. The rankings below cover the top fifteen drivers in the field.
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Top DraftKings Picks for the FireKeepers Casino
- Denny Hamlin ($11,000) — DraftKings Fantasy NASCAR contests are won by picking the drivers that lead laps and run fast laps. Some call the combination dominator points. Some call them hog points. Either way, Hamlin is the dominator or hog king this season.
- Tyler Reddick ($10,700) — The baby Yoda movie may have bombed at the box office, but the Yodas are dominating the 2026 season. The Toyota at the top is a tie between Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin. The recent wins have gone the way of the No. 11 JGR Toyota, but the 23XI Racing No. 45 has the same speed.
- Kyle Larson ($10,500) — The two-mile intermediate tracks have always been special for Yung Money. He earned victories for Chip Ganassi Racing at Michigan and Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, CA). Larson has not won a two-mile intermediate-track race with Hendrick, but he has top-5 finishes in two of the last three Michigan races.
- Ryan Blaney ($10,200) — His 2021 Michigan International Speedway win was in a different package, but the Gen 7 package is just as fast as previous stock car generations. Blaney has always been strong at the flat-out fast tracks.
- Ty Gibbs ($9,500) — This is the perfect storm. Gibbs is having a breakthrough season and Michigan is his best Cup Series track — back-to-back podiums (2024-2025) and finishes of 11th (JGR in 2023) and 10th (23XI fill-in driver in 2022).
- Christopher Bell ($10,000) — Is Bell JGR’s new Matt Kenseth? Hamlin gets the wins; Bell gets the weekly top 10s. Track history goes against Bell. Current form — back-to-back runner-up finishes (Charlotte and Nashville) — rings the bell.
- William Byron ($9,100) — Parity is the norm in the Gen-7 car. The top 20 is close. The top 5 are even closer. Byron has top-5 speed, but he has not broken through. He can run up front and control this race.
- Chase Elliott ($9,300) — This has been a turnaround season for the No. 24 Hendrick Chevy. The new body has not been a problem for crew chief Alan Gustafson. Elliott earned ten top-10 finishes in 11 Michigan races before the Gen-7 car. He has zero in this package, but this season his team might have figured out the package.
- Brad Keselowski ($7,900) — The Michigander wants this one. Keselowski has never won at his home track. He’s been close — three straight top-10 finishes. Regardless of a win, place differential and a top 10 are all that matter in DFS.
- Chase Briscoe ($9,300) — How does a driver earn finishes of third, second, and third in three of the last four races this season and get dismissed? Watch it happen. Briscoe is hot but he’s not on top. The No. 19 JGR Toyota could be No. 1 at Michigan.
- Chris Buescher ($8,900) — Boring is good. DFS players chase the exotic. They play big names and chase no names. Buescher falls through the cracks until the slate cracks. He is the ultimate leverage play. His floor is high. His ceiling is low, but he’s consistently near it.
- Erik Jones ($7,300) — Stats or storylines? This isn’t WWE, but with the Gen-7 car and shared SMT data, the difference is often will. It’s irrational until it’s rational. Jones — small-team driver but Michigan native — averages a finish of 11.5 at Michigan in the Gen 7 car.
- Joey Logano ($8,200) — It appears that luck has run out for Lucky Logano. He’s a great driver. His wins are earned. Some of those wins were heavily influenced by luck or circumstance. How many times has Logano won a Pennzoil-sponsored race in a Pennzoil car? Michigan was formerly owned by Roger Penske. This one means more.
- Zane Smith ($6,800) — Everyone agrees parity permeates the Cup Series. Half of the field, if not all the field, is separated by tenths of a second every week. If a driver repeats success amidst the anarchy of equality, then take note. Smith finished seventh at Michigan in 2024 (Spire) and 2025 (Front Row). He won the 2020 Truck Series race at Michigan as a rookie for Gallagher Motor Sports without one practice lap.
- Ty Dillon ($5,000) — For the low, low price of $5,000 DraftKings DFS players can pick a driver that has a top-15 finish in three of the last five oval races. Dillon is averaging an 18th-place finish over that span. Kaulig Racing is coming to life.
