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NASCAR Fantasy Rankings: Top DraftKings Picks for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond

NASCAR Fantasy Rankings: Top DraftKings Picks for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond

NASCAR DraftKings Fantasy Advice DFS

Published:

By: Pearce Dietrich

Richmond Raceway hosts the Cup Series this weekend for the Cook Out 400. The 0.75-mile short track rewards track position and clean air over raw speed. Here’s the full DraftKings breakdown for building a winning lineup.

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

Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $250K Burnout [$50K to 1st] (Cup)

RELATED NASCAR Best Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond

Top DraftKings Picks for the Cook Out 400

  1. Christopher Bell ($11,200) — Iowa was Bell’s seventh runner-up finish this season. Bettors hate bridesmaids. DFS players don’t mind. Richmond, like Iowa, is another great short track for the No. 20 JGR Toyota driver.
  2. Denny Hamlin ($11,500) — How does a driver earn a top-five finish in a car without brakes? Hamlin entered Sunday’s race hoping to earn a top-25 finish. If Hamlin can do that at one of his least experienced tracks, then watch out. Richmond is Hamlin’s home track.
  3. Ty Gibbs ($10,000) — The Toyotas have mastered the 2026 short-track package. The JGR drivers are short-track super heroes. Gibbs is the Spider-Man of NASCAR’s Avengers. Gibbs is young and topping the charts. He earned his second short-track win of the season at Iowa last weekend.
  4. Ryan Blaney ($11,000) — Clean air is king, but so are the JGR Toyotas. When Blaney had it at Iowa, he was off and running, but not running away. Blaney settled for a podium at Iowa, but finishing position points are just one DFS NASCAR scoring category. He scored 62 Hog Points (fast-lap and lap-led points).
  5. Kyle Larson ($9,700) — Young Money is tearing up the dirt tracks. Unfortunately, in the NASCAR Cup Series, he’s also been tearing up cash — finishes of 34th, 34th, 15th, 39th and 33rd in his last five races. The No. 5 Hendrick Chevy is fast, but it’s cursed.
  6. Chase Briscoe ($9,500) — Richmond was always one of Martin Truex’s best tracks. The torch has been passed to Briscoe. The hand-off has been smooth at most short tracks, but there’s been a slight bobble at Richmond.
  7. Joey Logano ($10,500) — The Team Penske Fords have speed at the short tracks. Logano smoked the field at the short track just down the state in North Carolina (North Wilkesboro). Richmond is another legendary, short flat track. Logano has a top-10 finish in five of the last six Richmond races and three top fives in the last four.
  8. Tyler Reddick ($9,000) — Richmond isn’t Reddick’s worst track. That’s Martinsville. Richmond is his second-worst. There’s a theme. Reddick struggles at short, flat tracks.
  9. Bubba Wallace ($8,500) — Toyota, Toyota, Toyota! It gets old for fans, but old is good in fantasy NASCAR. Wallace had a top-five wARP (weighted average running position) at North Wilkesboro. That number dropped to top-15 speed at Iowa, but Bubba did that without brakes. Toyota is on top.
  10. Austin Dillon ($8,300) — Is Austin Dillon a villain? His back-to-back Richmond wins weren’t the cleanest, but no one is counting. DFS players are counting on a third-straight RCR Richmond win.
  11. William Byron ($9,200) — Slow and steady wins the race. Well, it doesn’t win a real race, but it can win a NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Byron doesn’t win and top 10s don’t work at his price.
  12. Chris Buescher ($7,900) — Is RFK toast? Their Fords are ghosts. They haven’t been seen since all three drivers missed the 2025 playoffs. Buescher won at Richmond in 2023, but it’s not 2023 anymore.
  13. Chase Elliott ($8,700) — “How you know?” Why is everyone so certain that the Toyotas are leaps-and-bounds ahead of the Chevrolets and Fords in the short-track package? Erik Jones ($6,000) has a better wARP than Elliott. Jones drives for a tertiary Toyota team (Legacy Motor Club). That’s how you know.
  14. Todd Gilliland ($5,600) — Through all time and history, no one named Todd has ever been a star. There have been a couple in MLB, but they’ve never been given their due. It’s the same for the NASCAR Todd. The small team Ford driver earned a top-10 wARP at North Wilkesboro and top-20 at Iowa.
  15. Carson Hocevar ($7,700) — It’s time to recognize that Spire Motorsports has speed this season. How does a team rapidly improve? Allegedly Chris Gabehart stole JGR’s setups. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Hocevar earned a top-15 finish in each of the last two Richmond races before the theft.

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.