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NASCAR Fantasy Rankings: Top DraftKings Picks for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

NASCAR Fantasy Rankings: Top DraftKings Picks for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

NASCAR DraftKings Fantasy Advice DFS

Published:

By: Pearce Dietrich

Daytona International Speedway rewards chaos as much as speed, and the Coke Zero 400 rarely disappoints on that front. Superspeedway racing flips the usual DFS logic on its head, where survival and track position matter more than raw pace. Here’s a full breakdown of the drivers worth rostering — and the strategy behind building a winning DraftKings lineup this week.

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

Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $222K Burnout [$50K to 1st] (Cup)

RELATED NASCAR Best Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

Top DraftKings Picks for the Coke Zero 400

  1. Ryan Blaney ($10,500) — The popular strategy at Daytona and Talladega is “stack in the back.” Half the field wrecks out. The drivers starting in the back default to the top 15. They bank finishing position points and place differential points. Blaney is the contrarian pick. He starts up front but can pile up laps-led points.
  2. Tyler Reddick ($9,700) — Does anyone remember the beginning of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series? Here’s a refresher. Reddick won the first three races. Those races include the Daytona 500 and the superspeedway race at Atlanta.
  3. Chase Elliott ($9,900) — Safety or shoot the moon? Elliott has not won at Daytona in the Gen-7 package. He does have the best top-15 finish rate (67% in nine races).
  4. Chris Buescher ($8,500) — The RFK Ford driver is always overlooked. It’s hard to look away. Buescher is an underrated road course driver and superspeedway driver. In nine Gen-7 races at Daytona, Buescher has a win and six top 10s.
  5. Joey Logano ($10,000) — Team Penske is hot. The schedule of flat, short tracks played to their strength. Will the streak continue? Logano finished third in the 2026 Daytona 500. He’s earned a top-five finish in three of the last seven at Daytona. His other four races were finishes out of the top 25.
  6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($8,100) — It wouldn’t be a DraftKings fantasy NASCAR rankings for Daytona without Wrecky Spinhouse. Stenhouse has four superspeedway wins during his career. He was the runner-up in the 2026 Daytona 500 and finished sixth at Talladega in the spring.
  7. William Byron ($10,400) — Place differential is huge. The NASCAR DFS standard is to fade the front of the grid and build lineups with drivers starting deep in the field. It’s not that easy. The optimal lineup almost always includes the winner regardless of starting position. Byron won the Daytona 500 in 2024 and 2025.
  8. Zane Smith ($5,900) — Trust the stats. It’s Daytona. The back of each driver’s trading card isn’t pretty compared to other tracks. A 50% top-15 finish rate is well above average. Smith earned a top-15 finish in 67% of his races at Daytona (six races).
  9. Alex Bowman ($6,900) — It’s one of those weeks. Embrace the superspeedway. Bowman has four top-10 finishes in his seven races at Daytona (Gen-7 package). He also has two DNFs in those seven races.
  10. Ty Dillon ($5,000) — Kaulig Racing knows superspeedways. Their track record is better in the O’Reilly Series, but their Cup Series program is competitive. Dillon isn’t a killer but he’s a survivor. In seven Gen-7 races at Daytona, Dillon has five top-20 finishes.
  11. Daniel Suarez ($6,700) — Who has Suarez as a top-three superspeedway driver on your bingo card? In 28 superspeedway races in the Gen-7 package, Suarez has the third best top-15 finish rate (57%).
  12. Ross Chastain ($7,500) — Similar to his former Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez, Chastain has been good at the superspeedways overall. The catch is Daytona has been the weakest of the three tracks for the two. Chastain made a name for himself at superspeedways in the O’Reilly Series.
  13. Noah Gragson ($5,400) — Front Row Motorsports has always built a quality plate-track program. David Ragan and Michael McDowell have earned underdog wins at superspeedways racing for FRM. Gragson finished 11th at Daytona to open the season and ninth at Talladega.
  14. Kyle Larson ($9,500) — Differentiation matters in DraftKings GPPs. Everyone is stacking the back. The pivot is drivers that no one wants to touch. Larson isn’t terrible at Daytona, but his results pale in comparison to other tracks. That doesn’t matter, but it influences ownership. Yung Money has never won a Cup Series plate-track race, but the day will come because he wins everywhere.
  15. Cody Ware ($4,900) — How rando can you go? There are no rules other than the one NASCAR DFS rule — stack in the back. Chasing place differential means targeting the lower tier starting in the rear. Ware will finish nowhere near the front, but if he finishes, like he usually does, he can earn over 20 place differential points.

Pearce Dietrich
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.