The rankings below are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings NASCAR salaries for Sunday. The order is not based on the highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by the DFS value of each driver.
The DraftKings NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta slate locks at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $444K ENGINEER [$100K TO 1ST] (CUP)
1. Ross Chastain ($10,000) — The new Atlanta no longer favors man and machine. It favors luck like most super speedways (Daytona and Talladega). This is not completely true. It did appear that in the two Atlanta races last season that some cars had a little bit of an edge on the field. Chastain had one of those cars.
2. Ryan Blaney ($10,400) — Atlanta is a 1.5-mile super speedway. It’s a plate track or pack-racing track. Call it whatever you want. Blaney calls it a survival track. He has not only survived plate-track races but has won at Daytona and Talladega.
3. William Byron ($10,900) — Hendrick’s super-speedway program is the best in the Cup Series. William Byron led the most laps and won the inaugural Atlanta race. Two of his teammates rounded out the top 10.
4. Kyle Larson ($11,200) — If luck is an important and unquantifiable metric for super speedways, then Larson isn’t coming in with great form. He should have won at Las Vegas and Phoenix. His car had race-winning speed at Fontana but suffered an early wiring issue. Perhaps, Larson has used up all of his bad luck.
5. Alex Bowman ($9,100) — Chase Elliott led the most laps and won the summer race at his home track in Atlanta. William Bryon achieved the same feat in the first race in Atlanta. Now, it’s Bowman’s turn or all the Hendrick cars could wreck — it is a plate race.
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6. Daniel Suarez ($7,800) — There might be something different about Atlanta. The Hendrick setup dominated and so did the Trackhouse Racing setup. Ross Chastain earned two runner-up finishes and Suarez finished sixth and fourth.
7. Kevin Harvick ($9,300) — The new Atlanta breaks Harvick’s heart. He dominated the February Atlanta races on the old, worn-out surface. He was safe last year with two top-15 finishes. His plate-racing results have been trending in that direction.
8. Aric Almirola ($7,000) — From the DFS NASCAR perspective, no one has been a better plate-track pick than Almirola. Since the inception of DraftKings Fantasy NASCAR, Almirola has been in the optimal lineup 10 times.
9. Michael McDowell ($5,700) — He is one of the best representations of plate racing. He finished third and eighth at Talladega last season, and he wrecked out of both Daytona races. His Atlanta results were mixed (15th and 24th).
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr ($6,700) — We’ve seen this movie before. Stenhouse comes in with all of the confidence in the world. He’s either going to win or hit everything in sight.
11. Erik Jones ($7,500) — Sometimes drivers go on plate-track heaters. Jones in on a little bit of one. The Legacy Motor Club driver earned a top-5 finish and top-15 finish at Atlanta in 2022. He’s earned a top-10 finish in five of the last six Talladega races.
12. Denny Hamlin ($9,800) — There is a debate over who is the best restrictor-plate racer of all time, but Hamlin is a part of that debate. The first season of the new ATL didn’t work out for Hamlin, but he’s been hot at Talladega — five top-10 finishes in the last seven races.
13. Bubba Wallace ($10,800) — Although his racing acumen has improved at all track types, super speedways are still Bubba’s bread and butter. His two top-15 finishes at Atlanta were not exceptional, but to finish first, first one must finish.
14. Justin Haley ($6,100) — With multiple super-speedway wins, a strong argument can be made that Haley is the best pack racer in the field. He should be $8,000 at the very least, but DraftKings forgot that Atlanta Motor Speedway underwent a major change last season.
15. Noah Gragson ($5,500) — Apparently, DraftKings didn’t get the memo. Atlanta was repaved and reconfigured in 2022. DraftKings slapped intermediate track salaries on all of the drivers instead of super-speedway prices. Gragson has Cup Series plate-track experience and has Xfinity Series wins at Daytona and Talladega.
Set your DraftKings fantasy NASCAR lineups here: NAS $444K ENGINEER [$100K 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.