NASCAR DraftKings Fantasy Driver Rankings: Sunoco 159 at the Daytona Road Course DFS Picks

Rankings below are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings’ NASCAR salaries for that day. The ordering is not based on the highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by the value of each driver.

The Sunoco 159 at the Daytona Road Course slate locks at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday. Set your DraftKings lineups here: NTS $40K Octane [$10K to 1st] (Trucks)

1. Alex Tagliani ($10,800) - He’s the best road racer in the field and he’s driving the best truck (No. 51 KBM truck). Tagliani has experience at the Daytona Road Course, as well. He’s a favorite to win but he doesn’t have to win because he’s starting 21st. It will be shocking if Taglani is not the highest-owned driver on Sunday.

2. Brett Moffitt ($9,300) - There is one driver in the field with a NASCAR road course win, and that’s Brett Moffit. Not only did he win at Bowmanville (Candian road course), but he led 69% of the race.

3. Matt Crafton ($10,000) - No one has Daytona Road Course truck racing experience, but Crafton has plenty of road racing experience. A lifetime ago, Crafton finished second in a Gen 3 car on the L.A. Street Circuit, and no this wasn’t the phony “Baywatch” race where David Hasselhoff in the AOL car finished second to Mark Martin.

4. Mark Smith ($4,800) - A Niece Motorsports truck is priced under $5,000 and it’s starting 35th. If you were driving a Niece truck starting 35th for $4,800, I would have 100% of “person reading my article” in my lineups. Smith isn’t a road racer, he’s a dirt racer. But as long as he takes care of the truck he should easily finish inside the top 25.

5. Derek Kraus ($7,900) - Surprisingly, the rookie has more road course experience than most of the field and his results haven’t been bad. In K&N races, Kraus finished fifth, 10th and 19th at Sonoma and he earned a ninth-place finish at Watkins Glen.

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6. Ben Rhodes ($8,400) - Last year, Rhodes had the second-best average running position at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. That performance in no way will predict his Daytona outcome but at the very least Rhodes has proven he can run a road course in a truck. Not many drivers can say that.

7. Johnny Sauter ($9,800) - Truck road racing experience matters. Sauter has finished eighth or better in the past six Truck Series road course races. He’ll need at least a top 5 to be optimal but that’s doable considering his truck was the best truck last weekend at Michigan.

8. Parker Kligerman ($9,600) - He has road racing experience and he’ll have iRacing experience. Kligerman is one of those guys that can and will race anything. He’s always jumping into rides, so this weekend will be nothing new to him. His best Xfinity finish was at Road America.

9. Ty Majeski ($7,200) - The closest the drivers can get to practice is iRacing. This should be an advantage for the greatest iRacer of all time. Not only is Majeski getting familiar with the track’s visuals and braking zones but his team is learning how to setup his truck via the sim.

10. Todd Gilliland ($8,200) - In three road course truck races with Kyle Busch Motorsports, Gilliland’s average finish is 13th. The stats never tell the whole story, however. In the 2018 race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Gilliland had the lead on the final lap and his teammate Noah Gragson wrecked him.

11. Stewart Friesen ($8,800) - It’s been a disastrous year for Friesen and the DFS players that have chased the place differential points that he offers weekly. Here we are again. Friesen is starting 22nd and his salary is affordable. He has two seventh-place finishes in Truck Series road races at Bowmanville.

12. Kris Wright ($10,500) - It’s a GMS truck and Wright has a second-place finish in the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The notebook on Wright is slim. He won an IMSA race at Watkins Glen in 2018. His high price seems to reflect his starting position in a 44-lap race.

13. Sheldon Creed ($9,100) - The stats are slim if they exist at all. Creed does have some data points to reference. He finished fourth at Bowmanville last season and earned a top-10 finish in a 32-car field at Sonoma in a K&N West race in 2017.

14. Austin Hill ($9,400) - Very few drivers have road racing backgrounds. No one has any experience at the Daytona Road Course in a stock car or truck. This race will likely come down to the driver with the best truck and the best team and Hill fits that criteria.

15. Grant Enfinger ($8,900) - He has the equipment and the team to compete but he does not appear to have the talent this weekend. In three road races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Enfinger has never recorded a top-10 finish and that’s with practice.

16. Zane Smith ($8,100) - He’ll have a good truck and the best starting position but that advantage will likely be negated by his lack of road course experience. A best-case scenario is that he grits out a top-10 finish but the negative place differential won’t work in DFS.

17. Christian Eckes ($8,600) - The truck and the team will be prepared but he will not be. It’s possible that Eckes earns a top-5 finish because his KBM truck is that good and the field is that inexperienced but a top-5 finish more than likely will not be optimal.

18. Austin Wayne Self ($7,000) - When he doesn’t wreck his truck it’s a top-20 truck. In four Truck Series road races, AWS is averaging a 15th-place finish. There are no guarantees this weekend but at least Self has some stats that will comfort DFS players as they leap into the unknown.

19. Natalie Decker ($4,600) - Believe it or not, Natalie Decker is one of the most experienced Daytona Road Course drivers in the field. If you close your browser right now, it’s completely understood. Decker finished eighth in a class of 15 drivers in the 2018 Trans Am race at Daytona.

20. Bobby Reuse ($6,100)/Roger Reuse ($5,000) - Let’s do a two for one. The Reuse brothers are back road racing again and they’re in similar equipment, but I give a slight edge to Bobby in the Clay Greenfield truck. The brothers have raced a couple of times at Bowmanville in the past three seasons and their combined average finish is 23rd.

Set your DraftKings lineups here: NTS $40K Octane [$10K to 1st] (Trucks)

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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 I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above.