NASCAR DFS: Food City 500 @ Bristol Motor Speedway

After a week off, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to “The Last Great Colosseum,” Bristol Motor Speedway, for the second straight short track race. Bristol is a .533 concrete oval with 24 to 30 degrees of progressive banking in the turns. Going back to 2022, when the NextGen car was introduced, Bristol has been the Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin show as they have combined for four of the six wins at Bristol.

In this article, we will preview the track from a fantasy angle and then go over five drivers who stand out heading into practice and qualifying.

NASCAR DFS: Food City 500

Track Preview & Fantasy Angle

Another unique short track that will get its first crack at the 750-HP package this season. In the NextGen era, it has been a split in terms of correlation between starting position. The difference, as always here at Bristol are the cautions. In the three years (2025 Spring, 2024 Fall, 2023) with high correlation, we saw just 14 combined cautions and 10 or fewer lead changes in each. The other three races we saw 34 total cautions and a combined 102 lead changes! As you would expect, the highly chaotic races see a lot of double-digit place differential, while the clean races see more value in track position and dominator upside. Two of those three clean races have seen a driver lead 400+ laps.

As you would expect with 500 laps in the race at a short track that is generally tough to pass on during green flag runs, this is a dominator race. In the six races here in the NextGen era, there has been either a driver leading 400+ laps or multiple drivers leading 100+ laps in every one. Both the 2022 and 2023 races saw three drivers lead 100+ laps.

Practice has been very important here in the NextGen era, especially when projecting dominators and high finishers. In terms of dominators, each of the last 10 drivers to lead 25+ laps over the last three races here has finished Top 10 in practice.

Looking at previous DraftKings optimal lineups, we are generally looking for at least two and sometimes three drivers from the top 10 in pricing, then looking to fill in with three value plays. Ultimately, that decision won’t have to be made until after practice and qualifying on Saturday. Before we get there, let’s dive into a few drivers who check the most boxes.

Top Pre-Qualifying Targets for DraftKings

Kyle Larson ($11,500)

Larson was consistent at Bristol early in his career with Chip Ganassi, with seven Top 10’s in 12 races with two runner-up finishes. Since signing with Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, he has been dominant here with three wins(two in the NextGen car) and six Top 5’s in six races. He comes in with a 31-race winless streak going back to Kansas last May, but has been consistent lately with four Top 10’s in his last five races. No better track to get back into the winner’s circle than Bristol, and he will become a core play if he shows strong speed in practice.

Denny Hamlin ($11,000)

Going into this one, it will be hard not to build a lineup with one of Larson or Hamlin, and depending on the value after qualifying, you may want to stack them together. Hamlin is tied with Larson with two wins here at Bristol in the NextGen era, and his four career wins put him 2nd behind Kyle Busch among active drivers. He came just short of a second win on the season at Martinsville after leading 292 laps and has three Top 5’s in his four and four Top 10’s in his last five races.

Christopher Bell ($10,500)

Bell won here in the playoffs last fall and has been the most consistent driver at Bristol in the NextGen era. In those six races, he has one win, six Top 10’s and a series-leading 5.2 average finish. After a slow start to the season at Daytona and Atlanta, Bell has been trending up with two Top 5’s and four Top 10’s in his last five races.

Ty Gibbs ($9,500)

Gibbs is inching closer to his first Cup Series win and is arguably the hottest driver in NASCAR with four Top 5’s and five Top 10’s over the last five races. He now comes back to one of his best tracks as he has finished inside the Top 10 in four of his last five trips to the Last Great Coliseum and has also led 440 laps in the NextGen era, second to only Denny Hamlin.

Ross Chastain ($7,600)

The 2026 form has been very disappointing as Chastain has just one Top 10 on the season, but the good news is that the price stays in the $7K range this week. He is one of 11 drivers with three Top 10’s here in the six races in the NextGen era, and also has the 9th best average finish during that period. The qualifying has been in the mid to high teens recently, so he could provide some place differential upside at a track he has had success in the past. Stay tuned.