NASCAR DFS: Freeway Insurance 500 @ Phoenix Raceway

Welcome back, NASCAR fans. This week, all three series head back to Phoenix Raceway for a second time this season and the first time since 2019 this race won’t be the Championship finale. With two straight wins at Charlotte and Las Vegas, Chase Briscoe and the #19 have jumped up into the Top 5 in the standings, joining teammates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. Ahead of those three, sitting in the lead, remains Kyle Larson, who extended that lead to 49 points heading to the desert.

NASCAR DFS: Freeway Insurance 500

Track Preview & Fantasy Angle

Phoenix is a 1.022-mile trioval short track with 11 degrees of banking in turns one and two and nine degrees of banking in turns three and four. It is unique in that the start/finish line was moved to the beginning of the backstretch dogleg, which creates some chaotic restarts.

From a fantasy perspective, Phoenix is a dominator-first track as we have seen at least one driver lead 100 or more laps in eight of the nine races here in the NextGen era. Further cementing the dominator narrative, we have seen multiple drivers hit 100+ laps led in three of those nine races. In turn, place differential upside has been tougher to come by, as only twice in the NextGen era have eight or more drivers picked up double-digit PD points.

My strategy will be to use track history combined with practice speeds and averages to identify two or three drivers to build around when it comes to dominator upside. More often than not, this will mean a heavy stars and scrubs build, so let’s look at a few potential core plays heading into the weekend.

Top Pre-Qualifying Targets for DraftKings

Ryan Blaney ($11,500)

Blaney is back at the top of the salary this week, and it’s easy to see why, as Phoenix Raceway has been his personal playground. He has won back-to-back races here including his Championship win last here last fall. On top of that, he has eight Top 5 finishes in the nine NextGen era races here and easily leads all drivers with an elite 5.2 average finish over that timeframe. After back-to-back DNF’s at Bristol and Gateway, the #12 team has put together three straight Top 5 finishes and looks primed to reach Victory Lane here at Phoenix once again.

Kyle Larson ($11,000)

Larson coming in third in pricing this week already feels like a nice value. Sure, he hasn’t won here in the NextGen era, but he returns to Phoenix with three straight 3rd-place finishes and also has Top 5s in six of his last seven and is one of the two drivers who have led 200+ laps here. Then comes the form, as he is one of two drivers with multiple wins in the Chase and has finished all six races 6th or better.

William Byron ($9,000)

Byron was battling inside the Top 10 early in last week’s race before being wiped out by teammate Alex Bowman. I am going back to the well again this week as the price remains in the low $9K range. Before that DNF, Byron had been very consistent in the Chase, putting up four straight Top 10 finishes sitting inside the Top 10 in the standings. He and the team will now have to battle to climb back up, and I like his chances given his success here. He won the Phoenix spring race in 2023 and has finished 7th or better in six of his last eight races at the track. With a lot of lineups likely going with two drivers in the $10K+ range, Byron could become a lower-owned GPP play this week with upside.

Chris Buescher ($7,500)

For the most part, the Chase has been one to forget for Buescher, who sits 15th in the standings, but the good news is that he is coming off his first Top 10 at Charlotte last week. Even better news is that he not only sits in the value range on DraftKings, but he has also been consistent here at Phoenix, finishing 15th or better in seven straight trips, including three Top 5s and a runner-up in the 2024 spring race. He will be a driver that fits in a lineup when stacking two top drivers.

Shane Van Gisbergen ($6,500)

Going a bit lower down the board, we find a non-Chase driver who has been turning heads all season. The old rules would have had him in the playoffs with his road course wins, but his constant improvement on other track types will have him there soon enough. He comes into this week red-hot coming off back-to-back Top 10 finishes at Charlotte and Las Vegas and now has six Top 10s on non-road course tracks in 2026. I love the price for SVG this week, and he is coming off a career-best 11th here in the spring.