The 2023 NASCAR season picks back up following the week off for Father’s Day weekend. The coverage shifts from Fox to NBC as we kick off the home stretch to the NASCAR playoffs. With 10 races left on the regular season schedule, it will become more important than ever for drivers on the bubble to secure a win and lock in their spot for the playoffs. This week we’ll be looking at Nashville Superspeedway for our daily fantasy NASCAR preview. The Ally 400 will run Sunday evening and while this track does have “superspeedway” in the name, it’s only 1.333 miles in length. Without further ado, let’s dig in and see what we should expect in the latest daily fantasy NASCAR preview.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: Ally 400 Preview
Nashville Superspeedway is a 1.333-mile tri-oval with 14 degrees of banking in the turns. The tracks that are likely the most comparable might be Gateway and possibly Dover. Both Dover and Nashville are concrete surfaces. We should also look at higher-speed intermediates as well. Toyotas should thrive here but there will be plenty of Chevys to consider in our driver pool as well. Sunday’s race will be 300 laps long broken into 90-95-115 lap segments. There will be an abundance of dominator points to target so keep that in mind when building your daily fantasy NASCAR lineups.
Sunday’s race also avoids the hotter conditions. Last year this race was scheduled in the afternoon, but for 2023 it was moved to Sunday evening. It’s going to be about 90 degrees in Nashville Sunday afternoon, but in the evening it’ll be about 20 degrees cooler. There is a 60% chance of rain as of this writing. We’ll touch base on the weather during the weekend article and how to adjust.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: The Top Picks
Martin Truex Jr. (#19 Toyota)
Truex is on a roll right now after a pretty challenging 2022 season. He has a pair of wins (Dover and Sonoma) and he had a really good setup here in 2022. Leading 82 laps and recording 47 fastest laps, he was a big part of Joe Gibbs Racing running well here a year ago. His average running position in the top five and the overall speed were great signs, but he pitted late during the final caution and lost track position. Given how good he was here a year ago prior, and the current form heading into this week, it could be another trip to victory lane for the 19-team.
Denny Hamlin (#11 Toyota)
Hamlin was on the pole for this race a year ago and ended up finishing sixth. But he did lead 114 laps with 68 fastest laps, so he still made the optimal lineup. He finished second in the first two stages and had a 131.2 driver rating a year ago. So far this year he won at Kansas and was top five at Dover. He was also fast at Charlotte but was caught up in a wreck. All signs point to the Toyotas running well this weekend and Denny Hamlin should have a solid run.
William Byron (#24 Chevrolet)
Byron had a rough showing at Sonoma prior to the break, but in this package, he’s looked great all year. He has wins at Las Vegas and Darlington while he also led plenty of laps at Dover and Charlotte. After having a poor setup at Sonoma, I expect them to be ready for the Music City and to possibly contend for their fourth win of the year. He didn’t finish this race last year, but he was third in 2021.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: Wouldn’t Bet Against Them
Ryan Blaney (#12 Ford)
Blaney did finish third here a year ago, but that result is misleading. He benefitted from staying out during the late caution and gained track position while others went to pit. If this race were run during the day, I wouldn’t be excited about Blaney. But the later start time and cooler conditions might benefit him and Team Penske. He won at Charlotte over Memorial Day Weekend which was a night race and he followed that up by leading over 80 laps at Gateway the next weekend.
Chase Elliott (#9 Chevrolet)
Elliott won this race a year ago, but it wasn’t in the most dominating fashion. Still, a win is a win. With just 10 races to go in the year, it looks like he’ll need to win his way into the playoffs. There are still some road courses on the schedule that he’s likely considering, but he knows he can win here too. The good news is the form heading into the break was great. He didn’t appear to have any lingering issues from his leg injury earlier in the year either. He was 11th at Dover, seventh at Kansas, third at Darlington, and fifth at Sonoma. So even on the high-speed intermediates he did well. But he’ll need to start finding that next level to secure a win and lock in his playoff spot.
Daily Fantasy NASCAR: Potential Sleepers
Bubba Wallace (#23 Toyota)
Bubba had a pretty good run in this race a year ago, but it wasn’t without its struggles. He had pit crew issues quite often in 2022 and Nashville was no different. Wallace was top ten in stage one last year, but a loose wheel during a pit stop forced him to come down pit road again. He even lost a lap at one point but battled all the way back to finish 12th. Prior to Gateway, he was showcasing very good speed, especially in this package. If he can run a clean race, I suspect he can once again contend for a top-five finish.
Chris Buescher (#17 Ford)
Buescher was running top 10 in this race a year ago before he lost track position in stage three. Following a green flag pit stop he lost a wheel and finished 30th so the result is a bit misleading. RFK Racing, and Buescher specifically, had speed and solid results heading into the break. They were top 10 at Dover, Darlington, and Charlotte, and were close to another top 10, finishing 12th at Gateway. Not a ton of win equity but he’s a dark horse and one that’s been finishing well.
Ryan Preece (#41 Ford)
Stewart-Haas Racing announced some crew chief changes earlier this week, but the good news for Preece is that his team stayed the same. This is good because he had momentum going into the week off. Preece finished 15th at Darlington, 13th at Charlotte, 17th at Gateway, and 13th at Sonoma. It also helped his fantasy value that he was gaining positional points along the way. He should be comfortable on this track because he won the last two Truck Series races here. The lone concern is that he hasn’t raced at Nashville in the NextGen car. So practice will be vital for him, but he’s performed well in this package and on the comparable tracks.