The greatest weekend for motorsports fans is finally upon us with three huge races lined up for Sunday! The F1 World Championship will run the Monaco Grand Prix in the morning, followed by IndyCar’s prestigious Indianapolis 500 in the afternoon. Usually, the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend is capped off with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating as Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions for the NASCAR Cup Series were rained. The NASCAR Xfinity Series race was already postponed until Monday afternoon. So the starting lineup has been set by NASCAR’s metric so the results from the Darlington race a few weeks ago loom large. But we still have an opportunity to make some money whenever they do decide to run this race. Let’s dig into the top Fantasy NASCAR DFS picks and plays for the Coca-Cola 600!
Fantasy NASCAR DFS: Coca-Cola 600 Picks
The Top Ten
- William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
- Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing)
- Brad Keselowski (RFK Racing)
- Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing)
- Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports)
- Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing)
- Ryan Blaney (Team Penske)
- Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing)
I don’t want to go out on a limb and say the winner is guaranteed to come from inside the top ten. Because outside the top ten, we have drivers like Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., and others that have win equity. However, we will need some of these drivers in our NASCAR DFS lineups because with 400 laps on tap for this race, we will want to capitalize on dominator points and there are drivers starting in the top ten that can run up front for the first 200 laps of the race.
Which Value-Priced Fantasy NASCAR DFS Drivers Got A Movement Points Bump?
With the starting lineup determined by NASCAR’s points metric, we see plenty of drivers starting much further back than where they would’ve likely qualified. Movement/Position Differential points will be pretty important for this race. When we’re building our lineups with two or three dominators in mind, we’ll need some movement and good finishes out of our value-priced drivers.
DraftKings:
- Austin Dillon – P33, $7,200
- J. Allmendinger – P27, $6,300
- Michael McDowell – P30, $5,700
FanDuel:
- Austin Dillon – P33, $6,500
- Jimmie Johnson – P37, $5,800
- Zane Smith – P29, $2,500
Which Higher-Priced Fantasy NASCAR DFS Drivers Got The Same Bump?
As mentioned previously, there are some drivers that are priced up or in the mid-range that are starting further back because practice and qualifying was rained out. These drivers still have win equity, but the positional differential points will be worth targeting all the same and we should expect elevated ownership numbers for each.
- Kyle Larson – P12
- Ross Chastain – P14
- Martin Truex Jr. – P18
- Alex Bowman – P31
Coca-Cola 600
Some of the drivers mentioned in the Coca-Cola 600 Preview earlier this week are still viable, but I would downgrade Ricky Stenhouse Jr. just a bit because of his starting spot. He’s worth throwing into two or three lineups if you’re constructing 20+ entries. But with 400 laps on the table, taking down a Fantasy NASCAR DFS Tournament will require nailing the two or three drivers that finish well while collecting dominator points. William Byron seems like a good candidate to get out front early and get some points in stage one. But without practice and qualifying, NASCAR will likely implement a competition caution around lap 20-30. That will allow teams to make adjustments to their cars, take tires, re-fuel, etc. This potentially benefits drivers like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch who are some of the best drivers in the field at conveying the adjustments they need.
For the remaining stages, we should consider the drivers that have been fast all year and will likely be fast for this race. Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain come to mind when looking for drivers that could run up front in the middle stages and contend for a win. These are two vets with the talent and equipment to move up and collect dominator points later on.
A lot of people might automatically click Alex Bowman into their lineups. For Cash games, Bowman makes sense. From his starting spot, he just needs a top 15 to pay off his price tag and he can very well do that. That car still had speed when Josh Berry drove it, but keep in mind, Bowman is returning from a back injury and you have to wonder how his body will physically handle the attrition of this race. There are no concerns about the quality of equipment. He’s not a driver to fade completely, but he is one to maybe be underweight on compared to the field.
Here are two Fantasy NASAR DFS lineups I’m looking to enter into GPP contests for Sunday night’s race.
DraftKings
- Ross Chastain – $10,100
- William Byron – $10,500
- Ty Gibbs – $8,100
- Austin Dillon – $7,200
- Michael McDowell – $5,700
- Daniel Suarez – $7,800
This lineup actually leaves you with $600 of salary left over in case you feel so compelled to make pivots. It still plays two drivers that can collect dominator points in this race, and it features two value drivers offering position differential starting P30 or worse, and we have two mid-priced Tournament plays in Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez that both have top ten equity.
FanDuel
- Kyle Larson – $14,000
- Ross Chastain – $13,000
- Kyle Busch – $11,000
- Austin Dillon – $6,500
- Michael McDowell – $5,200
I don’t play too much on FanDuel but I’ll live a little and throw five lineups together for Sunday night’s race. The reason I didn’t go with William Byron in this lineup is because FanDuel’s scoring places more emphasis on movement/position differential points as well as overall finishing position. DraftKings rewards 0.45 points per fastest lap and 0.25 points per lap led. FanDuel only rewards 0.1 points per lap led and 0.1 points per completed lap. With Larson, Chastain, and Busch I have three Chevy drivers that should show up with speed and finish well. And as mentioned previously, Dillon and McDowell both offer PD with top 20 equity. In Dillon’s case he may even have top 12 equity.
White Flag Thoughts Before You Go
Although this is technically an “intermediate” track, the extra laps do lend themselves to more chaos and carnage. Typically, these tracks only see 250-280 laps. But we have 400 laps and it’s a long race. So we should expect more chaos than the typical race at Vegas, Kansas, or Texas.
If I had to pick a winner it’s likely Kyle Larson just based on the pure speed he’s had this season and his track history, but Ross Chastain is a driver that routinely flirts with wins and will be in contention if Trackhouse Racing (also why I’m pretty high on Daniel Suarez) and all the other Chevy teams show up with speed as expected.
Hopefully, we get to enjoy 1,200+ miles of racing across the three races on Sunday! This race in particular is definitely at risk of being moved to Monday with the Xfinity Series race, but we have plenty of time to dissect the starting lineup and dig around the stats and analysis to make some unique lineups for this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600. Best of luck in your Fantasy NASCAR DFS contests!