NASCAR DFS: Bass Pro Shops Night Race @ Bristol Motor Speedway

Welcome back, race fans. This week we head into the third race of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase Playoffs with a trip to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday. It is the second trip to Bristol this season after Ty Gibbs picked up his first career win here back in April. Regarding the Chase standings, Denny Hamlin still sits at the top but his lead has shrunk to just nine points over Kyle Larson who ended his winless streak last week at Gateway. Rounding out the Top 5 are Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and Tyler Reddick who all dropped a spot in the standings.

Let’s dig into the Bristol Night Race by previewing the track, looking at some trends, and then narrowing it all down to some drivers who check the most boxes.

NASCAR DFS: Bass Pro Shops Night Race

Track Preview & Fantasy Angle

Bristol, also known as the Last Great Colosseum, creates some of the most exciting racing in NASCAR with its .533-mile, high-banked circuit. The banking is also progressive, sitting between 26 and 30 degrees with regular applications of the PJ1 substance to open up multiple racing lanes.

From a fantasy perspective, Bristol strategy is centered around dominators. Looking at the seven races in the NextGen era, there have been at least two drivers to lead 100 or more laps in each race outside of two. In those two races, Kyle Larson led 400+ laps himself en route to back-to-back wins in the 2024 playoff race and 2025 spring race. Place differential has been hit or miss at Bristol, with 10 drivers collecting double-digit points in three of the races, with five or fewer drivers accomplishing that in the other four, and just two doing it in the spring race.

An overall strategy depends on how you feel the race plays out. A clean, somewhat caution-free race should result in less place differential, making track position extremely important. A race that sees a lot of carnage and cautions likely results in a lot of drivers with a chance to capture double-digit place differential. If playing multiple entry contests, I would try to get exposure to both strategies to some degree. At the end of the day, we have to wait and see what happens in practice, but either way, build around dominators and fast cars!

Top Pre-Qualifying Targets for DraftKings

Kyle Larson ($11,500)

After his breakthrough win last week at Gateway, Larson has gone from the 5th most expensive driver to tops on the board this week. To be honest, he could have been priced higher considering his track record here at Bristol. I mentioned the back-to-back wins above and to further that, he leads all drivers in top-5s (6), average finish (7.0), and laps led (1230) during the seven NextGen races. He is the only driver with top-5s in each of the first two Chase races, and I see that streak continuing at one of his best tracks. Load up!

Joey Logano ($9,500)

While I can make a case for all drivers in the $10K range this week, I love the value in the next tier, and it starts with Logano. Like I mentioned last week, the #22 team has steadily improved all season, and they now look like a Chase contender sitting 7th in points and 55 points back of Hamlin. Logano has two career wins here at Bristol (2014/2015), and after five straight races outside the top 20 here in the NextGen era, he has back-to-back top-10s. He is the only other driver outside Larson with two top-10s in the first two races of the Chase and should be a contender here once again this week.

Chase Briscoe ($9,900)

After a strong start to the Chase, finishing 6th at Darlington, Briscoe took a big step back last week with a DNF, which had him fall three spots in the standings. I am confident he will get back on track (no pun intended), returning to Bristol where he has been consistent with four straight Top 10 finishes. In those races, he has started back in the pack, mid-pack, and twice inside the Top 10 so I won’t be too concerned with qualifying but more concerned with the practice speed this weekend.

Ryan Preece ($7,000)

After winning at Daytona to secure his spot in the Chase, Preece has improved his position each race so far with a 17th last week at Gateway and 10th at Darlington. He now returns to Bristol, where he has been consistent, finishing no worse than 21st in six races and has two Top 10s in his last four races here, including an 8th in the spring race this year. Combine the form and track history, and you have an excellent PTS/$ play for DFS this week.