It’s Bristol, Baby! The final race of the Round of 16 for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs goes green Saturday night. Bristol Motor Speedway, the Last Great Colosseum, plays host to this weekend’s action. Bristol usually provides for great drama. Short track? Yes. But they do run the intermediate package at this track because we do tend to see faster speeds given the banking at this concrete behemoth. Chris Buescher is fresh off a win at Watkins Glen last week. As a previous winner at Bristol, can he go back-to-back? There are a few playoff drivers hoping that isn’t the case. Atlanta and Watkins Glen left a lot of uncertainty for some drivers we thought were locks for the Round of Eight. Let’s take a look at the NASCAR DFS Bass Pro Shops Night Race picks for Saturday night’s action under the lights at Bristol!
Bass Pro Shops Night Race Picks: The Top 10
- Alex Bowman (#48 Hendrick Motorsports)
- Kyle Larson (#5 Hendrick Motorsports)
- William Byron (#24 Hendrick Motorsports)
- Martin Truex Jr. (#19 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Chase Briscoe (#14 Stewart-Haas Racing)
- Christopher Bell (#20 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Carson Hocevar (#77 Spire Motorsports)
- Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Corey LaJoie (#7 Spire Motorsports)
- Chase Elliott (#9 Hendrick Motorsports)
As you can see, qualifying went very well for Hendrick Motorsports. All four drivers qualified inside the top 10. Three of them occupy the first three spots. Toyota had a good showing as well with three of their drivers qualifying in the top 10. Additionally, Spire Motorsports showed up with speed. But news broke on Friday that Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley will swap cars for the remainder of the season after Bristol. I’m not quite sure how that works, but it’s essentially a trade. Haley will drive the 7-car in 2025 while Rick Ware Racing assesses what they’ll do with the 51-car for the 2025 season. Qualifying went poorly for Team Penske. Not a single driver cracked the top 10. But they’ll offer position differential above all else. We will certainly find plenty of win equity and dominator potential within the top 10.
Which Value-Priced Bass Pro Shops Night Race Picks Got A Points Movement Bump?
DraftKings
- Austin Cindric – $7,200; Starting P27
- Daniel Suarez – $6,900; Starting P35
- John Hunter Nemechek – $6,500; Starting P28
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – $6,300; Starting P31
- Erik Jones – $6,200; Starting P32
- Todd Gilliland – $5,800; Starting P24
- Justin Haley – $5,700; Starting P26
FanDuel
- Joey Logano – $8,500; Starting P20
- Kyle Busch – $8,200; Starting P29
- Josh Berry – $7,500; Starting P25
- Daniel Suarez – $6,200; Starting P35
- John Hunter Nemechek – $6,000; Starting P28
- Austin Cindric – $5,500; Starting P27
- Erik Jones – $5,200; Starting P32
I basically picked my seven favorite value drivers on each site for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race picks. Pricing is off between DraftKings and FanDuel. That isn’t anything new. But we can “dumpster dive” a little more on DraftKings as we pay up for more dominator points. One thing to know for this race is we do not stack the back. That’s reserved specifically for Daytona and Talladega. For Bristol, we need to understand that too much PD can be risky. Drivers starting this deep can lose the lead lap. That’s even more true if they’re in sub-par equipment. Cindric and Suarez are decent drivers in good equipment that should move up. But driving in traffic at this track is no easy task. No one in this range is a slam dunk. Be reasonable and responsible with spreading exposure around in this range.
Which Higher-Priced Drivers Got A Similar Bump?
- Chris Buescher – Starting P17
- Brad Keselowski – Starting P23
- Ryan Blaney – Starting P22
- Joey Logano – Starting P20 (DraftKings)
- Kyle Busch – Starting P29 (DraftKings)
The RFK drivers both posted mediocre qualifying efforts. That’s a shame because I was higher on them when I drew up this week’s NASCAR DFS preview for Bristol. But overall, Buescher and Keselowski still offer position differential and still flex some win equity. All six drivers are in play as the equipment and talent are good enough for a top 10 finish. They’ll be popular even if they don’t get too many dominator points. Some of these drivers are perfect mid-range Bass Pro Shops Night Race picks because they offer PD and can pay off their price tag without leading laps. The Penske drivers should be okay. Blaney and Logano both looked fine in practice. Their practice speed was much better than where they qualified so I’m currently chalking the starting spots up to bad qualifying runs.
Bass Pro Shops Night Race Picks
DraftKings
- Denny Hamlin – $11,000; Starting P8
- Kyle Larson – $10,500; Starting P2
- Chris Buescher – $9,800; Starting P17
- Austin Cindric – $7,200; Starting P27
- Todd Gilliland – $5,800; Starting P24
- Justin Haley – $5,700; Starting P26
This lineup basically hits on everything I want when looking at the Bass Pro Shops Night Race picks for my DraftKings lineups. This lineup hits on two primary dominators with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson starting in the top eight. Hamlin’s flirting with “must win” territory for his playoff hopes. We also go to Chris Buescher who provides PD and can be a tertiary dominator. Cindric isn’t a complete punt. However, there isn’t a ton of confidence in the play. But his speed in practice indicates he might have a top 15 car. Hopefully he can move up and finish there because he’s had two very good races so far in the playoffs. We round out the build with Gilliland and Haley. Neither driver starts too deep in the field. I’m mostly optimistic they can finish one lap down at worst while still moving up a bit.
FanDuel
- Denny Hamlin – $14,000; Starting P8
- Kyle Larson – $13,500; Starting P2
- Chris Buescher – $11,000; Starting P17
- Kyle Busch – $8,200; Starting P29
- Ryan Preece – $3,200; Starting P14
This build on FanDuel utilizes the same “dominator” core we saw in the DraftKings build. FanDuel only has 50 points available for laps led. Their scoring is weird, but this is one of the few races each year where the laps led come into play. And even if Buescher doesn’t lead any laps, he has top five equity. Kyle Busch is largely a chalky play for PD. It’s risky but the organization has been much better since the Olympic break. Lastly, we finish the lineup off with Ryan Preece. Preece appeared in this week’s preview article. He’s a value option with good track history at Bristol. Is he starting a bit high? Absolutely. But he’s very contrarian and could pay off the price tag with a top 10 finish.
White Flag Thoughts Before You Go
This is probably the final race weekend of the year I’m doing my usual 20 lineups on DraftKings. The contests are becoming a bit unplayable. It’s unfortunate, but it happens every year. Even when they continue to fill up, DraftKings and FanDuel continue to slash the prize pools and make the contests smaller. But as far as lineup construction goes, you’ll need at least two dominators. Try and fit a third option in there as well. Buescher and Keselowski will be popular because of the PD and dominator upside. And be sure to spread exposure out among the value plays. You do not want to be too heavy on any play in that range. Best of luck with this week’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race picks! May you dodge the carnage and finish in victory lane!