Sunday delivers the first NASCAR Cup Series race in about three weeks. With the playoffs looming, we have just a handful of races left in the season. Now is the time to savor the action and get our NASCAR DFS fix. Richmond Raceway plays host to this weekend’s action. Fitting, right? We’ve gone a few weeks with no racing. Now we’re back at it and it’s the short track package. But we will make due! A fascinating part of this race is the tire compound choces. Kyle Busch was pretty vocal about the option tire being better than the primary following Saturday’s practice session. But let’s get right back to it. This is a very unforgiving track and a difficult one for DFS. Here are this week’s NASCAR DFS Cook Out 400 Picks!
Cook Out 400 Picks: The Top 10
- Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Martin Truex Jr. (#19 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Josh Berry (#4 Stewart-Haas Racing)
- Chase Elliott (#9 Hendrick Motorsports)
- Christopher Bell (#20 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Austin Dillon (#3 Richard Childress Racing)
- Chris Buescher (#17 RFK Racing)
- Bubba Wallace (#23 23XI Racing)
- Joey Logano (#22 Team Penske)
- Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing)
It’s Richmond Raceway. And for the Cook Out 400 picks, are we surprised at the heavy presence of Toyotas? In this week’s Cook Out 400 Preview, we led the article off with Hamlin and Truex. Even Chase Elliott, starting P4, cracked the top plays section. Josh Berry looks to have speed and is a deep-field GPP-only type play. But, of the eight Toyotas in the field, five are in the top 10, with Ty Gibbs starting P14. The elite JGR drivers will garner exposure. But do not sleep on Joey Logano starting P9. He has top-five equity. Dare I say he even has a little win juice as well? But he starts P9 and many will write him off as a name that likely doesn’t lead many laps. But the biggest dominators and lap leaders likely come from this group of 10.
Which Value-Priced Cook Out 400 Picks Got A Points Movement Bump?
DraftKings
- Ross Chastain – $7,900; Starting P22
- Michael McDowell – $7,100; Starting P28
- Chase Briscoe – $6,900; Starting P25
- Todd Gilliland – $6,500; Starting P23
- Erik Jones – $6,200; Starting P27
- Justin Haley – $6,000; Starting P36
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – $5,700; Starting P33
- Ryan Preece – $5,600; Starting P26
- John Hunter Nemechek – $5,400; Starting P35
FanDuel
- Ross Chastain – $8,000; Starting P22
- Chase Briscoe – $7,500; Starting P25
- Michael McDowell – $6,500; Starting P28
- Todd Gilliland – $5,500; Starting P23
- Justin Haley – $5,000; Starting P36
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – $4,800; Starting P33
- John Hunter Nemechek – $4,500; Starting P35
- Erik Jones – $4,200; Starting P27
- Ryan Preece – $4,000; Starting P26
Yes, we have a hefty group of nine drivers for the Cook Out 400 value picks. Do be mindful, this is a difficult track to pass at. But these are the nine value options on both sites that I think have the potential to finish top 20. Will they all get there? It is highly unlikely. And we don’t want to include too many of these names in our lineups. Perhaps two at the very most. Ross Chastain finally flashed speed this week. He may have a top 10 car. Chase Briscoe has top 15 potential, and it’s a short flat track, which plays to his strengths. And Todd Gilliland has a good floor if he finishes 17th. Aside from that, we have a collection of gambles. Haley, Stenhouse, and others offer a lot of position differential. However, it’s easy to get lapped early in this race.
Which Higher-Priced Drivers Got A Similar Bump?
- Kyle Larson – Starting P15
- Brad Keselowski – Starting P29
- Alex Bowman – Starting P17
- Ty Gibbs – Starting P14
Not an abundance of drivers in this group. Obviously, Keselowski is the only driving starting deep enough to offer real position differential. He is the sixth-most expensive driver on DraftKings. So ask yourself, do you want to pay up for position differential? Or do you want to pay up for dominator points? Larson has the most top five equity and dominator potential of these four. Bowman and Gibbs have a good shot to pay off their price tag with a good finish. Gibbs has the benefit of being in a JGR car. But there was some concern with the Hendrick cars in practice. There aren’t a ton of safe Cook Out 400 picks in the mid-and-top tiers offering position differential. But Keselowski is a good lock for cash games at least.
Cook Out 400 Picks
DraftKings
- Denny Hamlin – $10,700; Starting P1
- Martin Truex Jr. – $10,100; Starting P2
- Joey Logano – $9,100; Starting P9
- Ross Chastain – $7,900; Starting P22
- Todd Gilliland – $6,500; Starting P23
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – $5,700; Starting P33
It’s Richmond Raceway and we have 400 laps. In a race like this, the Cook Out 400 picks require multiple dominator candidates. Even if it means playing both drivers from the front row. There are enough laps to go around. Even Logano could sneak in and get some laps in as a tertiary dominator. From there, we’re looking at the remaining three drivers that you hope can just move forward. Chastain may have a top 10 car as mentioned above. And his price is dropping which makes him a good value. We need top 15 upside from Gilliland and just a top 20 from Stenhouse. Richmond isn’t my favorite track for cash games. But I love this kind of lineup construction for tournaments.
FanDuel
- Martin Truex Jr. – $13,000; Starting P2
- Ryan Blaney – $12,000; Starting P11
- Brad Keselowski – $9,500; Starting P29
- Ross Chastain – $8,000; Starting P22
- Chase Briscoe – $7,500; Starting P25
Truex and Logano carry over to this lineup for FanDuel. It’s worth remembering that dominator points mean less on FanDuel. With 400 laps, there are only 40 “dominator” points on FanDuel. So while you can take a two-dominator approach with Hamlin and Truex, you don’t necessarily need to. And with this build, there is a sneaky dominator upside for Ryan Blaney, who is a similar play to teammate, Joey Logano. I’m fine eating the Keselowski chalk for this lineup because overall finishing position weighs heavy on FanDuel, and Kes does have top 10 potential as do all five drivers in this lineup.
White Flag Thoughts Before You Go
With this being the first race following the break, play at your leisure! It’s a tough track. We really want to spread out exposure among the value tier per usual. But don’t hesitate to commit more exposure to lower-owned options starting in the teens. They have the luxury of track position and this is a track where you can quickly lose the lead lap. It should come as no surprise if half the field finishes off the lead lap. And the cheap drivers starting deep in the field are there for a reason. Either the wheelman or the equipment simply aren’t good enough. Best of luck with this week’s Cook Out 400 picks! Hopefully, we have some better racing next week away from the short-track package!