NASCAR DFS: Cook Out Southern 500 Picks

It is the regular season finale for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. We finalize the playoff field at the track too tough to tame, Darlington Raceway. We previewed a handful of drivers earlier in the week. It’s not a bad idea to check back in on the playoff implications for this race with just three spots available based on points. And if we get another new winner this year, then only two spots are available on points. The fun part about this race is that we have a variety of ways we can build out our winning lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel. Here are this week’s NASCAR DFS Cook Out Southern 500 picks for Sunday afternoon’s race at Darlington.

Cook Out Southern 500 Picks: The Top 10

1. Bubba Wallace (#23 23XI Racing)
2. Carson Hocevar (#77 Spire Motorsports)
3. Chase Briscoe (#14 Stewart-Haas Racing)
4. Kyle Larson (#5 Hendrick Motorsports)
5. Martin Truex Jr. (#19 Joe Gibbs Racing)
6. Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing)
7. Ryan Blaney (#12 Team Penske)
8. William Byron (#24 Hendrick Motorsports)
9. Christopher Bell (#20 Joe Gibbs Racing)
10. Chris Buescher (#17 RFK Racing)

I did not have eyes on practice as it was live, but I can link the results to Bob Pockrass’ tweet right here. Bubba Wallace went out and won the pole. That is absolutely huge for him. He is a driver that either needs to win or have a great day while the other drivers fighting to get in on points will need to have poor performances. Having the pole and early track position is huge. And for DFS, we love this. He is currently below the average price tag on both sites. So, getting a value play that can collect early dominator points, while finishing well, is huge. And we also have other more expensive drivers in this range we can target that also have win equity. Basically, all drivers starting P4-P10 have win juice and can get to the front later on.

Which Value-Priced Cook Out Southern 500 Picks Got A Points Movement Bump?

DraftKings

• Alex Bowman – $7,500; Starting P27
• Erik Jones – $7,400; Starting P28
• Noah Gragson – $7,000; Starting P29
• Todd Gilliland – $6,800; Starting P33
• Michael McDowell – $6,700; Starting P31
• Shane Van Gisbergen – $6,400; Starting P34
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – $6,200; Starting P36

FanDuel

• Ross Chastain – $8,200; Starting P22
• Alex Bowman – $7,500; Starting P27
• Noah Gragson – $7,200; Starting P29
• Erik Jones – $7,000; Starting P28
• Michael McDowell – $6,200; Starting P31
• Todd Gilliland – $5,500; Starting P33
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – $4,500; Starting P36

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. chalk is never a good thing. But for the Cook Out Southern 500 picks, he might be fine for cash games if he finishes 25^th at the worst. But we have a handful of drivers to consider here. Erik Jones will be very popular. He’s won here twice and was top 20 here in the spring. But be mindful, he rarely ran in the top 15 for that race. Alex Bowman will be trendy because of the price tag and equipment. He doesn’t need much explanation. Gragson and Gilliland will be popular especially after Gragson had a pretty good showing in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. I will acknowledge that I left Daniel Suarez (starting P32) out of this group. He’s locked into the playoffs already. I think the team invests all resources and attention to giving Ross Chastain the best chance to win this race.

Which Higher-Priced Drivers Got A Similar Bump?

• Denny Hamlin – Starting P14
• Chase Elliott – Starting P20
• Joey Logano – Starting P23
• Ross Chastain – Starting P22 (DraftKings)

Just a few drivers in this section this week. Denny Hamlin had a mediocre qualifying effort and starts P14. He still has top five equity and can lead some laps. But Hamlin is not just a driver, he’s an owner. I’m of the mindset he will do what is necessary to get Bubba Wallace into the playoffs since Hamlin owns the 23-car with Michael Jordan. Elliott and Logano probably offer more bang for your buck if you don’t think Hamlin can collect dominator points. They’re more affordable and have an easier path to paying off their price tags simply by finishing well.

Cook Out Southern 500 Picks

DraftKings

• Tyler Reddick – $10,500; Starting P6
• Chase Elliott – $9,000; Starting P20
• Joey Logano – $8,700; Starting P23
• Bubba Wallace – $7,700; Starting P1
• Noah Gragson – $7,000; Starting P29
• Todd Gilliland – $6,800; Starting P33

This lineup is very easy to duplicate. In fact, you can pivot off Reddick and play Kyle Larson. That lineup could be duplicated in tournaments even more. Either way I like this build. Does it lean into a lot of position differential? It sure does. I normally don’t love playing this many drivers starting P20 or deeper at Darlington. As we saw in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, a lot of good drivers can bust early on at this track. But Gilliland has been a regular value play of ours all season. And Gragson has been strong at Darlington and ran Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. From there, we just need the other four drivers to score well and lead laps. If building 20+ lineups, you’ll probably want to enter this lineup but with some slightly more contrarian pivots.

FanDuel

• Tyler Reddick – $13,500; Starting P6
• William Byron – $12,000; Starting P8
• Chase Elliott – $9,500; Starting P20
• Alex Bowman – $7,500; Starting P27
• Noah Gragson – $7,200; Starting P29

Pretty fun Hendrick Motorsports stack, right? We take a slightly different approach with this build. We lay off Bubba Wallace for this build because the dominator points matter more on DraftKings than they do on FanDuel. Tyler Reddick has win equity, so he transfers over from the DraftKings build. I also really like William Byron. He is more of a dark horse candidate, but one we still previewed earlier this week. And we plug in Elliott, Bowman, and Gragson simply because they can move up and potentially score 70-80 fantasy points on FanDuel. Both lineups leave $300 on the table, but there’s room for pivots. Qualifying shook out in such a fun way that you can build out lineups in a variety of ways.

White Flag Thoughts Before You Go

Darlington Raceway always produces some great racing. But we do need to be mindful that it’s a veteran’s track. It can be very difficult for those without much experience. The best equipment rises to the top. But also, we should see teams be very aggressive with their decision-making. It’s the last chance for several teams to make it into the playoffs. We will see longshot teams stay out on much older tires in an effort to restart with better track position. All this is to say, expect the unexpected. And be ready for NASCAR DFS contests to feature smaller prize pools over the next two months. With the return of the NFL, most casual NASCAR players tend to lay off the contests. Best of luck with this week’s Cook Out Southern 500 picks!