The 2023 NASCAR Cup season heads to Sonoma Raceway in Northern California this weekend. It’s been a long season so far, and the drivers have a week off looming. But first they have to get through the second road course on the schedule. When considering this week’s NASCAR DFS top plays we have to de-value dominator points and try to focus mainly on finishing position. With only 110 laps, our NASCAR DFS top plays won’t have many laps to lead. So build around road course specialists with some contrarian plays baked into your lineups. The NASCAR DFS top plays will feature some drivers from the Preview published earlier this week. Be sure to give that a read before finalizing your lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel. Here are the NASCAR DFS top plays for the Toyota/SaveMart 350!
NASCAR DFS Top Plays: The Top 10 For The Toyota/SaveMart 350
- Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing)
- Michael McDowell (#34 Front Row Motorsports)
- Christopher Bell (#20 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- AJ Allmendinger (#16 Kaulig Racing)
- Ty Gibbs (#54 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Chris Buescher (#17 RFK Racing)
- Martin Truex Jr. (#19 Joe Gibbs Racing)
- Daniel Suarez (#99 Trackhouse Racing)
- Chase Elliott (#9 Hendrick Motorsports)
Plenty of big changes from a year ago. In 2022, this race was a disaster for the Toyotas. Now all but one driver (Bubba Wallace) qualify in the top ten. When looking for NASCAR DFS top plays it was clear they’d be in contention. It’s somewhat disheartening they all qualified so well, save for Bubba. Tyler Reddick is a clear candidate to get out in front of his boss, Denny Hamlin, and dominate the race. Play Reddick with the mindset that he wins, and the dominator points will be a bonus. Remember, Reddick has won three road course races since the start of 2022. The three betting favorites make for strong NASCAR DFS top plays as well. Those include Reddick, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson. Larson had one small slip-up on his qualifying run and didn’t make it to the qualifying round.
Which Value-Priced NASCAR DFS Top Plays Got A Points Movement Bump?
One thing to keep in mind for this race is the lack of stage breaks. The field won’t be able to reset as the race will continue on. We may see fewer green flag passes unless we see more cautions to put the field back together for a restart. But some value plays have emerged as NASCAR DFS top plays for this race so consider these value options when building your lineups.
NASCAR DFS Top Plays: DraftKings
- Brad Keselowski – P25, $7,700
- Justin Haley – P23, $6,700
- Zane Smith – P30, $5,700
NASCAR DFS Top Plays: FanDuel
- Ryan Blaney – P31, $7,800
- Justin Haley – P23, $5,200
- Zane Smith – P30, $3,500
Ryan Blaney is criminally underpriced on FanDuel. The P31 starting position will lock him in as one of the NASCAR DFS top plays for Sunday afternoon’s race. There are some concerns with the Fords as the track conditions may not be in their favor. We could see more drag on the cars aerodynamically than the last two weeks. So there is some risk with NASCAR DFS top plays in the value range. This includes Keselowski, Zane Smith, Blaney (on FanDuel), Harrison Burton, Ryan Preece, and Aric Almirola. If they can survive and just make it to the end, they could still be fine plays if they simply don’t wreck.
Which Higher-Priced NASCAR DFS Top Plays Got The Same Bump?
- Kyle Larson – P16
- William Byron – P26
- Austin Cindric – P34
The only driver to play with confidence right here will be Larson. He’s an easy pick to win and will be popular out of all the NASCAR DFS top plays. He had one mistake in qualifying and it cost him early track position. He should still move up through the field and he feels really good about his car. I can’t say the same about Byron. He hated his car and couldn’t figure out what the issue was during practice and qualifying. But this team all season has excelled in this package. We should operate under the assumption they make the necessary adjustments. Cindric is risky because he’s in a Ford. But he was still faster in practice than where he qualified. He’s also a great racer on road courses dating back to his time in the Xfinity Series.
Toyota/SaveMart 350
As always, please check out the NASCAR DFS Top Plays Preview from earlier in the week. There are good plays mentioned in that article even if they did over qualify. Tyler Reddick didn’t seem overly confident in his car after practice and qualifying. But he’s been so good on road courses that he’s hard to pass up. A contrarian build might be to fade him and lock in Denny Hamlin. Hamlin isn’t a great road course driver, but he did “borrow” the car’s setup from his employee, Tyler Reddick. You can go with Hamlin to possibly lead laps early, assuming Reddick doesn’t blow by him. From there you can easily fit Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, and maybe fit in some Fords if we’re rolling the dice. Here are two NASCAR DFS lineups I’ll be entering on DraftKings and FanDuel based on my own personal NASCAR DFS top plays.
DraftKings
- Kyle Larson – $10,600
- Denny Hamlin – $8,900
- Ryan Blaney – $8,400
- Alex Bowman – $8,000
- Michael McDowell – $7,400
- Justin Haley – $6,700
Here we get a good mix of position differential and some dominator points between Larson and Hamlin. I won’t even rule out a strong finish from Michael McDowell who absolutely loves his car this weekend. This is a Tournament-only lineup based on the NASCAR DFS top plays above. There’s still some risk across the board, but overall it has upside if the two Fords (McDowell and Blaney) can finish well.
FanDuel
- Kyle Larson – $13,500
- AJ Allmendinger – $10,500
- Austin Cindric – $9,500
- Martin Truex Jr. – $8,200
- Ryan Blaney – $7,800
Since FanDuel doesn’t reward for laps led as much, I opted to take a contrarian approach with this build. Allmendinger and Truex are simply too good on road courses to pass up for a Tournament build. They have upside and a little win equity. Probably not as much as Larson though. But if any of those three can run up front and win then this lineup should do well. We’re eating a little chalk with Blaney and Cindric. But as mentioned already, Blaney is too cheap, and Cindric was able to move up through this field a year ago.
White Flag Thoughts Before You Go
With the pending week off, perhaps one of the best strategies this weekend is to scale back how much we play. I didn’t have a great showing at Gateway last week personally as I haven’t been playing too many Cash games. So many identify a cheaper contest to play and recalibrate during the off week. The NASCAR DFS top plays are tougher to gauge this year for road courses simply because the new rules have made it a small challenge to feel good about playing three or more drivers starting deep in the field. And again, the Fords looked horrendous in practice and qualifying save for McDowell and Buescher. Cash games will be tough this week as most players will identify Larson, Blaney, and Cindric as the NASCAR DFS top plays for movement points. From there you’re looking at 3v3 or 2v2 depending on the site you play on.