Welcome back race fans. This week the Monster Energy Cup Series heads back to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday under the lights. It is the third restrictor plate race and the halfway point of the season. Coming into this week Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are leading the way in the points standings as both have five wins and 14 Top 10 finishes.

From a fantasy perspective this week, we will be looking almost exclusively at place differential as there are only 160 laps and with a ton of lead changes the importance of dominator points are greatly reduced. Looking at the last six races on the cheatsheet, there have been nine or more drivers to pick up double-digit place differential in all six races. Another thing to remember at plate tracks is that stacking teammates or drivers from the same manufacturer can be a good strategy as they will be working together in the draft throughout the race. Let's now take a look at some of the top plays for this week.

Daily Fantasy NASCAR: DraftKings and FanDuel DFS Lineup Picks - Coke Zero Sugar 400

Joey Logano(DK-$10,700 FD-$11,800)

Logano is my top pick in the upper tier this week as he is one of the best plate racers in the series. He won the most recent race at Talladega and has finished 6th or better at Daytona in five of his last seven races including a win at the Daytona 500 in 2015. He doesn't come with elite place differential upside but is still starting outside the Top 10 and is a great play in all formats.

Aric Almirola(DK-$8,700 FD-$10,100)

Almirola almost pulled off the victory at the Daytona 500 in February and has finished Top 15 in four straight here. Looking at the last 10 races on plate tracks, he also ranks #1 with five Top 10's and only one finish outside of 15th. Best of all, he provides near elite place differential value as he will be starting 26th Saturday night and is a part of one of the elite teams in the series.

Paul Menard(DK-$7,400 FD-$9,000)

After nine straight finishes outside the Top 14 here at Daytona, Paul Menard has turned his fortunes around with three straight Top 10's including a 6th place finish in his first race with the Wood Brothers at the Daytona 500 this year. Like Almirola, he also has elite place differential value as he will be starting 30th Saturday night. All things considered, he is a great play in all formats.

A.J. Allmendinger(DK-$6,000 FD-$7,200)

Before last year's Daytona 500, Allmendinger had only recorded two Top 10's in 15 career races and now comes back with three straight.  He is a little more risky but has some place differential upside starting 24th and with the value price, can be consdiered a target in all formats.

NASCAR DFS Cheat Sheet

Don't have the time to search multiple sites looking for NASCAR stats and data?

Check out my DFS NASCAR cheatsheet which includes Track History(2-Year Trend & Career), Track Type History(2-Year Trend), Current Form, Practice/Qualifying Data, and a weighted system to get an overall rank for each driver each race. Check out it now while it's still in BETA mode and FREE to everyone. Also, be sure to check out the Race by Race Trends Sheet.

DFS & Fantasy NASCAR Chat Room

If you have any questions leading up to the race hit me up in the chat below!

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