RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series is in Daytona this weekend for the Coke Zero Sugar 400. This superspeedway race is bound to be full of chaos, making DFS contests a lot more of a mystery than usual. With major wrecks bound to be part of the night's proceedings, you want to go with a much larger variety of drivers than usual. Place differential also becomes even more important than usual. This is also a race where you can leave salary space on the table, so don't feel like you need to use up all your salary.
So, what do I mean by this race being a mystery? Well, in February's Daytona 500, five drivers finished in the top 10 while starting 20th or worse and 10 drivers failed to finish the race, including the three drivers who started one, two, and three in the race. Anything can happen at Daytona.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 8/24/2024 at 7:51 p.m. EDT. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on X at @juscarts.
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Denny Hamlin
Starts 19th - DK: $10.3K, FD: $14.0K
Denny Hamlin has struggled at superspeedways this season. In three starts at dating tracks, Hamlin's best finish was 19th at Daytona. But he led 10 laps in that race, then led 15 at Atlanta and four at Talladega. The finishes haven't been there for Hamlin, but he's shown pace during the races.
Hamlin is a three-time winner at this track, though he enters this weekend on a streak of six consecutive Daytona races with finishes outside the top 10. However, just once in that span has Hamlin failed to lead laps. Again, during the race, he looks like a contender, but he just can't put it all together.
Denny Hamlin is certainly the story today after the L2 penalty the team received earlier this week.
Hamlin said he was very disappointed to hear the news.
“When I walked in the room and saw it was just me, my crew chief, the TRD guys and Gibbs, I knew it was bad.”#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/YeGX4YbQRt
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) August 23, 2024
With a 19th-place starting spot, Hamlin offers just enough place differential upside this weekend for him to be viewed as a top play. He's shown in the past that he can succeed here, posting 12 top 10s at this track across his Cup Series career.
Brad Keselowski
Starts 12th - DK: $10.0K, FD: $11.5K
Here's where we zig while everyone else zags. In theory, a crash-prone driver who starts 12th shouldn't really be under heavy consideration at a track like Daytona. If I'm playing a driver who starts 15th or better, I need it to be someone with an established record of keeping his car clean here.
Brad K has a win at Daytona on his resume and finished second here in 2023, but he's also crashed out in there of his last four Daytona races. In fact, since the start of the 2017 season, Keselowski has raced here 15 times and has DNFed 11 of those races. He can't avoid trouble here.
But when Keselowski does keep the car clean here, he's a contender. He's led laps in four of his last five Daytona starts, and was top 10 in the two of those races that he actually finished. Sure, this is an extremely risky play, but there's a path to it paying off.
Bubba Wallace
Starts 18th - DK: $9.0K, FD: $11.0K
Bubba Wallace has finished outside the top 10 just once in his 14 Cup Series starts at Daytona. He's finished second at this track three times, and earlier this year he was fifth in the Daytona 500. Wallace could really use a win to lock himself into the playoffs and this is a track that he's come close at a number of times. Don't count him out.
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Ty Gibbs
Starts 26th - DK: $7.6K, FD: $7.5K
Now we start to get to the deeper place differential plays, starting with Ty Gibbs. Gibbs was 17th in the Daytona 500 earlier this season and 10th at Atlanta. His track record at Daytona in the Cup Series is fairly poor as he's led zero laps and has a best finish of 13th. However, he starts outside the top 25 and will have a fast car, so you'll want some exposure to him.
Erik Jones
Starts 40th - DK: $7.0K, FD: $6.8K
The disappointing season for Legacy Motor Club continued in qualifying when Erik Jones ran into issues and was unable to complete his lap, relegating him back to a 40th-place starting spot.
A rough ride for @Erik_Jones, who will not complete his qualifying lap in the first round. pic.twitter.com/YmDZG6Xbq3
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 23, 2024
That's bad for Jones, but it makes him an easy option in DFS. Jones has run well at Daytona in the past, winning this race in 2018 and finishing eighth in this season's Daytona 500. He has top 20s in three of his past our starts at the track.
Carson Hocevar
Starts 37th - DK: $6.0K, FD: $4.2K
Carson Hocevar starts 37th. He finished top 20 in two of the three drafting races so far this season and overall has run well in 2024, posting back-to-back top 10s entering this race. He's run well here in the Truck Series, posting two top 10s and a worst finish of 12th in three starts.
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