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NASCAR heads to Bristol on Sunday for the Food City 500. After the last three spring races at the track were held on a temporary dirt track, this year finds the Cup Series back on the pavement.
So far this season, four different drivers have landed in victory lane, with Christopher Bell winning at Phoenix last week to grab a playoff spot. Will we get a fifth winner in five races on Sunday? It's worth noting that the last five races at Bristol have been won by five different drivers.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Food City 500 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on Sunday, March 17 at 3:45 p.m. EST. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Christopher Bell
Starts 11th - DK: $11,000, FD: $13,000
Christopher Bell might not have qualified at the front, but I don't think it should take too long for him to be in the mix. Bell has been really good here since the Cup Series moved to this current generation of car.
In 2022, he started eighth and finished fourth, leading 143 laps in the process. Then last year, he started on the pole and finished third, leading 187 laps.
The way Bristol has worked in this generation of car is that once a driver gets out front, he stays out front for a good while. We only had 10 lead changes in September, with five separate stretches of a driver leading 50-plus laps in a row. If Bell can work his way forward and get that lead, he can start to pile on the DFS points.
Chris Buescher
Starts 34th - DK: $9,800, FD: $10,500
Two years ago, Chris Buescher dominated at Bristol. After starting 20th, the Roush Fenway Keselowski driver worked his way forward, claiming the lead for the first time on Lap 130. He went on to lead the next 108 laps before he was cycled out of the lead, but he retook it on lap 440 and held on the rest of the way. All in all, Buescher led 169 laps. He only led one lap in the 2023 race, but finished fourth after starting 20th, again.
His path to a top five is tougher this time around, as Buescher starts 34th after he got loose in qualifying and wasn't able to turn a very fast lap because of it:
Got loose in the Q lap. Resin wore off pretty quick… grip level flipped like a light switch.
We’re in a hole to start the race but we’ll right this submarine and charge to the front. https://t.co/BymT6NtMdu
— Chris Buescher (@Chris_Buescher) March 16, 2024
That'll impair his chance of winning, but as far as DFS goes, there's a huge amount of place differential upside for Buescher, who I could easily see going +25 or better on Sunday. He might be a little too chalky for GPPs, but he's a must-play in Cash.
Tyler Reddick
Starts 23rd - DK: $9,000, FD: $10,000
I love Tyler Reddick as a place differential guy this week. While he's had an uneven track record at Bristol in the Cup Series, he does have a top-five here as well as two other top-15 results.
Reddick enters this race with two consecutive top 10s this season. Last weekend at Phoenix, he led 68 laps in the debut of NASCAR's new short-track package before finishing 10th. That gives me hope that Reddick can deliver strong results on Sunday at Bristol.
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Ty Gibbs
Starts 19th - DK: $8,000, FD: $12,000
Ty Gibbs has arrived. After a rookie season filled with ups and downs, the driver of the No. 54 car is ready to start competing for Cup Series victories.
Ty Gibbs has had a strong start to 2024. This makes us wonder … pic.twitter.com/LbxBSHAtTL
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 16, 2024
As we saw two years ago with Chris Buescher, not starting near the front isn't a death sentence here in this current generation of race car, as Buescher won from 20th. Gibbs, who starts 19th, is a huge value over on DraftKings, though not quite as much of one on FanDuel.
Gibbs enters this race with three top 10s in a row, including a career-best third at Phoenix last weekend. He led 57 laps in that race and posted 18 fastest laps, the second week in a row that Gibbs had double-digit fastest laps.
Austin Dillon
Starts 31st - DK: $6,300, FD: $4,000
It's been a tough season for Austin Dillon, who has just one top-20 finish through four races. But with the No. 3 car starting way back in 31st, there's place differential upside for the former Xfinity Series champion.
Bristol has been a solid track for Dillon, as he has three top 10s here in the Cup Series and an average finish of 17.7. He won't be a contender to wind up in victory lane, but he could get you +15 or so in place differential at a really cheap cost.
Carson Hocevar
Starts 35th - DK: 5,800, FD: $6,500
While Zane Smith was arguably the big splash addition for Spire this offseason, Carson Hocevar has been outperforming his new teammate. He has three top 20s in a row, including a pair of 15th-place finishes in the past two races.
His DFS value hasn't really been there though because he's qualified too well. This week, he had similar issues to Chris Buescher, almost going for a spin in the qualifying session, which relegated him to a 35th-place starting spot:
Hang on, @CarsonHocevar! 😳 pic.twitter.com/9yGEMMeDCN
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 16, 2024
Hocevar has one previous Cup Series start at this track, finishing 11th here last season while subbing in the No. 42 car for Legacy Motor Club.
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