RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway this weekend to close out the 2024 season. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron remain alive in the hunt for the title.
Of those four, the driver who earns the best finish on Sunday will take the championship. The two Penske drivers—Logano and Blaney—are searching for repeat Cup Series titles, while the other two are looking to win title No. 1.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 11/10/2024 at 3:39 p.m. EST. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on X at @juscarts.
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DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Ryan Blaney
Starts 17th - DK: $11.2K, FD: $14.0K
The championship race tends to be a battle between multiple Championship 4 drivers. Last year, a non-playoff driver won, but the next three spots all went to title contenders. In 2022, Championship 4 drivers took two of the top three spots. 2021, a similar story—four of the top five finishers were in the title battle.
That's why my strategy this weekend is to build each lineup around two of the four championship contenders. The question is just which are the right calls.
Let's start with Ryan Blaney, who starts lower than any of the playoff drivers in 17th. Based on how these races tend to go, Blaney also stands the best chance of leading those four drivers in place differential. He has plenty of room to move forward.
Blaney has never won here, but he has eight top 10s in a row at this track, which includes six consecutive top-fives and three runner-up finishes. He'd led 100-plus laps here twice in that span.
This No. 12 car keeps coming so close to winning at Phoenix. Could this be the year?
William Byron
Starts Eighth - DK: $11.0K, FD: $13.5K
Joey Logano is the playoff driver best positioned to lead early as the former champ shares the front row with Martin Truex Jr., but I just don't trust the speed of that No. 22 car. That's why William Byron is my pick to win this race and why he has the most upside as far as laps led goes.
Who will it be? 🏁
Our Sumatran tiger, Raja, chose William Byron, who drives the No. 24 Chevrolet, to win the 2024 @NASCAR Cup Series Championship at the @phoenixraceway! Tune in to the race on NBC Sunday at 1 p.m. AZ time to see if Raja has a taste for champions! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/5ue62g9qX8
— Phoenix Zoo (@phoenixzoo) November 10, 2024
Byron won the spring race here in 2023, leading 64 laps, and then finished fourth in the 2023 season finale after leading 95 laps. He's been very good here in this Gen 7 car.
Josh Berry
Starts 39th - DK: $7.4K, FD: $7.0K
And now we move on to the cheaper drivers, all of whom are being mentioned for their place differential upside. I really like how this lineup shook out from that perspective. It should make the lineup-building process a lot of fun.
Josh Berry starts back in 39th after he didn't complete a qualifying run, with the No. 4 car spinning during the lap.
This part of the track has been tricky all afternoon! @joshberry loses control of his No. 4 car! #BuschLightPole pic.twitter.com/DI0xVxFTWQ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 9, 2024
Not a great start to the weekend for Berry as Stewart-Haas Racing bids farewell to NASCAR. Berry is off for the Wood Brothers next year to take over the No. 21 car.
Berry has made two Cup Series starts at Phoenix with a best finish of 10th. His average finish in 2024 is 22.7, which isn't great, but he is pretty far ahead of where he starts on Sunday.
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Austin Dillon
Starts 36th - DK: $7.0K, FD: $6.0K
We stick in the back with Austin Dillon. This definitely isn't one of his better tracks, but he was +14 and +9 in place differential in the two races here in 2023.
I also think his performance at Richmond would augur good things on Sunday. Yes, the win itself was controversial since he crashed two people on the last lap for it, but Dillon ran up front for much of the race. Richmond has some similarities to Phoenix.
Ryan Preece
Starts 33rd - DK: $6.9K, FD: $5.5K
And we have another SHR driver here. Overall, it was a tough qualifying effort for Ford. The highest non-Penske Ford is Chase Briscoe in 12th. Second is Corey LaJoie in 20th. Six Fords start outside the top 30.
Ryan Preece will fire off in 33rd, giving the No. 41 car some strong place differential upside. Preece has top-20s in three of his last four starts at this track, though he only finished 23rd back in March.
Michael McDowell
Starts 35th - DK: $6.4K, FD: $6.8K
I didn't mean for this article to just be a parade of drivers who are moving to new teams next year, but we conclude with one more of them: Michael McDowell, who is moving from Front Row Motorsports to Spire next season.
Michael McDowell’s final qualifying lap for Front Row Motorsports 🫡
A botched one, but it was a good save at least pic.twitter.com/MchORyE96v
— @torak34.bsky.social (@Torak_34) November 9, 2024
McDowell starts 35th on Sunday, but he should be able to make a strong move forward based on his recent results here. Over the last two seasons, the No. 34 team has finished 13th, ninth, and eighth in the three races here.
Granted, he started in the top 10 in two of those, but still...I'm pretty confident McDowell can go at least +15 in place differential with the upside for a lot more.
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