NASCAR DFS Rankings: The All-Star Race

Welcome to RotoBaller's Rankings for the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. For those that are viewing these NASCAR DFS rankings, here is how they work.

There are two sets of DFS  rankings featured below, with one set of rankings focused on DraftKings DFS contests while the other is focused on FanDuel. Every driver that will officially be starting in this week's race will be listed in a specified order based on a combination of a driver's expected performance for this week's race as well as their salary.

These ranks will help you make tough lineup calls, telling you which drivers to start over others. DFS players from any skill level can use these rankings to create a lineup that will cash out. Good luck RotoBallers!

All-Star Race Overview

Every year, the NASCAR Cup Series holds an exhibition event where a select field of drivers satisfying certain criteria competes for a massive cash prize for their team. This event is the All-Star race and it will take place at Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-Mile Intermediate track. The field for this year is made up of past Cup Series winners since the last All-Star race, Cup Champions, playoff drivers from last season, and former all-star race winners. The formatting of the race also is unique to the All-Star race consisting of four stages of racing with the first three stages being 25 laps each while the final stage is 50 laps long. At the end of each of the first three stages, the driver that won the stage will be able to start at the front of the final stage as long as they finish 15th or higher in the preceding stages. The Stage one winner will start first in the final stage, the stage two winner will start second, and the third stage winner will start third. There will also be a pit stop competition at the end of the third stage that also determines a fourth driver to start fourth in the final stage. Overall, other than these format changes, the All-Star race is similar to a shorter traditional race would be at Texas and those playing DFS must treat it as such.

With a smaller field of drivers and fewer points available due to the lower lap count compared to most Cup events, Fantasy players must focus on finishing position and place differential when putting together lineups. A field that is half the size of most Cup events also means that there is less PD upside and lower ceilings for most competitors as well. Despite these challenges for lineup construction, fantasy players still have sufficient options to anchor lineups around for this week's All-Star race and are reflected in this week's rankings. Other than previous Texas races, the ranks are also influenced greatly by races from this season that use this week's rules package including Las Vegas and Kansas. Be sure to analyze the rankings carefully and good luck!

NASCAR DFS Rankings

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Additional NASCAR DFS Analysis

Do note that the rankings do not include the drivers that are participating in the All-Star Open event before the All-Star race. The open drivers as of the posting of these rankings are not listed on FanDuel and are considered questionable as only four open drivers will make it to the All-Star race. As for the drivers that have the highest chance of racing into the All-Star race, Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr were the fastest throughout practice for the open drivers. All four drivers also displayed speed throughout other races at 1.5-Mile Intermediate tracks in 2022 and have better equipment than most of the other open drivers. Reddick, Jones, and Suarez are also three of the top four drivers in the fan vote for the All-Star race as well and have a higher chance than most to be voted into the main event even if they don't win one of the stages in the Open.

Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson must be considered the two top favorites for winning the All-Star race. Larson won the event in each of his last two appearances (2019 & 2021) while Busch is also a former All-Star winner who also showed plenty of speed throughout 1.5-Mile Intermediate tracks in 2022. Both drivers also were towards the top of the speed charts in practice, showcasing that they will have plenty of speed on Sunday night.

Further down the salary ladder, Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, and A.J. Allmendinger are intriguing value options to consider. Busch led the most laps (116) and dominated the last 1.5-Mile Intermediate track race at Kansas by winning. Wallace in that same race picked up the most quality passes (60) while finishing in the Top 10 after losing track position on pit road multiple times. Allmendinger displayed promising top-10 speeds throughout practice and saves more cap flexibility than almost the entire field.

Be sure to experiment around and play multiple lineups in case some drivers wreck out this week and good luck!

Sean Engel is a seven-time DraftKings tournament winner and an 18-year DFS NASCAR veteran.

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