Daily Fantasy NASCAR Picks for DraftKings - Daytona 500

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Daytona 500

Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, Florida
Track - 2.5 Mile Tri-Oval Superspeedway
31° Banking in the Corners

Welcome back DFSR and NASCAR fans. It's finally here. The biggest race in the sport, which also happens to be the start of the season. Drivers, teams, families, media members and fans alike show up at Daytona Beach in Mid-February every year for this historic race. We got to see a very exciting Advanced Auto Parts Clash last week as well as the two Can-Am Duel qualifying races last night. Now it's time for the main event, the Daytona 500. Before getting into this year's race, let us take a look back at the wild finish to last year's race which ended up being the closest in the 58-year history of the race.

Look familiar? If you watched the second Duel race last night you saw Hamlin pull off a very similar move on Dale Jr. that allowed him to cross the finish line first. Could he repeat? We will just have to tune in to see.

If you are still a little fuzzy on how the new rules work or how they will affect daily fantasy, please go back and check out my Season Preview article. The Daytona 500 stages will be complete at Lap 60(Stage 1), Lap 120(Stage 2) and Lap 200(Race Finale). Think of these stages as pre-determined cautions being thrown at these lap #'s. They will be handled like a normal caution where drivers will be able to come down pit road and to get fuel, tires, or make adjustments. Laps will be counted while under these cautions(stage breaks). The biggest difference we will notice with the new rules here at Daytona is that we aren't going to see any teams hanging out in the back with points on the line at the end of each stage. This should make for an exciting race from start to finish. No more mid-race naps for me I guess.

From a DFS perspective, I will be looking at stacking teammates or manufacturers as much as possible due to the drafting that goes on with Superspeedways. Joe Gibbs Racing has four cars(18, 19, 20, 11) while their technical alliance teammates, Furniture Row Racing have two cars(78, 77). These six are my favorite targets right off the bat based on lineup building as they all come in under 10$k this week with three of them in the $9K range(11, 18, 78) and the rest in the $8K and $7K range. Another team I will be targeting heavily is Team Penske who field two elite cars(2, 22). The issue with them is that you will have to go much more stars and scrubs to stack them as they rank 4th and 2nd in salary. You can also consider stacking them with some of the other FORD teams like Stewart-Haas Racing(41, 14, 4, 10), Roush Fenway Racing(17, 6) or dip down to the punt range with Front Row Motorsports(34, 38).

Let's dive into some of my top picks for the race.

Drivers to Build Around

Joey Logano
DraftKings - $9,900
Qualified - 15th

He comes in right at the top of my cheatsheet this week and comes in under $10K, fourth in salary on DraftKings. He showed he can draft well with teammate Brad Keselowski in the Clash last Sunday and ended up winning the race.  He also comes in with excellent track history finishing sixth in last year's Daytona 500 and winning it the year before. He also finished sixth in the July Coke Zero 400 last season and has three total plate track wins in his career. He sits Top 5 in every weighted stat besides place differential which doesn't worry me as they are an elite team that should easily finish Top 10, barring an accident or mechanical issue.

Denny Hamlin
DraftKings - $9,600
Qualified - 4th

You can't talk plate track racing without mentioning Denny Hamlin. He is the defending Daytona 500 champion and looks just as strong this time around. He dominated the second half of the Clash leading the JGR train, but blocked Brad Keselowski late in the race which cost him the win. He then came back this week in the second Duel after a pit penalty and made a similar move for a final lap pass as he did in the 500 the year earlier to pick up the win. He lacks place differential upside but has Dominator point upside should the JGR cars get together early, and you know they will be following #11.

Top Place Differential Value Plays

Martin Truex Jr. 
DraftKings - $9,000
Qualified - 35th

Right at the top of the list is Truex Jr. who failed post Duel inspection and will start 35th on Sunday. That's 34-point place differential point upside which gives him a huge floor and ceiling making him safe in any format. He has never won on a plate track but has a Top 5 and two Top 10 finishes here at Daytona over the last two years. He is also part of an alliance team(Furniture Row Racing) with Joe Gibbs Racing who share information and will most likely work together throughout the race. His new teammate Erik Jones will start right beside him so look for them to hook up early, making them an excellent GPP stack with huge upside if they finish in the Top 10.

Ryan Blaney
DraftKings - $7,300
Qualified - 36th

He will be running a backup car on Sunday but mentioned learning a lot during the Duel race and the #21 Wood Brothers FORD are no stranger to victory lane at Daytona. The brothers have been here since the start of the 500 and have won the race five times including most recently in 2011 with rookie Trevor Bayne behind the wheel. Blaney didn't win a race as a rookie in 2016 but did tally three Top 5's and nine Top 10's and finished 19th and 14th in his two Daytona races. He is also a lock in all formats.

Bottom Tier Value Play

Brendan Gaughan
DraftKings - $5,100
Qualified - 39th

He is making his Daytona 500 debut, which in itself makes him a risky play but there is DFS upside. He is starting 39th and finished 32nd in first practice and then improved to 23rd for practice #3 this afternoon. For $5,100 he makes a nice stars and scrubs option if you are stacking multiple high-end drivers and barring a crash should be able to easily grab 20+ DraftKings points.

Also Consider: Aric Almirola (GPP)

For a limited time I am offering a copy of my DFS NASCAR cheathsheet which includes Track History, Current Form, Odds, Tarck Type History, Practice/Qualifying Ranks and much more. Get it HERE.

Post Practice & Qualifying Update

Qualifying Top 10

If you have any questions on lineups or drivers prior to lineup lock scroll down to the comment section and join the conversation.

Good Luck everyone!

Chris Durell has been playing Daily Fantasy Sports for three years and fantasy in general for more than a decade. He is active player in college football, NFL, NBA, PGA, and of course NASCAR. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada with his wife and two daughters. You can follow him on Twitter at @jager_bombs9 for advice, strategy, answers to any NASCAR questions or how he copes with the winters up north.