The lineups have arrived for the Dayonta 500 in the form of a cash lineup and two GPP offerings. The first thing to note about these lineups is they are a guide post and not necessarily to be played without looking at the research and reasoning behind them. There is a chance that playing the lineups as is could result in a lot of similar lineups in the same contests which then splits the pot up into smaller portions. With that out of the way lets breakdown the lineups.
DK Cash
The idea behind this lineup was to put together a grouping of six drivers who have shown to be consistent at one of the most inconsistent and unpredictable tracks on the schedule. Brad and Denny lead things off as the two best drivers in the field at plate tracks and this specific race respectively. Following them we have Almirola who is a mid-tier value play who has shown how well he drives at Daytona and 'Dega of late, and now has the backing of better equipment. Daniel Suarez is a wild card given he has just two races at Daytona under his belt but his speed this week is too hard to ignore with the upside he can generate. McDowell and Gaughan finish things off with two guys who have the ability to put up big time points and move through the field well here. Overall it's a balanced approach with consistent producers.
DK GPP 1
Starting the season with the three highest scoring drivers from last season in the same lineup seems like a reasonable idea. But why are they in a GPP lineup if they are that productive? Easy. It's the track. Daytona makes amazing drivers look normal and can throw haymakers in the middle of even the best intentioned plans. Busch, Truex, and Larson combined have just two top-fives in the last four Daytona 500s between the three of them. They have four top-10s between them in that span too. Suarez makes an appearance again because he's as much a GPP option as a cash option this week, probably more on the GPP side in fact. Menard always seems to lurk in the pack and then advance when others get into trouble, and this week should be no different based on the write up in the playbook. Brendan Gaughan is again the finishing driver in this group of six, though you can pivot to Justin Marks who has run in the top-10 in multiple practices but hasn't run a Daytona 500 yet and starts near the back of the pack. Gaughan offers the all or nothing upside of a GPP lineup and thus fits perfectly.
DK GPP 2
The second GPP option leads off with two elite level drivers ($9,500+) in Chase Elliott and Joey Logano. Logano is the more consistent and historically successful driver here, but Chase has the talent and car to notch his first win this week, given his showing in the Duel Thursday night. Jimmie Johnson is looking to start anew this season, which isn't going great as he's already on his third car of the weekend. He starts P38 on Sunday but has done well in the last four tries with two top-fives in that span. Ricky Stenhouse Jr and AJ Allmendinger are the next two drivers up in the lineup for their aggressive driving styles and the recent successes they've each had at the track. Stenhouse won the July race and Allmendinger had his best race of the season at the 500 last year with nearly 80 points. McDowell is the anchor of the lineup and rounds off a group of drivers who can all post massive scores if things fall their way on Sunday.