Joey Logano flat out dominated last week’s race at North Wilkesboro with 323 laps led, 100 fastest laps, and he got the win for his first of the season. It’s awfully tricky to gauge when Logano will show up with his best stuff, but he stepped up big time on a short track and got Team Penske its second consecutive win after Ryan Blaney won the week prior at Atlanta.

Team Penske has a little momentum heading into this weekend. That’s a good sign as it’s almost an obligation for Penske drivers to run well at Indianapolis. Roger Penske owns this complex so a win gains a lot of good will with the boss man. But this is a crown jewel event so while it means a little more to Team Penske, all drivers in the field would like to take their car to victory lane.

We have all your coverage with the NASCAR DFS Playbook for DraftKings and FanDuel in addition to the NASCAR DFS Projections and the NASCAR DFS Ownership outlook. Let’s dive in and take a look at the top NASCAR DFS picks and lineup building strategies on DraftKings and FanDuel as we get ready for the Brickyard 400!

 

 

 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway represents one of the crown jewel events on the annual NASCAR schedule. This venue opened in 1909 and the entire complex sprawls across 560 acres. The Brickyard Crossing Golf Course sits parallel to the back stretch and even four of the 18 golf holes sit inside the 2.5-mile oval.

The track itself is massive at 2.5 miles and it’s fairly flat with zero degrees of banking in the straights and 9.2 degrees in the turns. Because of the size of this track we only have 160 laps so there may be just over 100 dominator points available for this race depending on the number of cautions.

This is definitely a track position race. Since NASCAR returned to the oval after experimenting with the road course, we’ve seen the winners start P2 and P5. While the table above shows that 68% of the laps led have come from drivers starting in the top 10, it’s worth acknowledging that number drops to just over 50% in the two NextGen races.

If this race sees long green flag runs, it could get a little boring. So pit stops during stage breaks, or even live green flag stops, are going to be paramount. Indianapolis Motor Speedway features one of the most narrow pit roads on the schedule. The pit lanes, while long, are also not that wide. So we’ll likely see plenty of contact on pit road and that could shake up the running order.

If we’re looking for comparable tracks, it’s hard to find any direct comparisons to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But for our NASCAR DFS picks, we do usually look at who ran well at Michigan and Pocono. Both tracks are larger intermediates that require a lot of horsepower. Fortunately for us, we saw NASCAR race those two tracks just last month. And overall, we’ve seen plenty of races on high-speed intermediates and we were given a 50-minute practice session to dissect on Friday.

 

 

 

NASCAR DraftKings and FanDuel Scoring Trends with DFS Strategy

With just 160 laps for this race, we may only be looking for two dominator candidates with our NASCAR DFS picks. After accounting for cautions, it’s likely that we only see 100-105 dominator points get distributed among the field. And the polesitter’s averages are a bit inflated. The tables above include data from the last two Brickyard 400 races, but I also included the races from 2018-2020. In the 2019 race, Kevin Harvick started and won the race from the pole with 38.85 dominator points for an overall score of 93.85 fantasy points on DraftKings. If you take that performance away, the polesitter is averaging just 35.64 fantasy points.

Over the last five races at Indianapolis, only three drivers have posted more than 70 fantasy points and two of them were Harvick before the NextGen era. Denny Hamlin did return 80+ fantasy points in last year’s race because he started P39 and finished third. In general, we’re looking for our value plays to return 40+ fantasy points. Our mid-range selections and dominators need to provide 50+ fantasy points. Ideally you have the dominator(s) that can score 10-15 points through laps led and fastest laps while still finishing well.

This is a track that can provide some variance though. Over the last two Brickyard 400’s we’ve seen drivers like Todd Gilliland finish in the top 10 (twice). Even Noah Gragson finished top 10 in the 2024 race. Katherine Legge even managed a 47-point effort on DraftKings last year because she avoided the wrecks and finished 17th after starting P38. So there will be some value plays that pay off with huge scores because they keep their cars clean.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks & Strategy: Brickyard 400

Due to the size of the track, very few drivers got a considerably long run during practice. Only three drivers registered a 15-lap run during Friday’s practice session (Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano). And of those three, only Buescher ran for 20+ laps. So I’ve cut the practice-to-qualifying table down with just 10 laps being the max since we didn’t get a good long run look for 90% of the field.

 

NASCAR Brickyard 400 Top Tier DFS Picks

Denny Hamlin (Starting P5) – DraftKings: $11,000 | FanDuel: $14,000

Hamlin rolls off P5 and the Toyotas look dialed in for Sunday’s race. Hamlin was top five in a few different metrics in practice which is still elite, but it feels like it’s an off week if he isn’t on the pole or fastest in practice. There’s still great track history with Hamlin and he’s having a career year at the end of the day.

As we mentioned earlier, Hamlin finished third in last year’s race at Indy after starting P39. In 2024, he started P2 and led 21 laps before wrecking in stage three. Hamlin’s never won at this track, but he’s come close quite a few times. And at the end of the day, Hamlin’s been so dominant leading laps on the intermediate tracks this year that you have to include him as a top play for our NASCAR DFS picks.

Kyle Larson (Starting P10) – DraftKings: $10,500 | FanDuel: $13,500

It hasn’t been a great year by Kyle Larson’s standards. Yes, he is the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, but he hasn’t won a race in over a year and earlier this week he was quoted as saying right now they’re running as a fourth-to-seventh place car. But I do head into Sunday afternoon’s race with a little optimism.

Indianapolis doesn’t have many great tracks to compare it to but as I mentioned earlier, we can pull data from Michigan and Pocono. They’re larger high-speed tracks that require a lot of horsepower. Larson finished top five at those tracks last month and he led 24 laps at Pocono.

Moreover, Indianapolis has been a great track for Larson since NASCAR decided to go back to the oval ahead of the 2024 season. Larson won here two years ago in overtime and he finished second to Bubba Wallace last year in another race that required overtime. And when you consider he had the fastest five-lap and 10-lap average in Friday’s practice session, you can probably find some comfort rostering Larson for our NASCAR DFS picks especially when he offers a little position differential.

Christopher Bell (Starting P23) – DraftKings: $10,000 | FanDuel: $12,500

I’m not too concerned about the starting spot/qualifying effort from Christopher Bell. Most of the Toyota camp qualified well and Bell was still sporty in Friday’s practice session. Bell offers PD with a car capable of finishing inside the top five. In each of the three NASCAR Cup Series he’s run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he’s gained at least eight spots of positive position differential in all three races.

Last year he started P16 and finished eighth. In 2024, he started P18 and finished fourth. And way back in 2020, he started P35 and finished 12th. If the speed from Friday translates to this year, then he could register some fastest laps for our NASCAR DFS lineups as he works his way through the field.

Bubba Wallace (Starting P29) – DraftKings: $9,000 | FanDuel: $11,000

Chalk Bubba can never be a good thing but alas, that’s where we’re at heading ahead of Sunday’s race. Similar to Bell, I’m not dwelling on the qualifying effort too much. The Toyotas will be competitive. Even Bubba’s teammates qualified inside the top seven. And Bubba did win this race last year so he’s going to generate plenty of ownership for Sunday afternoon’s action from the Brickyard.

To that point, perhaps this is a spot to be underweight compared to the field. Yes, Bubba won this race a year ago. And he was top five in 2024. All in all, he’s led 59 combined laps at this track over the last two races and that’s a lot considering we’re only scheduled for 160 laps for the annual Brickyard 400. But if he’s going to carry heavy ownership, we know Bubba has variance, and we can gain leverage by being underweight.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Mid-Tier Drivers

Ty Gibbs (Starting P4) – DraftKings: $8,800 | FanDuel: $9,500

You can certainly go the path of playing last week’s winner, Joey Logano, who starts further back thus offering more PD. But based on practice and qualifying for this week’s race, the Toyota’s once again have a pretty strong edge. Gibbs was third in single-lap speed, then fourth in five-lap averages, and then second in 10-lap averages behind only Kyle Larson. The track history isn’t necessarily on his side but it’s a small sample size overall.

Gibbs is coming off strong performances at Atlanta and North Wilkesboro. Obviously, Indianapolis doesn’t compare in any way to those two tracks but we’ve seen Gibbs lead laps and collect fastest laps at a variety of tracks this year. There’s some dominator potential at an affordable price and I do think there’s win equity as well given how strong the Toyotas have looked this weekend.

Chris Buescher (Starting P15) – DraftKings: $8,500 | FanDuel: $8,200

Chris Buescher is a mid-range driver among our NASCAR DFS picks who I believe can win this race. He won at Pocono years ago in a shortened race, and he’s a previous winner at Michigan. And we just saw him finish top 10 at both those tracks in June so he can provide a great result at this track.

His practice speeds on Friday were rather noteworthy. He was third-fastest in five-lap average while he was fourth in the 10-lap average. Now he only has one top 10 finish in his career at Indianapolis but some of the results are misleading. Last year he had a top 10 car and finished as such in the first two stages, but he ultimately finished 14th in overtime. And he wrecked in 2020 so I don’t want to rely too much on the track history because the car looks to have speed this weekend.

Carson Hocevar (Starting P1) – DraftKings: $8,300 | FanDuel: $9,000

Spire Motorsports showed up with some fast cars because Hocevar won the pole, Suarez will start right next to him, and Michael McDowell qualified in the third row. Hocevar did showcase a top 10 car in practice on Friday and nailed his qualifying lap on Saturday. So between Hocevar and Daniel Suarez, we have two affordable drivers with a shot at early dominator points. Hocevar is still a driver with variance to his game for DFS, but again, if he leads early and finishes in the top 10 he should still score very well.

Hocevar started P8 in last year’s race and grabbed a top 10 finish while finishing seventh in the first two stages. In 2024 he started P30 and finished 12th. And this is a year where Spire Motorsports is making serious headway with the big investment they received in the offseason and the addition of Chris Gabehart. Both Hocevar and Suarez have managed to go to victory lane this season, but both are firmly in play for our NASCAR DFS picks and neither will cost you an arm and a leg.

Austin Cindric (Starting P35) – DraftKings: $7,900 | FanDuel: $7,200

Cindric offers a ton of PD for Sunday afternoon’s race and I’m all for it. The downside is that based on practice and qualifying, the Fords haven’t exactly looked incredibly competitive compared to the Toyotas and the Chevrolets of Spire Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports. Ryan Blaney was the top qualifying Ford, and he starts P13. But we can lean into Cindric because of the floor/ceiling combination he offers starting deep in the field.

Cindric is certainly a top 15 driver most weeks. If he finishes 15th for this race with no dominator points, he’s returning 48 fantasy points for our NASCAR DFS lineups. Last year he started P10 and finished 15th with 40 laps led. In 2024 he started P38 and finished seventh. So he’s shown he can score well here.

And as we’ve already touched on, this race and the track mean a lot to Roger Penske. He owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway and I’m sure he wants a very strong showing from all three of his cars, especially after the team has won back-to-back races coming into Indy.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Value Drivers

Erik Jones (Starting P14) – DraftKings: $7,300 | FanDuel: $8,000

It is a bit tempting to feature Shane Van Gisbergen who is randomly finding ways to lead laps and collect dominator points on the ovals this year. SVG will make the player pool below but I cannot pass up Jones on a track like Indianapolis.

Jones finished second last month at Michigan and then followed that up by finishing sixth at Pocono. Jones once again looks like he may have a car capable of finishing in the top eight on Sunday. If he does that and grabs some fastest laps throughout the race, he’s possibly looking at 45+ fantasy points.

Now we should acknowledge he has some awful track history at Indianapolis. He’s wrecked in four-of-six races on the Indy oval. But he starts P14 for this race and that should keep ownership in check. I’ll take the risk on him for tournament lineups because of how competitive he was at Michigan and Pocono. And for what it’s worth his teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, similarly had great results at Michigan and Pocono and should be on your radar for this race as well.

Ryan Preece (Staring P34) – DraftKings: $6,700 | FanDuel: $4,800

Preece had a strong “get right” performance last week at North Wilkesboro. He started P21 and finished 10th. We expect him to usually compete on short, flat tracks and he delivered last week. And Preece is usually a value play recommendation for our NASCAR DFS picks that qualifies around P20. For Sunday’s race we get him starting outside the top 30. So he will carry some ownership. And similar to Bubba, this is a spot where we probably want to match the field in terms of exposure and not go overweight.

Preece didn’t have the best results at Michigan and Pocono last month. He wrecked at Michigan and overall, it was a rough stretch for Preece but he did get back on track last week with a top 10. Preece ran a clean race a year ago, leading a dozen laps and finishing fourth after starting P23. At this price he’ll crush value if he can just finish inside the top 15.

Riley Herbst (Starting P18) – DraftKings: $6,500 | FanDuel: $5,000

Once again, it’s a Toyota-heavy NASCAR DFS Playbook but for good reason. The camps of Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing share data and information so all their cars are competitive in their own respect. That holds true for Herbst who rolls off P18 after he finished 13th at Michigan and then 16th at Pocono last month.

Herbst did win a race at this track in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and he’s always been strong on the intermediate tracks. I do think in this range you can consider Herbst or the previously mentioned, John Hunter Nemechek. I wouldn’t play them together, but both are good GPP plays worth about 15-20% exposure in tournaments.

Todd Gilliland (Starting P36) – DraftKings: $5,900 | FanDuel: $4,200

Gilliland possesses immense upside among our value plays if we’re simply looking at track history. Last year he started P19 and finished sixth. In 2024, he started P24 and finish sixth. Do I think he can finish top 10 for the third straight year? Yes, it’s certainly possible but I don’t want to assume he’s a lock because he’s priced down here for a reason, and he has a lot of work to do starting P36.

Gilly did start P29 at Pocono and he finished 19th with six laps led for 35.5 fantasy points on DraftKings. And at Michigan he started P35 and finished 22nd for 33 fantasy points. He didn’t showcase the greatest speed in practice on Friday but I’m willing to buy into his track history when looking to save a little salary.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Optimizer & Lineups Picks This Week

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