The NFL season has come to an end, but we kick off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season with the Super Bowl for American motorsports, the Daytona 500. The Great American Race once again goes green Sunday afternoon for the upcoming holiday weekend and this may be the last time for the immediate future NASCAR owns this holiday weekend as Super Bowl LXI gets the holiday weekend treatment in 2027.

But this is the prized race for a lot of these drivers and it’s an opportunity to see some longshots get to victory lane for the biggest race of the season. This race will feature a ton of variance, especially across the final laps as drivers make a push to get to the front and potentially win. We’ll see big wrecks and possibly some long, boring green flag runs.

We have all your coverage this weekend with the NASCAR DFS Playbook for DraftKings and FanDuel in addition to the NASCAR DFS Projections and the NASCAR DFS Ownership outlook. And after a year away, we’re bringing back the NASCAR DFS Show to offer up some analysis on every race in under 30 minutes each week. Let’s dive in and take a look at the top plays and lineup building strategies for the 68th running of the Daytona 500!

 

 

 

Daytona International Speedway

The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year, but it’s not quite the biggest track on the schedule. Talladega is a little bit longer and wider, but the style of racing is the same between both tracks. This race presents a tremendous opportunity for smaller teams to make some noise and get a win. Being the polesitter hasn’t necessarily been a favorable starting spot because the last driver to start P1 and win the Daytona 500 was Dale Jarrett way back in 2000. Kyle Busch starts on the pole for this race and he’ll have his hands full as he still chases his first Daytona 500 victory.

But chaos is the name of the game. Jon Impemba and I discussed the level of variance you should expect on the latest NASCAR DFS Show where we gave some quick hitting thoughts on the Great American Race. Hopefully the data in the next set of tables helps inspire you to get creative when building your winning NASCAR DFS lineups for the Daytona 500.

 

 

 

NASCAR DraftKings and FanDuel Scoring Trends

This table for a superspeedway race is nothing new for experienced NASCAR DFS players on DraftKings and FanDuel. The lineup building strategy changes with every race. For shorter tracks with 350-500 laps, you want to get drivers with win equity and dominator potential (laps led and fastest laps). For road courses, you want win equity and drivers offering position differential. The dominator points don’t matter at road courses as much because there are fewer laps.

For the Daytona 500, we’re mostly throwing darts and praying to get all of the drivers in our lineups across the finish line, ideally finishing in the top 10. Matt Selz and I used to say it all the time that this race is a lot like playing the lottery for DFS. All the research and nailing the savvy plays amount to nothing if there’s an abundance of carnage and your drivers can’t make it through.

The safest strategy for building lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel is likely to stack the back. And if you’re playing cash games, you’ll see a lot of the field lean into that specific strategy. The drivers starting toward the rear offer the safest floor because of the scoring on both sites. They have the most room to move up and gain positions. The drivers starting up front will carry less ownership, but they’ll also be at risk of negative position differential points if they wreck.

When you’re building GPP lineups, you have to take some risks. The Fords are aerodynamically the strongest manufacturer in the field. Team Penske (Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric) are annually among the best drafters in the field. It wouldn’t surprise me to see one of these three drivers lead significant laps on a long green flag run just to eat away at some laps in this race. But for tournaments you can’t solely stack the back. You have to get some position differential and win equity while leaning into variance. A good rule of thumb is to be comfortable leaving money on the table. If you’re looking to spend every dollar of your budget, that’s totally fine. But typically, the optimal lineups at these drafting races are usually leaving at least $3,000 of salary on the table.

 

 

 

NASCAR Daytona 500 Top Tier DFS Picks

William Byron – DraftKings: $10,000 | FanDuel: $13,000

Because of his starting spot, Byron emerges as one of the safest plays on the entire slate. Does that mean he’s completely protected from putting up a bad score? No. If he wrecks he’s still scoring poorly. But if he manages to stay clear of any carnage and finish in the top 10 then he’s easily scoring over 60 points.

Byron’s won this race each of the last two years and if you’re a betting man/woman he’s won this race at +1800 in back-to-back years and he was getting those exact odds once again at Caesars Sportsbook as of Friday evening.

Now Byron’s starting spot relegates him to being a lock for cash games. He should rightly carry over 80% ownership in cash games. In tournaments we’ll likely see ownership float between 40-50% considering he’s a two-time Daytona 500 winner and he’s starting so far back. So if you’re playing GPP’s I’d cap your own personal exposure to maybe 30-35% so you have leverage on the field in case he’s not in the optimal lineup.

Ryan Blaney – DraftKings: $9,700 | FanDuel: $13,500

Joey Logano – DraftKings: $9,400 | FanDuel: $14,000

Blaney and Logano are the exact opposite of William Byron. You do not want to play either of these two in cash games. These two are strictly tournament-only options. And even then, you probably cap ownership on either driver at maybe 8%.

Team Penske runs incredibly well in the draft. Just the composition of the car’s body and the front/rear bumper connection helps the cars push in the draft and move up. It should surprise no one if either Logano or Blaney got to the front and collected laps led on a long green flag run.

However, as good as they are at drafting, once we get to the final laps and everyone starts getting aggressive, that’s when these two become risky plays. It’s the Daytona 500 and everyone wants to win this race and they’ll make aggressive moves to get to the front which can wreck several drivers. But for tournaments these are the only two drivers starting inside the top 10 I’m even considering getting some exposure to. This is the kind of team that can win this race while also leading 40+ laps. Do not play these drivers together. Mix them in appropriately just to get some exposure in GPP’s.

Bubba Wallace – DraftKings: $9,100 | FanDuel: $10,000

Bubba is a very good drafter. We used to call this restrictor plate racing and he’s always been considered an elite plate racer. He’s finished second in this very race on two occasions (2018 and 2022) and he’s a previous winner at Talladega even if that result was shortened due to rain.

But Bubba, like Byron, also offers positions differential albeit not as much as Byron. But Bubba still possesses top five upside and he somehow always makes it to the front when we come to Daytona. He’s led 38 total laps in the last four Daytona races in 2024 and 2025.

Bubba is also the only driver starting inside the top 30 that I’d give cash game consideration to. There are still safer options on the board for this race, and Bubba can return negative points if he wrecks. However, I can’t leave him out of the NASCAR DFS Playbook when he’s starting P27 at a superspeedway.

Austin Cindric – DraftKings: $9,000 | FanDuel: $12,500

Austin Cindric is another cash game lock since PD is the name of the game. He starts P36 and is a previous Daytona 500 winner (2022). He arguably should have won this race a year ago when he led over 50 laps. In fact, Cindric got screwed out of starting 2025 with back-to-back wins at Daytona and Atlanta. 

Cindric started P2 at both Daytona and Atlanta to start the 2025 campaign and he led 106 laps between both races. But he didn’t get the win at either, but he avenged those losses by going to victory lane at Talladega in the spring. But it does show just how good the Penske cars are in the draft.

Now up above I mentioned I wouldn’t play Logano or Blaney together. However, you can definitely pair one of those drivers with their teammate, Austin Cindric. Blaney/Logano possess win equity and the chance to eat up laps led. And Cindric is an outstanding PD play that should be able to move up. But heed this warning. In nine points-paying races at Daytona, Cindric has wrecked four times. So the upside is amazing, but there’s certainly bust potential as well.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Mid-Tier Drivers

Chris Buescher – DraftKings: $8,400 | FanDuel: $9,500

Buescher, like Byron and Cindric, is a cash game lock. You eat the chalk with those three drivers and you can find other ways to differentiate your cash game builds. Buescher is certainly the safest play on the slate starting P41. If he simply just finishes top 20 you’re looking at 44 fantasy points on DraftKings which is amazing. He might be the only driver in the field I’d consider playing at 40% exposure because the floor and ceiling are so great because of this starting spot.

Buescher is a previous winner at Daytona as he won the regular season finale a few years ago at this track. Moreover, we watched how good the RFK Racing cars were in the first duel race Thursday night. They may not get the credit that Team Penske does, but this is still a strong driver that can run well and move through the field with ease.

Ross Chastain – DraftKings: $8,100 | FanDuel: $7,200

Ross is another strong play that carries name recognition and he’ll draw ownership because he starts deeper in the field. Perhaps it’s my own personal bias but I do struggle to consider him as safe of a player as Byron or Cindric. He’s an aggressive driver and that can play well here but I just don’t know if he has the ceiling or win equity of other drivers in the field.

He does have a few top 10 finishes under his belt. In 15 career points-paying races at Daytona he has only three top 10 finishes and no finishes inside the top five. But for DFS he does start deep in the field so that elevates his floor because there are a lot of positive PD points to be collected. Ross is a former winner at Talladega although that win came back in 2022, the first year of the NextGen car and arguably one of the more unpredictable seasons in recent memory. But on paper he’s a fantastic DFS play and he’s in consideration for all formats.

Ryan Preece – DraftKings: $8,000 | FanDuel: $7,800

Let’s take a break from the obvious position differential targets on the board because we do need to discuss some GPP targets that can possibly break the slate. Most weeks, Ryan Preece will not be an $8,000 driver on DraftKings. But he has the ability to break through and get some wins. He won The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium about a week-and-a-half ago and we just talked about how good RFK Racing looked in the draft Thursday night. Preece was leading a good chunk of those laps for RFK.

But Preece cannot be utilized in cash games because he starts inside the top 20. But the starting spot also means he won’t carry significant ownership. I’m aiming to play maybe 15-18% exposure on Preece. He’s in a Ford and these cars run very well in the draft. Whether he’s working with his own teammates, or Penske or FRM, there are options and a variety of ways for the Fords to get to the front. 2025 was a frustrating year for Preece but he kicked off 2026 in style by winning The Clash and he looked capable of leading the draft on Thursday. He’s a personal favorite GPP play of mine for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Value Drivers

Erik Jones – DraftKings: $7,300 | FanDuel: $5,200

In this mid-$7K range on DraftKings we have a pretty tight group of intriguing drivers. Jones, Tyler Reddick, and Connor Zilisch are all priced near each other. Zilisch is the future of NASCAR and starts outside the top 30. Reddick came very close to winning the Daytona 500 in the past. But those two offer more PD than Jones so I’m anticipating Jones being a nice pivot/leverage option.

Jones is no stranger to winning at Daytona. He won here with Joe Gibbs Racing back in July of 2018 and he won The Clash in 2020 when it was run at Daytona. He actually had a very strong run in this race a year ago. He only finished 12th but he was top 10 at the end of each of the first two stages, and he went on to grab a top five finish last summer at this track. This is one of the few races he might have a shot at winning this year and if you like him you can get him at +4500 on DraftKings Sportsbook as of Saturday morning. But he’s a nice Toyota to stack with the likes of Hamlin/Reddick/Bubba or you could get very contrarian and pair him with John Hunter Nemechek who starts P11.

Justin Allgaier – DraftKings: $6,400 | FanDuel: $4,000

I’m very intrigued with where Justin Allgaier’s ownership lands. For casual players, I’m wondering if they somehow skip over him because he doesn’t carry the name recognition of other drivers. But he’s a long-time veteran of the Xfinity Series, which is now known as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. In 30 total races at Daytona in “ORLY” he has 18 finishes of 13th or better with a win and nine top five finishes.

In last year’s Daytona 500 entry for Jr. Motorsports, he started P19 and finished inside the top 10. And now he’s going to start P40 which means only Chris Buescher has the safer floor. So I’m willing to put him in here as a cash game lock next to Byron, Cindric, and Buescher. And perhaps he’s the second driver I’d consider getting 40% exposure to even if I’m a bit weary of going that heavy on two drivers. But the floor is incredibly safe and he’s one of the best plays on the slate that may not carry the ownership of the more expensive names.

Zane Smith – DraftKings: $5,600 | FanDuel: $4,000

There are so many value options on the table so if you’re looking to differentiate your builds, I highly suggest consulting the table below. But I really like Zane Smith and in five Cup Series races at Daytona, the results are a mixed bag but there’s top 15 upside.

Last year was tough for Zane. In 2025, during his return to Front Row Motorsports, he finished outside the top 30 in both Daytona races. But in his other three races at the World Center of Racing, he finished 13th in each race and that sample size includes the 2023 and 2024 Daytona 500’s. We also saw him grab a top 10 finish at Talladega last Fall so there’s upside.

This is also a driver who has a pair of Truck Series win at Daytona (2022 and 2023) under his belt and there are many appealing names starting behind him. He’d return 43 fantasy points for our NASCAR DFS lineups with a top 15 finish and I think this kid has top 10 upside as well.

Cody Ware – DraftKings: $4,700 | FanDuel: $3,500

Cody Ware is what I like to call a “patience play.” Ware is the cheapest driver in the field I’ll play on DraftKings because there’s no way I’m playing Casey Mears starting P17 in a car being held together by spit and shoelaces. But Ware is firmly in play because he’s wildly cheap and starting outside the top 30.

In four races at Daytona since the start of the 2023 season, Ware has an average starting position of 32.8 and an average finish of 15.8 and wouldn’t you know it? He’s starting P33 for this race. So even if he kind of plays to his averages and finishes 16th, we’re looking at 44+ fantasy points on DraftKings from a punt play.

I will add the caveat that some of Ware’s best results at Daytona have come in the summer race and not the actual Daytona 500. But he’s going to offer PD from starting outside the top 30 and he’s not going to carry nearly as much ownership as Byron, Cindric, Buescher, Chastain, or Allgaier.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Optimizer & Lineups Picks This Week

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