The year of Denny Hamlin kept on rolling last week as it was the second straight week he had to start a race at the rear, in some form or fashion, after winning the pole. And yet, despite the setback, Hamlin drove through the field at Michigan to get his second straight win, and third of the season (fourth if you count the All-Star Race).

If you include the All-Star Race at Dover, Hamlin has won three of the last four races (he finished third at Charlotte), and he’s led 40+ laps in four straight races. And now we’re heading to Pocono Raceway, where he’s been nothing short of amazing in the NextGen era. It would truly take a massive blunder or a wreck for Hamlin not to pay dividends for our NASCAR DFS picks this weekend.

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 plays and lineup building strategies on DraftKings and FanDuel as we get ready for the Great American Getaway 400!

 

 

 

Pocono Raceway

Pocono Raceway is a true monster of a track. It’s known as the Tricky Triangle and it lives up to the name as the only track on the schedule with three turns. But the track is huge. It measures 2.5 miles in length and is relatively flat overall, but each turn was inspired by a different track and features different banking.

The main straightaway measures in at 3,740 feet, nearly 0.7 miles. Turn 1 is modeled after the former Trenton Speedway so it comes in with 14 degrees of banking. Then down the back straightaway (3,055 feet) you go into Turn 2, aka the tunnel turn, which was inspired by Indianapolis Motor Speedway and it features just eight degrees of banking. The short straightaway before Turn 3 is just 1,780 feet and the final turn was inspired by the Milwaukee Mile and it comes in at just six degrees of banking.

So it truly is a unique, one-of-a-kind track that offers some great scenic views if you can make it out there. This is a big “track position” kind of race. The four winners in the NextGen era have all started in the first four rows and Denny Hamlin has been amazing at this track so it’s no surprise that he enters this race as a huge favorite. Additionally, long green flag runs tend to make it very difficult to pass and we’ll see fuel management come into play as well.

Pocono doesn’t have any direct track to compare. But we did just race at Michigan last weekend and Indianapolis is coming up this summer. Those two tracks are large ovals that require more horsepower and are considered “high speed intermediates.” So 2026 form, track history, and practice speeds are all on the table when trying to examine the top plays for our NASCAR DFS picks.

This race was initially schedule to green shortly after 3:00pm ET on Sunday. But due to severe weather concerns, NASCAR is bumping this race up a full two hours so we’ll go green just after 1:00pm ET now. So be sure your NASCAR DFS picks and lineups are locked in ahead of time so we can make some money while enjoying the Great American Getaway 400 from Pocono Raceway!

 

 

 

NASCAR DraftKings and FanDuel Scoring Trends with DFS Strategy

The one caveat I want to add regarding the tables above is that this sample size does include the second Pocono race from the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. That’s mildly significant for a couple reasons. First, it’s the only race in our sample size that’s not from the NextGen era. And aside from that, NASCAR ran a doubleheader that weekend. So the results from the first race (which isn’t accounted for in the charts above) impacted the starting order for the second race. That means, the top 20 finishing order for the first race was inverted for the second race. With that said, of the drivers who finished in the top eight for that race, six of them gained at least eight spots of positive position differential.

So the overall numbers are skewed slightly but ultimately, I think the scoring trends still carry weight for a 160-lap race. Now we do need to be aware of the fact that NASCAR is moving this race up two hours and working with Amazon on Sunday’s schedule. That’s rather significant because we need to be aware of the fact that they may try to get to halfway and call the race if they have to. Now moving the race up does greatly increase the odds we see 160 laps as the rain isn’t really expected to pick up until 5:00pm ET. So as of right now, I’m planning to see a full race.

But with only 160 laps at our disposal, and accounting for cautions, I’m guessing we’ll have about 100 dominator points at our disposal to target. I doubt we’ll see anyone post over 80 fantasy points on DraftKings unless that’s an individual who starts outside the top 25, gets roughly 10-20 dominator points and finishes inside the top five.

Passing will be difficult but there should be plenty of opportunities for drivers deep in the field to move up. Most of the win equity will come from drivers starting in the top 10. But Pocono has provided about 5.5 drivers per race that can gain double-digit position differential. And because this track is so massive, it’s actually difficult to lose the lead lap. If your longshot value play can keep the car clean, they might be able to move up through attrition while everyone else wrecks out.

I’m mostly looking at two or three dominators and going for PD after that. We don’t tend to see one single driver dominate here. This is a track position race so some drivers will challenge for track position at the end of stages while others take the stage points. It’s likely that we see a driver return 20+ dominator points. After that we may see another driver or two collect 10-15 dominator points. And from there, the rest of the points are probably going to be evenly disbursed. Truthfully, I’ll lean more on the two-dominator approach when building my lineups. It’s far easier to identify two dominators you like and rounding out the build with four PD plays than it is to try and nail three dominators at a track like Pocono.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks & Strategy: Great American Getaway 400

For the second straight week, I am trimming the practice-to-qualifying table down to just 10-lap averages. Only six drivers registered a 15-lap run, while only four ran 20 consecutive laps. And even the 10-lap numbers are a bit misleading because less than half the field registered a 10-lap run.

 

NASCAR Great American Getaway 400 Top Tier DFS Picks

Denny Hamlin (Starting P1) – DraftKings: $11,000 | FanDuel: $14,000

It is simply impossible to stop Denny Hamlin right now. He’s been so dominant regardless of the track and he’s dialed in every week. Sure, Tyler Reddick has five wins on the year. But Hamlin could certainly catch him in short order. He’s won the last two races. And that’s not even doing his performances justice. In both races he won the pole and had to basically start at the rear of the field. He navigated traffic and strategized perfectly to be put in position to win both races.

Now we’re going to a track that Hamlin has absolutely dominated in the NextGen era. Hamlin won this race in 2022 but was disqualified following post-race tech inspections. He bounced back in 2023 with a win. In 2024 and 2025, he finished as the runner-up but led 30+ laps in each race. In total, he’s led 93 laps at Pocono in the NextGen era. Considering we only get 160 laps for this race, that level of consistency is amazing.

For the third straight race, Hamlin will start on the pole and he likely comes in with heavy ownership given the track history, current form, and win equity. Be mindful of your exposure. Certainly play him in some lineups but you still need to cover yourself with some non-Hamlin lineups in case he wrecks or runs out of fuel late in the race.

Tyler Reddick (Starting P16) – DraftKings: $10,500 | FanDuel: $13,500

For what it’s worth, Kyle Larson is definitely a worthwhile pivot off Denny Hamlin. But Reddick is looking for a bounce back opportunity after he wrecked in last week’s race at Michigan after leading 33 laps early on. Assuming this car is dialed in for race trim, I’m thinking he can move up and score well even if it’s another Denny Hamlin win.

Reddick finished as the runner-up at Pocono in 2022 and 2023 before finishing sixth here in 2024. He was having a good run at this track a year ago when he finished third in stage one. But he had a brake rotor issue about halfway through the race and he finished outside the top 30.

Reddick’s speed was fine in practice. I say “fine” because nothing really stood out but come race day it feels like once again these powerful Toyota engines will emerge and Reddick is a driver that can contend for a top five finish with some dominator points to help bump up the score.

Chase Briscoe (Starting P5) – DraftKings: $9,900 | FanDuel: $10,500

It’s certainly tempting to go with Briscoe’s teammate, Christopher Bell, in this spot because Bell offers more position differential. But Bell is also dealing with a broken wrist following his brutal wreck last week at Michigan. Briscoe showcased better practice speed than his teammate and he won this race last year. And as we’ve already mentioned, a lot of the win equity tends to come from the first four rows at Pocono.

And Briscoe didn’t just win this race last year. It was a rare occasion where a driver led nearly half the laps at this track (72 in Briscoe’s case). Briscoe had an underwhelming day at Michigan after I was rather bullish on him heading into the race. But I don’t want to avoid him this week because he has been trending in the right direction.

Bell certainly is the safer option of the two given the position differential he offers. But if Briscoe can find similar magic like he did last year then we’re looking at a driver that can maybe return 50-60 fantasy points and really provide an elite ceiling performance. There are so many PD options in play on this slate and there’s a ton of chalk everywhere. Briscoe strikes me as a leverage option with a shot to end Hamlin’s hot run.

William Byron (Starting P9) – DraftKings: $9,500 | FanDuel: $11,500

I don’t love the play, but with how I just closed out Briscoe’s section, I do want to at least entertain Byron at Pocono. It’s been a very quiet season for Byron. He’s not leading laps and he just hasn’t quite felt like a contender. But he at least ranked top five in five-lap averages and of the 17 drivers who logged a 10-lap run, he ranked second.

His track history is pretty decent as well. He started on the pole in 2023 and led 60 laps but finished 14th. The next year he started P2 and finished fourth. Last year he started P31 and finished top 10 in the first two stages but ultimately finished 27th.

I don’t have a ton of confidence he can run up front for this race. But he did start P9 at Michigan last week and he grabbed a handful of dominator points so I am somewhat optimistic he can work as a contrarian GPP dominator for our NASCAR DFS picks.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Mid-Tier Drivers

Chase Elliott (Starting P23) – DraftKings: $9,200 | FanDuel: $12,000

It feels like we’re getting Elliott at a discount on DraftKings for this race and we certainly won’t complain about it. He carries a similar outlook to Christopher Bell in that he’s paying off his price tag with a top 10 finish. Elliott’s coming off a week where he had a pretty sporty car at Michigan after he led 67 laps, but he had that brutal crash with Christopher Bell.

Assuming they bring a similar setup, then it stands to reason that Elliott can drive the car to a top 10 result, and possibly the top five. However, he wasn’t anything special in practice but I’m not trying to dwell on that too much as he’s still in good equipment and the team can make the car better as the race plays out.

Elliott is technically a previous winner here. He won the 2022 race at Pocono but only after Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified following inspection after the race. But aside from that “win” the results are still strong as he’s finished inside the top 10 in all four NextGen races at Pocono.

Carson Hocevar (Starting P26) – DraftKings: $8,700 | FanDuel: $8,500

Hocevar is likely to emerge as chalk for this race largely due to the starting spot. But he did tag the wall in his qualifying run which hurt his momentum. He technically qualified P26 but you have to imagine the team drops to the rear for unapproved adjustments to fix damage to the right side of the car.

But assuming they can make that fix, you have to like the speed the team showcased. They were fourth in single-lap speed in practice and they were second in five-lap averages. Teammate Daniel Suarez managed to qualify P3 while his other teammate, Michael McDowell, qualified P13. So it looks as if Spire once again brought some fast cars to another high speed intermediate track.

Bubba Wallace (Starting P38) – DraftKings: $8,000 | FanDuel: $9,000

Brad Keselowski (Starting P37) – DraftKings: $7,900 | FanDuel: $7,000

Let’s just lump these two together. They’ll start next to each other in the last row and they’re priced next to each other on DraftKings. There’s obviously a pricing mismatch on FanDuel but you can easily fit both with Hamlin into your lineups, even though this track caters more to PD for FanDuel optimal lineups.

Bubba and Keselowski both had issues on their qualifying laps, and because of that, they start deep in the field. Bubba wrecked in the same spot Hocevar did and Kez had an engine issue on his qualifying lap. Both drivers are basically locks for cash game builds. Eat the chalk and move on. 

But both are also in play for tournament builds and they provide a good floor with great ceilings. Keselowski actually has the third-best average finish over the last three Pocono races, and he finished top 10 in both the 2024 and 2025 races. Bubba’s average finish is dragged down a bit because he wrecked in this race a year ago. But he was 11th in 2023 and 10th in 2024. We also can’t forget that he won at Indianapolis last year which is a somewhat comparable track and he grabbed 7.65 dominator points last week with his Toyota engine. Mix & match both drivers accordingly and be mindful that they’ll both be over 50% rostered.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Value Drivers

Erik Jones (Starting P7) – DraftKings: $7,500 | FanDuel: $7,800

Let’s kick off the value tier for our NASCAR DFS picks at Pocono by going back to the well with Erik Jones this week. You may be baffled by that because of the starting spot. But that also makes him an intriguing GPP option in large field, multi-entry contests. He’s not one I’m necessarily targeting in single-entry or three-entry contests. But Jones finished as the runner-up last week at Michigan. Both he and teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, qualified well after looking competitive in practice.

Over the last three races at Pocono, Jones actually has the seventh-best average finish behind Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell. That’s good company to be in. Jones has finished 14th or better in all four NextGen races at Pocono. But obviously we need a similar run to last week for this play to pay off. But again, this is specifically an option for large-field, multi-entry GPP contests. He’s on an incredible run and is worth maybe 10-15% exposure.

Ryan Preece (Starting P35) – DraftKings: $6,900 | FanDuel: $6,500

This recommendation makes me a bit nervous. Obviously, the starting spot stands out as a positive because a top 20 result would return 38 fantasy points on DraftKings. So Preece is going to attract some ownership and normally I’d jump on this play without hesitation.

But he has terrible momentum coming into this race. And if there was a “get right” kind of race for him, it would probably be on a short, flat track. Not a large, flat track like Pocono. Preece has finished outside the top 25 in three straight races and yes, that includes the All-Star race at Dover. Moreover, his car was awful in practice and qualifying. He was well off the pace Saturday afternoon. So you have to wonder if Preece may have a similar engine issue to Brad Keselowski. And I imagine the team makes some unapproved adjustments and drops to the rear, but that doesn’t really impact him from a DFS perspective because of where he’s being scored from.

I’m certainly going to play him because if the team does get the car right then a top 20 is certainly in play and we could see him finish in the top 15 which is where he was finishing earlier in the year. But I am certainly worried about his car being a dud this weekend. 

Riley Herbst (Starting P25) – DraftKings: $6,000 | FanDuel: $3,200

This is a surprising price tag on DraftKings as Herbst gets his first $6K price tag of the season. This comes after he finished 21st at Charlotte, 17th at Nashville, and then 13th at Michigan. Perhaps he’s a little more motivated after news came out that he’s being replaced at 23XI Racing by Corey Heim next season.

Is Herbst a slam dunk lock? Not by any means. Truthfully, I wish he was starting a couple rows back because it’s still possible he wrecks or just goes backward from this starting spot. But he put down the sixth-fastest lap in practice and then he was 17th in five-lap averages as well. So his practice speed at least indicates the car is better than where he qualified.

Herbst is a driver who has a win at Indianapolis during his time in the Xfinity Series and he had some great showings at Pocono at that level. So if this is once again another dominant week for the Toyota camp, then Herbst is in position to move up and score well as a value play.

Cole Custer (Starting P15) – DraftKings: $5,100 | FanDuel: $2,500

If this play makes you uncomfortable then I highly suggest you pivot to Ty Dillon who offers more of a safety net starting six rows behind Custer. But we have to take some risks and Custer likely comes in under 15% rostered and he could possibly repeat the performance from a week ago at Michigan where he started P15 and finished 12th.

But Custer also has some momentum over the last month or so. He finished 15th at Watkins Glen and he was 16th at Michigan. He also ran the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Pocono on Saturday and finished 12th after he didn’t post a qualifying lap. 

But again, this is a large-field GPP recommendation. And if you’re looking for a driver in this price range, I’d suggest Custer in case he shocks us all with a top 10 or you go with Dillon and hope he can get a top 20. These are my preferred punt plays if you need them, but neither were anything special in practice.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Optimizer & Lineups Picks This Week

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