Bristol Motor Speedway certainly never disappoints, and last week was no different. Joey Logano collected his third win in the last nine races and it marked his fifth top three finish in that span as well. Can he get another win this weekend? It seems unlikely just because there are drivers with better track records, but I’ve gotten to the point where we can never count this guy out, especially in the playoffs.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads back to the Midwest after a trip to St. Louis just a couple weeks ago. For the fourth postseason race, NASCAR heads back to Kansas Speedway and this racing rarely disappoints so we should be in for some great action Sunday afternoon.

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 Hollywood Casino 400!

 

 

 

Kansas Speedway

Kansas Speedway is the fourth race on the playoff schedule and sadly, we are entering another race without practice and qualifying. For the third time in the last four weeks, rain got the best of the traveling circus that is NASCAR. Even Saturday’s Truck Series race experienced a lengthy delay but eventually resumed later in the evening.

But we push forward relying on track history and the cars/drivers that have looked great on the comparable tracks this year. And that is good news at least. NASCAR has plenty of tracks on the schedule that we can reference in terms of size, shape, and the aero/tire packages that have been utilized.

Kansas is a 1.5-mile intermediate tri-oval that closely compares to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is where these drivers will race next weekend. But other comparisons include Charlotte (where they’ll race in two weeks), Chicagoland, Texas, and we can also look at Darlington and Michigan a little bit as well.

The Gen7 car has taken plenty of criticism but this is one of the few tracks on the NASCAR schedule that usually delivers some outstanding racing. The track features multiple grooves that help the best cars pass and tire strategy/management comes into play as well.

 

 

 

NASCAR DraftKings and FanDuel Scoring Trends with DFS Strategy

So the tables and charts above aren’t really all that surprising. We are at one of the “cookie cutter” intermediate tracks for this race so these tables aren’t revealing anything new. Win equity and dominators can be found with drivers that possess the best track position. Kyle Larson and Joey Logano start on the front row together again and over the last two races they’ve both proven they can share dominator points.

It is a little more surprising to me that drivers starting deeper in the field kind of flatten out when averaging the DFS scores. But there should still be some big movers. This past race in the spring was a bit of an outlier as only four drivers gained double-digit PD. The three races prior to that all saw nine drivers gain double-digit PD.

For our winning NASCAR DFS lineups, we definitely need dominator points. You can take some shots on just building around a single/solo dominator. Two dominators are largely what I’ll be targeting for Sunday’s race. As you can see from the Trends table in the previous section, 78.3% of the dominator points have come from drivers starting in the top 10. Over the last three races, that number inflates to 90.9% and the winners of those races came from the first two rows.

This starting lineup was set by the metric since qualifying was rained out. So we have great drivers starting up front like Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and Denny Hamlin. We’ll have some expensive chalk driving through the field like Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney. I do prefer paying up for drivers who can lead laps in this race, so I do give an edge to those starting in the first three rows. From there, we have some good drivers in the mid-range and value tier that can help boost our score if they finish well.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks & Strategy: Hollywood Casino 400

There is no practice-to-qualifying table this week since both sessions were canceled on Saturday due to weather.

 

NASCAR Hollywood Casino 400 Top Tier DFS Picks

Kyle Larson (Starting P2) – DraftKings: $11,000 | FanDuel: $14,000

It would be incredibly irresponsible to preview a race at Kansas Speedway and not include Kyle Larson. Since we have to mostly rely on track history, Larson emerges as one of the best plays for our NASCAR DFS picks. Moreover, he starts on the front row and has looked great in the playoffs. He’s finished top five in all three races including a win at Gateway and he’s collected at least 25 dominator points in all three playoff races so far.

The track history for Larson is obviously outstanding. Over the last 10 races at Kansas, he has won three races and has finished outside the top four on just two occasions. He’s led at least 60 laps in eight of the last 12 races at this track. So the track history and momentum are of little concern.

He starts on the front row next to Joey Logano for the third straight race. Given how the last couple races have played out, you can certainly play them together if you’re building 20+ lineups. But even if you choose to just go with Larson, he’ll be a trendy option with a path to 60+ fantasy points as long as he runs a clean race.

Denny Hamlin (Starting P6) – DraftKings: $10,500 | FanDuel: $13,500

Larson is a trendy option because of how hot he’s started the Chase. But I don’t want to sleep on Denny Hamlin. Hamlin doesn’t come in with the momentum Larson has. However, Hamlin was arguably the driver to beat on intermediates during the spring and summer portion of the schedule.

Hamlin is a four-time winner at Kansas. In this race a year ago, he started and finished P2 but won each of the first two stages with 159 laps led. When we came here in the spring, he started on the front row again and led 131 laps on his way to a top four finish. But he’s been so consistent this season on the comparable tracks. He dominated Vegas with 134 laps led on his way to victory lane. He was the runner-up at Texas with 21 laps led. He finished third at Charlotte with 75 laps led. He then won three straight races at Nashville, Michigan, and Pocono. Even when we kicked off the postseason at Darlington, he led 68 laps but finished 18th.

He has plenty of dominator upside. Practice and qualifying might help his case because he’s a driver you feel good about having the right setup right off the truck. He’s also seen his postseason points lead slip away. But there are seven races to go so he has time to reclaim the top spot and Kansas Speedway is a great opportunity for him to right the ship.

Tyler Reddick (Starting P15) – DraftKings: $10,000 | FanDuel: $13,000

It’s not easy skipping over Christopher Bell especially after how strong he’s looked on the comparable tracks. Bell finished fourth at Vegas (31 laps led), 20th at Kansas-1 (but with 47 laps led), runner-up at Charlotte (44 laps led), and he was also the runner-up at Chicagoland. The Toyotas have been phenomenal at the intermediates.

But I’m going with Reddick because, while he’s cooled off from his hot start to the season, we are getting a bit of a reprieve from the short tracks, which is where he tends to struggle. And now that we shift back to intermediates, he’s in play. He’s won twice in his career at Kansas, but he’s never been overly dominant. He won here in the spring from the pole, but he only led 10 laps. And when he won this race three years ago, he only led two laps.

He’s probably a better play on FanDuel than DraftKings because FanDuel relies more on PD and finishing position than dominator points. But this track has multiple grooves and it can be benefical to run the higher line along the wall which does play to Reddick’s strengths.

Chase Briscoe (Starting P23) – DraftKings: $9,600 | FanDuel: $11,500

It may be a bit surprising to see that I’ve left Ryan Blaney out of the written portion of our NASCAR DFS picks, but he’ll make the table below and he’s a fine play overall. Just given how the Toyotas have been so good on the intermediates this season, I’m giving the edge to Chase Briscoe.

Briscoe failed to finish top 10 at Kansas in four years with Stewart-Haas Racing before they closed up shop. Once he made the move to join Joe Gibbs Racing, things certainly improved and he hasn’t looked back. He’s finished fourth or better in three straight races at this track.

He offers position differential for Sunday’s race and his lone win this season came at Chicagoland which is a bit of a comparable track to Kansas. He also had a good showing at Darlington to kick off the postseason. Now he did fail to finish each of the last two races but I’m buying into the Toyotas for Sunday’s race and Briscoe has a path to 50+ fantasy points.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Mid-Tier Drivers

Bubba Wallace (Starting P7) – DraftKings: $9,200 | FanDuel: $10,000

Bubba, as always, is just a GPP recommendation. Bubba is always an interesting play at Kansas because this track does mark one of his three career Cup Series wins. But there was a stretch where he cooled off at Kansas with four straight finishes outside the top 15.

But he’s gotten back on track turning this one into one of his favorite ovals again. Bubba started P7 in this race a year ago and finished top five with 13 laps led. This past spring he started P10 and grabbed another top five finish.

He’s looked very strong at the comparable tracks as well. He grabbed a top 10 at Vegas and Texas. At Chicagoland he led 35 laps and finished sixth. Even a few weeks ago at Darlington he started P17 and finished eighth with 38 laps led. So there’s certainly some upside with Bubba at this track and he works well as a secondary or tertiary dominator.

Joey Logano (Starting P1) – DraftKings: $8,700 | FanDuel: $9,000

Logano is probably a better play on DraftKings than FanDuel because of the emphasis on dominator points. As mentioned earlier, he starts on the front row next to Kyle Larson for the third straight race. Larson, by far, has the better track history but they’ve both returned a lot of value in recent weeks. Logano has scored 80+ fantasy points on DraftKings in each of the last two races.

Logano doesn’t have the best track history at Kansas in the NextGen era. But he is a three-time winner at this track from earlier in his career. But in nine NextGen races at Kansas he’s led a total of 14 laps with just three top 10 finishes.

But he does have the pole and he’s made the most of the elite track position of late. And if the “even year” Logano narrative has any weight, then we can expect him to put up another strong performance. My lone hesitation is that I am far more bullish on the Toyotas than the Fords for this race especially without practice and qualifying.

Brad Keselowski (Starting P16) – DraftKings: $7,900 | FanDuel: $8,000

I’m a glutton for punishment so we’ll see how this goes. I haven’t been keeping track, but it seems like every time I feature Kez among the NASCAR DFS picks, it works out poorly. So play at your own risk!

Keselowski has a little dominator upside here. The issue is that we have only really seen him emerge as an impactful dominator in two races this season. He led 142 laps six months ago in the first Darlington race. Two weeks ago at Gateway he managed to lead 55 laps on his way to a top 12 finish.

The track history isn’t awful either. Three years ago he grabbed a top 10 finish with 23 laps led. Then last year in this race he started P31 and finished eighth. This past spring, he started P21 and finished sixth. And the pricing isn’t all that prohibitive and he’s talented enough to move up and finish well. But for whatever reason, whenever I want to write him up for these articles, he fails to come through. So tread carefully here especially since practice and qualifying were washed out.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Value Drivers

Alex Bowman (Starting P33) – DraftKings: $7,300 | FanDuel: $7,500

We’ll get the value “chalk” out of the way with Bowman. With practice and qualifying canceled, the lineup is set based on the lovely metric. So Bowman starts outside the top 30. And even though he’ll be retiring after the 2027 season, this is still a good, competitive driver in equipment that should be better than half the field.

Since 2023, Bowman actually has the seventh-best average finish (12.3) at Kansas. Even for the first trip earlier this season, Bowman started P33 for that race and finished 18th. That doesn’t sound like an incredibly impressive performance. But for DFS he was able to return 40+ fantasy points and we’ll gladly take that at this price tag. In six of his eight NextGen races at Kansas, he’s finished inside the top 10 but he did have better track position to start those races.

It doesn’t take much analysis to see why Bowman’s a good play. He has the track history and he’s a value play in great equipment. Ownership will be high but if he can just manage a top 15 finish, he’s likely landing in the optimal lineup.

Erik Jones (Starting P30) – DraftKings: $6,700 | FanDuel: $6,500

Jones obviously doesn’t have the equipment that Bowman does but at least he has the edge of sharing information with the other Toyota teams which doesn’t seem to be the case among the Ford and Chevrolet camps. Jones rolls off P30 for this race which gives him a good floor. Does he have the track history Bowman has? Absolutely not. But he can squeeze out a top 20 finish here. And with a little chaos and proper strategy, he may be able to steal a top 15 result.

He was able to grab a top 20 at Vegas-1 and a pair of top 15 results in both Darlington races but that’s also one of his best tracks. But he was also top 15 at Texas, Charlotte, and Chicagoland so there’s certainly potential for Jones to move up and score well for our NASCAR DFS picks.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Starting P31) – DraftKings: $5,300 | FanDuel: $3,500

Stenhouse won’t win the race and he likely isn’t finishing in the top 10. If he does, then he’s a lock for the optimal lineup at this price tag. But over his last seven races at Kansas he has an average finish of 22.0 which doesn’t look so bad when you consider his P31 starting spot for this race.

Stenhouse gets a bad reputation for wrecking a decent amount, hence the nickname ‘Wrecky.’ However, as far as this season goes he’s only failed to finish three races. He’s not a home run play like he is at the drafting tracks, but he can go out there and possibly grab a top 20 finish which he’s done at Kansas four times in the NextGen era. So again, he’s not a high ceiling play but he has a path to value if he can get another top 20 result and he opens up salary to target multiple dominators.

Todd Gilliland (Starting P20) – DraftKings: $5,200 | FanDuel: $3,800

Stenhouse is certainly the safer option between these two punt plays as we wrap up this article. And for what it’s worth, I know I’ve been very heavy on track history and performances on comparable tracks. It’s all we really have to go off for this race unfortunately. And that’s why Gilliland appears at the end of this piece.

Gilly is another high upside play but he comes with more risk because he starts in the middle of the field. But his finish potential is easily better than Stenhouse. Gilly started P26 here in the spring and finished 17th. In both Kansas races in 2025, he finished 12th (and strangely started P23 for both races). In all nine of his Cup Series races at Kansas he’s gained at least six spots of PD. I get that he’s hard to trust, but I doubt he carries heavy ownership for this race so he is a decent GPP pivot worth maybe 15-20% exposure.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Optimizer & Lineups Picks This Week

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