We’re back! The 2023 NASCAR season kicks off with Sunday’s Clash at the Coliseum in L.A. Nothing is better than short track racing and this is as short as it gets! A quarter-mile, custom-built track on the field of the L.A. Coliseum that’s tight, flat, and action-packed. Sure, this is an exhibition race but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter any less to the drivers racing in it. This is also a unique weekend with the NASCAR Clash heat races. It’s also a great time to get your feet wet in the 2023 NASCAR Season for DFS as well as DraftKings and FanDuel both have contests for the Clash. Before delving into the opening Playbook of the year, take a listen to the NASCAR Preview podcast with Dan Malin and myself: 

Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum NASCAR DFS Preview

The Clash was a hit last year and so they brought it back in 2023. It’s hard not to be excited about this event given the show it put on last year. Let’s be clear off the bat, this is a one-off track that’s twice as short as any other that’s on the schedule. So whatever we take from here is tough to parlay into any other race this year, aside from maybe…maybe Martinsville. This track is flat, like REALLY flat. In the corners it’s 2.5 degrees of banking which as Clint Bowyer said during practice won’t even roll an egg on it’s own. The passing at this track will be hard-earned around the tight quarter-mile layout.

NASCAR Clash DFS Strategy

The strategy last year was a bit chaotic, but we have it a bit more dialed in this year. That’s the benefit of having another year of cars on track. The drivers are all expecting this race to be not much like last year’s because everyone has that knowledge base to pull from. That means passing will be tougher and the field will be a lot closer interns of times and speed. That should open the field up some for DFS as more drivers will be able to compete. However, keep in mind that not everyone that has a price on the sites will make the field as 27 drivers will make the field. When we’re setting lineups, don’t go strictly based on practice times for a few reasons: firstly, the track is changing constantly during practice as are the cars; secondly, the cars might be setup for races on Sunday to qualify rather than to run well last short practice sessions; thirdly there’s only 12 cars on track at practice and not all of the fastest cars ran at the same cars. The stats we’re looking to build around is finish position. That might seem like common sense but there’s not going to be a ton of passing so position differential won’t be huge. With 150 laps for the main event, there is a chance for some dominator points but they might be split three different ways like it was last year. Last year’s race feature a lot of wrecking as the main event went on, this year is likely to be similar. So what does that mean for DFS? It means we’re building some lineups with a typical short track strategy, finish position and a laps led dominator, while some others will be for a bit of chaos to be factored in.

Contest Selection for The Clash

You can play cash games, but just be aware that it might be tough to cash with a few different drivers likely to be chalky in those contests. For GPPs we want to leave money on the table to be different. Don’t worry about spending all $50,000 because with such a short field, it will be easier to get exposure to different drivers by leaving money on the table.

Top Plays For NASCAR DFS

This section will be updated following the NASCAR Clash heat races on Sunday evening, so keep your eyes peeled. Typically there will be more drivers listed in a standard playbook from race-to-race but with this format being a shorter field and the heat races to set it, we’re sticking to my top plays in general. I may add a couple of drivers following the heat races but in general it will simply be updating strategy if necessary for drivers.

Joey Logano

Logano won this race a year ago. His aggressive style and ability to shield off challenges at short tracks was on display and will be again. He was consistently fast all year last year and there’s little concern that’s changing this year. Expect him to be a popular play regardless of where he starts with the soft pricing and his win here ago.

Christopher Bell

For an elite driver, he seems to be a guy that falls under the radar for DFS. In fact, while he was the seventh-highest scoring DFS driver of 2022, he led the field in top-10s with 23 and that includes his top-10 in the Clash a year ago. Guess what? He’s likely in a position to start inside the top-10 and stay there again on Sunday. It’s hard to get a read on how popular he’ll be given how people viewed him a year ago versus the Toyotas speed this weekend.

Ryan Blaney

Blaney was fast right from the jump last year and simply didn’t show the results well enough. That started at the Clash too, as well as the rest of the races. That shouldn’t dissuade us from playing him though. Even though he didn’t have a win, he was the fifth-best scorer of the year in DFS. I do realize I said we can’t solely go off of practice times but when all was said and done, Blaney was consistently quick again on Saturday and should be a factor throughout the day on Sunday.

Kyle Busch

He was the pole-sitter for the Clash a year ago, with a different team. However, the car he’s in this year was Tyler Reddick’s from a year ago that was also very fast not only at the Clash but also throughout the year. That speaks to the upside here as a guy who knows how to put his car up front no matter the style of track. Not only does he want to win his first race with his new team, but he’d also be the only driver ever to win the Clash in every configuration they’ve run it at. All of that makes him an intriguing play at a relative discount.

William Byron

Byron seems to be the only Hendrick driver that can figure out this track well enough to run it quickly. That was the case a year ago and seems to be the case again in 2023. Byron was immensely fast to star the year and then served as a test car for HMS the rest of the way — until the playoffs that is. He was close to making the final four and should be able to pick up where he left off. The other advantage to Byron is that he still flies under the radar for DFS despite finish P6 here last year and putting up 41 DK points.

Tyler Reddick

Reddick put on an absolute show at the Clash a year ago and then proceeded to do much of the same the rest of the way. Yes, he’s since changed teams to 23XI Racing, however, he does so with a chip on his shoulder. A driver like Reddick with a chip on his shoulder? Sign me up. Nothing more needs to be said as even though he’s getting used to a different manufacturer, he’s in a fast car while he learns as the 45-car was race-winning fast a few times a year ago.

Kevin Harvick

What better way to kick off his final year of racing than to win the Clash? Harvick wasn’t happy Harvick a ton last year but the speed did build as the year went on, just like his weekend this weekend. He wasn’t a sexy play much of the year in 2022, but he kept nailing down top-10s and that’s all we need from him once again. I know, just another ho hum performance but sometimes that’ll do it.

Martin Truex Jr.

It was a disaster for Truex last year in L.A. He couldn’t find speed at practice and then barely made the race. Perhaps that will help us this year for people who didn’t watch practice on Saturday. The vibe around the 19-team so far this offseason seems to be quite good and it’s showing with early on-track performance. Truex is underpriced on both sites for a guy that was still pretty solid all year and that’s likely to make him a reasonably popular play across formats.

Bubba Wallace

This team showed up with the absolute wrong setup for the race a year ago, that’s been rectified this weekend. It’s not just this weekend though. Wallace was very fast in the second half of last year regardless of track type, well okay aside from road courses. They seem to be picking up where they left off a year ago as he posted the best 10-, 15-, 20-lap averages at practice on Saturday and Toyotas were fast as a whole as well. He still needs to keep clean in the heats and make the main event, but there’s a shot for him to be a DFS spoiler come Sunday night.

Ryan Preece

Preece flamed out a bit in his first go in the Cup Series but that was mainly due to a mediocre team than his skill. He spent the last year as the reserve driver for SHR and getting time in the simulator with the team setups. That means he can hit the ground running this year in the 41-car as he takes over for Cole Custer. The other thing that benefits Preece? He spent the last year racing short tracks in non-NASCAR series and they race tracks this distance. That makes for an interesting combination.

Aric Almirola

Short, flat, tracks are his speciality. This fits that description. He had trouble making the Clash last year but let’s not forget the speed he showed up with early in the year and at tracks like Martinsville and New Hampshire. There’s not a lot of hype around him, as there shouldn’t be, but that does’t mean he can’t get us some nice DFS points if he makes the main event on Sunday. He is one of the riskier drivers in this write-up to make the main event so be cautious.

AJ Allmendinger

He’s back in the Cup Series full-time once again this year and that should concern everyone. He’s known as a road racer but he’s really quite talented on all types of tracks and especially rhythm tracks. That fits well at the a short track like the Coliseum. Allmendinger is also a driver that won’t put up with any crap on the track, like we saw at practice which also fits well at a track like this. If he can make the main event on Sunday night, he’ll be a threat for a top-10 finish.

Austin Dillon

Dillon is the perfect driver to describe under the radar. He always seemed to be the driver that shows up when you least expect it or are looking at others. That’s what happened a year ago. He finished P3 in the Clash behind Logano and Kyle Busch, his new teammate. Dillon was also quite good in short track situations. He was a driver you could always seem to play at a lower ownership than he should’ve drawn and that’s likely to be the case again this weekend.

Justin Haley

Haley was very good here a year ago and seems to be good again this year based on the fact that the team said they used a very similar package to what they had a year ago. The problem a year ago was that he was a Cup rookie and he got bullied. That is less likely to happen this year, at least to a lesser extent. We don’t need him to race up front but that would be a bonus for sure. He has the ability to finish top-10, as he did five times a year ago including at some tough passing tracks. He likely gets a bit overlooked with some of the drivers who are priced around him.