NASCAR DFS – Dollar Tree 301, 2026 | DraftKings Drivers, Dominators & Place Differential

Right. So thankfully, short flat tracks will be gone for a while. And next weekend we get Daytona under the lights. So. Thank you for staying with us through this three-stretch race of short flats. We're going to have a good one next weekend. This weekend in the Dollar Tree, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, there are three hundred and one laps on tap for this afternoon, which should equal out to roughly two hundred and ten dominator points. Of course, we will want to target those points.

And I'm recommending at least two potential dominators per line of at least two, at least two. There is the possibility for rain today in New Hampshire. Now, NASCAR has already moved the start time up of today's race. It was originally like a three twenty green flag drop time. It is now a two twenty green flag drop time. They moved their start of the race up one hour and Goodyear will provide teams four sets of wet weather tires if conditions demand them.

We have seen rain tires be used at New Hampshire Motor Speedway before, and to be honest, it was some pretty damn good racing. Would I want to see rain tires today for our DFS purposes? Absolutely not. But as a race fan, I wouldn't hate it because I kind of think today might be a stinker without them.

However looking at the forecast as of I'm just going to refresh it right now I'm not going to share the forecast I'm using I don't want to upset any of the other weather pages out there so I'm not going to share the data I'm using here but uh it seems like we should be okay uh with a two o'clock or two twenty one green flag drop time uh there's only a fifteen percent chance of precipitation and it really ramps up uh at seven o'clock with a sixty four percent chance of thunderstorms this race should already be wrapped up way before those chance of precipitation skyrockets so uh Let's hope we don't need the rain tires today, but I figured it was a conversation worth having because there is the possibility and we have seen it here before.

So something to keep an eye on. I don't think it's going to be a story, but. You never know. TV coverage today is on the USA Network. So USA Network today. And again, two o'clock, I think two o'clock pre-race show, two twenty one green flag. So it's going to be rapid fire this afternoon. This weekend was also the start. I guess we can go ahead and fire up the stone here.

Uh this weekend was also the start or the return I don't really know what you want to call it of the fifty minute practice session no more stupid groups just fifty minutes of just pure raw practice bliss I really wish they just would make it sixty minutes and call it happy hour but Beggars can't be choosers. The only true concern, rather, the only true cause of concern in practice was Shane Van Gisbergen did have starter issues.

The car did fire up for qualifying, whatever, and SVG had a pretty damn good qualifying run. He qualified sixth. Jordan Bianchi, who is a good NASCAR reporter, he's a good source, right? He's not a piece of junk, reported that SVG will not have to start at the rear of the race today. However, I do think it is a situation worth keeping an eye on. And we should know that fairly early in the season. Fairly later on in the morning, considering it's a two twenty green flag.

Right. So maybe around eleven or twelve o'clock where we're going to figure out what that situation is. So as of last reporting, SVG will not have to start at the rear of the field. He the car seemed fine, but there was a starter issue and it is worth keeping an eye on. Other than that, however, it was just a practice session at New Hampshire, which means it was fairly boring, but.

But with a fifty minute practice session and with everybody sharing the same track, you can really tell the haves versus the have nots. And on the Stone 2.0 point oh, you're able to sort practice data, which could come in handy for today's slate. So now let's go ahead and break down this starting lineup and we'll wrap this baby up. We're at seven minutes right now. I'm going to try to keep it under twenty. Let's see how I can do.

Uh let's see here tyler reddick on the pole this one was a surprise to many many uh I'm gonna be honest he's he's kind of just mid at short flats you can see on the stone here he's just you know bees on track ranks bees on the type track ranks uh he was very mid in practice nothing right home about and then he came out and qualifying and he put it on the pole No one expected that in the least.

I have to think he will drop through the field eventually, but clean air is king in these next-gen cars. And something to think about, his teammate Bubba Wallace looked great in practice, but qualified in the back. Bubba Wallace qualified twenty-third. Right? So they kind of flip-flopped. Bubba Wallace practiced phenomenal and qualified mid-pack. Tyler Reddick practiced middle of the road, qualified on the pole.

So the However, Tyler Reddick is very on short flat tracks and there are some short flat dogs behind him. So do I think he will lead laps during stage one? Yes. How many laps will he lead? I'm not sure. If they put Bubba Wallace's setup in and it's truly a second place running long distance car. He might lead more laps than you expect, but I still think somebody will swallow him up.

But on the other hand, I do think it's worth having some exposure to Redick today because he is in the catapult seat to start this thing. But just no one expected him on the pole. Outside pole is Josh Berry, who is a lame duck and is hunting for a ride for next year. And he is fantastic.

At these short flat tracks almost won this damn race I want to say last year he almost won this race he is fantastic at short flats it would not surprise me to see him out front it would not surprise me to see him lead laps it would sure as heck not surprise me see him to win this thing he is a threat today and he's very budget friendly at $8,200 So Josh Berry, don't sleep on him. What is the Wi-Fi password?

That's from my wife. One second. I can't say it out loud. Not that it would matter. All right. Hey, we're back. Starting third is William Byron, who also looked fantastic in practice. And we haven't seen a good practicing William Byron who then followed it up with a good qualifying run in a while. Starting third right behind Tyler Reddick. I believe Reddick will be starting on the bottom.

Also, some good juju in that twenty four camp this weekend as car owner Jeff Gordon won yesterday in the IROC race in Washington, D.C. So some positive vibes around that team. Would it surprise me to see Byron win today? Absolutely not. Next up, Denny Hamlin also looks solid and long run practice. Didn't look the best in single lap when they came out, put it forth. So that doesn't really matter. Solid all the way around. Priced high at eleven K.

Would it surprise any of us to see him win today? Nope. Next up, Shane Van Gisbergen. He is starting fifth. We talked about him and his starter issues. Like I said, it appears that they have it repaired and there is no issues and he won't have to start in the rear. He'll be keeping his sixth place starting spot. But that is a situation to monitor. Now, is SVG, should SVG be considered a Dom play? Probably not.

However, he has surprised us in these spots this year. It's apparent he's becoming a much better oval driver. And he has surprised us. So I think if you're playing one fifty max, I think you keep him in the pool, but I don't think you throw him in in twenty or under. So SVG will be an interesting play today. Next up is Christopher Bell. He is a short track god, just like Ryan Blaney.

He did not look the greatest in long run practice, but I don't think that's going to be too big of a deal. It's Christopher Bell with Joe Gibbs Racing.

So yep he's good uh ty gibbs he doesn't have the greatest track rank or track type rank however he's been fast all season long and he again looked good in practice you got to keep him in the pool ryan blaney is probably everybody's top dom pick uh plus three fifty on the books which is disgusting but he was ranked one in all the practice stats that matter um Yeah, I feel like Blaney is probably going to be everybody's top Dominator play and then probably pair him with Redick or Barry.

So I feel like that's going to be a big start for everybody today. Blaney is fantastic at these tracks. Team Penske is fantastic at these tracks. Wouldn't surprise me to see a Blaney stink up show. He does have to pass some cars to do it. And passing isn't the easiest on these short flats in these next gen cars. But if anybody can do it, it's Penske. Last is Tyler Larson. Also looks great in practice. His thirty lap average shows the fourteenth.

So I'm assuming he got stuck in like some traffic or something. I don't think that's a true, true statistic there. $9,500. He charged through the field last week at Richmond, similar track type. He followed that charge through the field by dominating the Knoxville Nationals. And then he followed that up with a ninth place qualifying run at New Hampshire. It's been a while since Larson won a cup race, but it seems like he's trending in the right direction.

That charge through the field last week at Richmond really tells me something. Because it's not like everybody was doing that, right? So I think Young Money is worth a look, especially at only ninety five. We don't get that luxury quite often. I know he hasn't been on the on the tip top of his A game. So we got to we got to enjoy that price while we have it. Alex Bowman's up next. $7,000 on DraftKings starting tenth. Did not look the best.

Did surprise last week, however, so probably keep him in the pool. But I wouldn't go over my over my head grabbing exposureExposureExposure is the percentage of your lineups in a contest, or across a slate, that include a particular player, team or stack.Set exposure caps before you build, not after. Decide the most you're willing to have on any one player, then let your lineups fill in around those limits.Full explanation ↗ to him. Eric Jones, he looked great in practice. He's been trending upwards recently and he's priced right at $6,300. So, yep, I love some Jones. Ross Chastain. I'll take a shot on him as well. Uh, looked good in middle of the road practice. They need speed. They, uh, they meaning track house need a good day from their team.

They have struggled this year. They lost Zillage to the forty eight that was announced this week. Uh, it's been reported that Ross has said they got to figure stuff out. Like it doesn't seem like the vibes are good with track house right now. Um, A good day today by everybody involved would go a lot for that team. So SVG is fifth. Mellon Man is twelfth. And Zilly is twentieth. So they all qualified in the top half of the field. Let's see if they can all stay there.

Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith. And I'll just say Noah Gregson right now. They look straight up awful in practice. So it's a straight up no for me, for Gilly and Zane Smith. I think they're going to fall through the field, which is... Rick, rare to say, like normally you don't see that with front row, but they just did not look fast. So Zilly and Gilly, Zilly and Gilly. Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland are a no for me this week. Michael McDowell, take a chance on him.

Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Priest in sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth. There are a good little pack of drivers in that middle of the pack that I assume will be able to work their way up through the field. Brian Priest looked good. He was ranked sixth. Briscoe was ranked tenth, and Bush was ranked eleventh all in the long run, so they have long run speed, which is what you need on a track like this.

Noah Gregson, okay, he was ranked sixteenth in long run, so I probably shouldn't lump him into the slowness of Gilliland and Zane Smith. I still don't know if I have much interest in Noah starting in nineteenth. It was announced, maybe this was even two weeks ago, I forget, but it was announced that he's coming back to Front Row Motorsports, which was very unexpected. So some positive juju for Noah. Like we talked about, Conor Zillow's already starting in the twentieth.

You know, he middle of the road in practice. I wish he was cheaper. I probably won't go out of my way to play him, but he does have good vibes around him considering he just got the forty eight ride. So if you want to take a shot, if you need a fill in driver or a driver to take a shot on, by all means, he looked good in the truck race yesterday.

Uh, I forget if he won the truck race yesterday, but he looked good in the truck race yesterday. So he did get some laps. So I don't mind taking a shot on, on, on Zilli, uh, Joy Logano in twenty first. Yup. He's fantastic at short flats. He looked fantastic in a practice. He's been fantastic on this run. It is the summer of balding Joey Logano, and I will take him all day at twenty first. Gimme, gimme, gimme a host of our up next.

My man's been kind of shit in the bed lately to be honest with you um well he looked okay in practice I guess I don't know no probably not twenty second in the in the thirty you know what if if I don't get the upside the host of our is we have speed we have seen speed from him practically all season long. And we know that car is probably faster than the $7,200 price tag shows for it.

And it really wouldn't surprise any of us to see him pull the top ten out of them. But yeah, He's kind of been kind of been roughing it lately and we'll see if today at New Hampshire brings it back. Bubble Wallace up next. We talked about him with Tyler Reddick earlier. He's $8,000 at twenty starting twenty third. He looked fantastic in practice.

Uh if the the twenty three eleven carter should have qualified on the pole is bubba wallace and the one who did is tyler reddick so um bubba if practice is to be believed he should be able to work his way through the field he has great track rank uh his track uh he has great track type rank good on short flats uh not the greatest I hear at new hampshire but the sample size is small the only race here once a year so it's like four races three races so small sample size so um Yes, on Bubba Wallace today.

It's lining up to be a good day for him. Let's hope he can work his way through the field. Next up is the dinger. I'm going to have to take a pass. Brad Keselowski, I think, will get a lot of love today. But I just, I don't know. He scares me. He's burned us so many times. I don't mind if you take a shot on him, but it's not a play I love. A play I do really like is Austin Sindrick, Team Penske.

Yeah, middle of the road in all practice, ranked ninth in the thirty. His teammates are just dogs at short flats, right? They're just fantastic. So, yeah, I, yeah. Yeah, all the Team Penske and their affiliates, which is Josh Berry. So, yeah, all the Penske today. Riley Herbst and Austin Hill on the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth. No. Yeah, no. I could almost... No, there's nothing that makes me want to play. I...

I wish that Austin Hill would be like, like, I feel like Austin Hill would be a good play today. It's just, he's just as not, he's not adapted well to this cup car at all. And I can't imagine that's going to start today. I just, yeah. And it sucks because it's like, it was like a big Tyler Busch themed weekend. There was the Tyler Busch Invitational at Bowman Gray. I'm repping the Tyler Busch old hat. Yeah.

And it's just that that that cars hasn't been the same so and no no austin hill for me uh chase elliott's gonna get a ton of love starting in twenty ninth uh and priced at $8,500 Plus $5,000 on the books. Great. You know, for for where he's starting, his power rankings are great. His practice, though, does not look great. So if you're looking for a pivot off chalk, it might be Chase Elliott.

I mean, I'm not saying he can't get it together and have a great day. He's obviously set up for a great place differential day. It's Chase Elliott and Hendrick Carr, right? He should be able to pass Carr's. But we have seen a few times this year where Hendrick has been slow, and then they're slow. They practice slow, and everyone thinks they're going to be fine, and then they're not.

I think it says something as well that the rest of the team is in the top ten, and he's in twenty-ninth. If you're looking for a pivot...

Might be chase uh ricky stenhouse jr uh no interest in here john hunter nemo check yeah I'll take a shot you know he looks terrible in the power rankings uh but his practice looks okay for the spot he's in and his teammate that jones boy looked good so yeah I'll take a shot on john hunter cole custer and ty dylan no and no austin dylan So he's done well at the past two years, meaning twenty five and twenty four at Richmond.

So that always has me put him in the short, flat player pool. But he didn't look great practice, and I don't think he's going to storm his way up through the field. Who looked really good in practice and starting back here is a mi amigo.

Daniel Suarez ranked thirteenth in the thirtieth and then just qualify like trash with a thirty fifth place qualifying effort that car it should be faster than thirty fifth so um if there's long green flag runs which there normally is at new hampshire mi amigo should be able to work his way through the field and starting dead last is cody ware at $4,800 is he

The only forty yep yep dirt cheap at $4,800 so all right hey that is your starting lineup for today's dollar tree three oh one at new hampshire motor speedway uh as always if you have any questions concerning any drivers on the slate please feel free to drop me a message in Discord I'll be in there all day because I'm covering major league baseball for the boy today or rather for the boy, for my boy today, for us at Ship It Nation.

I'm covering Major League Baseball data today, I should say. So I'll be the one making sure all the starting lineups are correct. So I will be in Discord for the majority of the day leading up to Green Flag. So if you have any questions, please feel free to tag me. And we're at probably be at twenty four minutes when we wrap this up and we started this starting lineup at seven. So, hey, we're getting there.

All right that's all for today good luck in your slates and next weekend we have daytona daytona next weekend to wrap up the regular season and it's gonna be awesome all right good luck everybody and as always let's ship it