NASCAR DFS – Coke Zero Sugar 400, 2026 | DraftKings Drivers, Dominators & Place Differential

It is the last race of the regular season, the final chance for the bubble drivers, which there's only like two or three, really, to make their way into the chase. And it is a super speedway, which means... Traditional dominators will not come into play because fast laps will absolutely be spread around the field. We really can't nail down a lap leader and place differential is king on these super speedway slates, which we'll be going over through here in just a second.

There was no practice at all.

On Friday night for the NASCAR cup series reminder this is a Saturday night race so I'm recording this on Friday so Saturday night race instead of the normal Sunday one second I have to call and we're back Saturday night race instead of Sunday normal Sunday uh four super speedway races there are and there is no practice they do not practice at all for these super speedways that means they don't practice for talladega they don't practice for daytona and they don't practice for Atlanta now you will say Eric they do practice at the beginning of the year for the atona Yes, because that's an entire off season and they do have practice for the Daytona five hundred.

But other than that super speedway track, they do not race any or they do not practice at any other super speedway track.

Now um what is our DFS strategy well place differential is king and I like to truly treat these super speedway slates like a well-educated lottery because of course everybody will be stacking the back lots of YouTube videos if you look at any other NASCAR DFS content the majority of folks will be talking about stacking the back and only focusing on place differential plays and let me tell you they're not wrong because the big one can happen at any single time at these racetracks what's the big one the big one is a major accident which is which gets five, ten, fifteen, twenty cars caught up in it all at once.

And that is very likely to happen on Saturday night. Why is that likely to happen on Saturday night? Well, they'll be pack racing. This is super speedway racing. They will be balls to the wall, bumper to bumper for the entire night. One little mess up by anybody can quite literally cause an instant chain reaction of accidents throughout the entire field.

Tomorrow morning, like I do normally on these Super Speedway races, I'll send a couple Big One videos in the Discord so people can truly see, if they're not familiar with NASCAR races, what these major accidents at these Super Speedways can cause. Can be like so my opinion is yes stack the back but be educated about stacking the back do we have some crazy heavy place differential do we have some crazy heavily owned place differential plays we absolutely do Should you play them?

You absolutely should. Should you play them as high as they're possibly owned? That's entirely up to you because big ones don't discriminate. A Christopher Bell or a Denny Hamlin can get caught up in a major accident just as quickly as an A.J. Allmendinger, a Noah Gregson, a Casey Mears, right? So... Major accidents do not discriminate at these tracks. Do not discriminate against your player pool. All right? Does that make sense? I think it should.

Now let's go ahead and do a quick driver-by-driver lineup. I'm not, as you'll see on the screen here, I'm showing off the Stone 2.0.O for these Super Speedway slates. I hate to say projections don't matter. They kind of don't matter as long as you build your player pool smartly and correctly projections really shouldn't come into play because you really want to jack up the randomness the um the randomness the um um volatility, things like that on your optimizer of choosing.

So projections really don't come into play. What we really want to focus on tonight and throughout this slate on the weekend is the ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ because that's going to be the big key. So starting on the front row is Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher. They are currently have projected ownership of one percent and two percent. So you'll normally your your pole sitter, especially when it's a high profile name is over thirty, forty percent, right?

Because clean air is king in these next gen cars. First and second, a combined what little over three percent ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗. That's how different these lates are. So Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher. Buescher, fantastic, fantastic super speedway racer. If you want to take bets on him possibly winning the race, great. If you want to take a bet on him maybe for a stage position, great. Not the greatest DFS play. Row two, Austin Hill and Ryan Priest starting third and fourth.

Austin Hill is a fantastic super speedway racer in the NASCAR O'Reilly series. He's a god there. Will that translate over to Cup? I don't know. Different car, much different car, but he's starting third. There's no reason why he can't keep that Chevy out front the majority of the race on Saturday night. That remains to be seen.

Ryan priest I was really hoping he would qualify in the back because he is the NASCAR's rather he's the he's the bubble driver right now uh shane van gisbergen is in the championship points which makes him Currently, the last car locked into the chase. He is thirty one points above the cut line and Ryan Preece is thirty one points behind the cut line.

Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski, though Brian Preece a lot by a lot more, is mathematically capable of making it into the chase, assuming Shane Van Gisbergen has a crappy day. However, Shane Van Gisbergen is the one who's thirty one points to the good and Priest is thirty one points to the bad. So Priest needs to be on the point. He needs to lead laps. He needs to win stages and get stage points. He needs to try to win this race.

If he was starting in the back, you damn sure he would have been almost a lock button for me because he needs to be an aggressive driver on Saturday. These other drivers, they don't need to do it. He does, right? If he wants to make it into the playoffs, he does. It just sucks. He starts fourth. So for DFS purposes, I don't love it.

If you want to maybe in one fifty, if you're looking for a dominator, I don't recommend it, but I can maybe kind of see it if you're one fifty max and you want to get really wild with, you know, a solo lap leader, him or Keselowski should be the ones trying to lead the majority of these laps on Saturday night. But for majority of us, for DFS purposes, we are clicking off of Ryan Preece.

Next up, we have Riley Herbst and Shane Van Gisbergen. Riley Herbst, again, not much to say. Shane Van Gisbergen, he's on the bubble. He needs to just have a solid day. He doesn't need to get caught up in any BS. He doesn't need to get into any accidents. He doesn't need to speed on pit road. He just needs to make it through the day. Be very, very interesting to see how that goes down. Next up, Connor Zilich and Austin Sindrick.

Zilich is the no good, terrible, horrible season. Sindrick is one of the best drafters in the next gen era. Love Sindrick. I would expect to see him up near the front.

Uh I just wish he was starting in the back for us uh joey logano and larson's up next logano has been on an absolute heater lately him alongside of all of his team penske brethren are fantastic super speedway racers would not be surprised to see him link up with cindric and byron at some point on the day on Sunday larson is trending upwards is still looking for his uh Believe he's looking for his first super speedway victory yet.

He's looking for his first victory in a very long time. Would be quite interesting if Young Money goes to victory lane on Saturday night. A pair of Toyotas up next with Corey Heim and Chase Briscoe. Heim time has won twice already this season. Briscoe, sure, fantastic. He's an every weekend type of play. I just wish they were starting further back. Again, you'll see by the projected ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ where most people start building their player pools.

Next up, we have William Byron and Ty Gibbs, both very capable of winning. Ty Gibbs plus $3,000 on the books, which I think is kind of high for a driver and team of his caliber. Next up, we have Eric Jones and Nicole Collins.

Huster meaning cole custer if cole custer was starting in the back yeah for sure cole custer and sixteenth no uh seventeenth we have tyler reddick and michael mcdowell majority of people will probably look at tyler reddick as the start of their player pool he won the daytona five hundred he won how many races in a row to start the season currently second in championship points we know those cars are fast currently projected at fourteen percent ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ he will be the first driver people seriously look at and think should I start my player pool with red dog yes or no Should you start your player pool with Red Dog?

I think he's a problem. I don't want to say he's a safe fade, but he is starting towards the front of the field, and we really want to prefer people back in the field. So I don't hate it because he is seventeenth. There is some PD upside, but he has more spots to lose than he has to gain. Michael McDowell in eighteenth, look, he's only projected seven percent ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗.

If you're considering playing Redick at seventeenth, then there's no reason why you shouldn't consider playing McDowell in eighteenth, right? These are the decisions. You'll see some of these ownerships here, and then this kind of decision is what makes or breaks you in super speedway slates. Reddick, seventeenth position, currently projected at fourteen percent ownership. McDowell, eighteenth, can gain you one more spot of PD, projected seventh.

Has toyota been a little bit better in chevy this year absolutely does that matter at daytona absolutely not so you know like there's no reason not to there's no reason to play reddick over mcdowell for any performance reasons it's just it's daytona right so it's that kind of decision where it's like okay why wouldn't I play mcdowell in that situation if I'm playing reddick of course I'd play mcdowell uh ryan blaney and alex bowman are up next blaney alongside of his team penske brethren fantastic at super speedways one second I forgot a cup of water down here, so I'm like struggling.

Sorry about that, guys. Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman. Blaney, fantastic at Super Speedways alongside of his team Penske. Projected ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗, twenty six percent. If you know here, here's here, you'll see the ownership number starting to grow. Blaney, fantastic at these super speedways. Wish he was running a bit deeper for us, but good PD upside. Bowman has had some decent runs. I still don't love the play, really. He's always probably my least favorite Chevy just because he is such a lame duck, but...

He is starting twentieth, so he should be in the pool. Brad K and Chase Elliott. Brad K is also on the cut line. I believe he's sixty six points behind. So he needs like the like if if Ryan Priest needs a very strong, aggressive stage point winning kind of day, Brad Kozlowski needs it doubly as bad as as Ryan Priest does. So I like Keselowski on Saturday. I wish he was starting deeper back, but currently projected. Twenty two percent ownership. B plus for Daytona.

I know bad Brad has. Not been the best for us this season but daytona talladega their equalizers man like you have to remove all those negative thoughts out of your mind from the rest of the season because all these boys can put the hammer down and turn left so Bad Brad, yup, and he has something to race for. Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez in twenty-second and twenty-third. Chase Elliott, fantastic speedway racer, no problem taking a chance on him.

Suarez currently projected at only twelve point four nine ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗. Now, these are initial numbers. These will probably change in the morning when I sit down to finalize everything. If that number stays I think that's a glaring spot to attack right there if you're playing blaney keselowski elliott why would you not play suarez suarez has done well on speedways before uh he's done well at uh done well at Atlanta meaning he's won at Atlanta um Spires basically like Hendrick Light, right?

So why he's only getting potentially twelve point four when he's just as good as any of his plays above him. I don't know. Josh Berry in twenty fourth. Wood Brothers Racing, $7,100 in DraftKings. Not the greatest super speedway runner, in my opinion, but he knows how to stay out of trouble. He's kind of ho hum. So if there's tons of attrition, you could see him up towards the front of the field.

He is a lame duck driver still looking for a ride next year. No problem taking a chance on Josh Berry. Cody Bear, Cody Ware, twenty fifth. He is normally a click you would always just click off of and then go along your merry way. Not today. Cody Ware should be in consideration. We have seen him score pretty decently on super speedways in the past. Anything can happen with attrition. And he qualified twenty fifth. So obviously the car has some speed, right?

The qualifying did happen. So, yeah, no issues in taking a shot on Cody Ware. Only three point four two percent ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗. Crazy. Bubba Wallace in twenty six and John Hunter Nemechek in twenty seventh. Bubba, fantastic road racer, not road racer, plate, super speedway racer. No issues taking a chance on Bubba. John Hunter, no issues taking a chance on John Hunter. He's only ten percent projected ownership compared to Bubba's thirty five percent ownership. Both are in Toyotas.

Now Bubba's in a twenty three XI Toyota compared to John Hunter's legacy Toyota. Both Toyota. So thirty five percent ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ for Bubba. Ten percent for John Hunter. Add more John Hunter. He can score just as many points as Bubba Kent due to the volatility of this race. Carson Hosovar and Austin Dillon on the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth. Hosovar won a very popular win earlier in the season at Talladega, so we know he can get the job done on super speedways.

Austin Dillon, we've seen him do well in super speedways, and we've also seen him wreck violently. At super speedways. Either of these drivers can absolutely get the job done, and they should be in your player pool. Denny Hamlin and Ty Dillon up next. Denny, obviously, points leader, one of the fastest cars every season. Fantastic at... It seems like he's more of a Daytona five hundred guy and not really a like Coke four hundred guy.

And I think that's kind of because he's normally always like locked in, doesn't need to stick his neck out of the line on this race versus the start of the season for the Daytona five hundred. But still no problem taking a shot on Denny. No problem taking a shot on Ty. Ty's only eleven percent ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗. Yeah, the Earnhardt Ganassi or the ECR engines. Haven't been the greatest, but still, it's Daytona. Hammer down, put the foot down, turn left, and avoid the accidents.

No issue and no reason not to play Ty Dillon. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. And Todd Gittleland. Ricky Stenhouse, we have seen him win before a past Daytona . He seems like if you look at his recent form F, his track rank and track type rank don't look the greatest. Trust me, he is excellent at these style of racetracks. You don't normally see him priced at $8,100.

Uh thirty two percent projected current ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ ricky stenthouse will be a very popular play on this on Saturday he it normally seems to be checkers or records for ricky stenhouse he's normally like up there battling for like a last lap last turn win or he's in a violent accident like three quarters of the way through so it will be fun to see what happens to ricky Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith, the front row team. I love pairing these two together.

In fact, fucking... Hey, look at me cursing. Throw Noah in there as well. You have Todd Gilliland, thirty-first. You have Zane Smith in thirty-fourth. You have Noah Gregson in thirty-seventh. All teammates for front row. You have to assume... They will stick together throughout the night, meaning they will pit together, draft together, et cetera, et cetera. If everything goes well and they hit the strategy right, there's no reason why these three can't work their way through the field while working with other Fords, et cetera.

Especially since Priest and Keselowski RFK Fords have to work and have to be strong and have great days. So I can see... I can see the forward trying to really dominate stage one, stage two, and the opening parts of stage three of this race.

So I don't normally recommend, and I'm not really saying I recommend it here now, but if you would want to look to get different and you want to group some teams together, Front Row Motorsports is perfect for it because like I said, Gilley's thirty third, Zane Smith's thirty fourth, Noah Gregson's thirty seventh. No problems there. Christopher Bell and AJ Allmendinger in thirty fifth and thirty sixth. Bell, I think, is our currently highest projected. Yeah, he's currently the highest projected ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ guy.

And that's simply because he's a big name and he's starting near the back. That's all that is. If you would put Denny Hamlin in the spot, it would be Denny. If you put Ryan Blaney in this spot, it would be Blaney. If you put Chase Elliott in the spot, it would be Chase Elliott. If you put William Byron in the spot, you get the picture, right? Big name.

Top tier team starting deep in the field he will be getting a ton of ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ there a fantastic way to get different is to just be different with him and he's currently projected at fifty two percent ownership do you think he is going to smash do you think he will win the race do you think he will do everything in his power to get you a top five then go overweight He's in thirty-fifth pace.

He has nowhere to go and we're chasing place differential. If you think he's gonna do it, go overweight. If you think this is a place to, you know, the big one might happen and who's to say Christopher Bell isn't in that big one, then go underweight. Instead of going point fifty to go twenty five and go heavier and other drivers in and around that area. Give give Noah more. Give Dinger more. Give Zane more. Right. Like spread that ownership around. Like is Seabell worth that?

Fifty two percent ownership. Yeah, he's a fantastic race car driver and a great team. But this is super speedway and those major accidents do not discriminate. So. There's a chance to get different right there. And, you know, like most players will click on that name because he's a big name and he's great. Yes, for sure. But accidents can happen to anybody. A.J. Allmendinger. Sure. Normally we've been fading himFadeTo fade a player is to leave him out of your lineups on purpose, usually because you expect him to be popular or you think he is a poor play.Fade with a reason, not a feeling. If you can't say why a popular player will disappoint, you're probably just giving away points.Full explanation ↗ a lot of the season so far.

He has surprised us with a few good runs. Love me some Dinger on Saturday night. We always spoke about Noah. And then we have our last three here. Casey Mears, Daniel Guy, and Joey Gase. Look, these three are getting...

Not getting a lot of ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ eight projected initially projected for eight percent for casey seven percent for daniel and seven percent for joey gaze these three cars they're the boxes okay like there's no there's there's no really a fans or way or already any other way to say it they're they're trash um like trash trash uh of of the three I guess really of the three, give me Casey Mears or Daniel Dye over Joey Gase.

Just because of the three, we've seen that New York racing car be like way bad, way bad compared to Casey. Now, don't get me wrong. The Beard Motorsports car and the Live Fast Motorsports car aren't exactly setting the world on fire.

But like the New York racing car, we've seen like, really be crappy so I'd probably go with casey mears and daniel dye over joey gaze but really the three of these drivers do deserve some play because if there is high attrition if there's a big one and they're in the back and there's a big one that swallows up fifteen twenty cars they can gain fifteen twenty pd spots like nothing just by being slow so that's why you keep them in your player pool All right.

Hey, that is enough for me this evening. Still made it twenty seven, twenty eight minutes without any practice to talk about and mostly just going off top of my head. So we'll take that for the evening. As always, if you have any questions concerning this slate, please feel free to reach out to me on Discord. And as always, let's ship it.