NASCAR DFS Freeway Insurance 500, 2026 | DraftKings Drivers, Dominators & Place Differential

But before we go ahead and break down the Freeway Insurance, five hundred at Phoenix Raceway, let me go ahead and mention us, meaning the good folks over at ShipItNation.com. Everything you need to have success with DFS for less. Folks, you already know the NASCAR season is winding down. We got four races left. But you know what? The NFL season is in full tilt, baby. For your Niners, five and oh, best team in the league. Don't at me.

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Haven't already I'm telling you we're uh we're a great group over here we're a great group uh back over to the Freeway Insurance five hundred at Phoenix raceway we have I believe three hundred and twelve laps on deck I uh I didn't write any notes down so I don't remember how many laps we have but I'm pretty sure it's three hundred and twelve which should equal out to a uh two hundred and eighteen point four dominatorDominatorsDominators are NASCAR drivers who earn a large share of fantasy points from leading laps or recording fastest laps, meaning the quickest time among drivers on a particular lap. Before a race, the term describes candidates for that role.Compare practice averages over several consecutive laps and performance at similar tracks. Then identify how each candidate could reach the lead instead of assuming the pole sitter will control the race.Read the full definition of Dominators points I know that's how many dominator points because I did that math and I just typed it out this morning Uh, two hundred and eighteen point four dominant points up for grabs.

Uh, and really, uh, you are choosing between one and two dominatorsDominatorsDominators are NASCAR drivers who earn a large share of fantasy points from leading laps or recording fastest laps, meaning the quickest time among drivers on a particular lap. Before a race, the term describes candidates for that role.Compare practice averages over several consecutive laps and performance at similar tracks. Then identify how each candidate could reach the lead instead of assuming the pole sitter will control the race.Read the full definition of Dominators today. Normally this race is like a slam dunk two dominator race. However, there is a driver who's known as young money. Who had a decent little practice session in the qualified middle of the pack. So it all depends. If you go one dominator, you're probably putting Larson in. If you're going two dominators, you're probably not putting Larson in. So that is your big question of the day today. I will be playing some Tyler Larson.

He is the championship leader. Next week is Talladega, which is a wild card beyond wild cards, right? So They have a forty nine point lead. I just did this. Matthew Larson has a forty nine point lead in the championship right now over Danny Hamlin. They want to maximize today by any stretch of the imagination so they can go into Talladega next week with a little bit of a bumper. That way, if something really goes haywire, they're not totally out to lunch.

Right. So plus. I found it funny in Larson's media this weekend. He said he sucked at Phoenix Raceway. Larson's words, not mine. You can find it on Twitter. Then you go dive into the stats a little bit, and you see Larson has the best averaging finish ever.

At Phoenix since $2,000 twenty three he has like a four point nine no wins but he has a four point nine average finish I think compared to blaney's five point nine average finish so larson says he sucks here still has the best average finish of any active driver in the cup series so hey there we go let me go ahead and zoom this out back to its original hundred percent let me head on over to the NASCAR stone duh version of the NASCAR

Stone uh this version just has the projectionsProjectionsDFS projections estimate a player's fantasy points for an upcoming slate using expected opportunities, performance and the contest's scoring rules. They describe an expected result, not a guaranteed score.Check the projection's update time and assumed role before using it. If news is already included, adjusting again for that same news can double-count its effect.Read the full definition of Projections 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.Read the full definition of Ownership and stuff faded out if you don't want to see the faded out version head on over to shipnation.com and join the nation You get the stone, you get the slateSlateIn NASCAR DFS, a slate usually covers one race rather than several team matchups. You select from the drivers listed in that contest's eligible pool, not every driver racing across the weekend.Before building, open the contest details and check the included events, scoring period and lock rules. Do not assume two sites offer identical slates just because both call them the main slate.Read the full definition of Slate plan, you get gore report, and you get the stone to point out, which has all this stuff sortable. So, Hey, join the nation. What you see here is what we haven't had for a couple of weeks.

And that is glorious, glorious practice data with glorious, glorious qualifying. Yes. Finally, we have a race where that we have practice and qualifying for, and we have no surprises. We have. Absolutely no surprises. The biggest surprise really is a Larson qualified. What? Twenty second. Yeah. Is that a Larson qualified? Twenty second. And we have a thirty six starting Corey Heim, which is another gift from the DFS gods.

Other than that, The people who you think are going to be good at Phoenix are starting up towards the front, and the people who you think will be bad at Phoenix are starting towards the back. Look, folks, I fully expect today's race to be boring. Boring is normally really good, though, for DFS, so take that as you will. But this race has not had a... Like last year's race is memorable because of the late race caution and Denny Hamlin lost the championship, right?

But it's not like, there's not many like beating, banging, door slamming, fantastic finish memories at Phoenix. That's why everybody in the NASCAR circles for years begged and pleaded for this race to go, for this race, meaning the championship race, to go back to Homestead where it belongs. And finally... The good folks at NASCAR listened, and it's back at Homestead this year. And this race moved up to the fourth race of the playoffs.

So like I mentioned for Tyler Larson earlier, Tyler Larson is currently your NASCAR Cup Series playoff point leader, forty nine points over Danny Hamlin.

He really needs to have a good day because next week is talladega and we all know talladega is a wild card we know the big one can happen and he could be caught up in that accident lap three and finish dead last right so majority of the playoff drivers hamlin blaney briscoe larson will want to do everything in their power today to have a good good points day so let's go ahead and break down that starting lineup and starting on the poleStarting PositionStarting position is a driver's assigned spot in the NASCAR starting order. In DFS, the official starting position used for scoring determines place differential, the number of positions gained or lost between the start and finish.Before lock, check both the starting position listed for scoring and any penalties sending a driver to the rear. They may describe different spots.Read the full definition of Starting Position we have t or starting on the front row rather we got team penske ryan blaney and joey logano Blaney is a dog here, plus two seventy five on the books.

He's always on the podium here at Phoenix. Fantastic in practice. And what's really key for Blaney is he has the very first pit stall and the very first pit stall is an advantage here at Phoenix. I'm not sure if it's as much.

Of an advantage as years ago because I think they made some changes to make it not such a of an advantage but still the first pit stall really at any race track is always an advantage and uh even more so at Phoenix not to mention this race has been dominated by the front row for years so Mr. Blaney is in the catbird seat. A pluses across the board. Fantastic in every aspect of practice and the best pit stall. This is Blaney's race to lose.

Outside of him, though, is Joey Logano. He's no slouch here at Phoenix either. He was fantastic in practice as well. Yeah, there's some red marks in the middle of the road here. I don't think that's for real. So I would bypass that, twenty-third and twenty-second in the fifteen and twenty.

Look, if anything happens to Blaney on the start, if he misses a shift, if he, you know, if anything goes wrong, I fully expect Logano to take advantage of that, but It's kind of hard to see anything going wrong with Blaney. Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin are up next. Chase Briscoe won one of these races back in Stuart Haas days. I want to say spring. Hasn't been great here in JGR, but still. He's a playoff driver. He's had some success lately.

Would not surprise me to see him have a good day today. Denny Hamlin led over two hundred laps of the championship race last year. Late race caution came out. His crew chief made a bad pit call. And not only did Denny Hamlin lose the race, he lost the championship. So bad memories for old Denny here at Phoenix this time of the year. A second place, forty nine points away from Larson. He needs a good points day to day.

Like as much as Larson needs a good points day to day, Danny needs a good points day to day to keep a touch. Right. So not that we care about the championship, but you got to think these drivers have more on the plate than just finishing this race today. And you need to consider that when building said DFS lineups. Christopher Bell and Red Dog Tyler Reddick up next. Christopher Bell, I think, has led like over four hundred laps here since twenty twenty three.

He's fantastic at Phoenix. Is this his cup of tea? He finishes fifth. I think a lot of folks will be clicking on Blaney and Bell if they are fading Larson. If you're not fading Larson, I think a lot of folks will then go Blaney Larson or Bell Larson. So I think if you want to get different in any GPPsGPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool)A GPP is a tournament whose prize pool is guaranteed to pay out in full even if the contest does not fill. Payouts are steep: a small group at the top wins most of the money.Before you enter a tournament lineup, ask how it finishes first, not just how it cashes. If you cannot name that scenario, rebuild it.Read the full definition of GPP, just go different than those three combinations, and that could probably be enough. Tyler Reddick, he's looked great in long-wind practice. Good history here.

It seems so far away from when he was dominating. So that's fantastic there. We got Michael McDowell and Josh Berry. Oh, sorry. We have Ty Gibbs. Ty Gibbs is a no for me, dog. Mike Mack and Josh Berry. I shouldn't say Ty Gibbs is a no for me, dog. Ty Gibbs is never a no for me, dog. But it's just hard to see him having such a fantastic day with...

Everybody who's ahead of him right uh Michael McDowell no I don't think that um I don't think that starting spotStarting PositionStarting position is a driver's assigned spot in the NASCAR starting order. In DFS, the official starting position used for scoring determines place differential, the number of positions gained or lost between the start and finish.Before lock, check both the starting position listed for scoring and any penalties sending a driver to the rear. They may describe different spots.Read the full definition of Starting Position's gonna last long Josh Berry yes Josh Berry's had a fantastic go of things um William Byron and Ross Chastain William Byron is the one who caused that caution last year so probably no for me for uh William Byron and he just hasn't had that strong strong run lately so I don't know. We'll see. I much prefer Larson for obvious reasons, but Willie B's there.

Ross Chastain, okay, I'll give him a shot. Like, Trackhouse, I won't give Conor Zillow a shot, but I'll give Ross a shot, so... We'll see. They've been track house has not been great this season. I don't think they found a magic bullet to make them crazy fast, but still we need some drivers to fill out these lineups. So I'll take a yes for Ross. I'll take a no for Zillich, Gilly and Daniel Suarez. Gilly looked really good in practice, right? Am I looking at that correctly?

Yeah. So in that case, you have to include him because he was fast on that surface yesterday in those cars. So we'll include Gilly in the pool. Mi amigo Suarez, sure. I'm not going to go over the moon to get him in lineups, obviously, but if he gets in there, great. Austin Sindrick, yep, he's been fantastic lately. He had a misgo with things a couple weeks ago, but other than that, he's been phenomenal.

We love Blaney, we love Logano, and we love Josh Berry, who are Penske and or Penske-affiliated cars. We've got to think the same for Sendrick. I just wish Sendrick was starting a little bit deeper in the field. Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher. Chase Elliott's going to be a no for me. I have him as a GPPGPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool)A GPP is a tournament whose prize pool is guaranteed to pay out in full even if the contest does not fill. Payouts are steep: a small group at the top wins most of the money.Before you enter a tournament lineup, ask how it finishes first, not just how it cashes. If you cannot name that scenario, rebuild it.Read the full definition of GPP play, but... I don't think he's $8,500 worth. If he was $7,500, I would consider it.

I just I just know Chase Elliott for me. Chris Pusher, he looked super slow in practice. I don't know if RFK is now going to hit a. Well, I shouldn't say that. I'm fairly positive RFK will now slide backwards since Keselowski's leaving. I'm surprised it's happening this quickly. You wouldn't think Chris Buescher would be that slow off the truck, but he is that slow. Can they turn it around? Does he have the ability to? Absolutely. I just don't think he will.

Brad Keselowski, Riley Herbst, Brad K. No, sorry, Brad. Riley Herbst looked good in practice and cheap and in a Toyota. Yeah, give me some Riley Herbst. Zane Smith and AJ Allmendinger, they're in there, meaning I have a mark as possible GPPGPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool)A GPP is a tournament whose prize pool is guaranteed to pay out in full even if the contest does not fill. Payouts are steep: a small group at the top wins most of the money.Before you enter a tournament lineup, ask how it finishes first, not just how it cashes. If you cannot name that scenario, rebuild it.Read the full definition of GPP plays, but I'm probably not going to get any of them or worry if I don't get any of them. Then we have the hitters of Larson and Bubba Wallace.

Larson, as I mentioned earlier, if you're fading one of the dominatorsDominatorsDominators are NASCAR drivers who earn a large share of fantasy points from leading laps or recording fastest laps, meaning the quickest time among drivers on a particular lap. Before a race, the term describes candidates for that role.Compare practice averages over several consecutive laps and performance at similar tracks. Then identify how each candidate could reach the lead instead of assuming the pole sitter will control the race.Read the full definition of Dominators, you'll probably jump down and get Larson and hope for that PD play. Bubba Wallace looked really good in practice. He's in every game. Weekend player poolPlayer PoolA player pool is the set of players you consider using in your DFS lineups for a slate, the games or events included in a contest. The term can also mean everyone available to select in that contest.Keep a replacement beside each uncertain player, noting the salary and position you need. Recheck those alternatives when news changes so your shortlist still produces usable lineups.Read the full definition of Player Pool driver. That's no different this week. Uh, Austin Dillon. Uh, yeah. Uh, I actually have him ranked, uh, I think last on my place, differentialPlace DifferentialPlace differential is a driver’s scored starting position minus their finishing position. You gain fantasy points when the driver finishes ahead of that starting spot and lose points when they finish behind it.Check why a driver starts deep. An unusually poor qualifying result can create an opportunity, while weak race pace or an unresolved mechanical problem can undermine it.Read the full definition of Place Differential plays on the site. Uh, I don't really have any hot takes about Austin Dillon.

Uh, there's just not a lot of really fancy names on this side of the thing on this side of the field. And he has raced here tons and more often than not, he finishes of head of where he started. So, uh, That's what you need at a racetrack like this, right? SVG, no. He hasn't had speed lately. I will play him probably next week at Dega if he qualifies like junk. I will probably play him at Homestead if he qualifies like junk.

Or I should say if he qualifies good at Homestead, I'll probably play him there. But I have no interest in a twenty-fifth starting SVG at Phoenix. Ryan Preece, he is sixteenth in the points currently, which is dead last in the chase. Playoff standings, but he is in the playoffs, which means he's one of the top sixteen drivers and he's starting twenty six. So, yep, we'll take the shot on him. Cole Custer, he's so dirt cheap and I think he's better than Cody Ware.

So if you need to save some pennies, I don't hate the Cole Custer idea. Carson Hosovar was fast. That kid's fast all the time. He hasn't pissed anybody off lately, so no one should dump him. So.

Yep we'll take a shot on the host of our Eric jones showed some speed and practice we'll take a chance on him noah gregson looked really slow in practice but kind of like my uh thoughts about austin dylan like he's cheap and I trust him kind of more than some of the other cheapies so that's why I have him as a possible GPPGPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool)A GPP is a tournament whose prize pool is guaranteed to pay out in full even if the contest does not fill. Payouts are steep: a small group at the top wins most of the money.Before you enter a tournament lineup, ask how it finishes first, not just how it cashes. If you cannot name that scenario, rebuild it.Read the full definition of GPP play um Where am I at here? Ricky Stenhouse, that's a no for me, dog. John Hunter, need to check.

I'll take a chance just because he's in that Toyota. Ty Dillon's going to be a no for me, dog. Austin, not Austin, Alex Bowman has ran good here in the past. I have not been shy about my lame duck, Alex Bowman worries, and that doesn't change today. So... But still, he has had success here in the past. He is a $7,300 Hendrick Carr starting in thirty fourth. He's going to get love from the public just because of that. Austin Hill in thirty fifth.

I don't like Austin Hill. Period. But if my mind tells me Austin Dillon can do it from his starting spotStarting PositionStarting position is a driver's assigned spot in the NASCAR starting order. In DFS, the official starting position used for scoring determines place differential, the number of positions gained or lost between the start and finish.Before lock, check both the starting position listed for scoring and any penalties sending a driver to the rear. They may describe different spots.Read the full definition of Starting Position, Austin Hill can probably gain some positions from his starting spot. He's starting thirty fifth. I don't love it because we have a thirty six place Corey Haim. This is Corey Haim's, I think, first cup start at Phoenix, but he's already a two time cup winner this year. So people are going to be over the moon to click him, myself included. And then starting that last is Cody Ware.

Cars will probably wreck out. Cody Ware probably won't finish last. And I'm still not going to click on Cody Ware. So anyway, that's it for today's NASCAR quick hit here for a Ship It Nation. Four races left today at Phoenix.

Next weekend the wild card at talladega baby then we got martinsville and then we wrap up the season with homestead so as always thanks for tuning in if you have any questions concerning this late please feel free to reach out to me on Discord we're getting ready to go to the animal shelter just like we did last week because we are adopting a dog we just can't get him until next Saturday so we're going to go spoil our soon-to-be adopted dog with treats while he's in his kennel in the shelter So everybody have a good Sunday.

As always, please feel free to message me if you have any questions. And as always, let's ship it.