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Justin's NASCAR DFS picks for DraftKings, FanDuel for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (2025). His top NASCAR daily fantasy lineup plays and DFS sleepers.
We've reached the conclusion of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season. With his win last week, Austin Dillon is locked into the playoffs, leaving just two spots up for grabs. If there's no new winner, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman will earn those spots, but a winner from outside the current playoff picture could really shake things up.
We're at Daytona this weekend. This superspeedway is known for pack racing and surprise finishes, like Harrison Burton winning here last season to steal a playoff spot. That makes it tough to figure out this place in DFS, since there's a ton more uncertainty around every driver. The general advice boils down to this: limit your exposure to everyone and focus on place differential.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 8/23/2025 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
Once you've read this article, be sure also to check out all of our other weekly NASCAR DFS articles to help you set your optimal DFS lineups. You should also check out our NASCAR DFS lineup tools for the ultimate combination of DFS resources to help you win big, including our Lineup Optimizer, DFS Cheat Sheet, Research Station, and more.
Disclaimer: All the drivers presented as picks for this week's race are meant to be some of my top DFS recommendations of the week. They are not originally intended to fit all into one lineup.
Chase Elliott
Starts 30th - DK: $9.9K, FD: $11.0K
Of the eight most expensive drivers on DraftKings, seven start in the top 10, limiting the place differential appeal of those drivers. If you're playing those guys — Joey Logano, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, and Austin Cindric — then you're basically betting on them to win.
Elliott is the exception among the expensive tier of drivers, as he starts 30th, giving him obvious place differential appeal. Too obvious, one might say, as he's likely to be highly rostered, but he has a chance to pay off big time.
For Hendrick Motorsports drivers like Chase Elliott, the math is really easy
All four drivers are in as long as one of the four wins
If Chase Elliott wins, Alex Bowman locks in and that takes some stress out pic.twitter.com/w5HIuxS7Mk
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) August 22, 2025
In four superspeedway starts this season, Elliott has a win as well as another top 10, and his worst finish is 20th. He's done a good job finishing out these races and staying out of trouble. If he can do that again this week, he'll deliver a lot of DFS points.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Starts 25th - DK: $8.7K, FD: $7.2K
First, I want to acknowledge that I hate this price on DraftKings. Yes, Stenhouse Jr. is good at superspeedways, but should he really cost more than every 23XI and Trackhouse driver?
With that said, his upside means you probably need to hold your nose and swallow the price, because he has a chance to finish the night with a lot of DFS points.
Stenhouse's reputation at superspeedways is deserved. He has two top 10s in four starts this year and a worst finish of 18th, plus he won at Talladega last year, one of three superspeedway top 10s for Stenhouse last year.
Does he sometimes overdrive the car and get himself into trouble because of it? Yeah, of course he does — his nickname is Wrecky Stenhouse Jr. for a reason. This is a superspeedway race, though. You have to take risks, both on the track and in your DFS lineups.
Chris Buescher
Starts 24th - DK: $8.6K, FD: $9.5K
No one suffered more last weekend than Buescher, who was in line to make the playoffs on points if there were no new winners. Instead, Dillon dominated, and now Buescher finds himself in a must-win situation at Daytona.
"If you're going to try to win this race, I guarantee you're going to have to go through an @RFKRacing car..."@RyanPreece_ and @Chris_Buescher expressed confidence in RFK's chances to score a win in Saturday's #NASCAR Cup race at Daytona: https://t.co/EgaRZ3MzKy
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) August 22, 2025
The good thing for Buescher is that he's been really good at Daytona in recent years, including winning this race in 2023. He's finished in the top 10 in four of the past five races here, and overall has finished top 10 in 47.4 percent of his starts here.
The RFK cars are all usually strong here, and of the three, Buescher feels like the safest bet to be in contention at some point on Saturday.
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Tyler Reddick
Starts 27th - DK: $8.5K, FD: $6.8K
Of all the winless drivers, Reddick is in the best shape heading into Daytona, but that doesn't mean he can just rest on his laurels.
Because if we do get a new winner, Reddick is suddenly in a dogfight for the last playoff spot. He's up by 29 points and clinches with a finish of ninth or better, but with how fast things can change at Daytona, he's far from a lock.
The best thing Reddick can do? Get up front. Get stage points. Be in front of the crashes. He hasn't been very good at doing so at this track, but when he does do it, the results are good.
I mean, seriously. Here's his Cup Series track history, from Racing Reference.
from Racing Reference
He's crashed out in over half his starts here, but also has three top fives, including two runner-up finishes. It's a real "checkers or wreckers" type track record, which makes him an exciting DFS play. Maybe he'll pay off. Maybe he'll crash and burn. Either way, it'll be a journey.
Ryan Preece
Starts 31st - DK: $7.6K, FD: $7.8K
After much acrimony over whether Preece deserved an RFK ride or not this past offseason, the veteran New England driver has proven it was worth it as he flirted with a playoff spot all year. The new winners have him outside the playoff picture right now despite being 13th in points, but it's still been a successful year for the No. 60 car.
Wouldn't it be a great story if Preece comes from 31st on the grid to steal a win and land a playoff spot on Saturday night?
It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Preece was second at Talladega earlier this year, and while he crashed out of the Daytona 500, he still led six laps in that race before it happened. Don't count out the possibility of a Preece victory.
John Hunter Nemechek
Starts 34th - DK: $6.2K, FD: $5.0K
Finally, we end on a huge value option in Nemechek, who starts back in 34th.
Part of what makes him an enticing play is that he's the only driver priced under $7.0K to have multiple top 10s at superspeedways this season. You have to like that he's proven he can run up front.
Nemechek has also been really, really solid at this track. His worst finish here is 15th, and his average finish is 9.8, which is wild for this kind of track.
Average finish at Daytona by driver:
1: John Hunter Nemechek, 9.8
2: Bubba Wallace, 13.0
3: Alex Bowman, 14.7
4: Austin Cindric, 15.9
5: Denny Hamlin, 17.8 pic.twitter.com/3twwKXpQJD— db 🐡 (@kensethology) August 19, 2025
And then, of course, there's the fact that a 34th-place starting spot offers huge place differential appeal. There are plenty of guys in this field who can go for +10-15 spots, but +20-25 spots? That's rarer, and it makes Nemechek an incredibly appealing play on Saturday's slate.
Some other value options I'd consider: Noah Gragsn, Justin Haley, Cole Custer...and maybe, maybe, Casey Mears, the cheapest driver on both slates. He starts last, so there's nowhere to go but forward!
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