August 23, 2025
Ryan Blaney is probably most frequently cited as the best drafter in the NASCAR Cup Series, and his third-place finish allowed him to take the pole for Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway after a lightning strike canceled the scheduled qualifying session. Given the two-by-two gridlock that typically occurs in Next Gen-era drafting track races, Blaney will likely lead a lot of laps in this race and might be the leading contender to win. However, since most of these races lately turn out to be fuel-saving charades, it is likely that Blaney's probable dominance in the first stage will force him to take more fuel later, which will move him out of contention for the lead. Although he'll probably work his way back into contention, at a track like Daytona, he's just as likely to crash, so he's definitely a risky driver to start in DFS.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Kyle Larson has never had much prowess on drafting tracks. Although he's gotten a little better on them lately, he's still never won at one and he's only led 36 laps in his career at Daytona (although he might have won the 2017 Daytona 500 if his fuel strategy had played out better). Although he was the best driver in the Cup Series all of last year and for the first third of this year, he's really fallen off in general with many mediocre runs and a litany of self-spins in recent months, which means he is likely to finish worse than any model will predict. Coupling that with his high $9,500 salary and his strong third-place starting position and Larson feels like he's almost a must to avoid since he will almost certainly lose positions from his starting position and won't lead enough laps to come even close to compensating for that.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Christopher Bell hasn't done much since his three-in-a-row streak early this season, other than get some consistent finishes. One can expect he'll likely be complacent at Daytona, too, since he will be probably more focused on avoiding wrecks than winning. Although he does make unforced errors a lot, he does seem to have a skill at avoiding crashing out of races, as he tends to bounce back from his mistakes and get a decent result much more often than Kyle Larson does. That will likely help him at Daytona, where he finished third three times in his last five starts, which makes him reliably consistent enough that you should still consider starting him, even though his 15th-place starting position makes it somewhat risky.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
After sitting just above the playoff cutl ine for most of this year, Chris Buescher arguably had the most embarrassing race of his entire Cup Series career at Richmond, where he finished 30th while Austin Dillon won his way into the playoffs and Alex Bowman's second-place finish eliminated Buescher -- unless Buescher wins on Saturday at Daytona. That's certainly possible, as he led his boss Brad Keselowski in a 1-2 finish here in 2023, but his recent career is trending alarmingly downward, as Keselowski and his previously winless teammate Ryan Preece have both arguably outrun him this season. Buescher has only made an on-track pass for the lead in two races (although one of them was the previous drafting track race at Atlanta), so it's hard to see him winning. However, he is pretty valuable for Daytona at DFS since his typical crash avoidance, driving for the fastest manufacturer, and poor 24th-place starting position mean he's likely to score a lot of points.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Austin Dillon's win last week at Richmond and Alex Bowman's second-place finish eliminated Ryan Preece from playoff consideration unless he wins on Saturday at Daytona. For a driver who has never and may never win in the Cup Series, that's a tall order, but Preece is certainly intensely motivated and he's overachieved this season. Since he is win-or-bust on Saturday, he may take risks that he wouldn't ordinarily take, which means his chances of crashing are pretty high. However, his poor finish last week after winning the pole gave him a weak starting position of 31st, making him one of the lowest-starting Fords in a race where Fords typically dominate. It would not be hard to see him contending for the win given both his and Ford's speed here, so he has a strong chance at both leader points and place-differential points, making him a great option for DFS play.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
This year's little underdog who could, Ross Chastain, locked himself into the playoffs a long time ago with his epic Coca-Cola 600 win, even though he only ranks 18th in speed this season and only ranked eighth at Charlotte. However, drafting tracks are typically a great equalizer, which allows him to contend for wins when he rarely has the speed to do so elsewhere. After leading 25 laps at the first Atlanta race and 11 at Talladega, Chastain might very well contend on Saturday at Daytona. Although he did not lead either of the last two Daytona races, he led 39 laps in the previous three, so he'll probably run well, even though he's never placed in the top five here. However, his starting position of 19th is probably slightly too good to make him one of the best DFS options like he is most weeks. Since there are better drafters starting worse, he probably isn't the best choice.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Lame-duck Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suárez starts 12th at Daytona, but because he has tended to run mid-pack throughout his career, that his put him in awful positions as he has crashed out of a mind-boggling 10 of sixteen races here. He has been fast enough to remain in the pack but seldom fast enough to be ahead of it when chaos breaks out. That makes him a dangerous DFS option at any time, but even more so this year, as he starts 12th in a year where he's had an average finish of 20.8. His starting position inflates how he'll actually run because it is largely based on metric qualifying, where he fared rather well because he finished in the top 10 at Richmond. With his Cup Series career possibly on the line, Suárez might be intensely motivated to win his way into the playoffs to prove he deserves to stay there, but he probably doesn't even have the speed for that.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Chase Briscoe has had a weird season where he has qualified great, run substantially worse than his qualifying positions, but still backed into solid finishes at the end. The Daytona 500 was a great example as he won the pole with a car initially ruled illegal before that penalty was overturned, but he hardly contended before reemerging at the end, where he caused the multi-car last lap pileup but still finished fourth. Despite continuing to overdrive and making a succession of mistakes, Briscoe keeps getting away with it and has the third best average finish in the Cup Series. Having said that, that average of 13.3 is still worse than his qualifying position of ninth, so he is very likely to finish worse than he starts regardless and he isn't a dominant enough force to likely fight for lap leader points, so he is probably best avoided.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Despite how fast Carson Hocevar is elsewhere, he's never really shown a lot of speed at Daytona because after crashing out of the 2024 Daytona 500, he seemed to be more preoccupied with staying out of trouble than fighting for the lead. That worked out for him last year when he started 37th and finished 11th despite never really coming close to contending, but he then had a late mechanical DNF in this year's Daytona 500 where he also ran poorly. Tonight, however, Hocevar is looking to win his way into the playoffs so he will probably be substantially more aggressive. Even though he hasn't shown speed here before, he did at Atlanta when he finished second despite starting 26th. Don't be surprised if he fights for the win today, but even if he does, he's still likely to crash and he's starting too well to be worthy of serious consideration for DFS play.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Although Michael McDowell is primarily viewed as a road racer, drafting tracks are now one of his best track types in general, although that was probably more true when he drove for Front Row Motorsports at a time the Fords had dominant speed than for Spire Motorsports, which tends to have much slower cars on these tracks. In last year's race, McDowell won the pole and led 26 laps before a crash, but he's only starting 20th this time. Spire's lack of speed will probably prevent him from being a major threat for the win, but that doesn't matter if he avoids the crashes. However, his starting position is too good for him to gain as many Place Differential points as other drivers are likely to do, which is probably why you're better off avoiding him. Additionally, his record in drafting track races was nowhere near as strong as his qualifying record to begin with.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Although A.J. Allmendinger survived the crashes to earn back-to-back sixth-place finishes in the 2023 and 2024 Daytona 500s, he isn't one of the best options for DFS play on Saturday. Kaulig Racing tends to have speed at these tracks, but weirdly, Ty Dillon has looked faster all season on them, particularly when he contended for the win during his Daytona 500 qualifying race. Allmendinger's 21st-place starting position puts him in a weird position where he is starting too far behind to have much hope of scoring lap-leader points, particularly in an era of two-by-two formations that are difficult to penetrate, but he is also starting too well to be one of the top options for place-differential points. Given the speed Kaulig Racing has shown here and Allmendinger's underrated season, he might be worth considering, but there seem to be a lot of better options.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
After winning his way into the playoffs last week at Richmond, Austin Dillon will no longer feel any desperation to advance himself into the playoffs at any cost, so he is unlikely to score his third career win at Dayton after wrecking his opposition in both previous wins at the track. Most likely he will be focused on finishing and avoiding being injured more than anything else, so he is likely to play it really safe on Saturday. Dillon's win, when combined with the fact that lightning canceled Friday's qualifying session, resulted in Dillon earning a high seventh-place starting position, which is far higher than he typically finishes or runs, even on drafting tracks. As a result, he is probably the worst DFS choice in the field, as all the other top-10 starters are likelier to win and/or lead a lot of laps, which means that Dillon is best avoided this evening.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Noah Gragson actually gave Beard Motorsports its only top five finish here at Daytona in the 2022 regular season finale, but that was mainly because his car was so slow that he was able to dodge the numerous wrecks. This time he starts 32nd as a result of his mediocre Richmond run for a Front Row Motorsports team that frequently shows speed on drafting tracks, so he will be on pace tonight. That could actually be a bad thing as it means he will be less likely to avoid the inevitable wrecks than he was on that occasion, but even at Daytona races like 2022 are outliers and usually that high a percentage of the field doesn't crash out. Gragson is still worthy of consideration because like Cole Custer and his teammate Todd Gilliland, he is one of the lowest-starting Fords on a track type where Fords tend to dominate, so he has a lot of Place Differential upside.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Todd Gilliland has shown some speed on drafting tracks in the past, particularly in last year's first Atlanta race when he led a race-high 58 laps, but he mostly hasn't been a contender for the lead and Daytona is his worst drafting track. Although he started on the outside pole last year, he's never finished better than 23rd two laps down. However, at Daytona, all that matters is avoiding crashes, which at this track has little to do with skill. Since the finishing order is so unpredictable, it's best to select drivers for DFS lineups who are expected to gain a lot of positions, and Gilliland may be one such driver because he starts 28th and is one of the lowest-starting Ford drivers on a track type where Fords perpetually dominate. Because of his poor finishing record here, a lot of people won't start him so there is definitely upside if you do.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 23, 2025
Even though Zane Smith might be the most improved driver of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, you probably don't want to start him at Daytona despite the fact that he did fight for the win in the last drafting track race at Atlanta. The problem is that the cancellation of qualifying resulted in a 13th-place starting position since his 11th-place finish at Richmond allowed him to score highly in the metric. Smith did finish 13th in his first three Cup Series races at Daytona, but he crashed out of the Daytona 500. For all Smith's improvement this year, he does tend to finish worse than 13th and his strong starting position means he has a lot to lose. Although he is probably likelier to win than his teammates Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland, they are better options precisely because they are starting worse.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
Page 8 of 30...67891011...
RADIO
