NASCAR DFS returns this weekend with two races over the course of two days at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The first of the two is the Contender Boats 250 on Saturday afternoon. For the third straight week, cars will take the track in the state of Florida. For the first time however, they will be on a more typical track configuration — a mile and a half oval.
In the first race of 2021 for the Xfinity Series season, defending 2020 champion Austin Cindric returned to victory lane on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway. Ty Gibbs, the grandson to legendary NASCAR owner and football coach Joe Gibbs, won last weekends race in his first ever career start on the Daytona road course.
Both races were exciting, and the action should be great again this weekend! We’re going to take a look at some Draftkings strategy for NASCAR DFS. We’ll look at some top plays, the best values and who to avoid.
Starting now!
NASCAR DFS – Highly Priced Drivers
Tyler Reddick: #3 | Richard Childress Racing – Chevy | $11,700
2019 Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick will return the series on Saturday at what can arguably be called his best track on the circuit. He ran within the top 10 for a majority of the Cup Series race here last year and has won both of his career starts at Homestead in the lower of the two series’.
With an average starting position of 2.5, two wins and 128 laps lead, he posts the best driver rating of active drivers at 136.0. He’s the highest priced driver for good reason as he’s going to likely be a contender again this year. To make things even sweeter for NASCAR DFS owners, he starts the race p.38.
That means not only will he be likely racking up points for fastest laps and laps lead once he gets up front, but he is also going to scoop up a bunch of position differential points as he makes his way through the field. He’ll be very highly owned, but you do not want to be the person who doesn’t roster him!
Noah Gragson: #9 | JR Motorsports – Chevy | $11,300
Dropping down just $400 on the price tier and we find JR Motorsports driver, Noah Gragson. Gragson is another driver who has proven that he excels at Homestead-Miami. In three career starts, Gragson has finished in the top five each of the three times, with a career best of third.
With average finishing position of fourth at this particular track and 174 laps lead in that time, he boasts a solid driver rating of 133.0. He starts the race from 23rd and will also get those key bonus points for passing a lot of cars on his way to the front.
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Austin Cindric: #22 | Team Penske – Ford | $10,200
As previously mentioned, Austin Cindric is the defending series champion and winner of the Daytona superspeedway race two weeks ago. The Team Penske driver has had success at this track before too.
In his last four races at HMS, he has four top-10’s and two top-5’s with a career best finish of second place. He has also lead 124 laps and has an average finishing position of 6th. He starts Saturday’s race from the pole position so it’s highly likely that he leads at least a good portion of this race. He’ll receive bonus points for that, but none for position differential.
With his price tag over $1k less than the two previously mention top plays, you could save a little money by dropping down to Cindric.
Other highly priced drivers to consider: AJ Allmendinger – $11,000 | Harrison Burton – $9,600 | Brandon Jones – $9,300
NASCAR – Mid-Range Drivers
Riley Herbst: #98 | Stewart-Haas Racing – Ford | $8,700
The sample size for Stewart-Hass Racing’s Riley Herbst is only two races, but he ran and finished well in both starts. Both races resulted in top-10’s, with a best of 9th and a low of 10th. You also have to remember he’s in the car that both Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer have run really well in.
It’s some of the best equipment in the garage.
He will roll of from the 29th starting position Saturday afternoon, and projects for a top-10 finish. That gives him the opportunity to earn those coveted bonus points for passing cars on his way there. The price tag is the first driver under $9k, and he makes a great addition to your roster.
Michael Annett: #1 | JR Motorsports – Chevy | $8,500
Michael Annett is basically an average driver, and at Homestead-Miami Speedway he has average results. In his last four races at the track, he has two top-10’s including a best sixth place finish.
He has struggled a bit in the first two races of 2021 with a 33rd and 15th finish on the two different tracks at Daytona. In my opinion, his price is probably a little bit too high. He starts the race from p.18 so if he can move up to the top-10 he’ll get some bonus points there.
Ryan Sieg: #39 | RSS Racing – Chevy | $8,000
Ryan Sieg of the family owned RSS Racing is not really someone you generally think of when it comes to 1.5-mile speedway racing, but he’ll be in play for some of my lineups this weekend.
He lead 34 laps here in a recent visit to HMS and has two top-20’s in has last four starts here. His best finish in those four races was a 12th and his worst is 28th. His first two starts of 2021 have not resulted with great finishes, with a 31st and 27th. He has however run pretty decent despite not having the finishes to show for it, as he has lead 24 laps so far in this young season.
He’s priced at $8,000 on Draftkings and starts the race in 22nd. The hope is he can move up some throughout the race.
Other mid-range drivers to consider: Justin Haley – $8,900 | Myatt Snider – $8,300 | Josh Berry – $7,800
NASCAR – Value Drivers
Brandon Brown: #68 | Brandon Built Motorsports – Chevy | $6,500
This probably seems like a risky pick, and honestly it is. Brown has a driver rating of 68.4 at Homestead in two career starts. To make matter worse, he starts the race in 7th place. That means there are no position differential points available, and also the risk is there that we see a negative correlation if he finished outside of the top-10.
Brown has however started this year on fire.
In the first two races of the season, he’s finished 6th and 8th. The improving success of this team even began to show through at the end of last year.
In both starts at HMS, Brown finished in the top-20, and the team is executing at a high level on a weekly basis at this point. I think he can get another top-10 and he should be low-owned due to his starting position.
Joe Graf Jr: #7 | SS Green Light Racing – Chevy | $4,700
Joe Graf Jr is another driver who comes with considerable risk if you roster him. He begins the race in p.16, however in two career starts at this track his worst finish in 18th. His best: 16th. That’s two solid top-20’s.
He too has started the year pretty well with finishes of 11th and 20th. He’s priced near minimum salary and could hit major value if he can continue 2021 with the consistency he has started with.
Other value drivers to consider: Jeremy Clements – $7,000 | Josh Williams – $6,700 | Jesse Little – $4,800
Driver data and statistics gathered from DriverAverages.com.
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