DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Charlotte: Fantasy NASCAR DFS Strategy and Picks for the Coca-Cola 600

The Coca-Cola 600 caps off the racing weekend triple-header, but there’s an extra wrinkle in this one, as NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson is also racing in the Indy 500.

With weather impacting Indy, it’s unclear whether Larson will make it back to Charlotte in time to start the Coca-Cola 600. If he doesn’t make it for the start, he won’t get any DFS points, even if he subs in after the green flag waves.

That puts a wrinkle into DFS strategy, so aside from Larson, I’ll give my favorite picks for the longest race of the year.

Before we jump into my picks, don’t forget all my NASCAR projections can be found in the NASCAR Models on FantasyLabs, complete with floor, ceiling, median, and ownership projections.

Let’s not skip the best part — my Perfect% metric — a metric that tells you how often certain racers appear in the optimal lineup when running 10,000 race simulations.

And don’t forget about the tools that FantasyLabs has to offer, like our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups, or our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.

Here are my NASCAR DFS picks for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Charlotte DraftKings DFS Cash Game Strategy

This is a comfortable week for cash games, as the RFK Racing teammates of Chris Buescher ($8500) and Brad Keselowski ($8700) both look to have plenty of speed, but they start 39th and 30th, respectively. That makes them easy locks in cash formats.

From there, my model likes Martin Truex Jr. ($9500) to have solid dominator potential in his fourth-place starting spot.

Ty Gibbs ($8300) is the polesitter and ranks first in my practice model, making him a must-play to raise your floor in cash games as well.

Charlotte DraftKings DFS Tournament Strategy

I’m personally high on both Denny Hamlin ($10,700) and Ryan Blaney ($10,300) as mid-to late race dominator candidates. Aside from Larson, Hamlin has been the best all-around driver this year, while Blaney is the defending race winner. Blaney topped his group in 10 and 15-lap averages in practice.

My model likes Bubba Wallace’s ($7700) upside, and with Larson potentially missing out, a more balanced approach is certainly possible. Thanks to Erik Jones ($7200) starting 34th, that could draw enough usage away from Wallace that with Larson’s looming absence, Wallace has a great shot to end up in the optimal lineup. And if Larson does somehow start the 600, Wallace becomes an even sneakier play, as more builds will use a top-heavy approach with Larson in them.

Justin Haley ($5800) is a sneaky tournament play, given he starts 22nd. Haley scored an 18th-place finish at Kansas, the series’ most recent 1.5-mile track that also had conditions move from day into night. He then finished ninth at Darlington, which uses the same tire compounds as this weekend at Charlotte. Haley ended up in the mid-teens in my practice model, so there is room to move forward. A top-15 would be plenty to have a shot at ending up in the optimal at this price tag.

Charlotte DraftKings DFS Paul Menard Pick of the Week

Daniel Suarez ($7000) has struggled on intermediate tracks as of late, but he was recently quoted as saying the team has somewhat been in test mode given his early win at Atlanta.

Suarez said they need to get back to basics of what they were doing right just to get back on track, as testing has taken them astray.

Charlotte has been a solid track for Suarez in the past. He led 36 laps in the 2022 edition, and he has performed well at similar tracks like Texas and Michigan in the past.

DFS players may be off of Suarez given his string of poor results and poor speed at intermediates, but there seems to be speed this weekend.

Suarez ended up 11th in my practice model, and teammate Ross Chastain was eighth.

If people are off Suarez, I’d like to be on him here.