The longest race of the 2022 season takes place tonight on the biggest race day of the year. The Coca-Cola 600 (6:00 p.m. ET, FOX) at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be the third straight race at a 1.5-mile track that the Cup Series races at.
That means we have plenty of data to inform our DFS process.
Several drivers are starting at the back and make great cash game plays. They are also fine, albeit chalky, tournament plays, so I’ll solely focus on the less chalky tournament plays for today’s picks.
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 150 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.
Let’s jump into today’s NASCAR DFS picks for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Coca-Cola 600 DraftKings DFS Tournament Picks
Kyle Busch ($11,100): Busch has been the best car at 1.5-mile tracks this year. He nearly won at Las Vegas before a caution came out with just a handful of laps remaining. At Kansas, he nearly beat his brother Kurt Busch for the win but ultimately finished third. At the All-Star race at Texas, he dominated the race until a cut tire ruined his day.
Kyle was fast in practice and starts fourth. If people are on pole-sitter Denny Hamlin, that’ll prevent Busch from being overutilized in DFS. He’s my favorite tournament play tonight.
Daniel Suarez ($7800): Suarez had a very fast car in practice, and if he’s able to keep pace with teammate Ross Chastain, then he’ll have a top-10 car in tonight’s race. Suarez starts in 12th position, which should keep his ownership from being overinflated. Add in Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the same price range starting toward the back, and that will further depress his usage. In a race of attrition, give me the low-usage driver with a top-10 chance.
Ryan Preece ($5200): Preece is priced like a back marker, but he’s essentially in Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) equipment. If people overlook that fact, then Preece will not be in enough lineups. In his only other race this year, he dropped a cylinder which relegated him to a poor finish. However, prior to that he was hanging out on the lead lap. A lead lap finish tonight would likely get him in the winning lineup.
Coca-Cola 600 DraftKings DFS Paul Menard Pick of the Week
Noah Gragson ($6000): DFS players will be all over Brad Keselowski, and even Ryan Preece will draw higher usage than Gragson. With those two surrounding Gragson in price, that will leave the XFINITY regular on the outside of most lineups.
Gragson was ripping the high line in yesterday’s XFINITY race, finishing fourth despite dropping a cylinder at one point. While temperatures will be cooler at night for tonight’s Cup race, he still should find success up there.
In a long race, with potentially high attrition, as long as Gragson avoids trouble he’ll have a good chance to end up in the optimal lineup. Certainly much higher than his projected usage.
