DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Bristol: Fantasy NASCAR DFS Strategy and Picks for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race

We’re going Saturday night Cup racing for 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway!

A major impact of so many laps is that there will be a ton of dominator points available, so we need to prioritize those when looking at high-salary drivers.

In addition, we have plenty of practice data to work with thanks to the 45-minute practice session, which is more than double the amount each car gets. NASCAR rolled out the longer session thanks to the extreme tire wear when the series came to Bristol earlier in the year.

However, it appears all the wear issues have been resolved, and this should play out like the Bristol races of years past rather than the tire mess from the spring race.

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 Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bristol DraftKings DFS Cash Game Strategy

For cash games we want to make sure we prioritize a high floor of dominator points as well as safety with our place differential plays.

Kyler Larson ($10,500) is the safest dominator play on the board, with the highest floor and ceiling among all drivers. By qualifying second and having much better long-run speed than his teammate Alex Bowman, who starts on pole, I expect Larson to grab the early lead and, hence, early dominator points.

Ty Gibbs ($8,700) was one of the drivers to beat in practice, and he gets a unique blend of upside — thanks to that speed as well as a strong track history of dominating — and safety by qualifying only 13th. That means he can move forward for a strong finish, which is an added bonus given his significant price reduction from the highest-priced drivers.

Erik Jones ($6,200) is a slightly better cash game play than Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($6300) thanks to a $100 discount, slightly better practice times on the second set of tires, and one spot more of place differential potential. However, I like both drivers, and Stenhouse has had some Bristol upside, so he’s your tournament pivot play off Jones.

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Bristol DraftKings DFS Tournament Strategy

As I mentioned in the cash game section, Larson is clearly the top dominator candidate. After that, my model has as following:

• Christopher Bell
• William Byron
• Denny Hamlin
• Ty Gibbs
• Alex Bowman
• Ryan Blaney

I love Christopher Bell ($10,300) in tournaments, because his lap averages don’t stand out thanks to waiting for the track to rubber in before setting off on his practice times. However, he had the best 10-lap average of those who set their best long-run times later in the session.

I like fading Hamlin because everyone knows Hamlin needs a strong performance, but Hamlin’s lap average on the second set of tires in practice paled in comparison to his teammates Bell and Gibbs.

Ryan Blaney ($9,400) possesses a unique combination of amazing practice speed, giving him dominating upside for the second half of the race as well as significant place differential potential thanks to his 22nd-place starting spot.

Some tournament plays I like based on the combination of track history, salary, place differential potential, and practice speed are:

• AJ Allmendinger ($7,000): Dinger rolls off 19th but has had strong results on concrete tracks, including Bristol, where he’s pulled off top 10 finishes multiple times. He looked like one of the best sub-$8,000 drivers in practice.
• Josh Berry ($8,200): Berry was great here in the spring when there was tire wear, but I like him this weekend too. His 25th-place starting spot provides a ton of place differential opportunity, and he practiced very well on the second set of tires.
• Justin Haley ($5,700): Haley comes in at a bargain bin price and starts 26th, so he won’t be incredibly highly rostered. But he posted really nice practice times. The biggest question is how much he will fall off, as he didn’t make nearly as many laps as most of the rest of the field.