NASCAR Cup Series Darlington DFS Picks

The NASCAR Cup Series kicks off the playoffs this season at Darlington this weekend. Darlington is a high tire wear track so saving your tires and being fast on the long run is going to be super important this week. A lot of the top drivers have been running well here as we saw Denny Hamlin, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney all be the top drivers here in the spring earlier this season. You are going to have to hit on the main lap leaders and have guys that car run in the top 15 to end up with a top DFS lineup at Darlington this week.

Potential Dominators

Denny Hamlin

Tyler Reddick

Kyle Larson

William Byron

Ryan Blaney

Hamlin won this race in the spring and went out this weekend and got the pole. He should get the lead at the start and have the best chance to lead a lot of the early race and stage 1. He wasn't the fastest on lap averages but I would still expect him to run up front a be a contender this week. Reddick and Larson are two other early options for lap leaders. Reddick was one of the better cars here in the spring finishing 4th and he had top 5 speed in lap averages in his session in practice. Larson was fast here in the spring but wrecked early which ended his day. I expect both to be good this week and they start in the top 5.

Byron and Blaney are two other top options this week and they have some place differential to gain starting just outside the top 10 and they were arguable the two best cars at the end of the race here in the spring. Byron was fastest on lap averages early on the runs in practice and Blaney was the best car on the long run in practice. I like both of them this week, especially pairing with one of the early potential lap leaders. I do give the slight edge to Blaney as I think he is going to be really good on the long run.

Place Differential Plays

Kyle Busch

Alex Bowman

Brad Keselowski

Ryan Preece

Erik Jones

Ty Gibbs

There are a handful of mid range drivers that start outside the top 20 and should be good options to move forward this week. Busch and Bowman both had top 10 cars in the spring as Busch finished 10th and Bowman had a flat tire ruin his day. They start 23rd and 29th this week so they have room to move forward and should be good value plays this week. Other good options are the RFK cars of Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece. Brad had the same issue as Bowman in the spring, a really fast car but had tire issues. He had solid speed in practice and I would expect him to be good on the long run making him a great play starting way back in 32nd. Preece didn't show great speed in practice but he has been racing really well lately and he got in the wall a bit in practice that could have slowed him down. He ran in the top 15 in the spring for most of the race and starting back in 27th giving him good place differential potential.

Jones is only a play based on his record at Darlington is great and this is his best track. He is only a tournament play but I don't hate using him in this spot. Gibbs was good in practice with a lot of speed and ran top 10 here in the spring and could be a good option this week.

Cheap Options

Zane Smith

Noah Gragson

AJ Allemdinger

Michael McDowell

Todd Gilliland

Ty Dillon

Zane Smith is a riskier tournament play starting 24th but he had solid speed on the long run in practice. He also finished 12th in the spring here and I would not be suprised to see him run top 15 again. Gragson has really struggled this season but Darlington was a track he ran in the top 20 here in the spring and he had really good speed in practice. Allmendinger is another tournament play starting 20th but he is another that had great speed in practice and should run in the top 20 with upside for more. McDowell and Gilliland were top 5 in their practice session this weekend and I would expect them to have top 20 potential if they can stay out of trouble and get track position. Ty Dillon is a solid flier play starting in 31st as he finished 16th at Darlington in the spring.