NASCAR Cup Series Las Vegas DFS Picks

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas this weekend to kick off the Round of 8 as the championship battle tightens up. This is the first of three races in this round, and a win here locks a driver into the Championship 4 at Phoenix, so expect the playoff contenders to be aggressive. Drivers will face 267 laps around the 1.5-mile oval, making dominator points important in DFS this week. We’ll want to focus on drivers with speed on intermediates this season, especially those who ran well at similar tracks like Kansas, Charlotte, and the spring Vegas race earlier this year. Track position will matter, but there should also be opportunities for place differential with long green flag runs likely.

Potential Dominators

William Byron

Denny Hamlin

Chase Briscoe

Christopher Bell

Tyler Reddick

Byron looked to be the best car in practice throughout the run as he had the best lap averages in all categories. He starts towards the front and should be the favorite coming into the race this week even though he has struggled some recently. He should be one of the best cars and a great option for DFS. He would be my top option this week as he stood out from the others on speed in practice.

Hamlin starts on pole but he was not very good on the long run in practice so he may not be the best dominator play this week. He has the chance to lead early but with how his car fell off he may get passed after 20 laps or so and other plays may be better options if they don’t fix that overnight. His teammate Briscoe that starts next to him on the front row had speed on both the short and long run in practice. He will have a chance to get that lead early and should be a solid option this weekend. The other two drivers that had speed in practice throughout the run were Bell and Reddick. Both are good on 1.5 mile tracks and should be up front all day and would not be surprising to see either one lead a bunch of laps.

Place Differential Plays

Ross Chastain

Austin Cindric

Brad Keselowski

Carson Hocevar

Chastain was the fastest car in the first group of drivers in practice and seemed to be happy with his car. He starts in 15th so he has some room to move forward and should have top 5 upside. Cindric had solid speed in practice but qualified way back in 31st so he has a lot of place differential potential in the race. I would expect him to have top 20 potential in the race and be a good option this week. Keselowski on the other hand did not show anything in practice and starts way back in 34th. He has run well on 1.5 mile tracks this season so I don’t know why he looked so bad in practice, but I would expect him to be better in the race. He should move forward and be a good place to differential option. Hocevar was the other car with Chastain that was fastest in the first group in practice and starts back in 20th. He should have solid upside this week and he a good value at his salary.

Cheap Options

John Hunter Nemechek

Noah Gragson

Zane Smith

Justin Haley

Riley Herbst

The Legacy cars have had good runs later in the season and Nemechek had good speed in practice. He starts in 26th so he has some room to move forward as you would hope he can get up and run in the top 20 this week. Gragson, Zane Smith, and Haley all had solid speed in practice and start in the mid 20s this week. They should all be solid choices at their salaries as none of them have really separated themselves, but I would look for them all to move forward from their starting spots if they stay out of trouble. Herbst is a good flier play as he tends to have better runs on standard 1.5 mile tracks and he had solid lap times in practice. He is on a good team that runs well on 1.5 mile tracks and should be a good cheap option starting back in 33rd.

Tournament Play:

Bubba Wallace

I feel like Bubba is always my tournament play but he once again was good in practice and starts towards the front this week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him contend at the front with the playoff drivers and have a chance to win at the end of the race.