Cup Series Darlington DFS Picks
- RoundersKyle
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
The NASCAR Cup Series is in South Carolina this week for racing at Darlington which is one of NASCAR's most iconic tracks. The unique egg shape and abrasive track surface makes tire wear high at this track and taking care of your tires on the long run is going to be super important for teams. We expect two main dominators in this 267 lap race as we have seen two drivers lead over 100 laps in recent races here. We just had the race at Homestead a few weeks ago which has similar high tire wear and preference to riding against the wall so we should see a lot of the same drivers good this week.
Potential Dominators
William Byron
Kyle Larson
Ryan Blaney
Denny Hamlin
Byron put down a blazing lap in qualifying getting the pole by over a tenth on the entire field. He also had speed in practice and I would expect him to get the lead early and rack up a decent amount of dominator points at the start. Larson won a few weeks ago at Homestead and is great at high tire wear tracks and running the high line. He had solid lap times in practice and I expect him to run up front and be a top contender at Darlington. He starts in 19th so he has some cars to pass and place differential points to gain as well this weekend. Blaney was one of the best cars on the long run in practice. That should translate to the race well and I expect him to be a top contender this weekend even though he hasn't had the best results at Darlington recently. Hamlin didn't show much in practice but he was solid and starts up in 3rd. He should be the other early threat to lead laps and I won't count him out to be a top contender this weekend.
Place Differential Plays
Ross Chastain
Josh Berry
Erik Jones
Alex Bowman
Chastain has been good at Darlington in his career and qualified back in 25th this weekend. I don't expect him to contend for the win necessarily but I think he can run top 10 with upside for a top 5 by the end of the race. Berry was happy with his car after practice and he has shown a lot of speed lately the last few weeks. He didn't get the qualifying lap he was looking for so he starts back in 24th giving him a good amount of place differential potential for the race if he can run top 15 and have upside for more. Jones is another driver who is really good at Darlington, although he didn't show much speed in practice. He starts way back in 34th giving him huge place differential upside and he had a solid run at Homestead a few races ago, so I think he can still have top 20 potential this week. Bowman is not great at Darlington and didn't show speed in practice. But starting 33rd on one of the best teams in the garage gives him so much place differential potential for the race he is still a usable option.
Cheap Options
Carson Hocevar
Austin Dillon
John Hunter Nemechek
Darlington is one of Hocevar's best tracks and I think he is a great play this weekend. He showed speed in practice and starts 12th so he may be lower owned without much place differential potential. But I think he can run top 10 and be a great value play this week. Dillon and the RCR cars had good speed in practice on the long run and I think he could have a good run this week. He starts 23rd but if he can get a top 15 finish he could be a solid play this week of the cheap drivers. Nemechek had solid lap times in practice even though he didn't get to run super long cause he spun. He starts 27th and I think he could be a good value play at only $5500 salary on Draftkings if you need to open things up for higher priced drivers.
Tournament Play
Kyle Busch
Busch is a bit of a risky play this week but I liked his speed in practice and they seemed happy with his car. He starts 8th so he is going to need some dominator points but he could be a great tournament play this week.
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