Let's get ready for some more NASCAR action! These daily fantasy NASCAR rankings for Sunday's Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas Speedway were determined by a combination of DraftKings and FanDuel prices, and the projected DFS points each driver is expected to earn in this week’s race.
Each week, we'll present you the weekly rankings, followed by some key analysis of those rankings.
Be sure to also check out all of our other weekly NASCAR DFS articles and analysis to help you set your optimal DFS lineups.
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Fantasy NASCAR Driver Rankings
Driver Name | DraftKings Rank | FanDuel Rank |
Kyle Larson | 1 | 1 |
Joey Logano | 2 | 2 |
Martin Truex Jr. | 3 | 4 |
Denny Hamlin | 4 | 3 |
Chase Elliott | 5 | 5 |
Alex Bowman | 6 | 6 |
Kevin Harvick | 7 | 10 |
Brad Keselowski | 8 | 9 |
Kyle Busch | 9 | 7 |
Kurt Busch | 10 | 8 |
Ryan Blaney | 11 | 11 |
William Byron | 12 | 12 |
Austin Cindric | 13 | 16 |
Erik Jones | 14 | 13 |
Aric Almirola | 15 | 14 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 16 | 18 |
Christopher Bell | 17 | 15 |
Tyler Reddick | 18 | 17 |
Ross Chastain | 19 | 21 |
Bubba Wallace | 20 | 20 |
Chris Buescher | 21 | 22 |
Ryan Newman | 22 | 25 |
Daniel Suarez | 23 | 24 |
Cole Custer | 24 | 19 |
Austin Dillon | 25 | 23 |
Chase Briscoe | 26 | 26 |
Justin Haley | 27 | 28 |
Matt DiBenedetto | 28 | 27 |
Corey LaJoie | 29 | 29 |
Ryan Preece | 30 | 30 |
Michael McDowell | 31 | 31 |
Anthony Alfredo | 32 | 32 |
Garrett Smithley | 33 | 33 |
Josh Bilicki | 34 | 34 |
Quin Houff | 35 | 35 |
Matt Mills | 36 | 36 |
Joey Gase | 37 | 37 |
Cody Ware | 38 | 38 |
B.J. McLeod | 39 | 39 |
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NASCAR Rankings Analysis
The last Cup race was Talladega, so because of the wildness that always occurs there, this week's starting lineup is all jumbled up. Because of that, we've got a few drivers in this field who have massive place differential points available and who are high in my rankings because of that.
For example, Kyle Larson starts 32nd. He already has a win this year at a 1.5-mile track, plus a second at Atlanta. He has three career top fives at Kansas. He's the top play on the slate in terms of projected points, and his price isn't too outrageous.
In fact, place differential is the name of the game Sunday. All six drivers priced over $10k on DraftKings start 15th or worse. I think Martin Truex Jr. who starts 15th might be a little overlooked by some because not as much PD is up for grabs there, but he's a two-time winner here who led 44 laps in the first Kansas race last season. He's led over 100 laps here three times.
Austin Cindric makes another start in the Penske part-time 33 car. He starts 38th and seems kind of ridiculously cheap, even though he hasn't performed too well in his first three starts. I wasn't quite sure how to rank him, so he's just outside of my top 10 plays. The PD is there, but we also should factor in that aside from a second-place finish here in Xfinity last year, his other three races have produced a best finish of 25th at Kansas.
On the other end of the spectrum, this starting lineup produced some drivers who feel way too risky to play.
Michael McDowell starts third. He has four top 10s this year, but three were at superspeedway or road courses. I can't trust him to stay up front.
Matt DiBenedetto starts fifth. Yes, Wood Brothers is essentially a Penske-lite car, but DiBenedetto at a track like this is usually an 11th-15th place car. The loss of PD points when he falls to there is just too much for me to put in my lineup.
Austin Dillon is the other driver who worries me. He was sixth at Atlanta so he could theoretically stick around the top 10 and two of his three career wins are at tracks like this, but I just don't think I can trust him in a lineup because there's too much downside, as he's also probably an 11th-15th place car.
Meanwhile, I have Justin Haley higher than I likely ever have, even though that means he just barely cracks my top 30. Spire has separated themselves from the other backmarkers, though Haley still probably finishes like 29th. There's some chaos play potential there if you want a cheap driver who might stay within a lap or two of the leaders and can benefit from accidents, but don't mistake his placement here as an endorsement. It's more about other guys having too much potential for lost post.
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The Keys to Weekly NASCAR DFS Success
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