DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Martinsville: Fantasy NASCAR Strategy and Picks for the Xfinity 500

The second-to-last race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season takes place at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway.

There are 500 laps scheduled in this one, so we will definitely need 2-3 dominators for upside in tournaments, but also to help our floor in cash games.

Additionally, there is a new left-side tire and with cooler temperatures today compared to Saturday’s practice session, so we could be in for a bit of a mystery on how long they will hold up or how much they will fall off in lap times.

That makes practice FLAGS data slightly less useful, but it should still be plenty useful like it was in the first Martinsville race earlier this year.

Also, be sure to check out my NASCAR projections in the NASCAR Models on FantasyLabs, complete with floor, ceiling, median, and ownership projections.

My projections, along with Stephen Young’s from RotoGrinders, are available in our new NASCAR DFS package. You can read more about what the package entails here.

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.

So, without further ado, here’s my strategy guide and NASCAR DFS picks for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Xfinity 500 DraftKings DFS Core Picks

Instead of calling them cash-game picks, I’ll call them core picks, as these are picks I like in all formats. However, it’s important to note that very often core picks tend to go over-rostered in tournaments, so while they should still be used plenty, it may be prudent to sometimes go underweight on these drivers if you think they’ll be significantly over-rostered.

William Byron ($9700): Byron starts on pole and had one of the best cars in practice, both visually and by the data, where he ranked second in FLAGS.

Martinsville has been a strong track for him, and all of Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), so he’s a must-start in cash games to raise our floor by grabbing the early dominator points.

Josh Berry ($8800): Berry didn’t have a good qualifying draw and starts 27th, but he was the best car in the first practice group based on FLAGS.

He had a fantastic long-run car despite a bit of a lack of fire-off speed on the short run, but with potentially extra tire falloff, he’s a stud option with tons of place-differential potential at a track that he’s been strong at over the years.

Bubba Wallace ($8000): I’ll always take the No. 1 car in FLAGS when he’s only priced at $8k and starts 20th.

Wallace has finished inside the top five in two of the last three races at Martinsville, and he looked to have a top-five car again in practice yesterday.

Xfinity 500 DraftKings DFS Tournament Picks

Dominators: Since we’ll need 2-3 dominators, here’s my list in order of preference.

1. Byron
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Chase Elliott
4. Kyle Larson
5. Christopher Bell
6. Joey Logano
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Wallace

Tyler Reddick ($8800): A strictly tournament-only play, Reddick caught my eye in practice and ranks fourth in FLAGS.

He should go far under-rostered thanks to people wanting to roster the big eight playoff drivers and Wallace, especially considering Reddick’s mediocre track history.

That’s why he’s tournament only. Great speed in practice, but the track history isn’t quite there. However, he could pop off and surprise at any time with his talent.

Ryan Preece ($7000): The price tag is just too low here for a driver with Preece’s resume at Martinsville.

I’m willing to throw FLAGS out the window when certain drivers are just studs at certain tracks, and that applies to Preece here.

Hopefully his lack of practice speed dampens his ownership a bit.

Austin Dillon ($6700): Dillon has had been hit or miss at Martinsville in the Next Gen era, but finishes of third, seventh, and 12th are good enough to put him clearly in the “has upside” category, which is what we want in tournaments.

Dillon was a top-half car in the first group in FLAGS, and this new left-side tire could benefit him as it reminds me of Richmond where he won (and the same right-side tire was used).

A top-12 finish would probably put him in or close to the optimal lineup, and I have him doing that nearly 24% of the time.

Pictured: William Byron
Photo Credit: Joe Puetz, Imagn