DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Charlotte: Fantasy NASCAR Strategy and Picks for the Coca-Cola 600

The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest NASCAR Cup Series race of the year, and it caps off the triple-header of motorsports this Memorial Day Sunday.

Charlotte is the third straight 1.5-mile oval that the Cup Series will race on, so there’s plenty of recent data to use to assess form.

As always, we’ll rely on my practice FLAGS data in addition to the other 1.5-mile data.

In addition, you can 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 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Coca-Cola 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.

Kyle Larson ($11,500): Larson dominated Kansas, ranks highly in my practice FLAGS metric, and starts second.

He’ll fly back from the Indianapolis 500, hop into his No. 5 HMS car, and be right back in the zone. I expect him to dominate a good chunk of this race.

Brad Keselowski ($7600): Keselowski bounces up from a $7000 price tag to $7600 this week, but once again we’re playing him as a core play.

Keselowski ranked third in practice FLAGS, including first in the early practice group, but he had a slow qualifying lap relegating him to the 35th-place starting position.

He’s one of the place-differential darlings Sunday.

Ross Chastain ($9000): Another place-differential darling is Chastain, who was by far the top car in practice FLAGS.

Unfortunately for Ross, his left rear tire blew, causing a hard wreck and forcing him into a backup car.

That means he’ll start dead last in 40th and race in a backup car. But if it’s anywhere near the same as his primary car, he’ll have a great night and fly forward.

Carson Hocevar ($7200): Hocevar is another place-differential play starting 39th, and he’s another driver that ranked inside the top 10 in practice FLAGS, coming in exactly 10th.

Coca-Cola DraftKings DFS Tournament Picks

Tyler Reddick ($10,000): Reddick starts 12th, which gives him an interesting combination of some place-differential potential, but also some dominator potential.

The 600 often spits out a handful of dominators thanks to the shenanigans that take place over the longest race of the year.

Somehow, Reddick has finished every 600 ninth or better, so he’s quite good here. My model has him as the driver with the largest difference between projected ownership and Perfect%, making him a great tournament option.

Austin Cindric ($7500): The Penske driver may have something to prove after his dad was fired from the organization as the Team Penske IndyCar president after a second cheating scandal over the last 15 months.

Cindric sure showed some mettle in practice, ranking fourth in FLAGS.

Cindric finished sixth and 11th at the 1.5-mile tracks of Las Vegas and Kansas respectively, and he had the equivalent speed in those races too. That average finish of 8.5 is probably good enough after starting 14th to get him in the optimal lineup at his price point, and based off his practice speed, he’s more than capable of beating that 8.5 average.

Todd Gilliland ($5900): Gilliland starts 34th, but he had much better speed in practice, ranking 15th in FLAGS.

He drives a Ford and fits my theory that Ford will benefit from the cooler, cloudier, humid weather, which creates more dense air and thus more downforce.

That’s because in 2024, Ford introduced a new body that has it very fast in a straight line, but as a result I believe it sacrifices a bit of downforce. Well, my theory is that the dense air will naturally make up that lost downforce and disproportionately benefit the Fords.

He’s the top punt option for me, and he represents another solid gap between projected ownership and Perfect%.

Coca-Cola DraftKings DFS Paul Menard Pick of the Week

I’ll go back to the Ford well here and take Noah Gragson ($6800) as my PMPOTW.

This isn’t a go-crazy play here; Gragson is only about 7% optimal in my model, but I think my model is a touch too low on him after he ranked second in FLAGS while practicing in the faster practice group.

Gragson’s 14th-place finish at Kansas was a solid effort, and he was very fast at Texas before being caught up in a crash that wasn’t of his own doing.

Charlotte is an incredibly long race at 600 miles, leaving plenty of opportunity for attrition. If Gragson has anywhere near a top-10 car and a few top-10 contenders get taken out with the longer race, there’s a real shot he grabs a top-five finish and ends up in the optimal lineup.

I’d play him up to 10% in a multi-entry portfolio.