DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Nashville: Fantasy NASCAR Strategy and Picks for the Cracker Barrel 400

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Nashville for 300 laps at the 1.33-mile concrete track.

Nashville is an incredibly unique track. It has the size of Darlington, the concrete of Bristol and Dover, the lower downforce package of the shorter tracks, and the tire package of the intermediate tracks.

That means my practice FLAGS for Nahville will be super helpful, as it’s hard to build sample size at this track by using comparable tracks since there is no real direct comp.

With 300 laps scheduled, plan for 2-3 dominators, but with Denny Hamlin on pole and easily the best driver at Nashville in the Next Gen era, there is a chance, even if small, that he’s the sole dominator.

To see the top dominators, 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 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 250,000 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 Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Cracker Barrel 400 Cash Game Picks

Denny Hamlin ($11,000): As I mentioned above, the polesitter has been the best at Nashville in the Next Gen era, and he practiced well, ranking third in the quantile version of my FLAGS metric.

And he usually races better than he practices.

Austin Cindric ($6900): Since qualifying was rained out, Cindric will start 36th by NASCAR’s qualifying metric thanks to a DNF at Charlotte.

But Cindric was fast here last year, ranking fifth in race FLAGS, and he ranked inside the top 10 in speed-based practice FLAGS.

He’s the top place-differential candidate under $8000.

Ross Chastain ($8100): Like Cindric, Chastain starts toward the rear in 35th. He also mentioned over the radio during practice that his car was the best it’s been all season in terms of handling, balance, and speed.

A happy Ross is a fast Ross, and he’s a former winner of this race.

Look for him to move to the front, and to do so quickly.

Cracker Barrel 400 Tournament Picks

Dominators: Here are my top dominators by likelihood of dominating:

1. Denny Hamlin
   
   (gap to show tier)
   
2. Christopher Bell
3. Tyler Reddick
   
4. Ty Gibbs
5. Kyle Larson
   
6. Ryan Blaney
7. William Byron

Christopher Bell ($10,200): If Hamlin somehow doesn’t dominate, I think Bell is the next most likely dominator.

Bell ranks third in race FLAGS at Nashville in the Next Gen era and topped the speed-base practice FLAGS numbers.

Ty Gibbs ($9000): Gibbs was super strong in practice, topping the rank-based version of my practice FLAGS metric.

He also won at another concrete track at Bristol, and he ran strong at Phoenix, which is one of the better comps for Nashville, as it also ran the same downforce and horsepower package and has somewhat similar banking.

He could be a bit of a surprise dominator.

Ryan Preece and Corey Heim ($7600 and $7000): These are my top two projected optimal in the $7k range, and they both looked sharp in practice.

Preece ranked 12th in my composite practice ranks and starts 28th, while Heim ranked 16th and starts 24th.

Both, in theory, should move forward from their starting spots on speed.

AJ Allmendinger ($6000): The Dinger is known for his prowess on concrete tracks, and the speed seems to be there again this weekend, as he ranked 11th and 12th in rank and speed-based practice FLAGS.

He also enters the top 10 (seventh) in my composite metric, which averages the five practice metrics (FLAGS, PEAK, LONG, DEG, CON), showing he has a well-rounded car.

His ownership should be held down by starting 16th, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a top-10 finish from Allmendinger on Sunday.

Pictured: Denny Hamlin
Photo credit: Randy Sartin