DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Phoenix: Fantasy NASCAR Strategy and Picks for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race

We made it to the end of another season, as Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Chase Briscoe will contend for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship and 34 other drivers will try to solidify their spots in the standings.

The championship race is always unique in that there is a massive focus on the Championship 4.

Traditionally, drivers fighting for the title overperform at the title race, even over the already great seasons they’ve had.

And for Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, with two drivers each contending for the title, you know thier teammates will be looking to make it as easy as possible on them while making it difficult for the opposing team.

And of course, we had a big long practice session, so practice FLAGS data will come in handy.

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 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway

NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race 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 ($11,000): Byron was top dog in FLAGS of the cars that didn’t have issues in practice, and he is coming off a dominant win in Martinsville, which is a slight comp track to Phoenix.

Byron is also cheaper than two of the other three championship drivers, so that helps fit in just a bit more upside from the rest of the roster.

Ryan Blaney ($10,700): Blaney is not in the hunt for the title this year, but having no Fords at all in the title hunt gives him free reign to run as hard as possible, since he’s not there defending for a teammate like he did a few years ago.

Blaney has been one of the two dominant cars at Phoenix over the past two seasons, since Ford and Toyota switched to their current car bodies, and I expect that to continue after posting a top-three FLAGS performance in practice.

AJ Allmendinger and Michael McDowell ($5500 and $6100): These two drivers encountered problems either in practice or qualifying. Allmendinger is in a backup car after crashing in practice, while McDowell blew his qualifying lap.

That gives us two cheap punts that should run mid-20s or even better starting in the last two spots, which is a place-differential bonanza.

McDowell, in fact, ranked inside the top five in FLAGS in practice, albeit on a smaller sample of laps.

NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race DraftKings Tournament Picks

Chase Briscoe ($10,500): Briscoe had a tire issue in practice that limited him to fewer than 20 laps of practice, but he was extremely fast in those 20 laps and sits atop the FLAGS standings for practice — of course with a big grain of salt given the issues.

That said, if his long-run speed is there, he could arguably have one of the best cars out there, if not the best.

Phoenix has also historically been one of his best tracks and is where he picked up his first career win in 2022 with the now defunct Stewart-Haas Racing.

Ross Chastain ($9000): Chastain has been strong at Phoenix in the Next Gen era, picking up four top-six finishes in seven starts including a win in this race two years ago as the only non-championship eligible driver to ever win the championship race in the Cup Series.

Chastain was strong at both New Hampshire and Martinsville, shorter flat tracks that comp slightly to somewhat well to Phoenix.

While Chastain ranked just 11th in FLAGS, he often overperforms his practice speed, and he probably won’t be too highly rostered starting 13th.

Bubba Wallace ($7700): I think people will use a lot of Ryan Preece at $7000, but I prefer a pivot up to Wallace, who should have lower usage despite starting two spots farther back.

Preece doesn’t have the best Phoenix results, and Wallace was two places better than Preece in FLAGS, so I love this tournament move.

Pictured: William Byron
Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn