DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Pocono: Fantasy NASCAR Strategy and Picks for The Great American Getaway 400

With only 160 laps scheduled at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, that means there’s only about 100 total dominator points to go around among 37 drivers. That means we’ll be focusing largely on the combination of place differential and finishing position for Sunday’s race at the “Tricky Triangle.”

We’ll still likely need 1-2 dominators, but if somehow the dominators end up somewhat falling back through the field before the end of the race, it’s possible to have a zero-dominator lineup end up as optimal.

As always for non-drafting ovals, I’ll be relying heavily on my practice FLAGS 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 Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.

The Great American Getaway 400 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.

Ryan Blaney ($10,700): Blaney ended up No. 1 in FLAGS, with a very strong long-run car that displayed little tire falloff.

If we compare Blaney to, say, William Byron, we can see the difference.

Blaney’s five-lap average was 53.31 sec/lap and his 10-lap average was 53.40, for a difference of 0.09 sec/lap. That means from laps 6-10, Blaney ran an average of 53.49 sec/lap.

Byron, on the other hand, went from a 53.14 to 53.35 on the five- to 10-lap average times. That means he ran a 53.56 average on laps 6-10, nearly a full tenth slower than Blaney.

It appears last year’s winner may have one of the best long-run cars and starts 20th, meaning he has plenty of place differential available to him.

William Byron ($10,400): After all that Byron talk, he’s still a core play given his short-run speed and his starting spot.

By starting 31st, Byron has even more place-differential potential than Blaney, and he comes in a few hundred dollars cheaper.

Byron’s fifth-place practice FLAGS shows there’s plenty of speed in the car even over the long run, just maybe not as quick as Blaney’s.

Bubba Wallace ($7500): With the focus on place differential and finishing position, we also have to have plenty of Bubba Wallace, who starts 34th, had the seventh best practice FLAGS, and comes in at a comfy $7500.

Wallace has traditionally been very strong at the 2.5-mile ovals of Indianapolis and Pocono, so this is a great track type for him.

Josh Berry ($6900): Berry did not make a qualifying lap, meaning he’ll start 35th out of 37 drivers, so he’s only likely to move forward.

Like Wallace, Pocono is a great track for Berry.

Last year he accumulated 13 fastest laps, and he’s had some of his best equipment-adjusted performances at the track in the Xfinity and Truck series, most notably dominating the 2023 Xfinity race and placing third in 2022.

Berry is probably undervalued in my model because he didn’t get to make any usable practice laps thanks to the rear-diffuser issue that cost him a chance to qualify the car.

The Great American Getaway 400 DFS Tournament Picks

A dominator: As I mentioned in the intro, this is probably a 0-2 dominator race, but more often than not 1-2 will get the job done, as long as they also finish well. Here are my model’s top dominators ranked:

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Chris Buescher
3. A toss-up between Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, and Brad Keselowski

With Blaney a dominator a candidate as well, you may only need to choose from one of the above.

Austin Cindric ($7200): Cindric ranked third in practice FLAGS and starts 19th, so there is place-differential potential here.

Last year, Cindric picked up four fastest laps and his teammate won. Pocono is the oval that drives like a road course, and Cindric does have some road-course prowess, so it would make sense that he’d be strong here in top-level Team Penske equipment.

The Great American Getaway 400 Paul Menard Pick of the Week

I think people will gravitate toward Erik Jones as a low-owned, low-price option, given his strong track history that everyone has talked about all week.

But by paying up a bit and grabbing Ryan Preece ($7000), we’re finding a guy who is too expensive for the cheap tier and in the range of other ~$7k options like Wallace, Berry, and Cindric, who all have more place-differential potential; Preece probably ends up under-utilized this week.

Preece has been strong at Pocono throughout his career, performing about 5% better here than his average oval, and he’s in the same RFK Racing equipment as Keselowski and Buescher, who project to be two of the top-six dominator potential drivers.

Last year, Keselowski and Buescher combined for 27.4% of all the fastest laps, and both were top-five in pratice FLAGS.

Preece was just midpack in FLAGS, but he gets a bump up in my model thanks to his track history as well as his teammates’ performance, which he should be able to borrow some setup info from.

My model has him about 16% optimal, well above his 11% projected usage.