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

Pocono marks the first of two races at large flat tracks for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

At 2.5 miles in length, that means there’s just 160 laps, and strategy is huge at Pocono with some teams and drivers flipping stages, including possibly the leader, which reduces dominator potential.

That’s something to keep in mind as you build NASCAR DFS lineups. Another thing to keep in mind is Pocono practice FLAGS, because speed differential really shows up at such a large track.

Along with FLAGS, 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 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 Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Great American Getaway 400 Cash Game Picks

Tyler Reddick ($10,300): Reddick topped practice FLAGS with an absolutely dominant Group 1 performance, where his speed-based FLAGS was over 0.96 within his group.

Even after group adjustments, Reddick came home tops in FLAGS, which makes him a solid place-differential play starting 16th.

Some might be inclined to play Denny Hamlin here, but Hamlin wasn’t fully sold on his race car and instead said it was “in the window” despite qualifying on pole. Hamlin may struggle to lead the early laps which, by starting on pole, would kill him at his $11,000 price tag.

Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace ($7,900 and $8000): The duo that sits just $100 apart also starts in the last two spots after Keselowski’s engine lost a cylinder during qualifying, while Wallace made contact with the wall during his run.

That puts both of them in must-play territory in cash games, but based off practice FLAGS, there is potential to be underweight on one or the other — or both.

Carson Hocevar ($8700): Like Wallace and Keselowski, Hocevar encountered troubles in his practice lap with a big moment coming off the final corner, which cost him a shot at a top-10 starting spot.

Instead he rolls off 26th with a car that ranked seventh in practice FLAGS. He’s a huge place-differential play this weekend and, unlike Wallace and Keselowski, I’m more confident in him in tournaments given his practice speed.

Great American Getaway 400 Tournament Picks

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

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Larson
3. Chris Buescher
4. Ty Gibbs

Kyle Larson ($10,500): Despite my dominator rankings, I give a slight nod to Larson as the better car over Hamlin among the two front-row starters.

With Hamlin’s absolute dominance, I can see him going over-rostered, which leaves the door open a bit for Larson to maybe not quite be as rostered as he should be.

My model projects his usage and optimal pretty much equal, but I think my model could be overrating Hamlin’s chances of leading the early laps. If that’s the case, they most likely go to Larson, and his 21% chance of ending up optimal is a handful of percentage points too low.

Chris Buescher ($8500): Buescher starts sixth, but he ranked second in FLAGS and topped the second practice group, which had the overall stronger cars.

Buescher ranked second and sixth in race FLAGS here at Pocono each of the last two years, and there’s no reason to think he won’t be in line for another top-five result in speed after seeing practice.

Zane Smith ($6800): Smith is an aggressive tournament play for big fields, top-heavy formats, and qualifiers.

Smith starts 18th but ranked ninth in both speed-based and rank-based practice FLAGS.

Smith was very fast last weekend at Michigan before a crash took him out, and Michigan’s speed at least holds some slight similarity to Pocono’s speed. Smith has shown speed at both.

Connor Zilisch ($6500): Zilisch has finished dead last in three straight races and just crashed twice in the first 10 laps last weekend at Michigan.

That’s the perfect time to get on this immensely talented driver while everyone is afraid to play him.

Even my model is afraid of him, giving him just a 6.5% chance of ending up in the optimal lineup. But my model is also giving him an unrealistic 35% chance of a DNF, which is just one of those odd quirks of a small sample with a young driver who’s had a horrendous start to his Cup Series career.

Zilisch is tied fourth with Reddick for the biggest differential between his starting spot and his practice FLAGS rank.

I’m going to play him with confidence while everyone is afraid.

Great American Getaway 400 Paul Menard Pick of the Week

Erik Jones and teammate John Hunter Nemechek are the clear PMPOTW plays. My model gives them a combined 27% chance of ending up optimal with just 21% projected ownership total.

The two Legacy Motor Club cars were fast last weekend at Michigan, ranked seventh and eighth in race FLAGS last year at Pocono, and ranked fifth (Jones) and 16th (JHN) in practice FLAGS.

Of the two, I definitely prefer Jones, but don’t count out Nemechek.

Pictured: Tyler Reddick
Photo credit: Andrew Nelles, Imagn