NASCAR By the Numbers - Daytona 500

by Stephen Young (stevietpfl) Last Updated 2025-02-15 21:40:04 Premium Content Part of the product Stevie's NASCAR Package

Race into the NASCAR DFS streets with the most trusted NASCAR analyst in the industry! Stevie has been providing NASCAR content since the very first NASCAR DFS contest and has taken down 10+ large-field tournaments in NASCAR alone. Multiple subscribers of his NASCAR package have been $1,000,000 winners thanks to the premium content he provides. This article previews the type of racetrack, roster construction, past optimal lineups, core plays, tournament plays, value plays, and potential dominators.

Happy Daytona 500! First off, thank you all for the support, and I’m excited for another NASCAR season at RotoGrinders. Because of all of you, I get to do what I love for a living, so thank you. The Daytona 500 is Sunday at 1:30pm EST on FOX.

You typically see a lot of salary left over. I can’t say it enough: It’s okay to leave $10,000-$15,000 on the table this weekend. You’re focusing a lot more on place differential than dominators. With 200 laps, we’re looking at 140 potential dominator points and 20 laps led points on DraftKings along with 20 laps completed points on FanDuel. Usually, 140 dominator points would be important, but Daytona/Talladega are different. If someone leads 100 laps and wins the race, that dominator would be optimal. If someone leads 100 laps and finishes 30th, those laps led won’t matter. In the 6 Daytona races with the Next-Gen car, there have been an average of 6.1 cautions, but no race has had more than 8 cautions. In the prior 6 races from 2019 to 2021, there was an average of 8 cautions, with 2 races over 8 cautions.

NASCAR DFS Picks: Daytona 500

We can’t predict Daytona wrecks; lineup construction is king here. The Daytona 500 last season had no drivers start inside the top 10 in the optimal lineup. Over the last 10 Daytona races, there have not been more than 2 drivers starting inside the top 10 in the optimal lineup. Typically, we see 0 or 1 driver starting inside the top 10 in the optimal. I’m going to open my groups outside the top 10 this weekend.