Coca Cola 600 Preview, DraftKings Driver Rankings

It’s Memorial Day Weekend which means one thing for us NASCAR fans, the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Crown Jewel event has been run on the 1.5 mile track since 1960 and is the longest race of the entire year. A race that starts at 6 PM ET with daylight challenges the teams and crews to adapt to the changing temperatures and conditions as it transitions to dusk then darkness concluding at night after a 400 lap battle.

Hendrick Motorsports has been the class of the field this season on intermediate tracks and have unloaded fast once again. Kyle Larson secured the pole position after being the best in consecutive lap average and one of the fastest period in practice. His teammates William Byron, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman were all among the fastest cars in practice and qualified inside the top 7 starting spots. The Hendrick Chevrolets will be hard to beat this weekend.

Martin Truex Jr. dominated and won the Coke 600 in 2016, dominated in 2017 before losing a fuel-mileage race to Austin Dillon on the final laps and won this event again in 2019. His teammate Kyle Busch dominated and owned the race in 2018 as well.

The closest comp was last season when six different drivers led 20+ laps of the 400-mile endurance race. Alex Bowman led the most laps before stumbling and finishing 19th. Brad Keselowski ended up capturing the checkered flag holding off Chase Elliott for the win.

With practice and qualifying for the massive race this weekend, we can be more confident where each team and driver stacks up speed wise when making our selections for this weekend.

Coca Cola 600 DraftKings Driver Rankings

1. Kyle Larson ($11,300): This may seem kind of obvious, but it’s worth hammering the point home. Larson has been by far the best on the 550HP package this season and starts from the pole position. He led a race-high number of laps at Las Vegas, Atlanta and Kansas dominating with only one win to show for it. Good chance Larson leads well over 100 laps on Sunday.
2. Alex Bowman ($9,400): Bowman was actually faster than his teammate in practice and starts back in 7th this weekend offering a little place differential upside. Bowman won the first two stages last year in this race and led 164 laps before being able to adjust to the change in the track conditions. Bowman already has two wins this season and is getting better with each race. That speed and his price this weekend, lock and load with the 5 & 48.
3. Kyle Busch ($10,200): Busch is a great place differential play starting back in 20th this weekend. Not only does the veteran get a practice session to work with this weekend, but he’s heading to a track where he dominated and won at just a few seasons ago. On all four races using the 550hp package this season, Busch has scored a top 10 including that first win of the year at Kansas. Hard to argue against these first three.
4. Martin Truex Jr. ($11,100): Truex has won two of the last five Coca Cola 600’s and really should’ve went three for five. Truex is fast and runs up front anywhere, but he hasn’t really had the same speed as Larson on the 550hp package this season. It’s a long race and there’s a good shot he finds his way up front and leads some laps at some point before securing a nice finish.
5. William Byron ($9,200): Byron had his run of consecutive top 10 finishes snapped last weekend when he finished 11th in a rain-shortened race. Though unfortunate, the young driver has been great all season and especially in the 550hp package after winning at Homestead earlier this season. They start 4th, but were second best on consecutive lap average to Larson.
6. Kevin Harvick ($10,000): Harvick had started to turn a corner of prior to his crash last week at COTA, but had a solid runner-up result at Kansas, the last intermate track. Now he heads to a place where he’s won at three times in his career and appears to have some good top 5 speed. If they can keep up with the changes and hang up front, they could be in position for “The Closer” to do just that.
7. Chase Elliott ($10,500): Elliott finally broke through for his first win last weekend. Unfortunately for him, this race is on the oval at Charlotte and not the road course. I just don’t see the No. 9 car having a dominating performance starting 3rd compared to his teammate on the pole and he’s more expensive than Bowman and Byron not carrying as much upside on DraftKings.
8. Austin Dillon ($7,700): Dillon was the fastest car in practice and ended up qualifying 7th for the race Sunday evening. We’ve already seen Dillon steal this race before and he appears to have the speed to collect stage points and be there at the end to do just that again if the opportunity presents itself. Good long-shot odds down here.
9. Erik Jones ($7,200): Jones is another driver in the Chevy Camp that was super fast in practice, but fortunately for us in daily fantasy didn’t qualify that high. Starting 19th in this price range, he offers some good upside if he can move forward and hang around the top 10.
10. Chris Buescher ($6,700): Buescher didn’t really show anything in practice and qualifying, but I’ll gladly take the upside that comes with him starting back in 27th. He led laps at Homestead earlier this year then finished 14th, 7th and 8th on the other 1.5 mile tracks this season. Yes, please.
11. Ryan Preece ($6,000): I’m not sure what happened to Preece for him to qualify back in 28th compared to his teammate Ricky Stenhouse who has a front row starting spot. His best finishes have definitely come on the 750hp package, but lets hope the JTG camp shares some info to get this 37 car dialed in so he can move forward inside the top 20 and score some good points on DraftKings.
12. Aric Almirola ($7,900): Almriola has struggled big time this season. The No. 10 hasn’t been getting the finishes we have grown accustomed to seeing and it’s looking like he’s going to have to win at some point to make the playoffs. There isn’t much here to go off other than the fact it’s a long race and too good of a driver and team starting this far deep in the field. Just avoid another DNF.
13. Ryan Newman ($6,400): The veteran Newman will be making his 39th career start on the Charlotte oval on Sunday. Still winless, but Roush Fenway has been much improved this season and the veteran should be able to slowly move forward from 25th and finish around his career average at this track, 18th.
14. Chase Briscoe ($6,200): Briscoe is starting middle of the pack in 21st, but there’s not much below the $6K range I am interested in. Briscoe will be running double duty this weekend racing the Xfinity race on Saturday in a second SHR car it looks like. That alone should help the rookie get ready for the longest race of his young career.
15. Daniel Suarez ($6,500): This is an extremely risky pick, but it could have massive upside at this price. Suarez and the No. 99 team unloaded fast with the 6th best time in practice and qualified 9th. This new team has been really solid through their first half season and Suarez is making the most out of his equipment.