It was a pretty successful weekend for us in the NASCAR DFS streets at Talladega, as I correctly recommended spending up for Brad Keselowski, who finished second, while stacking the back with guys like Justin Haley and his Spire Motorsports teammates. I personally didn’t nail the execution for the rest of my lineup, but the strategy was there! Without further ado, let’s dive into our top NASCAR DFS picks for the 2024 Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte ROVAL, including Shane Van Gisbergen.
NASCAR DFS Picks: Top Drivers for the Bank of America ROVAL 400 | Charlotte ROVAL
Bank of America ROVAL 400 NASCAR DFS Picks & Strategy | Charlotte ROVAL
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The two main strategies in NASCAR DFS are stacking the front to maximize dominator points and stacking the back to shoot for position differential. Bigger circuits with fewer laps lend value to the latter strategy; short tracks with many laps lend value to the former.
Road courses (and street circuits, which we’ll include as “road courses” in this article) throw a wrench into that analysis. While there aren’t many laps for us to score dominator points, it isn’t easy to pass, either. Three of the four winners on road courses this year started inside the top 10.
Of the four road course events this year, the polesitter has one win, two top-5s and no more top-20 finishes. The two polesitters that didn’t deliver on their starting position were Joey Logano at Sonoma and Kyle Larson at Chicago Street. They are the exceptions, not the rule.
Let’s expand the sample. Of the 20 drivers with a top-5 starting position at a road course this year, 12 went on to finish inside the top 5. Another two went on to finish inside the top 10. Of the remaining six, two (Larson and Shane Van Gisbergen) were drivers who crashed out.
As far as the Charlotte ROVAL goes, in six races, five winners started the race inside the top 10. Since the beginning of the NextGen Era in 2022, both winners started inside the top 10. In short, we’re going to want to stack the front despite the limited number of dominator points up for grabs.
Zane Smith
We’ve been talking about at least one Spire Motorsports driver for the last several weeks, and that trend won’t end this week. Zane Smith ($5,800) is the perfect spend-down option to help us stack the front, which is pretty pricey, even if he ends up being close to a chalk play.
Smith will start in 23rd, which, while not great for stacking the front purposes, isn’t that much of a concern to me. For one, he ran the second-fastest lap during the second practice session. For another, he has beaten his starting positon in all four of his road course starts in the No. 71 Chevrolet.
The results speak for themselves: Smith finished 19th at COTA (started 34th), 16th at Sonoma (20th), 17th at Chicago Street (30th) and fifth at Watkins Glen (19th). He is a multi-time winner at road courses in the Truck Series, snagging two wins at COTA, and I have faith he’ll deliver this weekend.
The Road Course Ringers
When picking drivers to stack at the front, it’s important to note the playoff strategies that some guys will be using. The potential to earn stage points at the expense of a driver’s final finishing position means we want to target drivers who (a) feel safe about their points position, (b) need a win or (c) aren’t in the playoffs at all. Drivers who (d) can make their way safely after two rounds of stage points? Not so attractive.
With this approach in mind, Christopher Bell ($9,000) and William Byron ($9,800) have easier paths than most to the penultimate round of the postseason. Austin Cindric ($7,500) is basically in a must-win position and will start in fifth. Shane Van Gisbergen ($10,300) and A.J. Allmendinger ($10,000) have nothing to go for but the win and will start first and third, respectively.
Van Gisbergen and Allmendinger are the closest thing to road course ringers we’ve got in the field. They can send it for the win with nothing to lose, and we know they have the talent to deliver at this level (and, in Allmendinger’s case, at this specific track in the Cup Series). They’ll be popular plays, especially in GPPs, but save your contrarian options for the final three drivers in your lineup.
