DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Indianapolis: Fantasy NASCAR DFS Strategy and Picks for the Brickyard 400

For the first time since the 2020 season, the NASCAR Cup Series takes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for the Brickyard 400.

Indianapolis is a 2.5-mile, flatly banked oval that has some similarities to the track the series raced at last weekend — Pocono. Both are 2.5-mile ovals, and both are flatly banked, but Indy’s corners are faster and more about keeping cornering speed up rather than mechanical grip.

That said, Pocono is still the best comparable track, and that along with practice and qualifying will be the bulk of the analysis we rely on, in addition to current form and equipment.

Before we jump into my picks, don’t forget all my NASCAR projections can be found in the NASCAR Models on FantasyLabs, complete with floor, ceiling, median, and ownership projections.

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.

Here are my NASCAR DFS picks for the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Brickyard 400 DraftKings DFS Cash Game Strategy

It’s not often we start with the cheaper drivers in cash games, but Josh Berry ($7500) is a nice addition to cash-game rosters given his poor qualifying effort.

Berry was quite fast at Pocono, running 15th in green flag speed, and fielded the 11th-best time in practice on Saturday along with the 13th-best overall lap average in practice.

Denny Hamlin ($10,500) stands out as the race favorite and has the highest floor on the slate, which is why he has highest Perfect% among all drivers.

Brad Keselowski ($9300) and Kyle Busch ($8000) give you nice upside, as both drivers excel at the larger flat tracks yet start in the bottom third of the field, allowing for plenty of place-differential points.

Brickyard 400 DraftKings DFS Tournament Strategy

Dominator Candidates – My list of drivers to dominate, in order, are:

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Tyler Reddick
3. Kyle Larson
4. William Byron
5. Ty Gibbs
6. Ryan Blaney
7. Chase Elliott

After that, we get into drivers that have had issues this weekend in one form or another, so I’d look to that pool as my dominator pool.

My model is particularly high on William Byron ($9000) as a tournament option. Byron had the fastest overall practice time, and he showed decent speed at Pocono that he’ll look to build off of for Indy. Last year Byron led the most laps at Pocono, and he claimed a fourth-place finish just last week.

Carson Hocevar ($6800) is also a solid candidate to perform well in all formats. Last week, both Hocevar and teammate Zane Smith showed speed at Pocono. Hocevar also had the sixth-best average practice time in Friday’s 50-minute session.

Call me crazy, but you could do worse than picking Jimmie Johnson ($6000) for your tournament lineups. Johnson is a four-time winner at Indy, and the Toyotas have shown speed this weekend, as Johnson’s teammate John Hunter Nemechek placed his car inside the top 10 in qualifying.

Johnson raced at IMS just last year, albeit in the IndyCar Series for the Indy 500. That said, he’s a veteran, and opinion of him is rather low given his poor finishes this year. However, of all tracks, I expect him to have the most speed and consistency here.

Brickyard 400 DraftKings Paul Menard Pick of the Week

It’s been a few weeks since I busted out a PMPOTW, but this week I’m feeling AJ Allmendinger ($6600) as a driver who could get it done.

Allmendinger comes in 12.5% optimal per my model, yet he projects to be under 10% rostered, making him a perfect PMPOTW candidate.

Allmendinger is very strong at the large flat tracks, with solid runs at both Pocono and Indy over the years.

Like Johnson, Allmendinger’s open-wheel background with a previous run at the Indy 500 makes him an ideal candidate to overachieve in this race. It just comes down to strategy and pit stops, which could definitely bite him.

However, if they don’t, he’s a driver who should be able to keep track position and pop off a surprise top-10 finish, given his solid practice times.