Stock car racing’s premiere series settles at Sonoma Raceway this weekend. Make the most of the 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350 with our NASCAR DFS picks and tiers.
We reveal our “Tire Tiers” and betting cards live every Thursday at 8:30 p.m. EST on our YouTube series, “The Backroad.” Be sure to tune in, enjoy the race and reach out if you have any questions.
(DFS prices are courtesy of DraftKings and Fantrax)
NASCAR DFS Picks, Tiers & Rankings: 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350
Driver As | The Elites
As we head into a repaved Sonoma course, it really feels like a week without a clear-cut favorite at the top of the board. We figured Chase Elliott was safest to slot at the top of the board. He’s no longer the undisputed road course king, but Sonoma is one of his strongest tracks as a whole. The No. 9 team has only been worse than P8 here twice in Elliott’s career. A $9,300 price tag on DraftKings and $24.30 on Fantrax is very manageable.
Otherwise, Toyotas are largely expected to be the talk of the town in wine country. Martin Truex Jr. has won three of the last five races here. The New Jersey native also has a 2013 victory and a trio more of T10 finishes in his career. He has the highest salary on DraftKings at $10,500 and third-highest on Fantrax ($25.56), naturally making him a tad less attractive. Stepping down the board a bit for his teammate Ty Gibbs at $9,000 on DraftKings is a much more appealing NASCAR DFS play. He’s been a fast qualifier this year, which will negate differential points, but winners come from the top five starting spots half the time at Sonoma. The 21-year-old has also been sneaky good at road courses, including a P3 earlier this season at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Driver Bs | Point-Getters
COTA winner William Byron was on the edge of being an A-Tier driver, but a second-highest DraftKings price of $10,200, paired with a lackluster Sonoma career, pushed him down our NASAR DFS rankings. The No. 24 has only one T10 in five tries, compared to a pair of finishes of 25th or worse. I’m more optimistic about A.J. Allmendinger at $8,800 on DraftKings and a bargain $7.55 on Fantrax. He quietly finished P6 at COTA in the extra Kaulig Racing car, the same position he was at this race last season.
Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing has been on fire lately, and we’re backing them to continue the hot streak. Chris Buescher ($8,600) has been the best driver at Sonoma in the Next Gen total speed rankings, courtesy of ifantasyrace.com, finishing P2 and P4 in those races. And while Brad Keselowski isn’t the strongest road course racer, picking up the No. 6 at just $7,000 is too good a deal to pass up. He did finish P10 here in 2022 and is arguably the hottest driver in the garage right now.
Driver Cs | In the Mix
You can find all of Team Penske in our middle tier this weekend. Austin Cindric undoubtedly had both his price ($8,200 on DraftKings/$16.18 on Fantrax) and chalkiness rise following his victory at Gateway, making what otherwise may have been a low-price, high-value pickup a bit murkier. It’s Cindric’s highest price on DraftKings of the season by nearly $1,000, and he’s had more sub-10 point days on the platform than he has even 30 or more.
It’s tough to know what to make of the latter half of this tier in our NASCAR DFS rankings, though. Will Brown, the current Supercars Championship points leader and the driver who replaced Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) down under, will make his Cup Series debut in the No. 33 for Richard Childress Racing (RCR). At $7,200 on DraftKings, he’s a Benjamin more expensive (and a tier higher) than the other down-under debutant in Cam Waters ($7,100 on DraftKings in the No. 60 for RFK).
Trackhouse is also a curious case this weekend; both Ross Chastain ($8,300 DraftKings/$22.20 Fantrax) and Daniel Suarez ($8,100 DraftKings/$16.31 Fantrax) have road-course wins with the team but more often run mid-pack to warrant that pricing. Both have had 30+ point weeks recently but also have dropped some real clunkers.
Driver Ds | Could Do Worse
The other pair of RCR drivers, Kyle Busch ($7,700 DraftKings/$19.51 Fantrax) and Austin Dillon ($7,300 DraftKings/$12.79 Fantrax) provide too much inconsistency and skepticism to rank highly. Still, both have been known to surprise with good runs once in a while on road courses nowadays. Dillon has impressed lately with a pair of 40+ DraftKings-point performances in the last five races.
The Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) speed of Alex Bowman may be a slightly better NASCAR DFS play, specifically on DraftKings at $7,500, but Sonoma isn’t one of his better road courses. He’s had six 40+ point performances this year, including at COTA in the spring.
Driver Fs | The Junk Drawer
You’ll find most of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) at the bottom of the barrel this week; none of the trio ranked well in road-course metrics or total speed ranking, with only Chase Briscoe ranking top-20 for Next Gen road courses in the latter metric.
Maybe Zane Smith ($5,400) can finally get his season on track in wine country after finishing P19 at both COTA earlier this year and last week at Gateway.
Check out all of our content for the Toyota/Save Mart 350:
- PropKings: 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350
- Between Bets: 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350 Outrights
- NASCAR DFS Picks, Tiers & Rankings: 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350
Thanks for reading our NASCAR DFS picks and tiers for the 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350. Check out more of our racing content and other written work here at In-Between Media, or head over to our YouTube channel to get your fix via video. Also, follow me on Twitter/X @ehicks39 for more NASCAR takes and betting advice.
*Photo Credit: Peter Casey – USA TODAY Sports*