NASCAR Fantasy Rankings: Top DraftKings Picks for the 202...
Pearce Dietr·2026-05-21·via DraftKings Network
Pearce Dietrich gives his picks and ranks his top drivers for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Published May 21, 2026 9:27 AM EDT
DOVER, DELAWARE - MAY 15: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 ACM Awards/Pinnacle Toyota, drives during NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race pit road qualifying entry/exit practice at Dover Motor Speedway on May 15, 2026 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
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The Coca-Cola 600 is a crown jewel. Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte separates the contenders from the pretenders. Speed, strategy and survival win this race.
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Top DraftKings Picks for the 2026 Cup Series NASCAR Coca-Cola 600
Tyler Reddick ($11,000) — The 2026 points leader hasn’t won since Kansas. Don’t sound the alarm. He finished 14th at the superspeedway in Talladega and fourth at Texas. He scored a top-5 finish at The Glen and was just as fast as van Gisbergen in the last run. Last week was a meaningless exhibition race. Reddick still tops the list.
Denny Hamlin ($11,500) — Toyota corporate — like most manufacturers — is struggling. Toyota’s racing program — unlike most manufacturers — is dominating. The JGR and 23XI Racing Toyotas are the class of the field. Hamlin is a dedicated veteran who ages like fine wine. He won $1 million last week. A crown-jewel win is on the to-do list this week.
Chase Elliott ($9,700) — The most recent intermediate-track race was at the 1.5-mile track in Texas. Elliott won by leading 87 laps and recording 36 fast laps. After a quiet couple of seasons, Elliott is awake.
Kyle Larson ($10,500) — This hasn’t been a great season for Yung Money. The 2025 season was disappointing, but Larson came away with the championship. Larson isn’t far off. Hendrick has speed. Larson led laps at Las Vegas and was the runner-up at Kansas with 78 laps led.
Ryan Blaney ($10,200) — His best finish at an intermediate track this season is 10th (Texas). Team Penske will figure it out. The problem is that while Penske is playing “catch up,” JGR and 23XI Racing are playing “get ahead.”
William Byron ($9,500) — No one better illustrates the old adage that you’ve got to lose a race/championship before you can win it. Byron gets close, fails, then eventually overcomes the next time around. He’s almost won several Memorial Day Weekend races at his home track in Charlotte.
Brad Keselowski ($8,000) — The RFK No. 6 Ford is not fast enough to win outright. Keselowski is not good enough to win outright. The car and driver are fast enough to hang in the top 10 and gamble on pit strategy at the end. This is how most of Keselowski’s wins have played out in the late stages of his career.
Chris Buescher ($8,500) — The pick never changes. Buescher is boring. His career and the embarrassingly dull commercials he stars in are unremarkable. Buescher rarely wins and rarely loses badly. He’s just out there, quietly doing his job and picking up top 10s. Vegas, Darlington, Kansas and Texas were all top 10s for the No. 17 RFK Ford.
Bubba Wallace ($8,300) — Toyota mastered the intermediate-track package. Reddick and Hamlin have 1.5-mile track wins. Bubba has three top-10 finishes at the three intermediates this season. He also has the second-fastest pit crew.
Ty Gibbs ($9,000) — Texas didn’t go well for Gibbs. Before the 36th-place finish in the Lone Star State, Gibbs earned a top-10 finish at Las Vegas, Darlington and Kansas. If Gibbs can survive and win in the 500-lap blender at Bristol, he can win the prestigious Coca-Cola 600.
Christopher Bell ($10,000) — This has been a bad season at intermediate tracks for Bell. The JGR No. 20 Toyota earned a top-5 finish at Las Vegas, but failed to earn a top-15 finish at Kansas and Texas.
Ryan Preece ($7,300) — When RFK selected Ryan Preece to drive the No. 60 Ford, was the first requirement finding a driver more dull than Chris Buescher? Preece has a top-15 finish at Vegas, Darlington, Kansas and Texas. He is Buescher Light.
Carson Hocevar ($8,700) — The hype train has cooled down. It turns out that winning a superspeedway race isn’t the career achievement many make it out to be. Hocevar is a good young driver. He has a long way to go. The Coca-Cola 600 is another race in the grind to the top. A win is unlikely, but a top 5 is within reach.
Corey Heim ($6,900) — This price makes sense for a part-time driver. It doesn’t make sense based on equipment (Toyota) or talent. Corey Heim has excelled at every level of racing. He could be a Hall of Famer; that’s how impressive he has been. A top-5 finish for a part-time rookie in the Coca-Cola 600 seems impossible. It’s not for Heim.
Austin Cindric ($7,200) — The Cindric pick is hard to click. It makes one sick. He doesn’t represent extreme value. There’s a low ceiling. He’s an easy driver to write off, but that’s a mistake. His Team Penske Ford has speed. Cindric has a top-20 finish and median finish of 12th at the traditional intermediate-track ovals this season.
Pearce Dietrich has been covering daily fantasy sports since 2013. His work has been featured on DK Network, NASCAR.com, MLB.com and many other sports media websites. He also makes frequent video appearances on DKTV and hosts a daily fantasy NASCAR podcast.
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