2021 NASCAR Cup Series DFS Power Rankings – Daytona Road Course

What’s up, everyone?! Welcome to the DFS Army NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings. For this edition, we will take a look at my power rankings for the road course race at Daytona. This article is brought to you by DFSArmy.com and written by Ryan Larkin. You can catch up with Ryan on Twitter or in the DFSA VIP slack @Larkin8

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#1 Alex Bowman

Bowman is the top play for me this week. Since joining HMS his worst road course finish in 8 races is 14th. This includes a 12th here last year. I believe he is a top 10 threat. Starting 36th he offers clear place differential upside. I believe AJ Allmendinger will see a ton of attention. I hope this keeps Bowman’s ownership down a bit.

#2 AJ Allmendinger

Everyone knows AJ is a road course guy and should have no problem competing for a top 10 or even a top 5. Great place differential play but probably the chalkiest play of the slate. This will be only the 2nd Cup race for Kaulig as well so there could be some issues with the team not being ready to go or having the setup right. Remember, no practice this week.

#3 Martin Truex Jr.

Truex was the best car here last year and in the Clash last week. I believe he is due to win here and I will be picking him for the win. Starting 19th gives him a large amount of place differential points. If he finishes 2nd to Chase then Chase will have to outscore Truex in Dominator points by 14 points… which would be an incredible feat considering there are only 70 laps this week.

#4 Chase Elliott 

It is no secret that Chase is the favorite to win this week in every way possible. Starting on the pole he should be expected to dominate the first stage, and unless he has a mechanical issue, he will likely be in contention for the optimal lineup. The downside will be his astronomical ownership along with the fact there are some really good place differential options. I think this is a great spot to try and get leverage on the field and go under on Chase. That being said he still can score a bunch of fast laps and laps led and score really well.

 

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#5 Matt Dibenedetto

Matty D isn’t amazing on-road course but he is definitely someone who can finish top 15 this week. From 32nd Starting spot that would be a fantastic result. I believe he is the best mid-range option this week. Important to throw away his 2019 results on road course as they are outliers due to elite Toyota advantages with the 750 hp package that year.

#6 Daniel Suarez

I am putting faith in the new team and Suarez this week. I believe he will be our best value play of the race. He starts 35th and I see him contending for a top 20. You will likely need a couple of salary savers in your lineup and Suarez is someone I like a lot out of that group.

#7 William Byron

Byron has a fantastic starting position for this race. Rolling off 22nd, he will offer top 5 upside. He has finished 6th, 8th, and 6th in his last 3 Road Course races. I see him being an awesome mid-range option. I would highly recommend going over on ownership on Byron.

#8 Ryan Blaney

Blaney starts 27th and is another one of those fantastic place differential options. Blaney has a win, 4 top 5s in his last 6 road course races. Penske were noticeably off here last year when it came to setup but even without making much in terms of improvements he will still be a borderline top 10 car.

#9 Kurt Busch

Love Kurt again this week just like I did in the Clash. His ability on road courses is well documented and within reason, he should finish top 10. As long as he doesn’t overshoot the entry to turn one…..

#10 Chris Buescher

His 5th here in this race last year was quite the surprise and not something we should expect he duplicates. Reasonably speaking he should finish in the 13th-20th range. Since 2017, a span of 10 races, he hasn’t finished worse than 20th in a road course race. A really solid value play that I think will be highly owned. Because of the high ownership, he loses a little luster for me but he is a top optimal lineup contender.

#11 Ryan Newman

Functionally speaking, Newman has been perhaps the worst road course racer in the Cup Series over the last two years. However, that doesn’t really matter since he is rolling off 33rd. I think Buescher is the better play straight up but the pivot to Newman might be the smarter play. I would expect Buescher to see way more ownership giving the Newman play the leverage. Newman starts 3 spots further back than his teammate Buescher and probably has close to the same upside.

#12 Erik Jones

This will be a very interesting race for Erik Jones this week. I expect he will score really well due to the fact he starts 37th but I am nervous that he will struggle to break into the top 10. His stats on road courses are inflated due to racing for Joe Gibbs racing his entire career thus we do not know how well he will be able to do this week in a car that will have far less speed. This is perhaps the first time in his entire life he has been in an underfunded, slow car that he will have to get results out of. That said, there is clear upside and Jones is going to be a top play for this race.

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#13 Chase Briscoe

Briscoe is a road course stud. He went toe to toe with AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric last year on road course in the Xfinity Series and looked great doing so. He has won on the Roval and the Indianapolis road course and was a couple of bad luck scenarios from a couple more wins. I think he is someone who will contend for a top 10 finish. Starting 18th and being a rookie, I expect he will have fairly low ownership. I will personally be attacking this play a lot this weekend.

#14 Kyle Busch

I really like the speed the Gibbs cars showed here last year and in the Clash.  You may remember Kyle ended up winning the clash due to Blaney and Chase wrecking last week. He was right there speed-wise and if this race breaks his way as well he could again find himself in victory lane. I see him running top 5 and scoring a handful of fast laps. He is my favorite pivot off of Chase and Truex.

#15 Aric Almirola

Starts 26th and should offer top 15 upside. Almirola isn’t anything special on road course but if things go his way and a couple of the better place differential plays mentioned above have issues then AA could just sneak into the optimal.

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This will conclude this edition of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series DFS Power Rankings. I hope you enjoyed it and picked up some extra knowledge to help going into the race. If you would like to follow me on Twitter you can @Larkin8. Most importantly I hope you will join us at the DFS Army and become a VIP member. Join today and use my promo code LARKIN for 10% off VIP membership