The ‘Great American Race’ takes place on Sunday with the 2026 Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. Your NASCAR DFS lineups could feature any of the eight former winners in this year’s race, including Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano or William Byron. Or, you could target a proven driver going for his first checkered flag with your Daytona 500 DFS picks like Kyle Larson or Chase Elliott. Regardless, utilizing drivers of that caliber will require your NASCAR DFS strategy to pair them with more affordable options ahead of the green flag dropping for the Daytona 500 2026 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Tyler Reddick was runner-up last year after never finishing better than 27th over his prior six starts, while his 23XI Racing teammate, Corey Heim, won at Daytona International Speedway on the Truck Series in 2025. A 2026 Daytona 500 DFS stack with them could be intriguing and wouldn’t do too much harm to your daily Fantasy racing salary cap. Before locking in any NASCAR DFS picks for the Daytona 500 2026 on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, be sure to check out the optimal NASCAR at Daytona DFS strategy and advice from SportsLine’s Mike McClure.
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McClure has won over $2 million in his career as a daily Fantasy pro, and his NASCAR DFS driver pool, projections and advice can help you score a big win on Sunday on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings. His model has nailed a whopping 29 winners since 2021, including 11 last season. Anyone who followed its lead on betting apps and sportsbooks on those NASCAR picks could have seen huge returns.
Now, he’s turned his attention to Sunday’s Daytona 500. He’s only sharing his picks and NASCAR DFS driver pool here.
Top 2026 Daytona 500 NASCAR DFS picks
For NASCAR at Daytona, McClure is high on Denny Hamlin ($9,500 on DraftKings and $11,000 on FanDuel). A three-time Daytona 500 winner (2016, 2019, 2020), Hamlin has another five top-5 finishes at this race. Thus, since 2012, Hamlin has more top 5s at The Great American Race (eight) than placements outside of the top 5 (six). Though Hamlin has never won the Cup Series championship, he’s coming off his best season ever, finishing second in the Chase for the Cup, so he’s still going strong at 45 years old.
Part of McClure’s optimal NASCAR DFS strategy also includes rostering Austin Cindric ($9,000 on DraftKings and $12,500 on FanDuel), who won this race in 2022. Cindric also led for a race-high of 59 laps in last year’s Daytona 500 which resulted in a top-10 finish. That success is just par for the course for the Penske driver at Daytona International Speedway in recent years. Cindric won The Duel at Daytona in 2025, was a runner-up at The Duel in 2024, 2023 and 2022, and he won on the Xfinity Series at the historic track in 2021. See which other drivers to roster here.
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How to set 2026 NASCAR at Daytona DFS lineups
McClure is also targeting an undervalued driver set to return plenty of value for his NASCAR DFS picks. He’s in a prime position to make a run at the checkered flag and comes at a price that won’t break the bank. You can see who it is, and every other pick, right here.
So what are the top NASCAR DFS picks for the Daytona 500 2026, and which value driver is a must-roster? Visit SportsLine now to see DFS millionaire Mike McClure’s complete driver pool for DraftKings and FanDuel, for a chance to cash in big on NASCAR DFS.
