This article is part of our NASCAR DFS series.
Wawa 250
Location: Daytona, FL
Course: Daytona International Speedway
Format: Tri-Oval
Laps: 100
NASCAR Xfinity Wawa 250 powered by Coca Cola
With a win at Michigan, Justin Allgaier vaulted himself to the top of the playoff point standings and is only 12 points behind Cole Custer for the regular season standings. He's also in excellent form as the playoffs near. Since winning his first race in Darlington 11 races ago, Allgaier has finished first or second on four occasions, inside the top five times and inside the top 10 on nine occasions.
Parker Kligerman is headed in the opposite direction, though not necessarily by his own actions. He and his team were found to have violated a number rules, including using non-sanctioned parts and failure to meet the minimum post-race weight. As a result, he lost 20 driver points and five playoff points. That leaves him only 16 points above the cut line as we head into one of the most chaotic races on the schedule.
Key Stats at Daytona International Speedway
- Number of Races: 65
- Winners From Pole: 6
- Winners from top-five starters: 29
- Winners from top-10 starters: 46
Previous 10 Daytona Winners
2024: Austin Hill
2023: Justin Allgaier
2023: Austin Hill
2022: Jeremy Clements
2022: Austin Hill
2021: Justin Haley
2021: Austin Cindric
2020: Justin Haley
2020: Noah Gragson
2019: Ross Chastain
We're back at a superspeedway, which offers a predictable style of racing with unpredictable results. We'll see a lot of drafting, pack racing and fuel saving. That's not the most exciting product to watch at all points in the race, but as we approach the end of stages and certainly the race, things will open up as the drivers push to maximize their chances for stage points and the win. That will also likely lead to some ambitious pass attempts and potentially big pileups.
With that will come at least some unpredictable results. Jeremy Clements has only two career wins in 485 races, one of which came at Daytona in 2022. On the other hand, we see periods of dominance from different drivers dating back to Dale Earnhardt and more recently Austin Hill.
NASCAR Xfinity DFS Tools
DraftKings Value Picks for the Wawa 250
Based on a Standard $50K Salary Cap
Tier 1 Values
Austin Hill - $10,500
Justin Allgaier - $10,200
AJ Allmendinger - $10,000
Tier 2 Values
Sheldon Creed- $9,600
Cole Custer - $9,300
Riley Herbst - $9,000
Tier 3 Values
Brandon Jones - $8,100
Tier 4 Values
Jeb Burton - $7,300
Shane van Gisbergen - $6,900
Parker Retzlaff - $6,600
NASCAR Xfinity DFS Picks for the Wawa 250
Austin Hill - $10,500
Justin Allgaier - $10,200
Brandon Jones - $8,100
Jeb Burton - $7,300
Shane van Gisbergen - $6,900
Parker Retzlaff- $6,600
This looks like a week to use a stars and scrubs build, the scrubs primarily being classified that way due to their price point. Let's start at the bottom of the player pool and explore how we can open up some value. Jeb Burton hasn't had a good season, but he does have two top-five finishes at Dayton in seven races at the circuit since 2021. He had an unremarkable finish in the spring race but still posted three fastest laps and led eight laps. That makes him a decent option to consider.
The really exciting punt play is Parker Retzlaff. His two best finishes this season have come at Daytona and Atlanta, where he finished third and fifth, respectively. This should be a good weekend for him, and he offers excellent value.
As the stars and scrubs build would suggest, I'm pretty much willing to skip the middle tiers of pricing. Jones is a decent consideration based on the success he had at Daytona earlier this year, but I'd build through tiers 4, 2 and 1.
Once we have the value plays in place, it's all about fitting the upper tier of drivers in from a cost perspective. Hill is the obvious option, having won three of the last five races at Daytona. He's far from the only option, however. We talked about Allgaier's form entering this race, so he's also a perfectly viable option to build through. Allmendinger is my least favorite option of Tier 1 but he has one of the safest floors in the series.
Tier 2 again offers two very comparable options. Creed continues to search for his first win but has piled up top-five finishes. Like Allmendinger, Custer is consistent and is another drive with a very safe floor. Fitting the Tier 1 and Tier 2 drivers will primarily depend on making the prices work.
