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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race from Darlington!
This week the Xfinity Series returns to Darlington Raceway for the second and final time in 2022. Earlier this season. Justin Allgaier ($10,200) dominated the second half of the race leading 76 laps on his way to victory. This is a race where we will look to roster two potential dominators. In the spring only Allgaier and Noah Gragson ($10,000) led more than 20 laps (76 and 45 respectively). Saturday’s race is scheduled for the same amount of laps (147) so the same 102.9 dominator points will be available.
This weekend we again have multiple Cup Series drivers stepping down to the Xfinity Series. Kyle Larson ($11,500) is back in the #17 Hendrick Chevy, Christopher Bell ($10,900) is in the #18 for JGR, and Ross Chastain ($10,400) is in the Big Machine #48. All three of these drivers have dominator potential and we will have to wait until P&Q on Saturday morning to decide which are the most playable.
Since we have to wait for practice and qualifying on Saturday, I will just be looking back at who had speed and ran well in the first race to project who will be good on Saturday. Looking at the DKFP from that race, all of the top six finishers were in the top 8 in points and only one of those six started outside the top 13 (John Hunter Nemechek). Finding the right dominators and finishers is key to cashing in this race.
NASCAR DFS: Top Tier
As I mentioned above, we have three Cup Series drivers in this race and they all may be in play. Larson being the most expensive is probably the least likely to be used, but he probably has the highest dominator potential of the three. Both the 18 and 48 cars were fast here in the spring with different drivers behind the wheel. I expect Bell and Chastain to show good speed in practice and qualify well.
Also as I mentioned above, both Allgaier and Gragson dominated this race in the spring, and can see them both putting up great performances again. It will be tougher to be dominant with Larson in the field, but they have tippy top-end equipment and should be able to hang with the reigning Cup Series Champion.
Ty Gibbs ($10,600)
Gibbs won the pole for the spring race and led 18 laps but finished a disappointing 16th. Dating back to Charlotte (11 races), Gibbs has two wins and eight top 10’s during this stretch. Gibbs obviously showed speed in the spring posting top 5 speed in green flag speed, long run speed, and speed by segment. I expect Gibbs to be a top 5 car on Saturday and compete for his 6th win.
John Hunter Nemechek ($9,300)
Earlier this season, Nemechek raced this same #26 Sam Hunt car to a top 5 finish (4th) after starting from P23. Nemechek was top 5 in speed by segment in the spring race and was top 10 in both green flag and late in a run. I expect Sam Hunt Racing to bring the same car they ran here in the first race and use their notes to allow Nemechek to compete for another top 5.
Other Options: Sam Mayer ($9,000), AJ Allmendinger ($9,500)
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier
Ryan Sieg ($7,600)
Sieg is severely underpriced by DK in this race, especially for a driver who has been as good as he has here. Since 2020 (5 races), Sieg has yet to finish lower than 11th with one top 5 and three top 10’s during this stretch. Sieg has wrecked a few times recently, but this should be a low attrition race so I am not concerned about him wrecking.
Brandon Brown ($7,200)
Brown is in the #78 car for BJ McLeod Racing this week and unlike the Cup Series, the McLeod cars compete for top 20’s in the Xfinity Series. Brown has three top 25’s in his last five races at Darington and this car has six top 25 finishes in the last seven races. Depending on what kind of speed Brown show’s in practice and where he qualifies, he could be the top play in this tier.
Landon Cassill ($8,000)
Cassill has always run well at Darlington, even in bad cars, but now he is in top-class equipment in the Kaulig #10. In the first race here this year, Cassill finished a career-best for him at Darlington (6th). Cassill only failed to finish a race at Darlington once, but you can’t count that because he was in the Morgan Shepherd #89 which was a start-and-park car. Cassill should be a great GPP play, especially if he qualifies well because he is one of those drivers that never carries high ownership but has some big upside.
Other Options: Riley Herbst ($8,100), Austin Hill ($8,700), Ty Dillon ($7,500)
Value Tier Rankings:
- Anthony Alfredo ($6,700)
- Kyle Weatherman ($5,900)
- Ryan Ellis ($5,200)
- Tommy Joe Martins ($5,500)
- Masson Massey ($5,300)
- Stefan Parson ($6,200)
- Josh Williams ($5,800)
Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up-to-date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow for all things Fantasy Sports! You can find more FREE NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!
Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial to make sure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/).
There were a lot of changes in the cars and what driver is in what car/truck in 2022, check out my What’s new in 2022 article (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-whats-new-in-2022/)
