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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the Truck series for the 2021 season! If you’ve been with us before then you know the drill, but if you are new the WinDaily Sports or to my NASCAR content, welcome! I break down the field each week and give you my favorite plays for each race in three different price categories.
Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial as well to make sure you are ready and have an understanding of how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/). You will notice that all pricing is for DraftKings in these articles since they are the only site that has contests for all three series (Trucks, Xfinity, Cup) and is the site I mainly play on. All plays in the Cup Series article will translate to FanDuel if that is where you play.
This weekend is different than every other race has been or will be this season, this weekend we race on dirt. Bristol is usually its own monster but this is a whole different ball game. In the Truck Series, we do have some type of dirt racing history to fall back on with Eldora Speedway. There have been seven races run in the Truck Series at Eldora and it has seven different winners. Stewart Friesen ($10,500) is the most recent winner (2019) and is undoubtedly one of the favorites for this race. There are also seven full-time Cup Series drivers running in this race on Saturday as well.
There were 44 drivers who entered but only 40 qualified for this race. JD Heffner withdrew from the race, Ryan Newman, Jessica Friesen, and Trevor Collins failed to qualify based on the algorithm NASCAR used to decide the starting grid.
NASCAR DFS: Cup Regulars
There are three drivers who aren’t just in this race seat time for the Cup race on Sunday but actually have a really good chance to win this race.
Kyle Larson ($11,500)
Starting Position: 28th
Larson is the favorite in this race and the Cup race on Sunday and is one of the best and most accomplished dirt racers in either field. Larson won the Eldora race back in 2016 leading 48 laps in the process. On Sunday, Larson will be in the #44 Niece Motorsports truck that Chastain drove to a top 10 last week. Larson is my pick to win this race and is a lock for any cash builds you make and will be in the majority of my GPP builds as well
Chase Briscoe ($11,000)
Starting Position: 33rd
Briscoe is the next driver I think can win this race on Sunday if the cards fall his way. Larson may be the favorite but Briscoe is right there as a close second. Briscoe won at Eldora race in 2018 and led 54 laps, he also finished 7th in 2019 leading 93 laps in the process. I think you should start any cash builds with Larson and Briscoe and find value to make that work.
Bubba Wallace ($9,700)
Starting Position: 32nd
Bubba Wallace is another former Eldora winner in running this race. Wallace dominated the Eldora race back in 2014, leading 97 laps on his way to a dominant victory. Even at the lowest price of the “ringers” who have a chance to win I don’t think Wallace will carry high ownership. People just don’t play him even though he is in a decent truck this week. Wallace will be driving the #11 that Spencer Davis drove to a top 20 last week.
Other Cup Series Regulars:
- Kevin Harvick ($9,300) P30 – Harvick will be in the 17 that has two top 15’s this season for DGR
- Martin Truex Jr. ($9,100) P15 – Of all the Cup drivers in this race nobody is in better equipment than Truex. He will be in the KBM #51 and could surprise with a top 5 if he figures out the track early on
- Daniel Suarez ($8,000) P26 – Suarez is a decent play and he might carry some ownership because of his name and starting position. I won’t have any exposure to him personally, but he can be a good cash game play because he does have some upside.
NASCAR DFS: Truck Series Regulars
Stewart Friesen ($10,500)
Starting Position: 7th
Friesen has had plenty of success driving a NASCAR truck on dirt at Eldora in his career. In three races there Friesen has finishes of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with his win coming in the series last race there in 2019. Friesen has led 150 laps over the three races at Eldora. On Friday, Friesen ran the 5th fastest single lap speed in first practice and 4th in second practice.
Matt Crafton ($8,600)
Starting Position: 4th
Crafton is another previous winner of the dirt race at Eldora that should be a contender on Saturday night. In seven career races at Eldora, Crafton has never finished worse than 10th but has only led laps in the one race he won in 2017. Crafton is my favorite mid-tier priced driver in this race and is a good pivot off one of the Cup drivers in GPP’s.
Todd Gilliland ($7,200)
Starting Position: 13th
Gilliland has some dirt experience from Eldora, running two races there in 2018 and 2019, and finished 5th in 2019, he did look really good in the first practice session on Friday. In the first session, Gilliland had the 12th fastest overall lap, but also had the fastest 10, 15, and 20 laps average speed. Gilliland had a top-five overall lap in second qualifying on Friday as well. I don’t think Gilliland is a threat to win this race, but he could pull out a surprise top 10.
Other Options: Ben Rhodes ($8,300) – Fastest lap in final practice, Parker Kligerman ($7,700), Sheldon Creed ($10,000), Zane Smith ($7,900) – Smith ran the most practice laps looking to get plenty of track time, Derek Kraus ($7,000)
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings
- Tate Fogelman ($4,500) – P24
- Raphael Lessard ($6,600) – P29
- Danny Bohn ($4,600) – P25
- Myatt Snider ($6,500) – P37
- Mike Marlar ($6,800) – P38
- Hailie Deegan ($5,500) – P22
- Chandler Smith ($6,300) – P21
- Tanner Gray ($6,100) – P18
- Jake Griffin ($5,700) – P34
- Carson Hocevar ($5,800) – P11
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