NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Truck Series COTA 5/22/21

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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 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/). You will notice that all pricing is for DraftKings in these articles since they are the only site with contests for all three series (Trucks, Xfinity, Cup) and the site I mainly play on. All plays in the Cup Series article will translate to FanDuel if that is where you play.

This week all three of the top NASCAR Series head to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas! This is the first time ANY of these Series will run here so there is no data for us to go back to, we just need to rely on past road course history for the drivers in these races

COTA is a fairly new track, less than 10 years old, and has hosted many of the world’s top series from Formula 1 to IndyCar and even motorcycle races. NASCAR is choosing to run the full 3.426-mile course which means there are not a lot of laps being run. In fact, the three series are running 42, 44, and 68 laps respectively, so dominator points will be at a premium in all three races. Typically, we look more at place differential and finishing position for points when we have races like this with very few laps.

NASCAR is also running same-day qualifying for the races this weekend. Because of this, I will not have starting positions listed in any of my articles this weekend so you need to check in with the NASCAR Discord channel, especially on Saturday, for updates regarding starting positions and any changes I need to make to my player pools.

This week there are 43 trucks entered in this race but only 40 make sure to check your lineups after qualifying is complete. NASCAR says they expect the Truck Series qualifying to begin at 9:05 AM EDT and usually takes about 60-90 minute to complete. Looking at the field for this race there a few names that stand out as road course vets and some ringers teams have brought in to run their trucks for them. Most notably among these ringers in Paul Menard ($9,600) who will be in the ThorSport #66 Toyota. Menard hasn’t been in a truck race since 2007 and has never raced a truck on a road course.

In 30 career Cup Series road course races, Menard has just one top 5 and has an average finish of 21. Menard does have good equipment under him this week as ThorSport is one of the top teams in the Truck Series. Looking at his practice speeds from Friday, Menard ran the 15th best lap. For me Menard is in play if he qualifies further back in the field, but anything inside the top 10 I will be out on him.

As with every week, each tier of drivers is listed in order of preference

NASCAR DFS: Dominators

Sheldon Creed ($10,300)

Creed is the second highest priced driver on this slate and with good reason. In his Truck Series career on road courses, Creed has run three races and has finished inside the top 3 in every races, including his win last season on the Daytona Road Course where he led 19 laps. On Friday Creed was second fastest in practice and was only .34 seconds behind Zane Smith ($9,300), another solid play this weekend, for fastest lap.

John Hunter Nemechek ($10,400)

Nemechek is one the series’ best road course racers along side Creed. In six road course races in the truck series, Nemechek has one win, four top 10’s, and an average finish of 10th. After practice on Friday, Nemechek was tenth fastest, which he will need to run better than or lead a lot of laps to make value on Saturday.

Kaz Grala ($9,500)

Grala will be back in the 02 Youngs Chevy that he drove to an 8th place finish back in the seasons second race from the Daytona Road Course. In practice on Friday afternoon Grala was 6th fastest and should be in contention for another top 10 finish.

Other Options: Zane Smith ($9,300), Austin Hill ($9,700), Ben Rhodes ($10,100), Parker Chase ($9,100)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Parker Kligerman ($8,900)

Kligerman will be back in the #75 truck that he has driven four times this year to two top 10 finishes. In his Truck Series career, Kligerman has two road course races with an average finish of 8th and he has finishes in the top 10 of both races. Depending on his qualifying position, Kligerman could be the top play on this slate.

Todd Gilliland ($8,400)

Gilliland seems to be too cheap ever week this season but this week he seems like is priced correctly this week. Historically, Gilliland is not a great road but he should real good speed on Friday at practice where he came home with a top 5 fastest lap. If he qualifies far enough back, Gilliland could be a good cash play, but if qualifies top 10 then I would consider him a GPP only play.

Sam Mayer ($8,500)

Mayer does not have a lot of road course experience in his career, but he is one of the most talented young drivers NASCAR has. This will be Mayer’s third race this season and his second in the #32 truck. Earlier this season at Richmond Raceway, Mayer finished 9th. In practice on Friday Mayer was the 9th fastest truck.

Other Options: Christian Eckes ($8,300), Grant Enfinger ($8,700), Chandler Smith ($8,000), Timmy Hill ($7,100)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

Please remmeber these rankings are temporary and I will update them in discord ONLY on Saturday!

1. Camden Murphy ($5,700)
2. Logan Bearden ($4,800)
3. Austin Wayne Self ($5,000)
4. Tanner Gray ($6,100)
5. Jack Wood ($5,400)
6. Chase Purdy ($6,300)
7. Hailie Deegan ($5,800)
8. Cameron Lawrence ($6,900)
9. Lawless Alan ($4,500)
10. John Atwell ($4,600)

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!