Matt Vecchio 
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the Truck series for the 2022 season! If you’ve been with us before then, you know the drill, but welcome if you are new to WinDaily Sports or my NASCAR content! 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. 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/)
Trucks are back on the track!
After a long offseason (not really) the trucks are back on the track this weekend from Daytona! There have been a lot of changes during the offseason but a lot of the top drivers are still in the field. Included in those drivers is reigning series champion, Ben Rhodes. Also back for another run at a title is John Hunter Nemechek and Matt Crafton.
Another change this season is the series is going back to practice and single lap qualifying so my articles will have a different look in 2022 because I will not have starting positions available to me when writing. I will use practice speeds and track history to give my thoughts on the field, but on most race days you will NEED to be in discord after qualifying (typically 2 hours before lock) to get my final thoughts. When we had qualifying in 2021 we typically had great days if you were in discord and made the appropriate changes. A lot of times the field will set their lineups and not come back to check who makes the race and where they start. Speaking of making the race, only 36 trucks will race on Friday night, so five trucks will be going home after qualifying on Friday.
Roster Construction
If you’ve played NASCAR DFS before then you probably have an idea of how we build lineups for tracks like Daytona. If you don’t, well there’s a hashtag for it, #Stacktheback. You want drivers from the back, specifically 20th and back. Last season at this race only one driver in the optimal lineup started higher than 20th (Carson Hocevar – P12). Another thing you need to understand is the fact you WILL have salary leftover and a lot of it. I know it is a hard thing to do, but it is a must. Last season at this race the optimal lineup only used $39,700 in salary leaving over $10K on the table. If you are showing me lineups in discord this weekend and you used your entire $50K I will know you didn’t read this section.
NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)
I don’t plan on rostering many drivers from this tier unless something dramatically bad happens in qualifying. I won’t spend too much time breaking anyone down from this tier for that reason.
Ben Rhodes ($9,700)
Starting Position: 27th
Rhodes won this race last season from P23 and will start further back from that spot on Friday. I still see Rhodes as a potential winner here since his truck was fast in practice. This leads me to believe that he is in race trim and did not care too much about where he starts. Rhodes is the top overall play in this race.
Matt Crafton ($9,500)
Starting Position: 29th
After Rhodes, Crafton slots in as the next best play in this race. Crafton had a top 15 truck in practice on Thursday and could easily win this race. As an experienced driver with 21 career starts at Daytona (only wrecking 3 times) in a truck, Crafton is a driver I trust and will have a lot of exposure to.
John Hunter Nemechek ($10,500)
Starting Position: 2nd
JNH was the best driver last season but just missed out on the title. If anyone from this tier would be able to avoid the big ones on Friday night it would be Nemechek. We know he has the best equipment in the field and if he is able to avoid all the carnage Nemechek could have a great night. This is a super-risky play, but if anyone can start up front and end up in victory lane, it’s Nemechek.
Other Options: Zane Smith ($10,200) – P20
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier ($7K-$8.9K)
Johnny Sauter ($8,500)
Starting Position: 36th
Sauter is a three-time winner at Daytona and is in the G2G Racing #47 on Friday. This is a downgrade for Sauter after moving on from ThorSport and at any other track, I would be fading Sauter but at Daytona nobody outside the front row is a fade necessarily. Sauter was 9th fastest in practice because he ran in the draft a lot, but when he ran alone he was much slower. This was proven by his poor qualifying effort, but I fully expect Sauter to be top 10 at the end of the day.
Derek Kraus ($7,600)
Starting Position: 30th
As with every driver in this article, it will all depend on where they qualify, but Kraus has a fast truck and if he qualifies far enough back he could be one of the top drivers in this race. Last season Kraus wrecked out early and finished where he started in P33, but in 2020, Kraus finished 4th after starting from P16. Kraus was second in practice on Thursday.
Carson Hocevar ($8,000)
Starting Position: 22nd
Hocevar is a talented driver who finished 5th at this race last season. Overall 2021 was a success for Hocevar and he is expected to improve on his 8 top 10’s and 3 top 5’s in 2022. This is a semi-risky play because there are better options lower in price than Hocevar but he will come in at lower ownership than those plays and could be a factor in getting you a takedown as opposed to min cashing.
Other Options: Parker Kligerman ($8,600) – P31, Tanner Gray ($7,500) – P24
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier
Because of how qualifying turned out you can get by with only 3 of these drivers in your lineups, but the higher-priced drivers will be the chalkier plays. I will recommend fading some of them and going 4 deep on the value plays especially if playing multiple lineups.
- Tate Fogleman ($6,300) – P32
- Timmy Hill ($5,100) – P35
- Hailie Deegan ($6,900) – P26 (Deegan was 5th in practice, dark horse pick to win this race)
- Jason M. White ($4,700) – P33 (If you played Truck Series last season this is a different Jason White)
- Danny Bohn ($5,500) -P28
- Thad Moffitt ($5,900) – P34
- Bret Holmes ($6,600) – P21
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