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Welcome to the first Kyle Busch Invitational of 2022!
This week the Truck Series makes its return to Las Vegas, Kyle Busch’s hometown, and his first of five races in this series of 2022. There’s always a decision to be made of how to treat him when Kyle does run in a truck race. DraftKings does the right thing and prices him astronomically high but I do feel he can be used comfortably on Friday. I will go into more in the next paragraph about that.
Last season at this race, John Hunter Nemechek led 70.3% of the laps while nobody else led more than 11% (Busch). I expect this race to be similar with JHN and Busch dominating this race again.
Roster Construction
There are two ways to build for this race, with or without Kyle Busch. If you are doing multiple lineups then you can build both ways, but if you are only doing one lineup you need to decide. I cannot tell you which way you want to go, but I will show you both paths and let you decide. You can build a good lineup with both Busch and Nemechek but that will mean sacrificing the mid-tier completely. Whenever Busch races in the Truck Series it is a difficult build because you have to decide to play him or fade him. Last season Busch finished 1st or 2nd in all five races he ran, led 223 laps (44.6 per race), and had 134 fastest laps.
NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)
Kyle Busch – $15,000 (P2)
John Hunter Nemechek – $12,000 (P1)
Whether you decide that you want to use Kyle or not I think it will be necessary to roster one of either Busch or Nemechek on Friday night. These are the two drivers who will spend the majority of the night up front. Last season at times when Busch was racing in the Truck Series he did “let” Nemechek pass him, lead laps, and win stages (Kyle owns the truck JHN drives) and I could see something similar happening this weekend. I will have multiple lineups and at least 2 will have a Busch/Nemechek build and I expect to have one of them in each of my remaining lineups as well.
Chandler Smith ($9,900)
Starting Position: 3rd
Welcome to the KBM Show from beautiful Las Vegas! All three KBM trucks start 1-2-3 in this race and Smith may be the secret weapon tonight. Smith was third fastest in both single lap speed and 10 lap average in practice on Friday. All the KBM trucks are fast this week and I would not be surprised to see them all finish top 5 Friday night.
Ty Majeski ($9,200)
Starting Position: 10th
Majeski looked really fast in practice and has the best place differential upside of all the drivers in this tier. Looking at Friday’s short practice session, no one was faster than Majeski. Not only did Majeski have the best single lap speed, but he was also 8th best in 10-lap average. Majeski finished 13th in his only race here in 2020, but he is now in a Thor Sports truck, his best equipment to date, and should be a contender for the top 5 in this race.
Other Options: Christian Eckes ($9,600 – P9), Zane Smith ($10,200 – P6)
Again, it comes down do you feel comfortable rostering Busch at $15K and that decision is yours alone. I will have 50-60% exposure to him if not higher. If you feel better fading him and hoping for a wreck, I can totally understand that as well.
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier ($7K-$8.9K)
Matt DiBendetto ($8,900)
Starting Position: 15th
I don’t love the idea of playing DiBenedetto, but DraftKings priced him much better this week and his truck did show some speed in practice. Matty D starts 15th and ran the 14th best single lap in practice but he did not run 10 consecutive laps. DeBenedetto is a potential top 10 truck and if you want to run a Busch lineup, he is a great fringe top tier play that could run up front.
Grant Enfinger ($8,700)
Starting Position: 11th
Enfinger ran a top 5 lap in practice, but he wasn’t great in the long run (17th 10-lap avg). I am not worried, this is one of the top teams in this sport and they will fix that as the race progresses. If it’s not a KBM truck that wins this race on Friday night, I could definitely see Enfinger in victory lane. Enfinger has a win here at Vegas, has three straight top 10’s, and has only finished lower than 12th twice (wrecked both times).
Stewart Friesen ($8,200)
Starting Position: 17th
Friesen ran much faster in practice than he did in qualifying, which we know means that truck is set up to race, not qualify. In his career at Las Vegas, Friesen has been outstanding and this track s arguably one of his best. Friesen has four straight top 10’s here and has three top 5’s in the last six races. In practice, Friesen was 9th best in single-lap speed and had the 5th best 10-lap average.
Other Options: Bret Holmes ($7,400 – P32) – Holmes had top 25 speed in practice. Matt Crafton (8,500 – P7) – This is Crafton’s 500th career start, narrative alert? Tyler Ankrum ($8,000 – P14), Todd Bodine ($7,500 – P23)
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier (Under $7K)
- Hailie Deegan ($6,500) – P20: Deegan was top 20 in both single-lap and 10-lap avg in practice.
- Jack Wood ($6,900) – P24
- Matt Mills ($5,100) – P27: Wasn’t fast in practice, but he is cheap and helps build those KB/JHN lineups
- Austin Wayne Self ($5,900) – P18: There is minimal upside here, but Self is usually a safe driver that manages to hang around at the end. Top 15 is the high end projection
- Lawless Alan ($5,200) – P26: Another driver who has limited upside but gets you those KB/JHN builds
- Timmy Hill ($5,000) -P28: Too cheap for where he starts.
- Dean Thompson ($4,600) – P29
- Spencer Boyd ($4,700) – P35
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/)
