NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Truck Series Knoxville – Dirt 6/18

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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Saturday night’s Clean Harbors 150 dirt race from Knoxville! This is the second time the Truck Series has come to this track in Knoxville, Iowa. Last year’s race was an absolute disaster (I will keep it PG with that word instead of saying how I really feel). In this race last season we had 14 cautions for 80 laps, meanwhile, the race itself was only 179 laps. Because of all the carnage, they ran an extra 29 laps in this race that was scheduled for 150. Saturday’s race is scheduled for the same 150 laps, but I expect we will see more.

Unfortunately, because this is a dirt race they will be running qualifying heats just prior to the race at 7 pm eastern. Lock for this race is just after 9 pm eastern so there will be a tiny window to build lineups. Make sure you are around to be in discord if you plan on playing Saturday night so you can see my updates post-qualifying

Roster Construction

I wrote in discord earlier this week that my article this week was simply #StackTheBack and that is still how I feel. There will be a few drivers who could start near the front and remain there throughout the race, but there is only a handful I trust to do that.

NASCAR DFS: Dirt Race History

Looking back to this race last season, it was full of wrecks and trucks wrecking out. When this race finally ended we had 21 trucks on the lead lap and only 29 of 40 trucks actually finished the race. The majority of these cautions came after we reached 100 laps (9 of 14 cautions) and they generally involved multiple trucks.

When this race was all said and done, we had 11 trucks that finished inside the top 20 that started 23rd or worse. Of those 11 trucks, six of them started 31st or worse. This is why I say this is a race to stack drivers starting near the back. Even though we had 179 laps in this race last season, only two drivers led over 60 laps (Todd Gilliland & Chandler Smith) so this is why I said that there will be a few drivers who we can trust that will start near the front that we can use. I will be building 10-15 lineups for this race instead of my usual five. I want exposure to as many combinations as possible for this race since it has the potential to be crazy.

Bristol Dirt:

As it was in Knoxville last season, it was hard to pass at Bristol this season which led to only two drivers leading laps. The one main difference in the Bristol race was we had no drivers wreck out even though there were nine cautions. In the 2021 version of this race, we saw a similar outcome when it comes to dominator point with only two drivers really getting any. The difference in this race was nine drivers failed to finish which is a more regular occurrence in this race type.

NASCAR DFS: Drivers to Target

Ben Rhodes ($10,300)

Since 2021 nobody has been better on dirt than Rhodes. In three dirt races, Rhodes has one win (2022 Bristol), three top 10’s, and an average finish of 3.3. Rhodes was also the fastest in Friday’s practice session.

Stewart Friesen ($9,900)

Friesen is one of the series’ best dirt racers and should be a factor on Saturday night. In Friday’s practice session only Rhodes was faster than Friesen. The last time the Truck Series raced Eldora, Friesen dominated on the way to the win in that race. At Knoxville last season, Friesen was one of many who got caught up in a wreck and finished 27th, but at Bristol, Friesen has finishes of 11th and 12th. I think Friesen could be popular if he qualifies poorly, but if he starts near the front he could be one of the top dominators.

Carson Hocevar ($8,600)

Hocevar had to leave last week’s race early because of his injury but he believes he can complete this race on Saturday. Earlier this season, Hocevar led 55 laps on his way to a second-place finish. That was Hocevar’s best dirt race of his career and he could be a great play from the mid-tier.

Todd Gilliland ($9,700)

Gilliland is another great dirt racer and has had some great finishes on this track surface including his 4th place finish at Knoxville in 2021. In four career dirt races, Gilliland has three top 5 finishes and an average finish of 8.8. In Friday’s practice, Gilliland was putting up top 10 laps.

Spencer Boyd ($6,200)

Boyd is at his highest price of the season but he is a good play this weekend based on his history on dirt. In his two career dirt races (both at Bristol), Boyd has finished top 25 in both. Boyd did show some speed on Friday as well as he put up laps times right around the top 20.

Tyler Carpenter ($7,500)

Carpenter is an accomplished dirt racer and is a two-time winner of the Gateway Dirt Nationals (2019 & 2021) who will be piloting the #41 truck for Niece Motorsports. This will be the first time we see Carpenter in a NASCAR event but he should be in contention for a top 10 if he can stay clear of the carnage.

Once again, make sure to be in Discord if you are playing on Saturday after qualifying for my updated plays.

Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up-to-date info and help 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/)