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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.
While the Cup Series celebrates All-Star weekend, the Truck Series is racing for points and playoff positioning this week. Texas is a basic 1.5-mile track that is similar to both Atlanta and Kansas. Texas was repaved in 2017, so any track history prior to that is not relevant, but I will mainly focus on the two races from 2020. This race has 147 laps so I will be looking to use two dominators in my lineups, but if I can make a 3rd fit I will go that route in some of my builds.
We have three drivers jumping over from different series this week in Chase Elliott, Josh Berry, and Ross Chastain. All three of these drivers will be viable in lineups and could actually be relatively chalky. I do have a preference when it comes to the three of them, but you will see who that is as you read.
As with every week, each tier of drivers is listed in order of preference
NASCAR DFS: Dominators
Sheldon Creed ($10,500)
Starting Position: 16th
Last fall Creed dominated at Texas on his way to victory during the 2020 playoffs. Creed led 131 of 152 laps (86.2%) and had 23 fastest laps. Creed didn’t have a great race in the first race in July at Texas finishing 16th after starting on the pole. It has been an up and down season similar track types for Creed, but he did finish top 5 at Atlanta this season.
Chase Elliott ($11,800)
Starting Position: 22nd
This is Elliott’s first Truck Series race this season and also his first time in a truck at Texas. Elliott has had plenty of success in a Cup Series car at Texas though with five top 10’s and two top 5’s. On Saturday afternoon, Elliott will be piloting the GMS #24, one of the top teams with the best equipment in the series. I believe there is a really great chance that Elliott can get the win on Saturday.
John Hunter Nemechek ($10,900)
Starting Position: 1st
Once again, Nemechek is on the pole and should dominate the early part of this race if he can hold off Ben Rhodes ($9,600) in the first few laps. Nemechek has shown he has the best truck and is the best driver week in and week out this season. Nemechek has three wins this season, two of which have come at similar 1.5-mile tracks (Charlotte and Vegas). Aside from the two wins at similar tracks, Nemechek also has top 5’s at the other two 1.5-mile tracks this season.
Ross Chastain ($10,200)
Starting Position: 24th
Chastain could be the lowest owned of the four drivers I’ve mentioned in this tier but could also win this race. In his eight races here in the Truck Series, Chastain has three top 10’s. This season we have seen Chastain run two races in this series and both were at 1.5-mile tracks similar to Texas and he finishes 2nd and 7th.
Other Options: Austin Hill ($10,000 – P5), Matt Crafton ($9,200 – P15), Grant Enfinger ($9,400 – P18)
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier
Josh Berry ($8,400)
Berry is driving the #25 truck for Rackley W.A.R. this week, which is typically driven by Timothy Peters this season. Peters has five top 25 finishes in 10 races this season, but Berry is a much better and more experienced driver and should have a good day in this truck. I plan to pair Berry with 2 of the 4 top-tier drivers I wrote up above which gives you plenty of salary to build a solid team behind them.
Brennan Poole ($7,000)
Starting Position: 27th
Poole is returning to the Truck Series for the first time since breaking his wrist and having surgery. Danny Bohn has filled in for Poole this season and done an admirable job filling in. Bohn has finished lower than 30th only once this season in 10 races. Poole, a Texas native, will make his season debut at his home track, a track he has done well at in his career. If you take out last season when he crashed, Poole has an average finish of 10.3.
Tyler Ankrum ($7,900)
Starting Position: 11th
Ankrum has been running some really good races since he finished 40th at the Bristol Dirt race. In five races since that Bristol crash, Ankrum has not finished lower than 16th in any race and has two top 5’s in that span. It seems to me that his team has fixed whatever was wrong early on this season and they should be in contention for another top 10 this week.
Other Options: Tanner Gray ($7,200 – P20),Todd Gilliland ($8,800 – P4), Drew Dollar ($7,400 – P10), Johnny Sauter ($8,300 – P17)
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings
- Tyler Hill ($5,900) – P25 – Comes in right behind the top tier 4 in FPTS/$.
- Tate Fogleman ($5,700) – P31 – Like Hill, he is a pretty good point-per-dollar play.
- Chase Purdy ($6,600) – P28
- Hailie Deegan ($6,400) – P12 – Deegan has improved throughout the season at 1.50-mile tracks this season and she could earn her first top 10 this season
- Ryan Truex ($6,900) – P14
- Austin Wayne Self ($6,300) – P13
- Keith McGee ($5,300) – P34
- Ray Ciccarelli ($4,800) – P36
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