Matt Vecchio 
Welcome to the first-ever NASCAR DFS Pit Stop weekend preview edition! This week all three series head to “The Lady in Black”, Darlington Raceway! This is one of the coolest weekends on the schedule each season as it is throwback weekend. For long-time fans of the sport, we get to see old paint schemes that we haven’t seen in years, decades even, back on the track in an updated form. Some schemes are only a few years old, but some date all the way back to 1959 with the two Petty GMS Chevy’s in the Cup Series.
Darlington is one of the more difficult tracks on the circuit and is not typically a place you see young, inexperienced drivers succeed here. Darlington’s difficult nature stems from its egg shape, which was because of a logistical problem as the track was being built 73 years ago in 1949. The shape of the track is not the only challenge. Darlington was built for speeds topping out at 95 mph. Today speeds continually exceed 200-mph at the end of each straightaway. Another difficulty is that the track is narrow, with the fastest groove being the top. Drivers who run this groove exceptionally well include Noah Gragson and Tyler Reddick. Drivers need to pay more attention to the track than to their competition and try to avoid earning the Darlington “stripe”. Many drivers have said this is the only track where you need to race the track, not the other drivers.
NASCAR DFS: Truck Series
Laps: 147 (102.9 dominator points)
This race was dominated by John Hunter Nemechek but he came home second when the checkers waved. Darlington is not a track that is for the weak and inexperienced like I mentioned. In the last race here in September 2021, Only one driver starting outside the top 30 finished in the top 10 and the remaining nine top 10 finishers started 13th or better. Going deeper, only 2 drivers started worse than 30th and finished in the top 20. Needless to say, we aren’t looking to play the place differential game here, instead we want to look for drivers who can lead laps and finish in the top 10.
Looking at the optimal lineup from the last race here, we had five our six drivers starting 29th or better, including winner Sheldon Creed who won from the pole, Nemechek, and Austin Wayne Self who started from P16. Depending on how qualifying shakes out, we could be seeing a similar lineup build.
NASCAR DFS: Xfinity Series
Laps: 147 (102.9 Dominator points)
This week we have two Cup Series ringers joining the field on Saturday in Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick. Elliott will be in the JRM #88 on Saturday and should be the class of the field and is the highest priced driver, but not so high where he can’t make value. As for Reddick, he will be in the Big Machine Vodka #48 so his equipment is not as superior as Elliott’s.
Last season in the fall Darlington race we had four drivers starting 15th or worse finish in the top 10, a contrast to what we saw in the Truck Series. Last weeks winner, Josh Berry, had a great run in his first Darlington race last spring when he finished 2nd, led 8 laps, and had an average running position of 8.4. I think Berry should once again be a factor in this race and being priced under $10K makes him an easy to fit play as well.
Looking back at the Fall race here, the optimal linep for that race had FOUR drivers starting 22nd or worse. I am not saying that is necessarily the best build, but if we get drivers like Reddick or John Hunter Nemechek starting in the 20’s we might need to take that same approach. One other driver who ran exceptionally, and surprisingly, well last season here is Alex Labbe. In two races at Darlington last year, Labbe averaged a 10th place finish (top 10 in both races), had an average place differential of +12.5 (best among drivers running both races), and averaged 46.5 DKFP per race.
NASCAR DFS: Cup Series
Laps: 293 (205.1 Dominator Points)
Last fall we had two drivers absolutely dominate this race, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin. These two drivers led a combined 302 laps of 367 and were necessary if you wanted a takedown. Now, we only have 293, but if we have another race with two drivers leading over 100 laps it will be the same. Chris Buescher was one of only five drivers to finish top 10 in both races here last season so he will be another driver we need to give a hard look at on Sunday as well.
Over the previous two seasons here at Darlington, both Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. have been the best of the best. They have combined to win three of the four races and have each finished top 10 in three of the four as well. Hamlin actually has three top 5’s in that span and two for MTJ. Truex and Hamlin rank 1-2 in DKFP per race in the last four (among drivers who ran all four races). Kevin Harvick is the only driver in the last two seasons to have a top 10 in all four races. Harvick could end up being a chalk play at $8,800 on DK this weekend, depending on how he qualifies.
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/)
