Matt Vecchio 
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop breakdown for Richmond! This will be the second short track race of the season for the Xfinity Series. The last time the series was here Noah Gragson went to victory lane, stealing a victory away from Ty Gibbs who dominated this race leading 67 laps. Both of these drivers will be favorites to win this race again on Saturday, but they aren’t my pick (more on that later). This is once again a weekend where we don’t have practice or qualifying prior to writing this article. This is a track where I think I have a handle on who will perform well, but we still need to wait for qualifying before building rosters. Make sure to check back in Discord after qualifying on Saturday morning to see if any changes are made to the player pool.
Roster Construction
With there being 175 dominator points available in this race, we will need to try and get exposure to as many drivers who could dominate this race as possible. My ideal roster construction will be a stars and scrubs type build, but it’s not 100% necessary. There are different ways to build for races like this, but it will come down to qualifying on Saturday.
NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)
John Hunter Nemechek ($10,400)
Nemechek will be in the #18 Toyota for JGR this weekend. This car has been incredibly fast all season and should be no different on Saturday. If you remove the two times this car wrecked this season and when Bubba Wallace drove it at COTA you have three races with Trevor Bayne behind the wheel. In those three races, Bayne led 100 laps and had two top-five finishes. Last season in the Sam Hunt #26, JHN drove from 27th to finish 3rd in much lesser equipment, and in the Truck Series race, Nemeheck led 114 of 250 laps after starting 18th to win. Richmond is a good track for Nemechek, and in top-tier equipment, he will be a force to be reckoned with.
Justin Allgaier ($10,600)
Richmond has been a place of greatness for Allgaier in recent years. Allgaier has won two of the last three races here leading 213 laps in the process. Allgaier also has five straight top 5 finishes here and seven in the last ten races. I don’t really care where Allgaier and the 7 car qualify, I will have exposure because of his ability to dominate here.
Noah Gragson ($10,900)
Allgaier has been the best driver here in the last six years, but Gragson is pushing him for that title. In six career races at Richmond, Gragson has only finished lower than 9th one time (22nd in Spring ’19). Gragson won this race last season while only leading 22 laps. In 2022, Gragson has been the best and most consistent driver in the Xfinity Series. If you remove his finish in Atlanta (contact in a big wreck late) Gragson has not finished lower than 4th in a race this season. Also in 2022, Gragson has led at least 12 laps in every race except for COTA.
Other Options: AJ Allmendinger ($10,200), Ty Gibbs ($11,500), Sheldon Creed ($9,000), Ryan Preece ($9,800)
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier ($7K – $8.9K)
Sam Mayer ($8,700)
Sam Mayer has performed exceptionally well at short tracks in his young career thus far. In three career short track races, Mayer has two top 10s and a top 5. Last season at this race, Mayer started 38th but came across the finish line in 12th place. Mayer was in the #99 car that week, not the higher-end JRM equipment he drives now. Mayer is a fringe top 5 candidate but likely will have a top 10 car on Saturday.
Jeb Burton ($7,500)
Burton has been having a pretty solid season in the #27 Our Motorsports Chevy. Before he finished 23rd last week, Burton had finished top 20 every this season. Burton has finished 12th or better in three of the last four Richmond races and overall has finished top 20 in five of his six career Xfinity Series races here. I need to take a wait-and-see approach with Burton on Saturday. For him to make value, Burton will need to qualify in the mid 20’s.
Jeremy Clements ($7,200)
Clements is not the best play in this tier, but my goal in this article is to help you build lineups and if we want to roster three $10K+ drivers we will need drivers in the low $7K range to make that work. While I may not consider him the best option, Clements has performed admirably at Richmond in his career. Clements has eight finishes of 17th or better in the last ten Richmond races and if he qualifies far enough back Clements could turn into one of the top plays on the slate.
Other Options: Riley Herbst ($8,100), Autin Hill ($8,400), Brett Moffitt ($7,900), Anthony Alfredo ($7,400)
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier (Under $7K)
- Mason Massey ($6,000)
- Joey Gase ($5,300)
- Josh Williams ($5,400)
- Ryan Vargas ($5,100)
- Brandon Brown ($6,900)
- JJ Yeley ($6,200)
- Parker Retzlaff ($6,400)
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/)
