rmferenc@gmail.com 
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the Xfinity series for the 2021 season! If you’ve been with us before then, you know the drill, but welcome if you are new to WinDaily Sports or my NASCAR content! 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.
Playoff Opener From Vegas!
This week the Xfinity Series joins the Trucks and Cup Series in the playoffs. Vegas is the playoff opener for the series and it will be the “easiest” and “safest” track with Talladega and the Charlotte Roval to follow.
Earlier this season we saw AJ Allmendinger ($9,800) win here at Las Vegas and led 44 laps. We saw the top four drivers in laps led in that race finished 1-4, which is not a surprise considering they are four of the best this series has.
Like with the Truck Series race on Friday night, we are looking to find some good place differential plays mixed with our 1-2 dominators. We have some amazing place differential plays in the mid-tier for this race which makes it easier to focus on the dominators from the top tier. I found it pretty simple to build lineups for this race, and hopefully, I can help you build as easily as I did.
NASCAR DFS: Dominators
AJ Allmendinger ($9,800)
Starting Position: 2nd
As you saw in the open, Allmendinger was top 4 in laps led at the first Vegas race while winning. Allmendinger also led over 50 laps at Michigan (similar track type) on his way to victory there. We saw Dinger wreck his way through the finish line at Bristol to win the regular season championship. AJ is coming into the playoffs hot and will be a threat to win this race and sweep Las Vegas
Noah Gragson ($10,700)
Starting Position: 9th
Like Dorothy said in “The Wizard of Oz”, there’s no place like home. For Noah Gragson that rings true as he loves racing at his home track here in Las Vegas. Gragson has five career races run in the Xfinity Series here and his worst finish is 6th. In his 5 races here, Gragson has finished 2nd-6th but has only led 2 laps. I think Gragson can lead here, which I think he will need to do to make value. Gragson is a GPP play in my opinion with his salary as high as it is.
Josh Berry ($10,400)
Starting Position: 15th
Berry is back in the JRM #1 car for injured Michael Annett on Saturday and will look to replicate his performance when he was in the #8 earlier this season. Back in March, Berry finished 7th here in Vegas and I am sure he’d love to improve that finish. Berry also ran well at Michigan a few weeks ago where he finished 4th and led 24 laps in this same car.
Quick Hits:
Ty Gibbs ($11,000) – P6: Gibbs won at Charlotte earlier this season, another similar track to Vegas. With how well he has performed it’s hard to doubt the teenager will be a threat on Saturday.
Austin Cindric ($10,200) – P1: Cindric sits on the pole on Saturday and has three straight finishes of 6th or better here while leading 92 laps.
Daniel Hemric ($9,600) – P7: I saw it every week it seems now, but is this the week Hemric finally gets his win? I don’t know, but he did lead the most laps here in the spring and a top 5 is likely again.
NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier
I have two groups of drivers that I like in this tier for Saturday and they are both at similar price points.
JJ Yeley ($7,600) – P33
BJ McLeod ($7,500) – P39
Landon Cassill ($7,300) – P37
All three of these drivers offer up amazing place differential and all have shown the ability to run inside the top 25 at times this season.
Yeley will be in the #17, a car that he has had success in this season. In eight races this season in this car, Yeley has seven top 25 finishes and has four top 15 finishes.
McLeod has run Vegas eight times in the Xfinity Series and except for one race in 2020 and 2017 when he had issues, he has been great here all things considered. In those other three races, McLeod has finished between 19th and 27th.
Landon Cassill had a good day here in the Spring when he finished 21st. Cassill has run six Xfinity races at Las Vegas in his career and has run well here. If you remove the two finishes when Cassill was running the Morgan Sheppard car that always started and parked, he has finished between 14th and 21st in all four races.
If you want to go with 2 dominators, which is a build I will be using, you can mix and match these next three drivers with the three above.
Ty Dillon ($8,600) – P28
Brett Moffitt ($8,400) – P27
Ryan Sieg ($7,700) – P20
This will be Dillon’s first race in the 31 car, but he comes into this race with five straight top 15 finishes, including two top 10’s. Dillon will probably float around 20% ownership making him viable for SE or GPP.
Brett Moffitt got caught up late in the race here earlier this season so his finish is not evidence of how well he was running. In his previous two races here last season, Moffitt finished 14th ad 15th.
Ryan Sieg may be the most interesting play in this tier on Saturday night. Sieg has three finishes of 6th or better in his last five, but he also has two wrecks in that same span. It seems like Sieg either shines or drowns here making him an ideal GPP play.
Other Options: Jeb Burton ($8,100 – P14), Brandon Brown ($7,000 – P16)
NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings
- Ryan Vargas ($5,300) – P31: Vargas is having a good year, and typically gets overlooked. I think a top 25 is in the cards for Vargas, especially since he finished 23rd here earlier in 2021
- Alex Labbe ($5,500) – P17: Labbe has three straight top 20’s, including a 10th place finish at Darlinton. Earlier this season at Charlotte, Labbe finished 7th.
- Josh Williams ($6,800) – P18: Williams has never finished lower than 21st at Vegas and is a riding a 5 race streak of top 18 finishes. I think people see the price and starting positiong and back off Williams today, but not me.
- Bayley Currey ($6,100) – P36: Currey has three top 25 finishes in four career races here at Vegas. Starting from P36, Currey offers some good upside for cheap.
- David Starr ($5,400) – P38: Starr is another cheap high upside play in this tier. In his last four races here, Starr has finished top 30 in all four and has finishes of 19th-26th in three.
- Dylan Lupton ($5,800) – P25: Lupton is hoping into the Sam Hunt Racing car on Saturday. This is Lupton’s first Xfintiy race on Saturday and he is in a really good car that probably has KBM funding.
- Joe Graf Jr. ($4,600) – P21: Graf is a risky play, but he will probably carry around 5% ownership. Earlier this season, Graf finished 18th here in Vegas.
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!
