Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Truck Series for Friday’s Truck Series from Richmond Raceway! Saturday night the Truck Series races under the lights in Richmond in the second race of the playoffs. This is a long race by Truck Series standard, 250 laps, so picking dominators will key on Saturday. There will be 175 dominator points in this race and there’s no doubt they will be crucial to the success of your DFS lineups.
Unlike the Cup Series, pole sitters have not been optimal in the Truck Series. Only three times in seventeen races has the driver starting on the pole been in the optimal lineup including the last two races. I won’t put too much stock into the practice speeds from Saturday considering they were run in warmer daytime temps while this race will be run under the lights. They are a decent barometer of speed, but it is not the be-all-end-all it is on some weeks.
Starting Position: 6th
Smith is the class of the field in 2022 with eight top-three finishes in 17 races this season. Smith also leads the series with three wins this season as well. Earlier this season at Nashville (a similar track), Smith led 70 laps on his way to a second-place finish.
Starting Position: 16th
Heim has two wins and five top 10’s in just ten races this season. At Nashville earlier in 2022, Heim had a good run going until he wrecked late in the race. In that race, Heim finished third in both stages after starting from P4. Heim was 3rd best in 10-lap average in Saturday’s abbreviated practice session but had a poor qualifying effort. This is a top 5 truck in my opinion and there is a lot of PD upside here making Heim one of my favorite plays.
Starting Position: 3rd
Friesen had some issues in practice but it appears they worked them out and found some speed for this #52 Toyota Tundra. After a poor showing in practice, Frisen came out and put down the third-best lap in qualifying. In two career races here, Friesen has finishes of 10th and 13th respectively. Friesen has five top 5’s in his last seven races including top 5’s at Gateway and Nashville (similar track type). Friesen will be a contender for the win and should be a lock for a top 5.
Other Options:
Other Options: John Hunter Nemechek ($11,400 – P7): Nemeheck was fast in practice posting the best 10,15, and 20-lap averages. Ty Majeski ($9,900 – P1): I know I said to be leery of the pole sitter, but Majeski is underpriced and could dominate this race, Ben Rhodes ($9,700 – P14), Chandler Smith ($10,300 – P2)
Really, you can play any driver in the top tier on Saturday night, but I won’t be listing them all.
Starting Position: 28th
For those who don’t know who he is, Carruth is one of NASCAR’s most talented up-and-coming drivers. Carruth is in a tight battle for the ARCA Championship and should be a contender for a top 10 on Saturday night. Carruth had a great performance at Gateway earlier in 2022 (his only career truck race) where he finished 11th after starting 19th.
Starting Position: 15th
Crafton needs points to secure his spot in the next round of the playoffs as he currently sits on the outside looking in. Similar to Frisen, Crafton was not fast in practice, but he said that his team fixed some issues they had and he was happy with his truck. Since the Series returned to Richmond in 2020, Crafton has finished 2nd and 18th in the two races and has led 36 laps in those two races combined.
Starting Position: 18th
Kraus had a slip in qualifying which caused him to qualify poorly on Saturday, but this is a fast truck and he should make for a solid PD play. In practice, Kraus posted a top ten lap but fell off a bit in the 5-lap average. Now, there is a chance that the 19 team prepared this truck for the cooler track at night and that is why it didn’t handle well on the long run so he could be ahead of the field. Either way, Kraus has been pumping out solid results with seven finishes of 14th or better in his last eight races including four top 10’s, so he should be a contender again for a top 10 on Saturday night.
Other Options: Tanner Gray ($7,900 – P19), Tyler Ankrum ($8,500 – P11)
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 ensure 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/)
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race from Michigan International Speedway for the New Holland 250! Michigan is a 2-mile low tire wear intermediate track. Similar tracks to look to for comparisons are Kansas and Auto Club. Las Vegas, Texas, and Charlotte are other tracks the series has visited this season.
125 laps for a total of 87.5 dominator points
While it’s not necessary to chase dominator points in this race, I will suggest trying to get at least two dominators in each lineup. Looking over the four races from this season at similar tracks, we see that the average salary leftover is only $400. Looking at these lineups we see a pattern. In three out of the four lineups, there were three dominator-type plays and three punt value plays. In the fourth (Auto CLub), there was only one punt play but there were two $7K drivers and then three top tier ($9K+). Depending on how practice and qualifying I expect that we will look to build lineups similar to these.
Going back to the optimal from earlier this season, only one driver has been in three of the four lineups and should come as no surprise that Justin Allgaier ($10,500) is that driver. Allgaier has been outstanding on these four tracks this season with an average finish of 6th place and is averaging 62.5 DKFP per race, the best of all regular Xfinity drivers. With how well Allgaier has done at these tracks in 2022, he is my top dominator on Saturday (pre-P&Q) with him averaging 41.3 laps led in these four races.
Another top tier driver who has been in multiple optimal lineups at this track type is Ty Gibbs ($10,900). Gibbs as popped in two of the four optimals at this track type in 2022 and he has an average finish of 7th. One thing that Gibbs hasn’t done in these races is lead laps. Gibbs is only averaging 2.3 laps led per race, but I am not going to be scared off by that. Gibbs has the ability to lead laps on any track type and he will need to put up some dominator points to make value at his price.
Now that I have gone over two dominators who have been successful at this track type, lets look at a value play.
Ryan Ellis ($4,900) has appeared in the optimal lineup in 2 of the 4 races (he’s only raced in three). Ellis has the best place differential of any driver who has raced in three or more of these races at a +12. Ellis has two top 15 finishes in these three races and has an average finish at 18.7. If you want to build the stars and scrubs type builds I’ve mentioned in this article then you will need some good value and Ellis has the ability to be that play.
Ellis’ teammate on Saturday Josh Bilicki ($5,400) is another value play that could be a good play on Saturday. Bilicki has been decent in 2022 in his four Xfinity races. It’s either boom or bust for Bilicki with two finishes of 13th or better and has two finishes of 28th or lower.
Since we don’t have any practice or qualifying numbers to look at I am going to just list a few other drivers who I think could fair well on Saturday. Make sure you check in discord early Saturday afternoon for my updated player pool.
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/)
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race from Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Road Course.
Since this is a road course race that means we are not chasing dominator points. I know say that every time we come to a track like this but in case you are new to NASCAR DFS, I wanted to remind everyone. There are only 43.4 dominator points so they won’t play a huge role when it comes down to it, but there are a couple of drivers who should pick up some of those points. There will be six Cup Series regulars in this race on Saturday a few of them will definitely be on our radar, while 1 or 2 will be fades.
Last season only 23 cars finished on the lead lap and 12 cars DNF in this race last season, but there were only 4 caution flags for incident. Most of the issues were mechanical with the cars that did not finish and only two of those twelve cars started in the top 10. Looking at the finishing order, eight of the top eleven cars started inside the top 11.
The highest-priced driver in this race is only $10.6K (Chase Briscoe) so rostering three drivers in this tier will be easy. There is also a path to using four drivers together in the top tier if you want to really punt the value plays. I don’t love those builds but I may deploy that strategy in one lineup. My preferred build will be a 3 top tier, 1 mid, 2 value type of build.
Starting Position: 1st
DraftKings decided to price four drivers higher than the best road course racer in the series for Saturday’s race. Will Allmendinger carry some ownership, sure, but it won’t be as high as some others. Allmendinger was fastest in practice and had the best qualifying lap just outdoing Ty Gibbs. Last season at this track, Allmendinger finishes 2nd and led 8 laps. In 2022, Allmendinger has led 34 laps at road courses on his way to two wins, two top 5’s, and three top 10’s in three races. Allmendinger is my favorite play in this race on Saturday and my pick to win.
Starting Position: 9th
Can anyone guess what Austin Hill’s WORST finish at a road course is this season? Times up! You’re wrong, it’s 4th place. Yeah, I was pretty surprised too when I looked into his numbers coming into this race. Hill has been spectacular at road courses this season and he may be the second best at this track type in 2022. Hill has finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the three races, so is he due for a win? Maybe, but either way, if he can manage another top 5 on Saturday there’s a good chance Hill will be in the optimal lineup.
Starting Position: 8th
Another driver who has been impressive on road courses in 2022 is Josh Berry. Coming into 2022, Berry only had one career road course race under his belt in an Xfinity car but in three races this season he has quietly become a road course expert. Berry did not have a good run at COTA in the first race of the season, but in the next two Berry has an average finish of 3.5 and an average place differential of +14. While it’s not easy to pass at this track type, Berry has shown he is capable of doing so and should be a threat for a third straight top 5 on road courses.
Other Options: Ty Gibbs ($10,400 – P2): Gibbs has been outstanding on this track type since 2021 and he should be in your player pool on Saturday. I did not spotlight him above because I feel that he is a known commodity in this series and I wanted to give you other options to pair with $10K drivers. Chase Briscoe ($10,600 – P6): Another road course specialist that will be popular. Briscoe is in the #07 car for Joe Graf that Cole Custer has driven successfully this season. Alex Bowman ($10,300 – P4): Bowman is in the HMS car that Larson finished 2nd in at Road America. Noah Gragson ($9,800 – P7): Gragson has a 7th place average finish and finished top 10 in all three RC races this season.
Starting Position: 24th
Grala is a road course specialist and he is in a really good car this weekend. This will be the first time Grala runs a road course race in 2022 in the Xfinity Series, but it will be his 9th career. In his previous 8, Grala has two top 5’s, three top 10′, and a career average finish of 14.9. With there not being a lot to like in the mid-tier this week, Grala has one of the better upsides.
Starting Position: 20th
Dillon will be driving the #68 Chevy for Brandonbuilt Motors this week as they try and get drivers with sponsors to help bring money to the team. In Friday’s practice, Dillon was not too fast, but I think he was trying to get a feel for the car. Dillon has been good in road courses in the Cup Series with two finishes of 11th or better in three races this season. For me, Dillon is a good play in place of a third or fourth top-tier driver.
Other Options: Brandon Jones ($7,600 – P36 – Cash game play), Sheldon Creed ($8,200 – P15), Parker Kligerman ($7,300 – P37)
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/)
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Truck Series for Friday’s Truck Series from Indianapolis Raceway Park, or Lucas Oil Raceway as it’s also known. This is the first race of the 2022 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs. It will be 11 years to the day since the last time the Truck Series raced here on Friday. Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter are the only drivers in the field on Friday that was also in the field 11 years ago so practically the entire field will be new to this track.
IRP is a .686-mile short track oval that is comparable to Bristol (without DIRT), Dover, and Darlington. Unfortunately, Darlington is the only track that the Truck Series has run at in 2022. This is a 200-lap race so we have 140 dominator points available and will want to identify potential dominators.
This isn’t going to be my typical breakdown because we don’t have practice or qualifying numbers as of Thursday night when I am writing this. I will post my thoughts post-qualifying on Friday evening. I will go over how certain drivers faired at Darlington this season and at other tracks previously to give some insight on who should run well here on Friday.
John Hunter Nemechek ($11,000) won this race from the pole after leading 69 laps. Outside of Nemechek, only one driver (Ross Chastain) led more than 10 laps (46) and I think we will have a similar outcome on Friday. Two drivers will most likely lead 60-75% of the laps and I will try to identify them after Friday’s practice.
In this season’s Darlington race there were eight cautions for incident which isn’t unusual for the Truck Series, especially at short tracks. Since this is a playoff race we should expect some craziness similar to Darlington.
Place differential was not extremely important in this race with five different drivers having an average running position in the top 5. Outside of Nemechek and Chastain, Grant Enfinger ($8,900), Carson Hocevar ($10,200), and Parker Kligerman had an avg running position in the top 5. As for the value drivers, Colby Howard, Jesse Little, and Dean Thompson were the top drivers in that race and all three finished in the top 15. Only Thompson started outside the top 20 in this race (33rd).
Chandler Smith ($10,400) – Chandler Smith potentially is the best value in this tier. Smith also has been nothing short of excellent at Bristol, which I think is the most comparable track. In three career races at Bristol (on pavement), Smith has a career avg finish of 2.7 and has never finished lower than 5th. Last season Smith led only 5 laps, but he won the race.
Johnny Sauter ($9,100) – Sauter has run this track four times and has done really well. In his four career races, Sauter has two top fives and only has one finish lower than 13th. Also in those four races, Sauter has led 183 laps.
Kaz Grala ($7,200) – Grala is typically a Superspeedway and road course racer but he has run pretty well at this track type. In two career races at Dover, Grala has two top 10’s and an average finish of 6th. The one thing that worries me is that Grala has only finished in the top 15 on road courses and has not faired well on other track types.
Tyler Ankrum ($8,100) – Ankrum’s stats on this track type aren’t anything special but he is usually a safe driver. This season Ankrum enters the playoffs running well with three top 10’s in the last five races and no finish lower than 21st in his last seven.
Timmy Hill ($6,800) – Hill could be viewed as severely underpriced for this race. Hill has been successful at all three tracks that I view as comparable with an average finish of 18th (Bristol), 10.7 (Darlington), and 18th (Dover).
Austin Wayne Self ($6,600) – Self has top 20 potential in every race, but the issue is finishing the race. Bristol has been one of Self’s better tracks in his career. Over his last four races there, Self has three top 15 finishes.
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/)
Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Truck Series for Saturday’s Truck Series CRC Brakleen 150 from Pocono Raceway. Friday’s practice and qualifying were rained out so we have no data to look over to get a feel for how these trucks will handle. Luckily, there is previous data from prior races that are relevant so we have that at least. For those who don’t know, Pocono is its own beast. It isn’t an oval or a road course, it’s a triangle, a tricky triangle to be exact. Pocono is a 2.5-mile track unique in ways other than its shape. Each of the three corners is modeled after different tracks but only one is consistent with a track NASCAR still runs at. Turn two, or the Tunnel Turn, is modeled after Indianapolis Motor Speedway and is widely known as the most difficult turn among drivers.
With this track being so large, there aren’t a lot of laps in this race, only 60 to be exact, which means we only have 42 dominator points available in this race. You all probably know where I am going with this, yep, we are not hunting dominator points this week. Instead, like with road courses, we want to look for drivers with good place differential upside as well trucks that could finish well.
There is some great value in this field with the starting grid being set by the NASCAR formula so stacking up three drivers from the top tier is easy to do. I expect the majority of my builds to consist of three from the top tier, one mid, and two value for this race.
Starting Position: 31st
Austin Hill is going to be the highest-owned driver on Saturday and I really can’t fault anyone for playing him. This truck (#7) is listed as a Spire Motorsports entry, but I am thinking RCR will have some help in preparing this truck for Saturday. Hill is coming off back-to-back top 5’s at Pocono in Truck Series and I expect him to finish in the top 5 again on Saturday.
Starting Position: 1st
I know I wrote that we aren’t chasing dominator points in this race, but there is no reason you can’t roster a driver who gets a significant amount of them and win this race. Zane Smith is that driver in my opinion. Smith leads all Truck Series regulars in average laps led per race (23.1 P/R), average fastest laps (12.1), and average finishing position (6.1). Smith is also the only driver in the Truck Series to average a top 10 finish on the season as well. Without seeing these trucks on track, Smith is my pick to win on Saturday.
Starting Position: 22nd
Preece will probably be the second highest-owned driver behind Austin Hill on Saturday but if you wanted to be different and fade him I can understand that. I plan on being heavily exposed to both Hill and Preece, but I also make 20 lineups. Preece has not finished lower than 11th in any of his previous six races in this truck in 2022 and has led at least three laps in five of his six races. In his last race in this series at Nashville, Preece dominated on his way to victory. I see Preece as a top 5 truck on Saturday with an outside chance at winning.
Other Options: Corey Heim ($10,400 – P17): Heim is another driver with some great place differential in the #51 KBM Toyota. John Hunter Nemechek ($11,100 – P12): JHN is another driver that could dominate this race, but he will need to lead some laps and finish top 3 to pay of this price tag. Carson Hocevar ($9,800 – P3): – Hocevar has some dominator potential, but at his price if he can finish in the top 5 we will be happy. I expect Hocevar to be low-owned making him a good GPP option.
Starting Position: 16th
DiBenedetto has never raced a truck at Pocono, but he has done fairly well here in a Cup Series car the last three seasons. In six races here since 2019, DiBenedetto has five finishes of 18th or better including a 6th place finish in 2020. While I think Matty D will be highly owned, you can roster him with three $10K+ drivers if you use the right value plays and I think that build will be different.
Starting Position: 18th
Gray is another driver who will carry some ownership in this tier, but not enough (around 20% projection) to warrant a fade. Gray has finished 16th and 12th in his two career races at Pocono and could better both those finishes on Saturday. It has not been a good run for Gray in the last few races, but this is a good truck and he will have Ryan Preece as a teammate this week so that should help him out with the setup for this truck. Tanner Gray has top 10 upside but realistically is a top 15 truck for me.
Starting Position: 36th
I fully expect Fogleman to be the highest owned driver in this tier but he is the safest play in this tier. After wrecking out in his first career Pocono race, Fogleman bounced back in 2021 with a 21st place finish. Fogleman starts dead last and if he can keep his truck in the race he should be a top 25 truck. I see a few trucks that he should be able to pass early and then ride the attrition wave to a solid day for his salary.
Other Options: Ben Rhodes ($8,900 – P11): Too cheap!, Tyler Ankrum ($8,500 – P14), Matt Crafton ($8,000 – P13)
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/)
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