Draftkings Nascar

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the Xfinity series for the 2022 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. 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 back to the track!

After a long offseason (not really) the Xfinity series is back on the track this weekend from Daytona! There have been a lot of changes during the offseason with guys like Austin Cindric heading to the Cup Series, but a lot of the top drivers are still in the field. Included in those drivers is 2021 series champion, Daniel Hemric. Hemric has left JGR and is now with Kaulig Racing in the #11 car that Justin Haley vacated when he moved to the Cup Series. Also back for another run at a title is Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier as well as newcomers Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry (full time this season).

Another change this season is the series is going back to practice and single lap qualifying so my articles will have a different look in 2022 because I will not have starting positions available to me when writing. I will use practice speeds and track history to give my thoughts on the field, but on most race days you will NEED to be in discord after qualifying (typically 2 hours before lock) to get my final thoughts. When we had qualifying in 2021 we typically had great days if you were in discord and made the appropriate changes. A lot of times the field will set their lineups and not come back to check who makes the race and where they start. Speaking of making the race, only 38 cars will race on Saturday so this means nine cars will be going home after qualifying on Saturday.

Roster Construction

If you’ve played NASCAR DFS before then you probably have an idea of how we build lineups for tracks like Daytona. If you don’t, well there’s a hashtag for it, #Stacktheback. You want drivers from the back, specifically 20th and back. Last season at this same race the optimal lineup only used $41,700 of the possible $50K salary. Only two drivers were priced over $6,800 and the drivers starting in the final three spots were three of the four highest point scorers. If you are showing me lineups in discord this weekend and you used your entire $50K I will know you didn’t read this section. Don’t be that person!

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)

I don’t plan on running more than one driver from this tier in my lineups unless, of course, we get a situation similar to the Truck Series race where a few drivers start towards the rear in this tier.

Ty Gibbs ($10,100)

Gibbs was the fastest car in practice on Friday as he pulled his JGR teammates with him. I am not surprised by this as in every race Gibbs ran in 2021 he was one of the most dominant cars. Gibbs has never raced on a Superspeedway in an Xfinity car, but he did finish fourth in the Daytona race in the ARCA Series in 2021.

Brandon Jones ($9,300)

Narrative alert!!! Thanks to my NASCAR DFS Apprentice, we have a narrative alert with Brandon Jones’ birthday being Saturday. What better present could he give himself than a win in the opening race of the season. Jones, like his team Ty Gibbs, was fast in practice as we saw them work together with teammate Drew Dollar in the draft. These three cars will be trying to link up on Saturday as well to keep them up front and fight off all the fast Chevy’s behind them.

Landon Cassill ($9,400)

Cassill is arguably in his best ride ever in the Xfinity Series as he takes over in the #10 Chevy for Kaulig Racing. Kaulig always puts out great cars for Superspeedways and I expect Saturday will be no different. I don’t even want to use Cassill’s previous results here as a gauge for his potential this weekend because like I mentioned he’s never been in a car this good.

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Ryan Truex ($7,000)

Truex is in the #26 Toyota for Sam Hunt Racing this weekend. While this is an SHR car, they are getting help from JGR so you can expect Truex to try and get in line with the JGR Toyota’s as he did in practice on Friday. Truex hasn’t raced at Daytona in the Xfinity Series since 2018, but he had two good finishes in both races here that year. If Truex can hang with the JGR cars he could have a great day.

Austin Hill ($8,100)

Hill and teammate Sheldon Creed will be driving for RCR this season as both make the jump to running fulltime in the Xfinity Series. Depending on what happens in qualifying, I prefer Hill as of writing because of his price. If the top tier guys qualify poorly we may need to save some salary. Both Creed and Hill ran practice speeds that ranked them in the 20’s. Assuming that’s where they qualify they will both be high upside plays

Other Options: Anthony Alfredo ($7,500)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Jade Buford ($6,200)
2. Ronnie Bassett Jr. ($4,700)
3. Ryan Vargas ($5,000)
4. Matt Mills ($5,300)
5. Caesar Bacarella ($5,600)
6. Mason Massey ($5,200)
7. Bayley Currey ($5,100)

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!

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.

Thank you!

As this is the last race for all three NASCAR series’ this weekend I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for reading my article throughout the season. I also want to thank everyone for interacting with me in discord each and every weekend and for making this our best season ever. I will miss the races each weekend, but luckily NASCAR has an incredibly short offseason and we will be back on Sunday, February 6th for the NASCAR Clash from the Los Angeles Coliseum! Hopefully, GravMatt52 and IDrago15 can get tickets and get to enjoy the show!

On with the show!

Phoenix is a short flat track that runs similar to Richmond and New Hampshire so those are two places where we can look at results to see how drivers ran in conjunction with Phoenix. Earlier this season Austin Cindric led 119 of 200 laps on his way to a dominant victory. That race was very similar to his championship win in 2020 where he led 72 of 206 laps on his way to victory lane. Cindric is the clear favorite on Saturday night, but you cannot rule out the other three drivers in this race. We have to remember that this race in the spring was full of wrecks and engine issues for the JRM teams. I don’t expect that we have that type of race on Saturday. Looking back at last year’s championship race there were only 4 cars that didn’t finish and one wreck involving three of them. Those four cars were all back of the pack-type cars and did not affect the championship. We should see a similar race to that one on Saturday, not the wreck-filled engine failure party we saw in March of this year.

Practice and Qualifying are back!

This weekend all three races will have traditional practice and qualifying so the articles will be a little different since I don’t have starting position at the time of writing. I will either update the article, in discord or both after qualifying on Saturday. I will be away with my family from Saturday into Sunday so I will not be as available as usual when it comes t updating and answering questions. Just know if the 6 drivers you pick are in the article or the updates I do make in discord, I approve! I would also suggest playing a little lighter than usual for this race because of this.

There is a separate section to break down the Championship 4 for this weekend as well. I believe that the winner of this race will be one of those four drivers so I plan on rostering 1-2 in each lineup. Depending on how they qualify, I could see trying to cram three of them into some lineups as well.

NASCAR DFS: Championship 4

(Ranked in salary order)

Austin Cindric ($11,000) – Practice Speed Ranking: 2nd

Noah Gragson ($10,400) – Practice Speed Ranking: 4th

AJ Allmendinger ($10,200) – Practice Speed Ranking: 7th

Daniel Hemric ($10,000) – Practice Spreed Rankong: 3rd

Like I went over in the open, Cindric has been dominant here in the last two Phoenix races and it is hard to doubt he won’t be again. Gragson had an unfortunate ending to his race here in the spring but traditionally he runs well at Phoenix. Last season, Gragson finished second behind Cindric in this race and finished 7th in the spring 2020 race. If you remove the poor finish from the equation, Gragson has an average finish of 7.5 in his previous four races here.

We say it every week, but is this the week Daniel Hemric finally gets a win? Not for me, but he can easily have a solid day here with a top 5 finish to make value. Hemric has run well here, but those races were in 17-18 when he was racing in the RCR #21, since joining JGR in 2019, it hasn’t been as good for him. Daniel Hemric has three straight poor finishes here after a string of four top 10’s. Hemric did lead 44 laps from the pole here in March before a late-race incident send him back and left him with a 23rd place finish. Hemric has just some bad luck of late here because he knows how to run well at Phoenix, I think that bad luck ends on Saturday and he comes home with a top 5. Traditionally, Allmendinger is not a good short-track driver, but at Phoenix, he has performed well. In three races here in the Xfinity Series, AJ has an average finish of 10th. In March, Allmendinger earned his first top 5 after two finishes of 12th and 13 respectively at Phoenix. Allmendinger has run great all season, but he seems like the dark horse to win the championship.

My Prediction: Austin Cindric dominates this race again on his way to his second straight title.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Justin Allgaier ($10,600)

Practice Speed Ranking: 9th

Phoenix is probably one of Allgaier’s best tracks, if not his best. Allgaier came back to the Xfinity Series in 2016, and since then he has fared incredibly well. In eleven races at Phoenix since then, Allgaier has had two victories, six top 5’s, and eight top 10’s. Allgaier has also led 476 laps in those eleven races (43.3 per race) and led at least 50 six times. It will be hard to make Allgaier fit with two of the Championship 4 drivers, but there is some decent value in this race where we can make it work.

John Hunter Nemechek ($10,800)

Practice Speed Ranking: 1st

Nemechek will be in the Joe Gibbs #54 car on Saturday night and should be expected to compete for the win. This car has seen an All-Star cast of drivers take it to victory lane, including Nemechek at Texas three weeks ago. JHN has run three Xfinity races at this track, but none since 2019. In his three races from 2018-19, Nemechek has never finished lower than 9th and has a 4th place finish as his best. Those races were run in inferior equipment though, nothing on the level of this car. Like with Allgaier, I fully expect Nemechek to push the Championship 4 drivers for the win in this race, unless Hemric is leading then he could become a blocker for him.

Other Options: Justin Haley ($9,100): Crashed in the spring but had three straight top 10’s prior. Harrison Burton ($9,700): In three races here, Burton has three top 12 finishes including a second place in spring 2020.

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

With all the drivers in the top tier that we want to play this week the mid-tier may not factor into your lineups too much, but we still have some good value here as well that can fit into three dominator type builds

Jeremy Clement (S7,600)

Practice Speed Ranking: 17th

Clements is having a great season in 2021 and looks to wrap it up with a solid day on Saturday. Phoenix actually has been one of Clements’s better tracks over the past twelve months. Clements has finished 10th in back-to-back races here and has five finishes of 18th or better in his last six.

Sam Mayer ($8,600)

Practice Speed Ranking: 12th

Mayer has had some growing pains this season but he has become a top 10 contender every week late in the season. I know the price is high for him this week comparatively speaking. We have a lot of drivers over $10K we want to roster and Mayer doesn’t fit those builds necessarily. But we aren’t the only ones who are going to be building lineups with three $10K drivers, so Mayer will come in at incredibly low ownership I predict. In lineups where we roster two, say Cindric/Allgaier builds, Mayers fits beautifully. Now, this all depends on where he qualifies. If Mayer qualifies top 5 he may not be a good play, so make sure to be around late in the afternoon on Saturday for an update on him.

Mayer finished 4th last week for his second straight top 10. Mayer also has three top 10’s in his last four races and four in his last seven. I see Mayer as a fringe top 5 driver, but a top 10 lock on Saturday.

Brandon Brown ($7,300)

Practice Speed Ranking: 30th

Brown was third here in the spring and has three straight top 12 finishes at Phoenix. Since his win at Talladega, Brown has not had a good run of it, but we know that he has good equipment he just had some bad luck with two wrecks in his last three races. Brown did have a great run at Richmond earlier this season finishing 8th. I see Brown as a low-teens driver again on Saturday.

Other Options: Michael Annett ($8,400): This will be Annett’s last race as a full-time driver and he will do everything he can to make it a good one. Annett does have three top 10’s in his last four races here (if you remove his engine failure in the spring). Brett Moffitt ($8,200), Sage Karam ($7,200)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Bayley Currey ($5,900) – Currey ran the 26th best lap on Friday night in practice. Recently, Currey has been great at Phoenix in the Xfinity Series. Earlier this season Currey ran the #74 to a 7th place finish and in this race in 2020 he finished 15th.
2. Alex Labbe ($6,700) – Labbe is expensive but he is incredbily consistent at Phoenix. If you take out his crash finish earlier this season, he has an average finish of 21.6 in 5 races. Labbe was 16th in practice on Friday as well.
3. Dylan Lupton ($6,800)
4. Joe Graf Jr. ($4,900) – Graf ran 33rd in practice but has mid 20’s upside on Saturday.
5. JJ Yeley ($6,200)
6. Josh Williams ($5,700) – Williams ran a top 20 lap in practice and should also be a top 20 car on Saturday. If Williams qualifies where he ran in practice he is a solid play.
7. Kyle Weatherman ($5,600) – Ran well at this track last season (17th) and will probably be a top 25 car on Saturday.

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!

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.

Running laps on the paperclip

This week, like with the Truck Series and Cup Series, the Xfinity Series has their last race before the season finale next weekend in Phoenix. Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger are all but locked in for the finale on points, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be trying to earn the win to guarantee their spot. As we saw last week, there are plenty of non-playoff drivers who can throw a wrench in things like Ty Gibbs did last week.

Earlier this season at Martinsville, Josh Berry ($10,800 – P29) led the most laps and won his first-ever Xfinity race. I don’t believe he will be a threat to win this one in the #31 for Josh Anderson instead of the #8 JRM car he won with earlier this season. Berry is still a solid place differential play but at his salary, I believe there are better options than him for this race. I also think Berry will carry a higher ownership number than he should for this race which also has me looking elsewhere.

Drivers who run up front, stay up front

At the first race from Martinsville this season we saw a lot of drivers who started towards the front stay there all day. In that race, seven drivers who started in the top 10 would finish there and four different drivers led 28 or more laps and they all finished inside the top seven. Five drivers led double-digit laps and all five finished in the top seven as well. Basically what I am saying is we want the drivers who start near the front in our lineups and look for maybe one or two place differential plays.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Harrison Burton ($10,300)

Starting Position: 10th

Burton is one of the drivers who need to win this race to get into the Championship four next week, which he has done at this track before. Last season at this race, Harrison won and led 81 laps after starting right where he starts on Saturday, tenth. Earlier this season at Martinsville, Burton started on the pole but ended up finishing 7th and leading 52 laps. Value in this field is not deep and I don’t feel like we can pay up for both Gibbs and Cindric (more on them to come) and get good value in the rest of our lineups but the extra $1K we can save using Burton will definitely help.

Noah Gragson ($10,500)

Starting Position: 9th

Gragson is another driver who likely needs to win to move into the Championship four even though he is currently sitting in fourth place. Martinsville is one of Gragson’s best tracks with an average finish of 2.5 here in two races. Earlier this season Gragson led 12 laps and finished 2nd behind Berry. Gragson is rolling right now with nine top 10’s in his last twelve races and hasn’t finished lower than 12 in any race (outside of the two races he wrecked). Gragson is actually my pick to win this race and clinch his spot in the final next week.

Daniel Hemric ($10,000)

Starting Position: 7th

Hemric is having a career year, but he may need to win this race to move into the Championship 4, which he has still never done. Depending on what drivers like Harrison Burton and Gragson do, he could point his way in. I think we will see a strategy that puts the 18 car towards the front at the end of this race, which could end tragically or end with him scoring a top 5. Earlier this season, Hemric finished 3rd here at Martinsville, his only career Xfinity race here. It’s a very VERY small sample size, but Hemric is an experienced driver and in excellent equipment. There is a downside to Hemric, even though he projects as the 4th highest scoring driver, he also projects as the second-highest owned (our next entry projects as the highest). I will still have some exposure to Hemric, but I will limit it to no more than 50%.

Austin Cindric ($11,200)

Starting Position: 1st

I am liking the builds I can make pairing Cindric with one of the two drivers above. Cindric starts on the pole and I think he gets out early and leads a good portion of the beginning of this race. Even after the competition caution, I think Cindric retains the lead and will be hard to pass. There is some risk from Cindric here without a top 5 on his record but you could look at it as he is due for one here. Gragson is my pick to win, but Cindric will be in the top 3 and clinch his spot in the Championship 4.

Other Options: Ty Gibbs ($11,500 – P2): Like last week, I do like using Gibbs this week but his salary is what makes me not put him higher in this tier. I will probably have some exposure to him but not as much as I would like. Brandon Jones ($9,200 – P8): Jones has performed well here in his career and is cheaper than he should be. A top 5 is possible, but a top 10 is probably more likely. Justin Allgaier ($9,700 – P5): Another driver who is seemingly a lock for a top 10, and could easily win this race. I expect Allgaier to be popular though.

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Riley Herbst ($8,000)

Starting Position: 16th

Last season at this race, Herbst had a great race after starting 24th he would finish in 6th. Earlier this season though, Herbst did not have an incident-free race and he ended up finishing 29th two laps down. Herbst is coming off back-to-back top 15 finishes and has five top 15’s including two top 5’s in his last eight races. Herbst has had an up and down season and it seems like right now is an up for Herbst. I think Herbst comes home with a top 10 on Saturday night.

Jeb Burton ($8,600)

Starting Position: 15th

Burton has two finishes of 11th or better in both his races here, including a fourth-place finish in this race last season. Over his last nine races, Burton has two top 5’s, three top 10’s, and only one finish lower than 13th (not including his wreck at Vegas). Ownership on Burton is usually low, and Saturday night should be no different. At this price and with people potentially stacking the top-tier drivers, Burton should go overlooked and could be a great low-owned play.

Michael Annett ($7,800)

Starting Position: 6th

Annett has only run two races at Martinsville in his career, but he has been great in both. Last season at this race, Annett started 11th and finished 8th. Earlier this season, Annett started 10th and finished 10th. I am under the impression people will be scared off of Annett because of his starting position, but he constantly runs inside the top 10 weekly and has back-to-back top 10 finishes. Annett was finishing top 10 almost weekly before his leg injury, and I think he seems to be back to where he was and is healthy finally.

Other Options: Brandon Brown ($7,000 – P17), Justin Haley ($8,800 – P4), Preston Pardus ($8,400 – P38), Jeremy Clements ($7,400 – P18)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. JJ Yeley ($6,600) – P28: Yeley is too cheap for the upside he has in this race, he is an experienced driver who knows his way around Martinsville. As long as he can keep the 17 out of any wrecks, he is a top 20 car.
2. Stephen Leicht ($5,400) – P37: Leicht has never run an Xfinity race here, but he is an experienced driver who has some limited upside. He is cheap and starts near the back of the field so he can’t hurt you too bad. If he can avoid carnage and be around at the end Leicht could pick up a top 25.
3. Colin Garrett ($6,100) – P30: Garrett is a good driver in pretty solid equipment this week. I am not expecting a huge day, but a top 20 is definitely a possibility on Saturday.
4. Jade Buford ($6,400) – P31: Buford has burnt us of late, but he finished 19th here earlier this season. I am hopefully this team has a clean race and we can get another top 20 finish from the 48 car.
5. Joe Graf Jr. ($4,600) – P32: Graf has had two completely different races in his career at Martinsville. At this race last season, Graf finished 21st and had a monster fantasy day. Earlier in 2021 though, Graf wrecked with 70 laps to go and finished 38th. Graf has run top 30 in four straight races and that is pretty much all we need from him at this price to make value.
6. Tommy Joe Martins ($5,600) – P19: Martins is a risky GPP play on Saturday, but there is a good shot he performs well here. In the second half of 2021, Martins has been a mid teens to low twenties driver and at Martinsville I expect a similar result. Last fall at this race, Martins finished 16th so that is the kind of upside we can expect from him here.
7. Matt Mills ($5,100) – P35: Mills has been running some good races of late and starts far enough back that all he really needs is a top 30 to make value. He also helps get the drivers with those big price tags in your lineups.

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!