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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Cup Series for the 2022 season! If you’ve been with us before then you know the drill, but if you are new to WinDaily Sports or my NASCAR content, welcome! 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 that has 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.

We’re back baby!

After what seemed like an eternity NASCAR is back! If you haven’t had a chance, please check out my What’s New in 2022 article before going forward. It’s fine, I’ll wait…. ok welcome back! I want to be honest and tell you upfront that I have no idea what is going to happen and how these cars are going to react to the tracks to start the season. Any content provider who tells you they do is lying to you because even the NASCAR teams don’t know what to expect so how can someone from the outside?

Practice speed breakdown

Since this track is set up as a .25 mile track the lap times are quick and the speeds are low. Chase Elliott was tops after Saturday’s two hour session with a top lap time of 13.455 and a top speed of 66.89 MPH. Elliott also had the best 15, 20, 25, and 30 lap average. Kevin Harvick was second quickest at only .002 seconds behind Elliott while also having the best 5-lap average. Kyle Larson, the 2021 champion, had the best lap average and Kyle Busch had the best 10-lap average.

About this article

This race is unique and in turn my breakdown for it will be as well. Sunday’s 23 car field will be set by four heat races (top 4 from each qualify for main event) followed by two last chance qualifiers (three drivers from each qualify) and the one driver who didn’t qualify through the qualifier races who had the most points in 2021. Since the field will be set so close to the start of the race I cannot give you my usually style of article, so I will go heat by heat and tell who I think moves on into the field. It will be vital that you come back to discord before lock to see my updates.

Each of the four qualifying heats are only 25 laps so it will be difficult for the cars starting towards the back to get into the top four. As for the last chance qualifiers, they are 50 laps each which will give the drivers starting towards the back in those more time to get through the field.

NASCAR DFS: Heat 1 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)

Heat 1 Lineup: #18-Kyle Busch, #99-Daniel Suarez, #47-Ricky Stenhouse Jr., #12-Ryan Blaney, #11-Denny Hamlin, #10-Aric Almirola, #78-BJ McLeod, #38-Todd Gilliland, #1-Ross Chastain

Both Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez appear to be locks for the main event on Sunday. Both Busch and Suarez looked fast in practice and put down two of the top times in qualifying. Because of his price Suarez ($5.9K) is one of the top plays in this race. As long he qualifies for the race, Suarez makes fitting practically any build you want possible. I expect to be using him in the majority of my builds on Sunday

Others from this heat to qualify LCQ: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

NASCAR DFS: Heat 2 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)

Heat 2 Lineup: #8-Tyler Reddick, #41-Cole Custer, #21-Harrison Burton, #48-Alex Bowman, #23-Bubba Wallace, #3-Austin Dillon, #14-Chase Briscoe, #6-Brad Keselowski, #19-Martin Truex Jr.

This group is pretty tricky to predict with only Tyler Reddick seeming like a sure thing. Chase Briscoe was a top three car in practice but put down a terrible qualifying lap which leads me to believe his car is in race trim and better on the long run. Both Cole Custer and Alex Bowman will have track position to start the race so I think that is what will get them through into the field.

Wallace and Burton were bad in practice but did seem to make adjustments to improve their cars so they could beat out Briscoe, but I think it’s unlikely. Similar to Suarez, Reddick ($6.7K) is priced at a point where he is a top play and is my favorite play under $7K.

Others from this heat to qualify in LCQ: Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon

NASCAR DFS: Heat 3 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)

Heat 3 Lineup: #31-Justin Haley, #9-Chase Elliott, #24-William Byron, #20-Christopher Bell, #16-AJ Allmendinger, #4-Kevin Harvick, #17-Chris Buescher, #7-Corey LaJoie, #51-Cody Ware

Chase Elliott was the top car in practice and laid down a great lap in qualifying on Saturday. Elliott is my top play from the $9K plus drivers because of this. Using Suarez and Reddick with Kyle Busch and Elliott leaves you $9.6K per driver for your final two spots which allows you to roster practically whoever you want. Justin Haley ($5.3K) is another top value play on this slate. Haley was top 5 in both individual lap time and average lap time on Saturday in practice as well as putting down the third best qualifying lap.

Others from this heat to qualify in LCQ: William Byron, Christopher Bell

NASCAR DFS: Heat 4 (Driver names in bold are my picks to transfer)

Heat 4 Lineup: #22-Joey Logano, #5-Kyle Larson, #34-Michael McDowell, #77-Landon Cassill, #2-Austin Cindric, #43-Erik Jones, #15-Ryan Preece, #45-Kurt Busch, #42-Ty Dillon

This is the weakest heat by far with only two drivers who stand out as quality drivers. Both Joey Logano and Kyle Larson are locks but outside of them it’s pretty open. Any of the other drivers in this field could come through but I don’t think there will be much of a desire to roster any of them. Landon Cassill was top 10 in practice and put down a good qualifying lap as well. Cassill does potentially have some value if he finds his way into the main event coming in at $5K.

Others from this heat to qualify in LCQ: Kurt Busch

Once again, make sure you are in discord after the heat races are complete where I will update my picks based on the results of the qualifying heats and starting positions.

Thank you for reading my weekly NASCAR DFS Pit Stop articles and 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 NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!

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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop: Cup Series for the 2021 season! If you've been with us before then you know the drill, but if you are new to WinDaily Sports or my NASCAR content, welcome! I break down the field each week and give you my favorite plays for each race in three different price cate...

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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!

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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the Truck 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 are able to 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. Outside of those two tracks and since the Truck Series hasn’t run at Phoenix or New Hampshire in 2021, we can also use Nashville as a similar track type. Looking back at this race last season, Sheldon Creed won the race and the championship. Coming in second was Zane Smith which definitely bumps up his chances for the championship on Friday night. Obviously, John Hunter Nemechek is the favorite in this race because he has run well at practically every track this season and he also won the Richmond race in 2021.

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 update either the article, in discord or both after Truck Series qualifying later this afternoon (5:05 pm EDT). I have added 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.

As with every week, each tier of drivers is listed in order of preference

NASCAR DFS: Championship 4

(Ranked in salary order)

John Hunter Nemechek ($10,800) – Practice speed ranking: 9th

Zane Smith ($10,400) – Practice speed ranking: 12th

Ben Rhodes ($10,200) – Practice speed ranking: 5th

Matt Crafton ($10,000) – Practice speed ranking: 18th

Like I mentioned in the open, Nemechek is the favorite in this race followed by Smith for me. Last week, Zane Smith won his way into the championship race but it was not a fluke. Smith is a solid young driver in great equipment and should not be taken lightly on Friday night. Earlier this season at Nashville, Smith finished 4th and as I mentioned in the open he finished 2nd here in his only race at Phoenix last season. At Richmond, Zane has finishes of 11th and 14th, but despite not being as good as his Nashville and Phoenix finishes they are good finishes. Rhodes is probably the worst of the championship when it comes to Phoenix, and by that I mean he’s the only one without a top 3 finish. Rhodes may not have a top 3 finish, but he does have two top 5’s and three top 10’s. Last season Rhodes finished 7th in this race and in 2019 he came home 4th.

In 2019, Matt Crafton won the Truck Series title without winning a single race, and in 2021 he will be looking to repeat that performance (unless he wins on Friday). Crafton is the longest-tenured and most experienced driver in the Championship 4 and is the only one with a previous championship (Three to be exact). Points don’t matter in this race so Crafton will probably bide his time and just try to avoid any possible damage and make a push to be the highest finisher of the four drivers in the hunt for the title. Make sure to check back after qualifying though because these four are NOT guaranteed to start in the top 4 spots so we could end up with some value here.

My prediction: Zane Smith wins this race and his first NASCAR championship

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Todd Gilliland ($9,800)

Practice speed ranking: 1st

Gilliland ran the fastest single lap in practice and has the second-best 5 lap average. In his career in the Truck Series, Gilliand has two top 10’s at Phoenix and hasn’t finished lower than 17th. Gilliland will probably qualify towards the front, which will lower his ownership. Between his speed in practice and his ability to run well at Phoenix and his 6th place finish at Richmond this season I think Gilliland is a top 5 driver this week.

Stewart Friesen ($9,500)

Practice speed ranking: 10th

Phoenix is one of Friesen’s best tracks and he should perform well here again on Friday night. Friesen has not finished lower than 6th in any of the previous four races here. Included in that string of great runs is his win in 2019 where he led 44 laps. Last season in this race, Friesen finished 6th.

Sheldon Creed ($10,600)

Practice speed ranking: 2nd

I know Creed is not happy not being able to defend his title in this race, but as he moves up to the Xfinity Series full time in 2022 nothing would make him happier than to end this season with a victory. If one of the Championship 4 does not win this race, it will be Creed who does. Creed won here in 2020 and led 27 laps in the process. Prior to that, he had finishes of 10th and 12th but the 24-year-old is now a more experienced and better driver than he was in those seasons. Creed is expensive, but he has a fast truck that will be towards the front most of the night and could easily come across first at the end of lap 150.

Other Options: Chandler Smith ($9,600), Grant Enfinger ($9,100)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Tanner Gray ($7,500)

Practice speed ranking: 6th

Gray has run two races here the past two seasons and he has finishes of 17th and 15th. Last week at Martinsville, Gray finished 3rd, his first top 5 on the season. Gray has a fast truck this week and if he qualifies in the teens he is a must-play because he has top 10 upside. I do think Gray will be semi-popular because of his low price and how well he fits with three dominator builds. I am willing to look past him potentially being chalky because of the upside Gray has combined with the fact we have other ways to get different.

Christian Eckes ($8,900)

Practice speed ranking: 7th

Eckes is back in the #98 for ThorSport on Friday and should be considered a top 10 threat in this race. This is Eckes’s third career race at Phoenix and he fared exceptionally well in his last two. In this race last season, Eckes finished 4th and in 2018 he finished 9th here. In practice on Friday, Eckes ran the 7th fastest single lap and had the 10th fastest 5 lap average.

Taylor Gray ($7,300)

Practice speed ranking: 11th

No, you’re not seeing things, both Tanner and Taylor make the list for Friday’s race. Taylor was also fast in practice like Tanner was on Friday. Gray had the 11th fastest single lap and was 9th best in 5 lap average speed. Taylor ran his fourth career Truck Series last week and finished 8th, his career-best. This #17 truck went to victory lane at Nashville earlier this season with Ryan Preece behind the wheel. I do not see that happening on Friday, but this truck is fast and if they run a similar setup to Nashville they should have a good finish.

Other Options: Ty Dillon ($8,100 – Practice rank: 17th), Jack Wood ($7,200 – Practice rank: 8th)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier

  1. Austin Wayne Self ($6,000)
  2. Spencer Boyd ($4,600)
  3. Tyler Hill ($5,600)
  4. Jordan Anderson ($6,800)
  5. Lawless Alan ($6,500)
  6. Cory Roper ($5,900)
  7. Dean Thompson ($5,000)
  8. Willie Allen ($5,600)

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!

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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!

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Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for the Truck 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.

Trucks Series finally returns to the track!

After nearly a month off, the Truck Series is finally back on the track in Martinsville for the final race before the Championship Finale in Phoenix next week. Looking at this week though, we have a race with 200 laps which is rare for the Truck Series. Because we have a short track with a lot of laps we will want to focus on getting dominators into our builds first this week and then search for value and mid-tier to fill in. There are the usual suspects at the top of the starting grid, but there is one driver that will probably get overlooked that could lead a lot of laps and potentially win this race.

Another thing about the field for this race is we have a few young drivers in great trucks that I will also want to have exposure to. Unfortunately, the value tier is not great this week, again, but I think some decent plays won’t hurt us too badly and will help us fit the high-priced drivers we need on Saturday.

As with every week, each tier of drivers is listed in order of preference

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

I am going to just get this part out of the way now, both John Hunter Nemechek ($10,600 – P1) and Sheldon Creed ($10,300 – P4) are tops on my list of drivers. Both of these two were the class of the series in 2021 and should both lead their fair share of laps on Saturday. I want to have exposure to both in my builds and If you are playing one lineup then you need to decide which one you want. Both have a great shot at the win and it comes down to what salary fits your build. My preferred driver would be JHN because I think he takes the lead from the start and holds it for the first 50 laps.

Grant Enfinger ($9,700)

Starting Position: 15th

Enfinger is back in the #98 for ThorSport Racing this week, a truck he has been excellent in this season. Enfinger has been in this truck eleven times this season and if you remove his 21st place finish at Talladega (wrecked) he has an average finish of 5.8 in the other ten races and hasn’t finished lower than 11th in any race. There is a downside to Enfinger this week, he is too cheap. Enfinger will most likely be one of, If not, the highest owned drivers this week, but like I say every week, there is good chalk in NASCAR and Enfinger fits the bill this week. Enfinger won this race last season in the 98 truck and has four top 10’s and three top 5’s in the last five races.

Josh Berry ($11,300)

Starting Position: 25th

Saturday’s race will be Berry’s 9th race in the #25 truck (10th overall) and he has done extremely well in this truck. Berry has not finished outside the top 20 if you remove his one race (Knoxville) where he wrecked. This race was also the dirt track so it’s really hard to count that anyway. In those 7 races, Berry has an average finish of 13.4 and has five top 15 finishes. Berry will not be a threat to win this race and won’t lead laps but he should give some great place differential and should be low owned because of his price.

Zane Smith ($9,500)

Starting Position: 9th

Zane Smith has only run one race here at Martinsville in the Truck Series and in that one race, he finished 3rd. Smith is a nice complimentary piece to any Creed or Nemechek lineups because of his cheap salary. Besides his low salary for the potential top 5 upside, I also believe Smith will not carry much ownership. With drivers like Berry and Kligerman having such huge upside, people will flock to them and will not be able to roster Smith. Over his last two races, Smith has not fared well. But before that, Smith had a run of eight top 10’s in ten races.

Other Options: Johnny Sauter ($10,900 – P22), Parker Kligerman ($11,500 – P30), Chandler Smith ($9,200 – P6)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Taylor Gray ($8,800)

Starting Position: 39th

The younger Gray brother will also most likely be chalky on Saturday but he is also good chalk. Now, there is a chance he doesn’t carry too much ownership because people will likely flock to the PD of Kligermand and/or Berry because of the name-value there. Gray has run three races in this truck with his best finish being a 12th place finish at Gateway. Overall, this #17 truck has been a solid ride all season with four top 12 finishes, including a win by Ryan Preece at Nashville. I see Gray as a low 20’s to high teens driver on Saturday.

Corey Heim ($8,600)

Starting Position: 28th

Heim is an all-star driver in the ARCA Series and the 19-year-old will be getting only his third run in a Truck Series race on Saturday. This will also be Heim’s third run in the Kyle Busch Motorsports #51 truck where he hasn’t been great yet. In his first race at Darlington, Heim wrecked late and finished 23rd, and then at Watkins Glen, he had a better finish, 18th. I expect Heim to keep learning and just trying to gain experience, but a top 20 is likely as long as he can keep the truck on the track Saturday.

Ben Rhodes ($8,000)

Starting Position: 3rd

Rhodes usually runs well at Martinsville, especially recently. In the last four races here, Rhodes has finished 2nd twice and fourth once with his only blemish being a 16th place finish at this race in 2019. Rhodes starts from 3rd which will most likely scare off plenty of people, but as I said, this is one of Rhodes’ best tracks and he should push both Nemechek and Creed for the lead early and will most likely be competing for the win on Saturday afternoon.

Other Options: Jack Wood ($7,500 – P34): Wood might be semi-popular, but he is cheap for his upside in this race. I will have some exposure to him to help get three top-tier drivers in. Stewart Friesen ($8,200 – P7), Austin Hill ($7,800), Matt Crafton ($8,400 – P5)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier

  1. Colby Howard ($6,400) – P29: Big upside for low price. I really like this play today.
  2. Derek Kraus ($6,800) – P17: Consistent mid to high teens driver. Kraus does have a top 10 here
  3. Dawson Cram ($5,500) P33: Cram has run four Martinsville races in his career and has a low finish of 24th. All three of his other races were top 20. I really like this truck on Saturday and he should be low owned.
  4. Austin Wayne Self ($5,700) – P21: Self has run 6 races here and outside of his wrecks he has never finished lower than 23rd. I see top 20 upside for Self on Saturday with top 15 potential with attrition.
  5. Timmy Hill ($6,00) – P24: Hill is best in the Truck Series and he may get overlooked because of how poorly he runs in Xfinity and Cup. This is a top 20 truck weekly and Hill could drive it to a low teens finish.
  6. Chris Hacker ($6,300) – P37: Similar to Howard, Hacker has some good upside this week at a low salary.
  7. Bret Holmes ($6,100) – P20: His value is capped because of his starting position, but in GPP’s he could be a 5-10% play that gets someone a takedown if he avoids the potential carnage.

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!

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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.

…And Toto too?

We ARE in Kansas this week but there won’t be any ruby red slippers, just some good old-fashioned black Goodyear tires! Kansas is a similar track to what we had at Texas last week, a 1.5-mile traditional oval with low tire wear. Also like Texas, track position is important so outside of the value plays we will look at drivers starting in or around the top 15.

Last season at this race only four drivers starting outside the top 10 finished in the top 10 at this race. The two drivers who started at the front (Gragson and Cindric) had their days end early in a big wreck on lap 16 or we could have had 8 of 10 who started in the top finish there. There are a few drivers starting towards the back that can give us some great value on Saturday, but your focus should be on getting the drivers who can finish top 10 in first and looking to fit the value plays in last.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Justin Haley ($9,100)

Starting Position: 6th

Haley has only run three times here in Kansas, but he has never finished lower than 7th. Last season at this race, Haley finished 4th, his career-best finish, and in the first race here in 2020 he finished 6th. Looking at similar tracks, Haley has five top ten’s in six Texas races and he has four top 10’s in six Las Vegas races. On Saturday I see Haley as a top 5 driver who has the potential for the win.

Justin Allgaier ($10,500)

Starting Position: 3rd

Allgaier is another driver who could win this race on Saturday, which would be his first at this track. Even though he has never won here, Allgaier has exceptional career numbers here. In 11 career races at Kansas, Allgaier only finished lower than 14th once (wrecked in 2018) and he has eight top 10’s. Allgaier, like Haley, has great finishes at similar tracks, averaging a top 10 at both Michigan and Las Vegas in his career. Also like Haley, I see Allgaier as a top 5 finisher here on Saturday with the potential to win.

Daniel Hemric ($9,500)

Starting Position: 1st

In 2018, Hemric led 128 laps from the pole in this race but ended up finishing second. Hemric is still looking for his first career win and I think this week it finally happens. Including that race in 2018, Hemric has three top 10’s and two top 5’s (both second-place finishes). Hemric is risky since he is on the pole for this race, but he is clicking on all cylinders right now. Coming into this race Hemric has four straight top 5’s and has led at least 17 laps in five of the last seven races.

Other Options: Brandon Jones ($9,300 – P9) – Jones won back-to-back races here from 2019-20 and has four top 10’s in six career races. Ty Gibbs ($11,200 – P10) – Gibbs has the best place differential upside in this tier. I think he scores high. I prefer my builds without him, but I will probably have him in at least one lineup. AJ Allmendinger ($10,200 – P5)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Garrett Smithley ($7,400)

Starting Position: 39th

Earlier I said there were a few drivers who have place differential upside and here is one of them. Smithley is replacing Carson Ware in the #17 this week which has been RWR’s best car in 2021. When you combine the upside (top 20) with the price, Smithley is the top play in this tier. Smithley has run three races in this car in 2021 and he has not finished lower than 25th. Two of the three races were at similar track types (Texas, Las Vegas) and Smithley finished 24th and 25th. If Smithley can avoid any potential carnage he could easily bring this car home with a top 20 and make him a lock for the optimal lineup.

Brandon Brown ($7,800)

Starting Position: 23rd

Brown has been a good driver at Kansas in his career, especially over his last three races. After finishing 18th in 2019, Brown came back to Kansas in 2020 and had two finishes in the top 15 (11th and 13th). With the way pricing is on this slate, we can easily slot in two mid-tier drivers with our three top-tier drivers and Brown is someone that needs to be considered for those types of builds. Brown is probably a top 15 driver with top 10 upside if things work out in his favor.

Jade Buford ($7,300)

Starting Position: 35th

Buford has never raced at Kansas, but he has raced at similar tracks and done well. Earlier this season at Michigan (the most similar track to Kansas) Buford managed to finish 9th. Buford is not going to dominate this race and he might not even finish top 20 but you are not rostering him for that. You are using Buford in your lineups as a pure place differential play for a cheap price.

Other Options: Riley Herbst ($8,900 – P13): It was a tale of two races here for Herbst in 2020. In the first Kansas race, Herbst had a strong showing and finished 9th. Unfortunately when they came back later in the year he wrecked with 28 laps to go and finished 30th. I think Herbst is a top 10 driver this week. Brett Moffitt ($8,700 – P16): Moffitt had the reverse happen to him of what happened to Herbst. In 2020, Moffitt had an oil leak and was forced out of the first Kansas race after only 91 laps. But in the fall, Moffitt came back and finished 7th. Moffitt projects as a top 15 car on Saturday. Michael Annett ($7,600 – P8): After wrecking on the opening lap in 2018 here, Annett has been money at this track since. In three races from 2019-20, Annett has finished 4th and 8th twice. I really like Annett’s chances at a third straight top 10. He will come in at extremely low ownership on the process.

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

  1. Joe Graf Jr. ($4,700) – P30: Graf is a capable driver who, if his car holds up, can come home with a good day in the top 25. At his low price you don’t need much from Graf and he will open up the salary needed to stack the top tier drivers we want
  2. Jeremy Clements ($6,800) – P19: After a rough start to his career at Kansas, Clements has figured out how to perfrom well here. In four starts here sine 2018, Clements has two top 10’s and finished top 15 in all four races.
  3. Matt Mills ($5,200) – P31: Mills track history is outstanding (all things considered) and he is consistently a mid-20’s driver here. In three races at Kansas, Mills has finishes of 20th, 26th, and 25th. I expect much of the same from Mills on Saturday. His low price and starting position makes for great value on this slate.
  4. David Starr ($5,300) – P33: Like with Mills before him, Starr is a consistent mid-20’s to high teens driver at Kansas. Last season here, Starr finished 24th in both races and in the previous two races he had finishes of 17th and 23rd. If Starr can keep this car on the track I view him as a low 20’s driver on Saturday.
  5. Bayley Currey ($6,500) – P22: Currey finished 23rd and 18th here in 2020, and I expect to finish right around this position again. Currey is risky because of his price and starting positiong but he makes for a good GPP pivot off what I expect to be the higher owned cheaper plays in this tier.
  6. Gray Gaulding ($6,400) – P40: Gaulding starts last, so he has some good upside. I don’t love the price, but I get it. Gaulding is a much more capable driver than most who start 40th in this series. I think Gaulding will carry decent ownership, so that is why he isn’t higher up this list.

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!

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