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/)
NASCAR returns to the West Coast this week with both the Xfinity and Cup Series racing at Auto Club Speedway for the first time in two years. This weekend will be a stark contrast to last weekend in Daytona in such that there will be very few wrecks with a more spread-out field. Typically races here can be boring with one or two drivers dominating and leading 75% of the laps. Also unlike last week, we won’t necessarily be stacking drivers from the back of the field. In 2020, the last time the Xfinity Series raced here, nine of the top ten finishers started inside the top 13. Four cars DNF’d and all four were mechanical issues with only two cautions for multi-car wrecks and three for single-car spins. This was by all means a very tame race. Two drivers led a combined 113 of 150 laps in this race (76.7%) so it will be key to find these dominators on Saturday afternoon.
In two of the previous three races at Auto Club, two drivers starting inside the top 5 were in the optimal lineup. In 2020, four drivers starting 13th or better made the optimal lineup and in 2019 three did. No more than two drivers starting 30th or worse have been in the optimal line the last three races here. With all this knowledge we should be looking to use 2-3 dominators for this race and two value tier drivers. But sometimes things change and the way qualifying worked out we will be looking to the rear of the field for a lot of the top plays. There are still some good plays starting near the front, but there are fewer than usual at Fontana.
Starting Position: 20th
Allgaier is the top play on this slate and while he will likely be the highest owned driver it is hard to fade him. Allgaier has finished no worse than 12th at Auto Club in his last six races including four top 10’s. In Saturday’s short practice session, Allgaier had the best single lap speed and 5th best 10-lap average.
Starting Position: 1st
Allmendinger was fast in practice finishing with the 4th best single lap speed. AJ has only raced here once in the Xfinity Series 15 years ago so we can’t count that. I believe Allmendinger will be one of the two dominant cars in this race and be a contender for the win.
Starting Position: 12th
Gibbs will be popular, and that is why I slotted him below Allmendinger here. I think there is upside here, maybe more than Dinger but I think his ownership goes above the projection. Gibbs was fast in practice as well with the 5th best speed and 7th fastest 10-lap average.
Starting Position: 2nd
Custer is in the 07 SS Greenlight Ford, this is essentially a Stewart-Haas Ford though. In practice, Custer had the 10th best single lap, but he was 2nd in 10-lap average which is important because he shows he can take care of his tires in the “long run”. Custer won in his last Xfinity race here in 2019 and finished 6th the previous year. I look at Custer as a top 5 car with the potential to lead a bunch of laps.
Other Options: Daniel Hemric ($10,300 – P5), Noah Gragson ($10,900 – P6), Josh Berry ($9,500 – P11)
Starting Position: 31st
Snider projects as the second-highest owned driver but there is next to no downside with him today. Snider has only raced at Fontana once in the Xfinity Series where he finished 11th. In practice on Saturday, Snider was not fast, but I am not worried since he only ran 9 laps.
Starting Position: 28th
Alfredo was another car that was not fast in practice, but again I am not worried and look to Alfredo as a top 15 car on Saturday. In 2020, Alfredo was in the RCR #21 and finished 6th, this car he is in now is not as good as that car but he is a skilled driver in a good Our Motorsports Chevy.
Starting Position: 30th
Brown was a top 20 car in practice and was even in the top 10 in single-lap speed at one point. In 2019, Brown finished 15th here at Fontana, but in 2020 he had his engine fail on him and he finished 33rd. Brown had an issue in qualifying that set him back and has him starting where he is, this car is definitely a top 20 car (as long he stays clean) with top 10 upside.
Other Options: Sam Mayer ($8,700 – P13), Riley Herbst ($8,300 – P16), Kaz Grala ($7,400 – P29)
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 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/)
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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!
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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
There are only three races left until the Championship is handed out in Phoenix on November 6th. If one of the eight remaining drivers in the playoffs wins this race, they will book their ticket to the finale. We could see some reckless driving in the closing laps. Texas is a low-tire track, so I will be looking back at races this season from Las Vegas and Charlotte to see who ran well there.
One thing you won’t see in my article this week is the ridiculously high-priced Kaz Grala ($11,200). Normally when Grala is in a race and starting this far back (32nd) we would be all over him, but not this week. Grala isn’t in great equipment and the price is just too steep that I cannot see him making value. Since 2019, Grala has only raced at one 1.5-mile track, so with the lack of track time at this type, I don’t feel comfortable using him here as well.
Starting Position: 6th
Earlier this season at Texas, Allgaier led 23 laps on his way to a second-place finish. Texas has been one of Allgaier’s better tracks since it was repaved in 2017. Since 2018 if you remove his two wrecks, Allgaier has three top 5 finishes and has finished 12th or better in five races. While he has never won a race at Texas, he is one of the best drivers at this track in the field on Saturday.
Starting Position: 10th
Nemechek has run three career races here in Texas but none since 2019. In his three races here Nemechek has never finished lower than 9th and has two top 5 finishes as well. Nemechek will be in the #54 car for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday, far and away the best equipment he has been in any of his previous Texas races. With the way this car has run in 2021, I will say that JHN is my pick to win this race.
Starting Position: 8th
Harrison Burton won this race last season by leading 24 total laps. Earlier this season Burton did not fare well here as he finished 30th thanks to a crash with just five laps to go. Outside of that one poor finish, Burton has performed well. Looking back over this season at this track type, Burton has finished top 10 in all three races including a third-place finish at Charlotte.
As with every race in 2021 both AJ Allmendinger ($10,500 – P1) and Autin Cindric ($9,800 – P2) are great plays but are somewhat risky because of their starting position. I do prefer Cindric because of his lower salary.
Other Options: Justin Haley ($9,200 – P4), Brett Moffitt ($9,400 – P26), Noah Gragson ($9,600 – P5)
Starting Position: 3rd
Will Daniel Hmeric ever get a win? Probably, but I’ve stopped trying to predict when that will happen. Hemric has been successful here at Texas since the repaving was down in 2017. In three races since then, Hemric has finished top 10 in all three, including two top 5’s, and has led laps in all three races including this season when he finished 4th and led 13 laps.
Starting Position: 22nd
Sieg has been consistently around the top 10 every race (minus the two he had mechanical issues) since the repave was done in 2017. Since then, Sieg has had four finishes between 10th and 12th in five races, the outlier being an 18th place finish in the first race of 2018. Seig projects as a mid-teens driver for me with top 10 upside.
Starting Position: 18th
Brown has six career races at Texas and has only finished outside the top 20 one time (Fall race in 2019). In those six races, Brown has one top 5 and two top 10’s. Earlier this season here at Texas, Brown finished 13th which is about where I see him finishing again on Saturday.
Other Options: Jeb Burton ($8,400 – P13): Burton has three top 10’s and a top 5 in seven races at Texas, JJ Yeley ($7,400 – P33), Riley Herbst ($8,600 – P20)
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.
This weekend the Xfinity Series heads, well, home to Charlotte Motor Speedway but not to run on the 1.5-mile oval, but instead on the Roval! Last season AJ Allmendinger ($10,700) led 12 laps on his way to earning the win. This year there is plenty of reason to believe we will see the same outcome.
In 2020 only 27 cars finished this race with only 24 of those finishing on the lead lap. This track is typically a bit of a wreck fest, unlike most other road courses. We won’t see anything like with the Superspeedway races, but we can expect a few cautions on Saturday. Because this is a road course we only have 67 laps in this race which means once again we are not looking to focus on dominators, but instead we want place differential plays and drivers who will finish well as well.
One thing to remember about this race is that we ran here in the pouring rain in 2020 and with rain potentially in the forecast on Saturday again we could see another rain-soaked race. A lot of the teams did mention last week that they hoped it did rain, especially the teams that had success here last year.
Since this is a road course, Austin Cindric ($10,300 – P1) is in play and should be considered one of the elite plays on this slate. With Cindric starting from the pole he projects for sub 25% ownership. We can potentially get one of the best road course races in NASCAR low ownership, it’s kind of hard to pass that up.
Starting Position: 14th
As I mentioned in the open, Allmendinger won this race last season and is the favorite to do so again on Saturday. Allmendinger is two for two at the Roval winning both races that he has run here. Allmendinger is going to be extremely popular, but he has the most upside in this race for me so fading him is just something I can’t see doing, especially if you only play one lineup. There are so many good options in the lower price ranges that fading the probable highest scoring driver just doesn’t make much sense.
Starting Position: 10th
Gragson is one of the drivers who talked about wanting it to rain here this weekend and I can see why. Last season at the Roval, Gragson led 16 laps and finished 2nd to Allmendinger. In his first race at the Roval in 2019, Gragson finished 5th. Gragson has run 14 road course races in his Xfinity career since 2019 and he has an average finish of 11.6 with 11 top 10’s and seven top 5’s. There is plenty of value in this field to roster both Dinger and Gragson in your lineups and feel comfortable about it.
Starting Position: 25th
Ty Dillon has not run a road course race in the Xfinity Series since 2017, but before that, he was very good. Between 2015 and 2017, Ty Dillon ran seven road course races and while he did not win a race, he did had five top 10’s and three top 5’s. Dillon had an average finish of 7.4 in those seven races as well. Ty Dillon has not raced in the Xfinity Series at the Charlotte Roval, but he has run three Cup races. Dillon has an average finish of 20th in those races and his best finish is 15th. I think Dillon has great upside and could be a good GPP pivot off the chalkier plays of Allmendinger and Cindric if you want to go that route.
Other Options: Daniel Hemric ($9,100 – P3), Ty Gibbs ($10,500 – P12): Expensive and projects to be popular but could also win this race and be the highest scoring driver.
Starting Position: 20th
Alex Labbe was a road course ringer when his Xfinity Series career started and he has since become a solid all-around driver, but road courses are still his bread and butter. Labbe has been nothing short of spectacular in his three races at the Roval. In each of his three races, Labbe has improved his finish in each race. Labbe finished 13th back in 2018, then earned a top 10 with a 6th place finish in 2019, and last year Labbe earned his first top 5 with a 4th place finish. The Roval is Labbe’s best road course on the circuit and I expect him to come home with his third straight top 10 here.
Starting Position: 31st
Bilicki is a solid road course racer and will be in the 07 that is usually driven by Joe Graf Jr. In three previous races here at the Charlotte Roval, Bilicki has an average finish of 21st and finished 13th here last season. Bilicki is not a safe play by any means, but he starts far enough back to provide the place differential upside we need to make value at his salary.
Starting Position: 39th
Gaulding is having a rough season, but one of the few bright spots for this team has been his finishes at road course races. In 2021, Gaulding has an average finish of 21.7 at this track type and had his best finish on the season of 13th at Mid-Ohio, the last road course he raced at. In his career at the Charlotte Roval, Gaulding has finishes of 29th and 28th.
Other Options: Austin Hill ($7,700 – P40), Preston Pardus ($7,800 – P37), Sam Mayer (8.700 – P15)
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.
Earlier this season at Talladega the Xfinity Series race was shortened by rain and saw Jeb Burton ($10,600 – P14) earn his first win in one of NASCAR top touring series. Luckily the weather looks clear for this race and we should get the full 113 laps unless the sun sets early (insert face palm emoji). Much like with the Truck Series race earlier in the day and the Cup Series on Sunday we will be focusing on loading up on drivers starting towards the rear, or as the hashtag says, #StacktheBack!
Unlike the Truck Series, we don’t have a projected +50% owned driver, which is nice. There is a more balanced field in this race and more paths to an optimal build. Like I do every week, I ran the optimizer with multiple settings to see what builds might be popular and many builds leave between $2K and $5K on the table which is what I expected. Pricing for this race isn’t as top-heavy as with the trucks. We have a much better selection of drivers to use in the $7K range. Also, the value section is better for this race with better options so we don’t have to go too deep in a player pool down there. I will be leaving some salary on the table for my builds, probably around $1-2.5K but I will probably have a max salary build as well.
Jeb Burton ($10,600 – P14)
AJ Allmendinger ($10,400 – P5)
Justin Haley ($10,200 – P8)
Kaulig has dominated Superspeedway racing in recent years in the Xfinity Series, especially Talladega. This team has won three straight Talladega races, Chevrolets have also won 6 straight and 7 of 8 races. It is hard to bet against these guys when it seems like Kaulig has mastered the Superspeedway program. My preferred pick is Burton, but Haley swept both races here in 2020 so he would be the next best play. Allmendinger will have the lowest ownership because he starts in the top 5 and is the riskiest play.
Starting Position: 11th
Nemechek is in the #54 Joe Gibbs Toyota this weekend and should be a threat to win this race. After running the Truck Series earlier in the day, JHN will hop into the JGR car and look to potentially sweep these races. Nemechek hasn’t raced here in an Xfinity car since 2019, but in his two Talladega races, he has finishes of 6th and 7th. If he can keep this car clean he should be a threat to go to victory lane.
Other Options: Noah Grason ($9,800 – P4), Daniel Hemric ($9,400 – P6)
Starting Position: 38th
Yeley is underpriced for his upside and skill at this track. With him being underpriced, I would expect the ownership to be massive, but with people potentially paying up for the Kaulig drivers they may not be able to afford Yeley. In his last five races at Talladega, Yeley has finished between 4th and 11th four times with 22nd being his lowest finish (which would make value on Saturday). I love Yeley on Saturday and will be overweight on him for sure.
Starting Position: 35th
Smithley is something of a Talladega Xfinity Series expert. In his five races here, Smithely has never finished lower than 21st and has finished 12th or better in the other four. Smithley finished 8th in this race last year but this season he is in much better equipment. At the last Superspeedway race (August – Daytona), JJ Yeley drove this #17 car to a 13th place finish. I see Smithley as a top 20 driver with top 10 upside based on attrition.
I tried to pick one of these two drivers to write up but could not separate them. Both Labbe and Ferrucci give you equal upside and ownership projections at practically the same salary. The only difference between the two is that Ferrucci has never raced on a Superspeedway in the Xfinity Series and Labbe has excelled at them. Ferrucci has been good at all other tracks and has run well on larger tracks in the IndyCar Series so I expect he will fare well here. Labbe has top 10’s in two of his last three Talladega races and has never finished lower than 25th.
Other Options: Jordan Anderson ($7,000 – P29), Jason White ($7,200 – P34)
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.
This week the Xfinity Series joins the Trucks and Cup Series in the playoffs. Vegas is the playoff opener for the series and it will be the “easiest” and “safest” track with Talladega and the Charlotte Roval to follow.
Earlier this season we saw AJ Allmendinger ($9,800) win here at Las Vegas and led 44 laps. We saw the top four drivers in laps led in that race finished 1-4, which is not a surprise considering they are four of the best this series has.
Like with the Truck Series race on Friday night, we are looking to find some good place differential plays mixed with our 1-2 dominators. We have some amazing place differential plays in the mid-tier for this race which makes it easier to focus on the dominators from the top tier. I found it pretty simple to build lineups for this race, and hopefully, I can help you build as easily as I did.
Starting Position: 2nd
As you saw in the open, Allmendinger was top 4 in laps led at the first Vegas race while winning. Allmendinger also led over 50 laps at Michigan (similar track type) on his way to victory there. We saw Dinger wreck his way through the finish line at Bristol to win the regular season championship. AJ is coming into the playoffs hot and will be a threat to win this race and sweep Las Vegas
Starting Position: 9th
Like Dorothy said in “The Wizard of Oz”, there’s no place like home. For Noah Gragson that rings true as he loves racing at his home track here in Las Vegas. Gragson has five career races run in the Xfinity Series here and his worst finish is 6th. In his 5 races here, Gragson has finished 2nd-6th but has only led 2 laps. I think Gragson can lead here, which I think he will need to do to make value. Gragson is a GPP play in my opinion with his salary as high as it is.
Starting Position: 15th
Berry is back in the JRM #1 car for injured Michael Annett on Saturday and will look to replicate his performance when he was in the #8 earlier this season. Back in March, Berry finished 7th here in Vegas and I am sure he’d love to improve that finish. Berry also ran well at Michigan a few weeks ago where he finished 4th and led 24 laps in this same car.
Ty Gibbs ($11,000) – P6: Gibbs won at Charlotte earlier this season, another similar track to Vegas. With how well he has performed it’s hard to doubt the teenager will be a threat on Saturday.
Austin Cindric ($10,200) – P1: Cindric sits on the pole on Saturday and has three straight finishes of 6th or better here while leading 92 laps.
Daniel Hemric ($9,600) – P7: I saw it every week it seems now, but is this the week Hemric finally gets his win? I don’t know, but he did lead the most laps here in the spring and a top 5 is likely again.
I have two groups of drivers that I like in this tier for Saturday and they are both at similar price points.
All three of these drivers offer up amazing place differential and all have shown the ability to run inside the top 25 at times this season.
Yeley will be in the #17, a car that he has had success in this season. In eight races this season in this car, Yeley has seven top 25 finishes and has four top 15 finishes.
McLeod has run Vegas eight times in the Xfinity Series and except for one race in 2020 and 2017 when he had issues, he has been great here all things considered. In those other three races, McLeod has finished between 19th and 27th.
Landon Cassill had a good day here in the Spring when he finished 21st. Cassill has run six Xfinity races at Las Vegas in his career and has run well here. If you remove the two finishes when Cassill was running the Morgan Sheppard car that always started and parked, he has finished between 14th and 21st in all four races.
If you want to go with 2 dominators, which is a build I will be using, you can mix and match these next three drivers with the three above.
This will be Dillon’s first race in the 31 car, but he comes into this race with five straight top 15 finishes, including two top 10’s. Dillon will probably float around 20% ownership making him viable for SE or GPP.
Brett Moffitt got caught up late in the race here earlier this season so his finish is not evidence of how well he was running. In his previous two races here last season, Moffitt finished 14th ad 15th.
Ryan Sieg may be the most interesting play in this tier on Saturday night. Sieg has three finishes of 6th or better in his last five, but he also has two wrecks in that same span. It seems like Sieg either shines or drowns here making him an ideal GPP play.
Other Options: Jeb Burton ($8,100 – P14), Brandon Brown ($7,000 – P16)
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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