NASCAR Xfinity

This week the NASCAR Xfinity Series wraps up their three-race west coast swing with a return to where the title was handed out to Daniel Hemric last season, Phoenix. Saturday’s race is a 200 lap race which means there is a fair share of dominator points to be had, 140 to be exact. Last season at Phoenix we saw one dominator lead the majority of both races. In both races, Austin Cindric led over 100 laps and no one else led more than 44. Now Cindric isn’t in this race, but Justin Allgaier is and without seeing any practice laps turned, he is the favorite this week to be the top dominator.

Roster Construction

Last season at this track is was a full-on stars and scrubs roster build. It was also a stack the back type of race which I am not sure will be the case on Saturday. Looking at the top plays (pre-practice/qualifying) we should be building similarly to last season.

***** Reminder that these plays are all pre-practice and qualifying. I will update the plays in DISCORD ONLY after qualifying *****

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)

Justin Allgaier ($11,500)

In the last four races at Phoenix, Allgaier has the most avg laps led per race (39.8) and fastest laps (21.3). On top of leading the most laps and having the most laps led, Allgaier also has the most DKFP average among drivers with more than one race in the last two seasons here.

John Hunter Nemechek ($9,200)

JHN has only raced at Phoenix four times in an Xfinity car but he has never finished outside the top 10. Nemechek has an average finish of 7th here at Phoenix as well as leading 72 laps. I consider Nemechek a top 10 contender with top 5 upside in this race.

Noah Gragson ($11,200)

Gragson has had a spectacular start to the 2022 season but he just has not been able to find victory lane, yet. So far in three races this season, Gragson has finished 3rd and 2nd (twice) for an average finish of 2.3. Gragson also has earned the most DKFP per race (driver with more than one start) with 63.3. Gragson wrecked in this race last season but without that finish, he has never finished lower than 12th. Gragson finally gets it done on Saturday in my opinion and heads to victory lane.

Other Options: Ty Gibbs ($10,900), AJ Allmendinger ($10,400), Brandon Jones ($9,500), Daniel Hemric ($10,400)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier ($7K – $8.9K)

Riley Herbst ($8,000)

Herbst has had a much better start to the 2022 season than he did in 2021. Early on this season, Herbst has an avg finish of 9th with a top 5 and two top 10’s in three races. Last season at Phoenix, Herbst finished 4th in both races here and has four straight finishes of 11th or better.

Anthony Alfredo ($7,600)

Alfredo has been the benefit of some great, but risky calls by his crew chief. Prior to Vegas where he finished 17th, Alfredo had a 5th and 7th place finish this season. It’ll be key to see where Alfredo qualifies, but if it’s where he has typically started in 2022 he should be in the mid 20’s (23rd avg start in 2022) but finish in the top 15 giving him some good upside.

Other Options: Sam Mayer ($8,700), Austin Hill ($7,800), Brandon Brown ($7,200)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier (Under $7K)

1. Jeremy Clements ($6,800)
2. Alex Labbe ($6,000)
3. Jade Buford ($5,300)
4. Kaz Grala ($6,400)
5. JJ Yeley ($6,500)
6. Josh Williams ($5,800)
7. Bayley Currey ($5,900)

Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up-to-date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow for all things Fantasy Sports! You can find more FREE NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!

Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial to make sure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/).

There were a lot of changes in the cars and what driver is in what car/truck in 2022, check out my What’s new in 2022 article (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-whats-new-in-2022/)

Welcome to the NASCAR DFS Pit Stop for 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/)

We’re heading West!

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.

Roster Construction

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.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)

Justin Allgaier ($10,100) [ Proj. Ownership: 36%]

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.

A.J. Allmendinger ($10,500) [Proj. Ownership: 28%]

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.

Ty Gibbs ($11,300) [ Proj. Ownership 31%]

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.

Cole Custer ($9,800) [ Proj. Ownership: 27%]

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)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier ($7K – $8.9K)

Myatt Snider ($8,100) [Proj. Ownership: 34%]

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.

Anthony Alfredo ($7,300) [Proj. Ownership: 28%]

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.

Brandon Brown ($7,200) [Proj. Ownership: 31%]

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)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Jeffrey Earnhardt ($6,800) – P37
2. Josh Williams ($6,100) – P34
3. Tommy Joe Martins ($6,300) – P27
4. Ryan Vargas ($5,200) – P32
5. Alex Labbe ($6,600) – P19
6. Mason Massey ($4,900) – P33
7. JJ Yeley ($5,600) – P24

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/)

Welcome back to the track!

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

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

Roster Construction

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

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier ($9K +)

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

Ty Gibbs ($10,100)

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

Brandon Jones ($9,300)

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

Landon Cassill ($9,400)

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

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Ryan Truex ($7,000)

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

Austin Hill ($8,100)

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

Other Options: Anthony Alfredo ($7,500)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

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

Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up-to-date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow for all things Fantasy Sports! You can find more FREE NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!

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

Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial to make sure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/). You will notice that all pricing is for DraftKings in these articles. Since they are the only site with contests for all three series (Trucks, Xfinity, Cup) and the site I mainly play on. All plays in the Cup Series article will translate to FanDuel if that is where you play.

Thank you!

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

On with the show!

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

Practice and Qualifying are back!

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

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

NASCAR DFS: Championship 4

(Ranked in salary order)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Justin Allgaier ($10,600)

Practice Speed Ranking: 9th

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

John Hunter Nemechek ($10,800)

Practice Speed Ranking: 1st

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

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

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

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

Jeremy Clement (S7,600)

Practice Speed Ranking: 17th

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

Sam Mayer ($8,600)

Practice Speed Ranking: 12th

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

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

Brandon Brown ($7,300)

Practice Speed Ranking: 30th

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

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

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

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

Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up-to-date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow for all things Fantasy Sports! You can find more FREE NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!

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

Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial to make sure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/). You will notice that all pricing is for DraftKings in these articles. Since they are the only site with contests for all three series (Trucks, Xfinity, Cup) and the site I mainly play on. All plays in the Cup Series article will translate to FanDuel if that is where you play.

Running laps on the paperclip

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

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

Drivers who run up front, stay up front

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

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Harrison Burton ($10,300)

Starting Position: 10th

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

Noah Gragson ($10,500)

Starting Position: 9th

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

Daniel Hemric ($10,000)

Starting Position: 7th

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

Austin Cindric ($11,200)

Starting Position: 1st

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

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

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Riley Herbst ($8,000)

Starting Position: 16th

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

Jeb Burton ($8,600)

Starting Position: 15th

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

Michael Annett ($7,800)

Starting Position: 6th

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

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

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

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

Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up-to-date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow for all things Fantasy Sports! You can find more FREE NASCAR content over at WinDailySports.com!

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!

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 Then There Were Eight

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.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Justin Allgaier ($10,200)

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.

John Hunter Nemechek ($10,700)

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.

Harrison Burton ($9,900)

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)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Daniel Hemric ($8,800)

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.

Ryan Sieg ($7,300)

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.

Brandon Brown ($7,900)

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)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Bayley Currey ($5,200) – P39: Currey didn’t even get one lap in here in the spring before his day was over because of an electrical issue. But, no need to worry he is not in that same car he is in a much better car on Saturday. Currey has been a high teens to low 20’s driver here in his career and while I am not sure he can achieve that a mid 20’s finish would do us just fine for this salary and starting position.
2. Tommy Joe Martins ($6,400) – P24: TJM has been another solid driver at Texas over his career. His one bad race was all the way back in 2014 before the repave so that doesn’t count. Since then he has a top 10 (this race in 2020) and has never finished lower than 21st. I look for Martins to be a high teens driver on Saturday.
3. David Starr ($4,900) – P36: Starr has been outstanding at Texas since 2018 (for a value tier driver). In the last seven races, Starr has five top 25 finishes including two top 20’s (20th and 13th). If we can get Starr in the top 25 he will smash value, be in the optimal, and potentially get someone a takedown. I see him more as a high 20’s driver, but with attrition he could easily pull off another top 25.
4. Dylan Lupton ($6,700) – P29: Lupton only has one relevant race at Texas and that was in 2018 where he finished 17th. This week though, Lupton is in much better equipment (Sam Hunt #26) and should be a threat for another top 20, maybe even top 15. My strategy is to play three top tier drivers, but if you want to be different and go with 2, Lupton is a grat mid/value fringe option on Saturday.
5. Ryan Vargas ($5,100) – P30: Vargas had a decent 24th place finish at Texas earlier this season, but he was in the 4 car, this week he is back in the #6. Last season at this race, Vargas drove the #6 to an 8th place finish. I do not expect a repeat performance but I do see Vargas finish top 20 on Saturday which would be great value for his salary.
6. Jesse Little ($5,400) – P34: Little had a rough day here in the spring and finished 29th because of mechanical issues. In 2020 though, Little had finishes of 14th and 15th here, allbeit in better equipment. I still think there is upside here with Little though for his price. I see him as a low to mid 20’s driver in this race, as long as his car holds up.
7. Jeremy Clements ($6,100) – P14: Clements is typically a safe play, even when he starts in the teens. Of course with any race, carnage can happen he occasionally gets caught up in it but Clements is a smart driver who tends to finish around where he starts. I think Clements is a mid to high teens driver with top 10 upside if things fall his way.

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.

Roval Racing…in the Rain?

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.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

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.

AJ Allmendinger ($10,700)

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.

Noah Gragson ($10,000)

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.

TY Dillon ($9,300)

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.

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Alex Labbe ($7,300)

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.

Josh Bilicki ($7,500)

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.

Gray Gaulding ($7,600)

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)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Kris Wright ($5,700) – P38: Wright is driving for BJ McLeod this weekend, has great PD upside, and has a good history at road course. Oh, and this is a Stewart-Haas Racing prepared car. How do you not love this car?
2. Landon Cassill ($6,600) – P35: Cassill is another good road course driver as his 19.7 avg finishing position at this track type this seaon would indicate. His worst finish at a road course in 2021 is 27th, but his best was at the Daytona RC, 12th. That track runs similar to the Roval.
3. Loris Hezemans ($5,100) – P34: Hezemans has only 3 Xfinity Series starts under his belt, and one was a road course in 2021. At Road America this season Hezemans finished 22nd. Like I keep hammering home this is another good place differential play.
4. Joe Graf Jr. ($4,800) – P30: Graf has not excelled at road courses in his career, but he did manage to navigate the carnage in the rain here last season and finished 15th (started P31). This season he has more experience and is in the #17 RWR car that we love to use each and every week. Could Graf pull out a magical run and finish top 10, maybe, but is a top a 15 more likely, definitely.
5. Kyle Weatherman ($4,700) – P24: Like with Graf there is some risk for a negative score, but the upside is too great here to pass up. Weatherman usually does well at road courses, and in the two he’s seen more than once he has avg finishes of 15.5 (Indy GP) and 16.5 (Daytona RC). Last season at the Roval, Weatherman got caught up in an early wreck, so I don’t count that but looking at his history at similar track types I expect a solid DFS points day out of Weatherman
6. Brandon Brown ($6,000)- P16: Brown won his first career race last weekend and you can’t dispute the confidence that gives driver. In his Xfinity career, Brown is an above average road course driver. Brown has a 19.7 avg finish in 14 races. I feel Brown is a low teens play this week.
7. Spencer Boyd ($4,500) – P33: Boyd is consistantly a mid 20’s driver when it comes to road courses. We won’t see Boyd pushing for the lead or a top 10 most likely, but a top 25 finish at his price will more that suffice to make value.

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.

Can we run this race to the end dry?

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.

NASCAR DFS: Top Tier

Kaulig Racing

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.

John Hunter Nemechek ($10,000)

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)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

JJ Yeley ($8,100)

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.

Garrett Smithley ($7,300)

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.

Alex Labbe ($7,500 – P32), Santino Ferrucci ($7,700 – P33)

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)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Caesar Bacarella ($6,400) – P37: Bacarella was excellent at Talladega in 2020 finishing 17th and then 13th. Earlier this season he wrecked with 6 to go and finished 38th. I look at the race earlier this year as a fluke and will roll out plenty of Bacarella in my lineups this weekend
2. Brandon Brown ($6,600) – P19: I expect Brown to be wildly underowned on Saturday with him starting from P19 and plan on taking advantage of this. Brown is one of the top SS drivers in this series and has improved his finish every race here. Since 2019, when he finished 15th, Brown has improved to the point that he comes in with back-to-back top 10 fnishes at Talladega.
3. David Starr ($4,700) – P28: “You done messed up, A-a-ron”. Starr is a superb Superspeedway racer and DraftKings showed him zero respect with this salary. The man has five finishes of 18th or better in his las six races at Talladega. Add in his finishes at Daytona where he has five straight top 20’s including a top 5 if you take out his two wrecks and this is just too easy. Play Starr on Saturday at 15% ownership.
4. Ryan Sieg ($6,900) – P17: Sieg is another driver, like Brown, who has improved as he gains experience at Superspeedways. In his last two races at Dega, Seig has back-to-back top 5 finishes, including a 2nd place finish here last season. Sieg will potentially be under 20% and could be the difference in a GPP.
5. Joey Gase ($6,100) – P39: Gase has not done well recently at Talladega, BUT he hasn’t been in good cars. His best results came in the mid 2010’s when he was driving the car he is in on Saturday. Gase has a top 5 and two other finishes of 11th and 16th in four races in the #52.
6. Joe Graf Jr. ($6,100) – P40: For a driver starting last, Graf doesn’t project to be that highly owned, but there’s good reason. In his three races here he’s never finished higher than 31st. Now if you are playing cash (WHY?!) he is a lock because there is no safer play on the slate, but for GPP’s there are better options.

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