NASCAR

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.

Stop me if you heard this before, this week the Xfinity Series is at a road course. This is the sixth time the Xfinity Series will be at a road course this season. Ty Gibbs ($10,300) is the only driver in this field with more than one victory at a road course this season (Kyle Busch has 2 as well). Austin Cindric ($10,500) has yet to win at a road course, so some would say he is due. Cindric has three top 5’s in the previous five road courses in 2021. Cindric and AJ Allmendinger ($10,400) are both pulling double duty and running both Xfinity and Cup Series races. Allmendinger has a victory at Mid-Ohio this season, and earlier this week AJ said that this track runs similar to Road America where he finished 4th and led 12 laps.

All three of these drivers are in play on Saturday, but they also will most likely be very popular so I am not looking to stack them together. After we see the qualifying results I will decide who I want to focus on building around and post that in discord. Since I think the strategy for most will be to jam in as many of Cindric/AJ/Gibbs as they can and get stuck with bad value drivers I want to go a different path.

NASCAR DFS: Dominators

Justin Haley ($9,400)

Single Lap Practice Rank: 3rd

Haley is a driver who tends to run well at road courses but gets overlooked for the “bigger” names. Since 2020, Haley has two top 5’s and six top 10’s in nine road course races. At this track, last season Haley finished 2nd after starting 11th and this season at Road America he finished 10th. Haley was at the top of the leaderboard for a good portion of Friday’s practice session and depending on where he qualifies could present some great value on Saturday.

Kevin Harvick ($10,100)

Single Lap Practice Rank: 4th

Harvick has run two races this season in the Xfinity Series (both road courses) and has finished 4th and 6th respectively. At Road America, Harvick came home 6th after starting 20th. In Friday’s practice, Harvick ran only 12 laps but did have the 4th fastest lap which came at the end of his session which bodes well for the long-run ability of this car. We should see a lot of long runs in this race based on last year where there were only three cautions outside of the stage breaks.

Sam Mayer ($9,000)

Single Lap Practice Rank: 2nd

Mayer was really happy with his car after practice and I am not surprised seeing as he was less than two tenths off the top practice lap. Mayer has run two road courses (both in 2021) in the Xfinity Series and has one top ten (last week). At Road America, Mayer was running well at the start, but got caught up in a wreck on lap 12 and was done. If Mayer’s car is as good as it looked in practice we should easily see a second straight top 10 this week.

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Alex Labbe ($7,200)

Single Lap Practice Rank: 10th

Labbe is someone we regularly turn to for road courses and he rarely disappoints. Last season at Indianapolis RC, Labbe finished 8th after starting 20th. Labbe did not have a good week last week (39th), but if you take that finish out he has an average finish of 18.5 in the other four road course races this season. If Labbe’s car can live up to the top 10 practice speed he could find himself in the optimal lineup.

Jeb Burton ($7,700)

Single Lap Practice Rank: 8th

Before this season Jeb Burton has never had a top 10 in the Xfinity Series at a road course, this season he has three in five races. Kaulig Racing has one of the best road course programs in the series and it shows how good they are with Burton’s finishes this season. Last week Burton drove himself to an 8th place finish at Watkins Glen and with the speed he showed on practice on Friday I expect a fourth top 10 this week.

Andy Lally ($8,300)

Single Lap Practice Rank: 20th

Lally is a road course ringer and has run four races this season with an average finish of 16.8. That number is skewed a little by his 31st place finish at the Daytona Road Course. If you take out that poor finish Lally has an average finish of 12th. Lally did not look great in practice, but depending on where he qualifies he could be a solid play.

Other Options: JJ Yeley ($7,400), Austin Dillon ($8,700), Michael Annett ($8,100)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Sage Karam ($6,800)
2. Brandon Brown ($5,200)
3. Will Rodgers ($5,500)
4. Jeremy Clements ($6,300)
5. Kyle Weatherman ($4,500)
6. Matt Jaskol ($5,400)
7. Josh Williams ($4,900)
8. Josh Bilicki ($6,900)

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!

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! Each week, I break down the field 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.

Welcome back, everyone! After a hiatus because of the Summer Olympics NASCAR is finally back at the track this weekend. This weekend all three series are at Watkins Glen International Raceway in upstate New York, a 3.4-mile road course featuring 11 turns.

The last time the Xfinity Series was here at Watkins Glen Austin Cindric ($10,100) went to victory lane (to no one’s surprise) and AJ Allmendinger ($10,300) finished second but was disqualified following post-race inspection. Once again, both Cindric and Allmendinger are the favorites to win this race on Saturday and both will be in the majority of my builds. We do have two Cup Serie regulars stepping down in Erik Jones ($10,600) and Austin Dillon ($9,900). Neither is probably a threat to win, but both should be given consideration when building lineups.

NASCAR DFS: Dominators

AJ Allmendinger ($10,300)

Starting Position: 6th

I went back and forth between AJ and Austin Cindric on who should be the top play and it came down to the place differential for me. It may be minimal but the difference between starting 2nd and 6th could be all we need for a takedown. Now, cards on the table, I plan on playing both of Allmendinger and Cindric together some, but if you can only afford one, go Dinger.

Austin Cindric ($10,100)

Starting Position: 2nd

Even though I do say we don’t need to chase dominator points in low-lap races like this that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and get the points where we can. Cindric could and should get the lead early from Allgaier and lead the early portion of this race. I don’t need to go over the credentials for Cindric on road courses, just know he is dominant at these types of tracks and should be again on Saturday.

Ty Gibbs ($10,500)

Starting Position: 15th

With how well the youngster has performed at road courses this season, I could have put Gibbs as the top play on this slate, but I think WGI is challenging and could give Gibbs some fits early on. Now, with that being said, I do see a path to using all three of these drivers I’ve mentioned together and that could potentially be the optimal build for this race. Gibbs has two top 5’s at road courses this season and I see him getting his third top 5 at a road course on Saturday.

Austin Dillon ($9,900)

Starting Position: 33rd

Dillon will be in the #23 for Our Motorsports this weekend and will hope to duplicate the performances his brother has had in this car in 2021. Ty Dillon has two top 10 finishes this season in the #23 and you can bet that Austin will want to one-up his brother. This is not a great car, but when there is a capable driver like Austin Dillon behind the wheel it can perform with the top half of the series. I really love the potential upside of this car on Saturday and I will look to Dillon as a potential pivot off of one of the three mentioned above.

Other Options: Erik Jones ($10,600 – P36), Sam Mayer ($9,700 – P23), Brandon Jones ($9300 – P21), Noah Gragson ($9,500 – P11)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

I am going to do something very different with this tier this week since there is a group of drivers all in similar starting positions and similarly priced. Instead of breaking them down individually I will list them (in salary order) and give a small blurb about them. It will basically come down to you picking your 2-3 dominators above, a cheap value piece, and then potentially 2 of these 5 drivers.

• Josh Bilicki ($7,500 – P30): Bilicki is a good road course driver with an average finish of 18.8 in 5 road course races since 2020.
• Preston Pardus ($7,400 – P36): Pardus is a road course ringer and should push for a top 20 on Saturday. If you take out the Daytona Road Course this season where he wrecked, Pardus has an average finish of 18.3 with two top 15’s. All things being equal, save the $100 and go Pardus over Bilicki.
• Alex Labbe ($7,200 – P26): Since 2020, Labbe has run eight road course races and has two top 10’s. Labbe also has an average finish 16th place. I think Labbe is probably my favorite play in this group. At Watkins Glen, Labbe has finishes of 16th and 19th in two races.
• Kyle Tilley ($7,100 – P37): Tilley has very little experience in NASCAR (two Cup Series races), but is a skilled veteran at these types of tracks. If you can’t get up to a Labbe or Pardus, Tilley is a solid pivot.
• Michael Munley ($7,000 – P34): Munley is a 14 year veteran and a road course specialist making his NASCAR debut. He has a decent car and the place differential upside is there. Munley is probably my least favorite of thee five, but if you can’t get higher than his price, I do not hate using him.

Other Options: Justin Haley ($8,700 – P5), Harrison Burton ($8,500 – P4), Michael Annett ($7,700 – P18), Justin Allgaier ($8,900 – P1)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Stephen Leicht ($6,300 – P40) – Leicht will be tough to fit in three dominator builds but I will try to make it work. Since 2020, Leicht has an average finish of 23.8 in six road course races. If we can get that type of performance from him on Saturday he will be optimal for sure.
2. Kyle Weatherman ($5,400 – P22) – Weatherman has performed really well at road courses this season and is cheap enough to finish around where he starts to make value. He has top 20 upside as well.
3. Jesse Little ($4,600 – P27) – Little is cheaper with similar upside to Weatherman.
4. David Smith ($5,900 – P38) – Smith is a road course veteran with no NASCAR experience. Starting 38th at under $6K leaves me wanting to take the risk on him. Smith will be in the #52 on Saturday, a car with top 25 upside.
5. Brandon Brown ($6,900 – P14) – Similar to Tanner Gray in the Truck Series, Brown is a low owned piece to use in 2 dominator builds.
6. Jade Buford ($5,600 – P16) – Buford is a pretty good road course driver and is having a pretty good run of later. I don’t love this play because of his starting spot but he will be low owned.
7. Matt Mills ($4,800 – P29) – Mills has been good at road courses in 2021 averaging a 22nd place finish. That is more than enough upside for his salary.
8. Kris Wright ($4,500 – P24) – Cheapest driver on the slate with some risk. Wright is a road course driver, but I worry that he could sink some really good lineups otherwise. If you want to take the risk, go for it, but just know that he is probably someone who will finish around 30th.

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 if you are new the WinDaily Sports or to my NASCAR content, welcome! I break down the field each week and give you my favorite plays for each race in three different price categories.

Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial to make sure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/). You will notice that all pricing is for DraftKings in these articles since they are the only site 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 is the last NASCAR Xfinity Series race for a couple of weeks as the series takes off during the Olympics (thanks, TV contracts::eye roll emoji::). If you are like me and love short track racing then you won’t be disappointed this week. New Hampshire is a short flat track that is similar to Richmond and Phoenix. You can also look at Martinsville and Nashville but I will be focusing mainly on Richmond and Phoenix as comparables. There is not a lot of experience when it comes to the Xfinity Series regulars at New Hampshire so using data from other tracks will be important this week. Christopher Bell ($11,500) is the only driver in this race with a win here, but I will get into him more in his breakdown. One thing to take note of is that a Joe Gibbs driven car has won six straight Xfinity Series races here and nine of the last eleven. There are a few drivers in JGR Toyotas that I think can keep this streak alive on Saturday.

NASCAR DFS: Dominators

Christopher Bell ($11,500)

Starting Position: 14th

I just need to open by venting about how disrespectful DraftKings is being to Christopher Bell in this race. This man is a TWO-TIME winner and the ONLY previous winner in this race at Loudon. Bell is only priced $400 more than Allgaier and $800 more than Cindric while starting nine and ten places further back in the field. I expect Bell to be upwards of 75% owned because of this but I cannot in good conscience fade him. The man is perfect at this track. He has run two races here with wins in both and he led 279 of 400 laps. Bell also has four wins, six top 5’s, and seven top 10’s in ten races at Phoenix and Richmond in this series. I’m sorry but I cannot find a reason DK priced him so low and in the same breath I cannot find a reason not to roster Bell on Saturday as well.

Josh Berry ($10,400)

Starting Position: 21st

Berry is back in a JRM Chevy this week for the injured Michael Annett. This season Berry ran 12 races for JRM and outperformed all expectations. At Phoenix Berry wrecked out and finished 36th, but he did win in Martinsville and finished 4th in Nashville so as long as he can keep his car clean we should see a big DKFP total day from Berry. Like with Bell, Berry is too cheap for his upside and I expect at least a top 10 with top 5 upside for him on Saturday.

Brandon Jones ($10,100)

Starting Position: 23rd

Jones is the next Joe Gibbs car in this tier that I want to roster on Saturday. I don’t know if the 19 team can get to victory lane but they should be able to pick up another top 10. Jones has run four races at Loudon but has only finished lower than 11th once (wrecked out in 2017). In his two races in the 19, Jones has finished 6th and 9th. I think game log watchers will pass on Jones at this price and keep his ownership down. Jones is coming in off two poor finishes but prior to that he had five straight top 10’s.

Daniel Hemric ($9,800)

Starting Position: 13th

Hemric is having one of the best years of his career and it’s no coincidence that he is in the best equipment he’s ever been in. Hemric has run two races at New Hampshire (2017-18) and has an 11.5 average finish. I really think Hemric is another potentially low owned driver to pair with our Bell/Berry builds. When I look at similar tracks, Hemric has run well at both Richmond and Phoenix in his career. Hemric has seven top 10’s and five top 5’s in eleven races between the two tracks.

Other Options: Austin Cindric ($10,700 – P4),Noah Gragson ($9,100 – P3), Justin Allgaier ($11,100 – P4)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

JJ Yeley ($8,400)

Starting Position: 36th

Yeley is expensive this week but the upside is incredible for him this season in this car. So far in 2021, Yeley has run six races in the Rick Ware #17 with his worse finish being a 24th place at Martinsville. Yeley did run this car at Phoenix earlier this season and finished 13th there. Yeley has run nine races in the Xfinity Series at Loudon and outside of the two races he wrecked in, he has only finished lower than 17th once.

Jordan Anderson ($7,600)

Starting Position: 33rd

Like with Yeley, Anderson is priced up some and might be overlooked for bigger names this weekend. Anderson has good equipment and he was helped by Josh Berry and Tyler Reddick getting him points to qualify for this race. Anderson did run one race this season and finished 34th, but he did have issues with his car and finished 51 laps down. I think Anderson is a top 20 car on Saturday.

Brandon Brown ($7,500)

Starting Position: 22nd

Stop me if you’ve read this before, but Brown is having a great season for a small single car team. Brown has run one race at Loudon (2109) and he finished 16th. At Phoenix this season Brown had a 3rd place finish and overall he has run great in his career there too (12.9 avg finish). I really like Brown’s chances for a top 10 this week, but is purely a GPP play.

Other Options: Sam Mayer ($8,800 – P9), Riley Herbst ($8,000 – P12), Brendan Gdovic ($7,300 – P32)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Dexter Bean ($5,400) – P37: Bean can’t really hurt you at this price starting P37. I will probably be overweight on him and it scares me
2. Kyle Weatherman ($5,300) – P34: Weatherman has eight finishes of 28th or better in his last nine (excluding races he’s wrecked). Bean/Weatherman is a combo I will be using to fit three top tier drivers
3. Patrick Emerling ($6,700) -P24: Emerling is a Loudon “ringer”. This is home track and he has plenty of experience on this track that will definitely help him on Saturday.
4. CJ McLaughlin ($6,300) – P39: McLaughlin is on par with Emerling and Bean for me. If you need the salary savings go Bean, but if you can afford McLaughlin, go there.
5. Matt Mills ($4,800) – P27: I love Mills’ price, but his starting position scares me some. Mills does have 5 straight finishe of 26th or better, so maybe the risk is worth it with him.
6. Spencer Boyd ($5,200) – P40: Boyd starts dead last and is cheap, so why isn’t he higher on the list? He will most likely be the chalk value play and I would rather pay up for a chalk driver and find value drivers to be different. If you are playing cash, then Boyd is your man for the value tier.

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 if you are new the WinDaily Sports or to my NASCAR content, welcome! I break down the field each week and give you my favorite plays for each race in three different price categories.

Make sure to check out my NASCAR DFS Tutorial to make sure you are ready and understand how I break down the races and build lineups (https://windailysports.com/nascar-dfs-pit-stop-2021-introduction-to-nascar-dfs/). You will notice that all pricing is for DraftKings in these articles since they are the only site 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.

Welcome (back) to Atlanta NASCAR! This is the first time the series has come back to a track for the second time in 2021. It is nice to have some stats from this season to go off when building lineups even though there are some drivers in different cars.

Earlier this season Martin Truex Jr. dominated this race but finished 2nd to Justin Allgaier ($10,600). This week Kyle Busch ($14,000) is in the #54 car that Truex drove to P2 but he will start from the pole and should dominate the early part of this race. This week DK did a good job pricing up Busch and making us decide to use him or not (more to come on that). Another Joe Gibbs car, Harrison Burton ($9,000) also ran really well here in the Spring and should be in for another solid day on Saturday.

NASCAR DFS: Dominators

Justin Allgaier ($10,600)

Starting Position: 8th

Allgaier may be from Illinois, but it seems like Atlanta is his second home. In his last nine races at Atlanta, Allgaier has one finish outside the top 11 and has four straight finishes of 6th or better. I think Allgaier will give Busch a run for the win on Saturday as he did with Truex in March.

Kyle Busch ($14,000)

Starting Position: 1st

Kyle Busch is expensive this week, good! It should keep his ownership down and make you have to decide if you can afford to play him (spoiler alert: YOU CAN). It’s not pretty, but you can build a three-dominator lineup with Busch in it. If you don’t love stars and scrubs builds you can definitely go with a two dominator build and get a little more balanced. I do think Busch leads a good amount of laps on Saturday and probably wins, but he is ranked 3rd in this tier in my opinion. It will take a lot for him to pay off his salary and I think that both Gragson and Allgaier have easier paths doing that. Busch does have six top 2 finishes in his last eight Atlanta races and has won his last two races here in the Xfinity Series

Josh Berry ($10,000)

Starting Position: 28th

Berry has run this #31 car for Jordan Anderson twice this season and both have resulted in top 10’s. In both races in this car Berry has started higher than 30th, now this week he starts 28th, but that doesn’t change his ability to get a top 10 again. Earlier this season while driving for JRM, Berry wrecked early and finished 38th so we can’t truly count that race.

Noah Gragson ($9,200)

Starting Position: 9th

Gragson is another JRM driver who has run well in every race he’s been in at Atlanta. In the Spring, Gragson started 30th but managed to finish 4th while running nearly 72% (117 laps) of the race in the top 15. Gragson has never finished outside the top 10 in his three career races here in Atlanta and has two straight top 5’s.

Austin Cindric ($11,000 – P4) is always a driver to consider and if you plan on running multiple lineups he is someone you can look to as a pivot off Busch. Cindric does not have great track history at Atlanta with only two top tens and an average finish of 11.5. It’s hard to doubt Cindric any week with the equipment and skill he possesses but I just think there may be better options for the salary this week.

Other Options: AJ Allmendinger ($10,300 – P3), Sam Mayer ($9,400 – P22), Harrison burton ($9,000 – P5), Ty Dillon ($9,700 – P30)

NASCAR DFS: Mid Tier

Jeremy Clements ($7,000)

Starting Position: 19th

Before 2019 this team did not run well here in Atlanta, but things changed in the last three seasons for Clements. Over his last three starts here Clements has managed three straight top 20 finishes and had his best career finish of 12th here in the Spring. Before having problems at Road America last week, Clements had rattled off three straight top 15’s as well. Clements actually comes in as the third-best FPTS/$ play on this slate behind Kyle and our top value play.

Santino Ferrucci ($8,000)

Starting Position: 25th

Ferrucci only has one start here at Atlanta and it was a 15th place finish in the Spring this year. In his five career Xfinity races, Ferrucci has only finished below 15th once so a top 15 seems very likely for the 26 team on Saturday. Ferrucci is relatively expensive, but if you are running two dominator builds he is a great low-owned pivot off guys like Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, or Daniel Hemric.

Brett Moffitt ($7,800)

Starting Position: 20th

Moffitt is a driver that nobody seems to play weekly, but he usually seems to have a good day. In his last six races, Moffitt has outscored his projection in half of those races. Earlier this season at Atlanta, Moffitt finished last (40th), but that was because he got involved in a wreck on lap 39. Moffitt was set for a solid day in that race running all 39 laps inside the top 15. In his only other race at Atlanta in the Xfinity Series, Moffitt finished 14th.

Other Options: Brandon Jones ($8,800 – P13), Daniel Hemric ($8,600 – P2), Justin Haley ($8,700 – P7)

NASCAR DFS: Value Tier Rankings

1. Carson Ware (4,7000 – P26): Ware is the top FPTS/$ play on this slate and is too cheap for the equipment he is in
2. Jeffrey Earnhardt ($6,900 – P37): Highest priced value play, but has huge upside starting so far back
3. Colby Howard ($6,100 – P36): Howard has great track history at Atlanta (avge finish of 18th) and starts far enough back to destroy value today.
4. Landon Cassill ($6,800 – P21): Consistent and safe driver who will probably finish around where he starts and make value
5. Bayley Currey ($5,900 – P39): Similar to Earnhardt he starts at the back and has some upside for the price.
6. David Starr ($5,100 – P35): Starr is not a pretty play, but he is cheap and has top 25 upside on Saturday.
7. Jade Buford ($5,400 – P27): Buford has been running well of late, and could be a top 20 threat if things break 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!