The Truck series returns after nearly a month off and this is truly the only Round of 8 race they have before next week’s championship race in Phoenix. I apologize for getting this Playbook out later than normal so I’ll keep the introduction brief. I indulged in a little too much World Series celebrating following Atlanta’s Game 2 win last night, but either way here’s what you need to know for today’s race along with the driver pool.

Laps: 200 total (50-50-100 stage segments) with NO competition caution. This hurts trucks in the back of the field that could’ve used the re-start in Stage 1.

Caution watch: Over the last six truck races at Martinsville there have been at least six cautions for ~40 laps, but in four of those races there were at least ten cautions for about 80 or so laps in each race. That will take away some dominator points, but also highlights the general chaos we tend to see here.

Here’s a look at the playoff drivers…

John Hunter Nemechek ($10,600; Starting P1) Arguably the best driver in the best equipment. It’s hard to fade JHN at any track. And he’s on the pole in a race where we don’t have a competition caution. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started putting other drivers a lap down ten laps into the race. He won here three years ago with his family’s truck series team and has a few other top five finishes. Now he’s in the best equipment of his career. Believe it or not he hasn’t won since Pocono way back in June, but he’s clearly a favorite later today.

Sheldon Creed ($10,300; Starting P4) This isn’t his best track. In four races here he has just one top ten finish which came last year where he also led 65 laps. Aside from that he’s finished 11th, 17th, and 19th. A solid run will get him into the Championship Four. I can’t say I’ll have a ton of exposure to him, but I’d be an idiot if I didn’t have some lineups with Creed. The question is, can he take us higher? I’ll see myself out…

Zane Smith ($9,500; Starting P9) Smith really needs a win to move on. Every week he brings speed with his truck and every week he seems to deliver a poor finish. He doesn’t have a lot of experience here, but he did finish third here a year ago while leading 20 laps. I’m not going to be incredibly heavy, but he makes for an okay GPP play.

Chandler Smith ($9,200; Starting P6) I’m not overly excited about Chandler Smith today. He doesn’t have much experience here as I do believe this is his Truck series debut at Martinsville. But he is in KBM equipment at least. At this price tag you really need him to finish third if he isn’t getting dominator points. This is one guy that’s off my radar today.

Matt Crafton ($8,400; Starting P5) Why play Smith when you can play Crafton for $800 cheaper starting in the same row? One thing you’ll notice in today’s Playbook is that I really value experience here. Martinsville is a track where you can really bully inexperienced drivers into aiding your own track position. Crafton is a guy with plenty of experience here. He’s raced here 37 times and has 21 finishes inside the top ten, ten finishes in the top five, and he’s won here twice. He’s currently in the playoff picture, but he wants to get back to victory lane. Crafton has just one win in the last four seasons surprisingly and hasn’t led a ton of laps this year. But even at this cheap of a price tag you could still potentially get dominator points. And if he doesn’t, a solid finish will do just fine.

Stewart Friesen ($8,200; Starting P7) Friesen’s on the outside looking in at the playoff picture, but he’s not terribly far out. Really he only needs to finish in the top five to return value. I don’t understand why some of these playoff drivers aren’t priced up a couple hundred more dollars. Friesen’s raced here seven times including four finishes of sixth or better. He hasn’t finished outside the top ten here since 2018.

Ben Rhodes ($8,000; Starting P3) Rhodes is currently second in the points standings behind JHN. Rhodes actually has more experience here than Friesen and is a nice option to pay down for if looking for dominator points. He’s never won here but he’s finished second in two of the last three races here and he led over 100 laps in March of 2018. If he can collect a few fastest laps and maybe score a top five then he’ll be optimal.

Carson Hocevar ($7,600; Starting P8) Not a ton of experience here, but he ran well a year ago. He started 33rd and finished 13th. He’ll need a win to move on to the next round and it likely won’t happen. But we don’t need him to win for DFS we just need a solid finish. There are other PD targets in this range, but do we really trust them as much as we might trust Hocevar? I’d be happy if he scored a top ten on Saturday, but if he moves up a few spots that’s gravy as well.

Remaining Drivers 

Josh Berry ($11,300; Starting P25) Berry is back in the Rackley W.A.R. truck for this race and he’s historically a great short track driver. He surprisingly won the Xfinity series race here back in April and he led over 90 laps in that race after starting P29. Today he’s likely just a PD play as I believe this race will be dominated by the playoff drivers. But even then he’s still a fine PD target. I don’t think you need to spend up for Parker Kligerman. Kligerman’s a nice PD target, but I like the potential ceiling of Berry more if he can find his way to the front. It’s just a question of if he can get the equipment there.

Johnny Sauter ($10,900; Starting P22) It’s a tough price to stomach with Sauter today and not one we can feel great about given how bad he’s looked the last two years without practice and qualifying. However, prior to Talladega four weeks ago, he had rattled off four straight top ten finishes including three of those in the top five. No one is safe at Talladega and sure enough he was caught up in a wreck. With that said, Martinsville has been a pretty solid track for him. In his last 19 races here, he has 14 finishes inside the top ten including ten top five finishes and three wins. He probably isn’t winning Saturday’s race but most people will spend up and take more PD on Berry and Kligerman. I like Sauter as a better leverage play among these expensive drivers. Given his track history and run up to Talladega, he could finish in the top five come race’s end but he’s a safer bet for a top ten.

Tyler Ankrum ($10,000; Starting P19) What a stupid price tag for Ankrum. And I can’t explain it, but this is a gut/leverage call. Ankrum’s priced in a spot where you can either pay up for dominator points and PD or pay down to better values in the mid-range offering PD. I like to roll the dice though. I like taking some risks in my GPP builds. Ankrum is in great equipment but he has some awful luck, or he just sucks. He’s raced here four times and his best result was P12 a year ago. Aside from that he’s barely flirted with the top 20. But his ownership will not be high and this is a tough asking price for Ankrum. But every week we look at the optimal lineup for NASCAR races and think “I would’ve never thought to play that guy.” Keep exposure to just GPP’s.

Grant Enfinger ($9,700; Starting P15) Enfinger won this race a year ago and has typically performed well at Martinsville with a few other top five’s on his resume. He’ll roll off P15 on Saturday so he’s also offering PD and he’s in the 98-truck once again. Awfully hard not to like Enfinger today.

Taylor Gray ($8,800; Starting P39) He can’t necessarily kill you with PD, but there’s still risk here. He’s only had one good finish in this DGR truck, but the talent is there. He just tends to be a little too aggressive at times behind the wheel. When we talk about drivers that don’t know how to wheel a vehicle, Gray sometimes falls under that category because he’s wrecked others for his own benefit in the past and at Martinsville that could happen more than normal. He’s starting on the back row and certainly has upside after he finished 12th at Gateway.

Corey Heim ($8,600; Starting P28) The price tag is a little hard to look at for Heim, but he is in Kyle Busch’s 51-truck and as long as Drew Dollar isn’t behind that wheel, this is a truck that should be considered most weeks. I don’t love that Heim doesn’t have a ton of experience here. Typically at Martinsville, but Heim is offering PD and we know the equipment is elite. Heim’s an ARCA driver that was one of the better drivers in the field and he’s been great on short tracks. We’ll see how well he does on a short track with about twice the vehicles he’s normally used to racing against especially when the field has more experience than he does.

Sage Karam ($7,300; Starting P31) One thing I learned last week with the Garrett Smithley call is that it’s worth taking some risks in GPP’s to land yourself a takedown. Karam is a comparable decision I’m making this week. In terms of experience in this series and at this track, he’s certainly lacking it. But he has IndyCar experience and we’ve seen him run well in the Xfinity series this year even though the results may not show it. He’s starting outside the top 30 in decent equipment and I’m guessing he comes in with low ownership. On paper, it’s not a great play, but if he can avoid the cautions and move up that way then I really like this play today.

Colby Howard ($6,400; Starting P29) The 9-truck has had its up’s and down’s this year, but we’ve seen that it can be a top 20 ride. Howard lost his Xfinity ride with JD Motorsports a couple months ago but he’ll be in the 9-truck for this race. Grant Enfinger piloted this ride to some solid finishes. Howard isn’t Enfinger, but he offers PD and he does have Xfinity experience at Martinsville. Previously in four Truck series races we’ve seen Howard move up, but those did come at other tracks. I would avoid him in Cash games but would mix in exposure in GPP’s.

Timmy Hill ($6,000; Starting P24) For the most part, I think DraftKings got the prices right this week for non-playoff drivers, but I do think we’re getting Hill at a discount. Just 30 points for 5X value, huh? In the last two playoff races at Martinsville, Hill has finished 14th and 5th in the 56-truck and in both those races he started right about where he’ll be starting later today. I think he’s a great value option on today’s slate that can be used in all formats. We like to target Hill on short tracks and superspeedways and this is a very nice spot for him if he runs clean.

Austin Wayne Self ($5,700; Starting P21) AWS is in a decent spot and could go overlooked this week. He starts just outside the top 20 and he did grab a top ten here a year ago. At this price point I’d be happy if he somehow stole a top 15. He’s always a risk due to the equipment and bad luck, but he’s a borderline Cash game play today if you are going that route.

Dawson Cram ($5,500; Starting P33) On a slate lacking good value plays, we can look to Cram on Saturday. If you catch Cram on a good day he can certainly be optimal. In four races at Martinsville he’s finished 16th, 13th, 24th, and 17th and these results were all with different teams and equipment. In the races he finished inside the top 20, he gained at least eight spots of PD in each. There’s risk but he has shown that he just finds a way to move up here.

Core Drivers

Top TierMid-RangeValue Tier
Josh BerryTaylor GrayTimmy Hill
Johnny SauterMatt CraftonDawson Cram
John Hunter NemechekGrant EnfingerAustin Wayne Self (GPP Only)