I have not had the greatest success in DFS with the Truck race and the first Xfinity race. Granted I’ve played them light, but they’ve been pretty tough to read. Kyle Busch was surprisingly a non-factor last night. He seemingly just went out and did a bunch of laps to get a feel for how the track would be running at night. But with last night’s results, we have the field set and luckily the prices were determined before we knew the order last night. We’re only seeing the Top 14 get inverted for tonight’s race. It would’ve been the Top 15 if Kyle Busch were racing again today, but he’s done with Xfinity for the year. Instead the Top 14 are inverted with the rest of the starting order being determined by the formula they’ve been using the last few weeks.

I believe we’re seeing 250 laps, similar to last night, and there’s no competition caution. So whoever gets out to the early lead could dominate most of the first stage as we’ve seen happen at Richmond. The value options are tough because so many cheaper guys are likely going to go backward, so this will truly be a slate that you’ll need find the right values and definitely pair them with the right dominators.

Driver Pool

Austin Cindric ($11,700; Starting P12) With Kyle Busch out of tonight’s race, Cindric is priced up a little bit. He had a pretty good race overall finishing fourth last night and collecting 24.5 dominator points as well. At his price tag last night he did enough to hit 6X value. Today he has more PD on his side. He now has four Top Five finishes in five races at Richmond. He’s obvious chalk and a driver you can build around. Sadly, the role players you put around him will be tough to identify.

Chase Briscoe ($11,300; Starting P5) It was a bit of an underwhelming run from Briscoe last night. He finished outside the Top 10 and only had 3.25 dominator points. That’s not what we’re used to seeing from him. However, if there’s anybody who has a team that can make the right adjustments for the second race of a double-header this year, it’s Briscoe and the 98-team. He won the second race at Homestead, won the second race a Dover a few weeks back, and he was runner-up at the second Kentucky race as well. This team makes the necessary adjustments to the car and I’m going to go heavier than the field on him today. I’m hoping most people pay up for the PD of Allgaier, Cindric, and the laps led with Jones. Briscoe’s the guy I’m targeting on Saturday.

Ross Chastain ($10,800; Starting P11) Ross has looked fantastic of late. He still doesn’t have that regular season win that he covets, but the car has been fast. Along with his teammate, Kaulig Racing has had these cars prepped pretty well and Ross is worth rostering once again on Saturday. He’s finished sixth or better in his last five races including a Top 5 last night. A Top 5 run today with some dominator points will help him return value.

Justin Allgaier ($9,900; Starting P14) I wouldn’t be taken seriously if I didn’t mention the driver who won last night’s race. For as much bad luck as Allgaier’s had this year, he’s found a little magic of late. He struggled to find a win for much of the season and has now won two of the last five races. Interestingly enough, Allgaier dominated the first Dover race that he won with 120 laps led and 28 fastest laps, but turned in a seventh-place performance the next day. Now he still had 13.75 dominator points in the second race and it helped him return 5X value. He’s cheaper this time around starting P14 so while I don’t like him as much in GPP’s, he’s a strong Cash game play. The field could be heavy on last night’s race winner so I’m going to keep ownership to maybe 3/20 lineups.

Brandon Jones ($9,700; Starting P2) I don’t want to play a lot of Jones today because ownership will be heavy on him. And if there were a competition caution I’d be less inclined to play him. However, with no comp. caution on Saturday, that gives Jones extra time to lead laps as long as he can get around Tommy Joe Martins. That shouldn’t be too hard. Jones’ car was okay last night, he just didn’t get the result he wanted. His team can make proper adjustments and field a better car today so he could lead about 40-ish laps early on if you’re looking for a bolder call per se.

Justin Haley ($9,400; Starting P13) Haley had arguably the best car last night as he collected the most dominator points in the field. He led 51 laps and had 57 fastest laps to help him hit 10X value last night. Obviously ownership will be high on him assuming they’ve made minimal adjustments to the car. I may try to be lighter than the field here, but exposure is warranted with Haley today.

Jeb Burton ($9,100; Starting P21) Burton is going to either finish in the Top 7 or outside the Top 20. So he has boom-or-bust potential. What I do like is that he’s been in a timeshare with Daniel Hemric for the 8-car. However, he will have the opportunity to run the second race this weekend which normally hasn’t been the case for double-headers. Burton had an average running position almost in the Top 15 last night and he ran as high as fifth. All he needs in a Top 10 finish for 5X value and he certainly can do that if he’s shaken off the bad luck from last night.

Michael Annett ($8,900; Starting P9) Annett’s never a sexy play. He tends to finish right around where he starts, which could mean we have a driver in position for a Top 10 today. In his last five races on the season he has an average starting position of 7.8 and an average finish of… You guess it, 7.8. But that’s stable and it sucks the price jumped this week. But because of the lack of a ceiling and the higher cost I do somewhat like him as a contrarian play. Despite the floor, you can play him in Cash games, but I’d rather pay up to Burton for PD or down to Snider who has immense PD on his side today.

Myatt Snider ($8,100; Starting P27) Snider will be the chalk of the slate as he’s less than the average price on DraftKings and he has immense PD upside. He couldn’t even finish Stage 1 last night so because of that he starts further back and will go to the rear on pace laps for swapping cars. The good news is that the car he’s going to finished tenth at Darlington last weekend and he feels really good about it. Snider’s playable in both Cash and GPP formats.

Jeremy Clements ($7,400; Starting P17) It was a strange race for Clements last night. He didn’t have an awful run by any means but finished 17th seemed a little off considering he had an average running position of 14th and never ran outside the Top 20. I’m going back to the well for today’s race for the modest PD upside. He hasn’t finished in the Top 15 since the first Dover race so I’m mostly hoping he can find the Top 12-15 magic that he had roughly a month ago.

Mason Massey ($6,800; Starting P28) When the hell do we ever play Mason Massey? Never, that’s when! However, Massey’s car was decent. He even tweeted out that they were rolling off Top 10 laps last night, some laps even in the Top 5. And in looking at Racing Reference last night, he had 32 green flag passes, and was passed just 13 times under green flag conditions as well. Was it a Top 10 car? No, he’s really hyping up his car a bit. But he could’ve had a much better finish for something that was under his control. The reasoning he finished so poorly is because he overshot his pit box and had to take a penalty. He really needs a Top 20 to return value today, but based on what we saw yesterday we could get a decent race out of Massey.

Jesse Little ($6,200; Starting P24) If I’m willing to take shots on Little when he’s starting in the Top 15, you know I’ll throw a little exposure his way when he’s starting 24th. The downside is because of the presumed PD upside, DraftKings has him priced up a bit. So while I shudder at the cost, I’ll find a way to fit him into a few builds here and there. I don’t love the upside because he seems to have gone cold from when he was a good play starting in the Top 15, but he’s worth throwing in a couple GPP lineups.

Chad Finchum ($6,100; Starting P33) As mentioned at the top the value options are quite garbage today. Even in a better ride, Stephen Leicht couldn’t get out of his own way, and Timmy Hill was a S&P once again. I’ll get a little exposure to Finchum starting outside the Top 30. He usually manages to find his way into the Top 20 early on, but then fades back and finishes around 25th later in the race.

Bayley Currey ($6,000; Starting P25) The starting spot is a little high for Currey, but there’s potential here. I’m not expecting 5X value from Currey, but as long as he doesn’t have a disastrous afternoon, he can be paired with the right dominators. If he can manage a Top 20 finish he’ll get you 5X value.

Colby Howard ($5,700; Starting P29) I’m still trying to figure out if Howard will go to a backup car today. I’m sure we’ll get confirmation from Pockrass before the race starts. It doesn’t sound like it, just sounds like he fell behind with fixable issues. Admittedly, I missed his performance last night but he did finish 30 laps behind everyone else. For this race, I can get on board with Howard as a PD play. He has flashed Top 20 upside this year.

Joey Gase ($5,200 Starting P18) Gase is about as cheap as I want to go on today’s slate. If you’re venturing into playing Tommy Joe Martins because he’s on the pole, then Godspeed. Gase started 31st last night and finished in the Top 20 for some fantastic PD. Today you don’t need nearly that upside (although you won’t say no to a little PD). If he holds his starting spot and finished 18th, he’ll get you 5X value. A Top 15 finish would be 6X value.

 

Example Lineups

The EXAMPLE lineups are meant to show different roster constructions. These are not meant to be plugged and played.

DraftKings GPP Example

1. Chase Briscoe

2. Justin Haley

     a. Justin Allgaier (Pivot)

3. Myatt Snider

4. Riley Herbst

     a. Mason Massey (Pivot)

5. Jeremy Clements

     a. Kaz Grala (Pivot)

6. Joey Gase

 

DraftKings Cash Example

1. Ross Chastain

     a. Justin Allgaier (Pivot)

2. Justin Haley

     a. Chad Finchum (Pivot)

3. Jeb Burton

4. Myatt Snider

5. Jeremy Clements

     a. Chase Briscoe (Pivot)

6. Joey Gase