So we find ourselves with a nice Truck race leading into the Cup race on this lovely Sunday afternoon. So while you finish putting together your Milly Maker builds for NFL turn this race on and watch a bunch of pickups turn left for a couple hours. But let’s start off with how awful the DraftKings contests are for today. They’re PITIFUL. The Happy Hour has a $100 top prize. The Slingshot has just a $400 top prize and even the Octane is down to $5,000 which is still good coin, but a farcry from where it was earlier this year. I might throw five lineups into that contest and call it a day. DK’s mailing it in with NASCAR this year. But it’s to be expected, as they’ll come back in the Spring with some kickass contests.

But we’ll turn our attention to the race. By now you’ve either read the Xfinity Playbook, or you read Matt’s Track Breakdown, or you listened to the podcast. This is a 1.5-mile track that tends to lend itself to some boring races. However, Saturday’s Xfinity race was definitely on the opposite end of the spectrum as it had one of the more exciting finishes in recent memory with Noah Gragson blowing his chance at qualifying for the Championship Four.

For Sunday’s Truck race, we’re looking at 147 laps (35-35-77) with NO competition caution. This write-up will be a short one, but ALL playoff drivers are in play. I won’t necessarily write up each one, but I’m trying to get exposure to the remaining seven drivers (aside from Moffitt who punched his ticket to Phoenix last week) at least once in my builds. I’m keeping a tighter driver pool as I’m just not excited about this race from a DFS perspective. I’m only going to make about five-to-ten lineups. Yesterday went pretty well for us so we’ll try to keep that momentum going!

Driver Pool

Thorsport Racing: I’m going to lump these guys together. And I could do the same for the GMS drivers but I feel like those three drivers deserve their own spots. Grant Enfinger ($9,300; Starting P4), Matt Crafton ($9,000; Starting P7), and Ben Rhodes ($8,600; Starting P8) are in a unique position as all three are currently just outside the top four in the playoff standings. This team is reaching the point where they need wins because it’s realistic these three drivers could miss qualifying for the final round. Enfinger could get into Phoenix via points, but Crafton and Rhodes and almost in must-win territory. All three are in play on Sunday but I may lend most of my exposure to Rhodes as he may be the most desperate of the three for a win.

Zane Smith ($10,800; Starting P6) The results haven’t been there for Zane recently but he’s coming off a week where he collected 22.75 dominator points and actually went backwards in last week’s race but still returned value. Smith’s teammate, Brett Moffitt punched his ticket to Phoenix last week so that’s one less driver in the way as Smith gets his way to the front. He’s had great speed of late and if the setup is right he’s a good play for dominator points. He didn’t have a great finish here in July, but he led 26 laps and finished the first two stages in the top five so the result doesn’t reflect the correct setup he had.

Sheldon Creed ($10,100; Starting P1) With Creed on the pole and NO competition caution, it’s hard to not lock & load him at this price tag. I’m very high on the GMS drivers today. That includes Smith, Creed, and even Tyler Ankrum who we’ll get to shortly. Creed is the guy that can go out there and truly dominate the race. Over his last three races coming into Texas he’s led 150 laps and registered 80 fastest laps and he has two runner-up finishes in that span. He’s currently sitting in second in the playoff standings but it’s clear he wants a win to punch his ticket to Phoenix. It’s hard to believe that a guy with his speed and starting position is just the fourth-most expensive driver.

James Buescher ($9,900; Starting P36) Buescher is the man of mystery today. He’s a previous Truck series champion from back in 2012 but he hasn’t raced in five years and it’s been seven years since he raced full-time. He’s in the 42-truck this weekend which has been a decent ride. Ross Chastain has driven it to a couple Top 12’s this year and a month ago at Vegas, Conor Daly drove it to a Top 20 finish. In this spot you just have to ask yourself how rusty he might be after being away for so long?

Dylan Lupton ($9,500; Starting P29) It’s a very small sample size with Lupton, but he’s back in the 17-truck after he drove it to a Top 15 finish a month ago at Vegas. He’s starting 29th and could just as easily pull off another Top 15 performance on Sunday.

Tyler Ankrum ($8,500; Starting P9) After his disastrous wreck last week at Kansas, Ankrum’s in do-or-die mode between Texas and Martinsville and you have to believe he’d rather punch his ticket this week. He is a huge fan favorite, but the results lately have been worrisome. Keep exposure to GPP’s because this is his last good shot at moving on to Phoenix.

Chandler Smith ($8,300; Starting P5) Earlier this year, everyone was all over whoever was driving the 51-truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports. When KFB was driving it, he was a lock no matter the price tag. But Chandler Smith didn’t have the easiest transition to this ride. But that’s changed over the last four races as he hasn’t finished worse than sixth and he’s riding three straight top five finishes as well. Remember with the Truck series we aren’t necessarily looking for 5X value with each play, but we certainly won’t say no to it. Smith’s another good play if we’re looking strictly at momentum.

Stewart Friesen ($8,100; Starting P21) Friesen’s back this week and he’s got some PD on his side as well starting just outside the Top 20. Friesen’s had some awful luck this year. It’s definitely been a weird year for both him and Johnny Sauter (although Sauter’s radio entertainment has made up for the lack of wins). But from this starting spot you’d expect Friesen’s price tag to be higher. Earlier this summer he started 18th at this track and finished fourth. Even if he simply moves up and finished 12th he’s returning 5X value for you.

Trevor Bayne ($7,500; Starting P13) The starting spot is high and we’d love to target him starting further back. However, we can’t ignore what he’s done lately. He’s really shaken the dust off and the 2011 Daytona 500 champion has looked pretty damn good recently with three top ten finishes in his last three races. The price tag actually dropped and the starting spot is easy to stomach if he can get another top ten on Sunday.

Raphael Lessard ($7,300; Starting P20) Aside from his surprising victory at Talladega three weeks ago, Lessard has been pretty terrible. But this is a good price tag and a great starting spot for him to move up and return value via PD. He got himself a top 12 finish here over the summer so I’ll look to get him into a few lineups today once again.

Chase Purdy ($7,100; Starting P28) DraftKings missed on the pricing here for Purdy. He didn’t look great in his previous two races, but he’s back in the 24-truck which has shown it possesses speed. And this is one of the more PD-friendly starting spots Purdy has had this year when he has raced. If he gets into the Top 18 he’s returning value. There is risk, but I’m liking this play today.

Tyler Hill ($6,300; Starting P16) I don’t think anybody is going to play Tyler Hill today, except me. The starting spot may scare folks away and we normally like him starting five rows further back. But he’s been pretty serviceable in his last three races that he’s run. He was a fantastic play a week ago at Kansas and that influenced the starting spot this weekend. I’ll take a couple shots on him in GPP’s. More track experience will only make him a better driver and he’s trending in the right direction.

Tate Fogleman ($5,500; Starting P17) I normally wouldn’t play Fogleman starting this high but I’m not enamored with the cheaper plays this week so if you play Fogleman you’re basically just hoping he holds his position. He’s shown he can finish in the Top 15-20 at a variety of tracks this year so again you’re playing him in GPP’s as a cheap punt that maybe repeats that result. If he holds this position he’ll return 5X value. If he can move up and finish 14th that’ll be 6X value.

I know this is a shorter write-up so if you have any questions on any drivers I’ll be in the Chat room leading up to the race fielding NFL questions, but I’ve always got time for NASCAR as well.

 

Example Lineups

The EXAMPLE lineups are meant to show different roster constructions that are made with drivers from the Playbook. These are not meant to be plugged and played.

DraftKings Cash

1. Sheldon Creed

2. Dylan Lupton

     a. James Buescher (Pivot)

3. Stewart Friesen

4. Derek Kraus

     a. Trevor Bayne (Pivot)

5. Raphael Lessard

6. Chase Purdy

DraftKings GPP

1. Sheldon Creed

     a. Dylan Lupton (Pivot)

2. Zane Smith

3. James Buescher

     a. Stewart Friesen (Pivot)

4. Chase Purdy

5. Tate Fogleman

6. Tyler Hill

     a. Matt Crafton (Pivot)