NASCAR DFS Playbook Clean Harbors 175: Top DraftKings Picks

What’s this? A Craftsman Truck Series race on a Sunday? Well sign me up! The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series were busy with racing at Daytona this weekend, but the Trucks have the prestigious honor of racing at the Milwaukee Mile. The Craftsman Truck Series raced here from 1995-2009 so there might be one or two older veterans that know what to expect here (looking at you, Matt Crafton). But the ARCA Series has raced here the last couple seasons so there will be a couple young drivers that have some on-track experience. This is a flat, one-mile track with 9.25 degrees of banking in the turns. To give you reference, the banking at Martinsville is 12 degrees, so Milwaukee is actually even flatter while twice the size. Fortunately, we’ve seen plenty of short, flat tracks on the Truck Series schedule already this year. Think of tracks like Martinsville, Richmond, Gateway (to an extent), North Wilkesboro, and IRP. Ty Majeski finally found his way to victory lane a couple weeks ago at IRP and he’s locked himself into the next round of the playoffs. Will it be another driver’s turn on Sunday? Can Corey Heim find another short, flat track win this year? Let’s dig into the drivers and lineup strategies for Sunday’s Clean Harbors 175!

Now while we did have practice Saturday afternoon, we don’t know the starting order yet. That will be Sunday morning so this Playbook will have the usual updates in RED once we know where every driver is starting. The asphalt surface for this track is also pretty damn old. Looks like the last re-pave was in 1995. For comparison, Richmond is a high tire wear short track and it was repaved in 2004. North Wilkesboro was brutal on tires and it hasn’t been repaved in over 40 years. So we should expect tire fall off to come into play for the drivers when strategizing.

175 laps will give us a healthy amount of dominator points. When you account for cautions there will likely be 110+ dominator points available. So across my 20 lineups I’ll be mixing in two-to-three dominators in my lineups. As far as passing goes, I don’t want to say that I know what to expect. I could look at the last few races here but so much time has passed and the track is much older. I think a good indicator of how easy or hard it will be to pass would be to monitor Sunday’s ARCA race. But all in all, I won’t let it dictate my roster construction. We’ll see how qualifying shakes out and go from there.

Clean Harbors 175 Practice Notes

NASCAR DFS Driver Pool

Ty Majeski ($11,000)

No surprise here, we’re leading off the Playbook with a driver who put up 120+ fantasy points in each of the last two races. Majeski finally broke through and got his first win of the season at IRP and he was runner-up at Richmond. Those are two tracks we can pretty much correlate (in some way) to Milwaukee. He had the fastest single lap in practice, but we don’t have much data to look at because it also doesn’t look like too many drivers ran ten consecutive laps. But he has momentum and we saw last year how he started heating up during the playoffs. That looks to be the case again this year. Update: Majeski had some kind of issue in tech inspections. His crew chief was ejected for today's race. He'll start at the rear but be scored from P13, and he must do a pass thru which means he could lose a lap but he can probably get it back if there's an early caution. If you want to pivot to Zane Smith you most certainly can. Zane had a bad qualifying effort but he has nine top five finishes in 17 races this year. I'll be mixing him into plenty of Tournament builds.

Corey Heim ($10,800)

Majeski is the driver with the most momentum coming into this race. But Heim has been the most consistent driver over the last ten races. Since he won at Martinsville in April, Heim hasn’t finish worse than eighth and what’s even more impressive is that he’s collected dominator points at every race in this ten-race sample size. We haven’t seen a huge performance like what Majeski has done recently. For Heim, that came with his win at Martinsville. But he’s probably going to be the second-favorite dominator for most of the field and with good reason. Heim did race here two years ago in the ARCA Series so he has a little experience at least. Update: Qualified in the top ten and has been great on these tracks. Lock & Load.

Grant Enfinger ($10,200)

I’m skipping over Zane and Hocevar for now. Not because I don’t like them. They obviously have win equity and were faster than Enfinger according to the practice notes. But Enfinger has a lot more to race for this week, and for the rest of the year. GMS is closing up shop at the end of the year which means Enfinger is once again looking for a ride. And he’ll probably land one because he’s a talented driver. He’s won twice this year. Any organization would be lucky to have him. Enfinger isn’t as consistent or as reliable as Majeski or Heim. But that’ll suppress his ownership numbers and he jumps off the page as a GPP play. He won at Gateway and Kansas, leading 65 laps in each race. In every other race this year he’s led a total of three laps. So when he hits, he hits big for us. He’ll also be running in the ARCA race on Sunday to get extra laps. Update: He landed on the pole so he's more of a Tournament-only play but I still like the upside.

Christian Eckes ($10,000)

I’m not crazy about the $9K range so I’ll mention another $10K driver. But Eckes had top ten speed in practice. He has two wins on the year and was runner-up at Gateway and IRP. Not a ton of analysis, but I’ll offer updates on Eckes and the $9K drivers once we have qualifying.

Derek Kraus ($9,500)

I wasn't all that high on Kraus but he does offer PD starting outside the top 25. I can't say I'll play a ton of exposure here because there are cheaper drivers offering similar PD. But for that reason he may come in lower-owned than drivers like Friesen, Crafton, and DiBenedetto.

Nick Sanchez ($9,200)

But Dan you just said you don’t like the $9K range!” Yeah I know and then I decided to pull up the race results from the ARCA Series at Milwaukee from 2021 and 2022 and noticed Sanchez raced in both of them finishing 5^th and 12^th so recent experience has to account for something, right? He posted the second-fastest lap in practice behind Majeski and the affiliation with Kyle Busch Motorsports means there will likely be speed every week. We just haven’t seen him really take off and have a huge race since Texas and that was a long time ago. Update: Starting on the front row next to Enfinger. Could get some dominator points if yesterday's practice speeds come through.

Matt DiBenedetto ($8,500)

Very curious to see what Matty D can do in this spot. He made the playoffs which is huge for this small team. He posted a top five lap in practice and it came toward the end of the session, where I’m guessing he took fresh tires and the team made some adjustments. He was probably content with the changes and brought the truck in, or the session ended shortly after his quick lap. But with that said, it looks like we may have a mid-range truck with speed and plenty to race for since he’s in the playoffs and fighting to advance to the next round. Update: Truck was loose in qualifying and he qualified outside the top 20. I still like him based on yesterday's practice speed. However, we can expand our driver pool adding Friesen and Crafton since they're a little more expensive and both start outside the top 20 as well.

Taylor Gray ($8,300)

This article is pretty loaded with TRICON drivers. Gray missed out on the playoffs but still had a very good year. He had speed in practice and even had the best ten-lap average. Take that with a grain of salt because only seven drivers were able to record a ten-lap average. He grabbed a top ten at Martinsville and had good DFS showings at North Wilkesboro, Richmond, and IRP. I say “good DFS showings” because he technically moved up from where he qualified, even if the finishes weren’t elite. But it looks like these TRICON Toyotas have the right set up for this race. Gray has raced here twice in the ARCA Series and finished second and fourth. Update: GPP only. Starting P4. Not really sure if I'll be playing him personally.

Matt Mills ($7,900)

This is more of an investment in the equipment than it is in Mills as a driver. He did start and finish fifth at Richmond last month so he isn’t completely hopeless in this ride. It’s the 51-truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports. One of the best trucks in the field. For that reason he might be underpriced as we saw at Richmond. I have a feeling he’ll qualify well and likely just be a Tournament-only type play. Update: Qualified P26 so I expect he'll be popular. Perhaps a good leverage spot to go underweight but his truck is phenomenal.

Bayley Currey ($7,700)

Currey has made the most of his chances in this part-time opportunity with Niece Motorsports. For what it’s worth, he does tend to qualify the truck very well. He’s started P11 or better in his last four races. But he does have top ten upside including a top five finish at Nashville where the truck was legitimately fast. 

William Sawalich ($7,300)

We’ve seen upside from Sawalich in a small sample size so far this year. He finished top ten at Martinsville, Richmond, and IRP. All three tracks can probably be compared to Milwaukee in some form or fashion. DraftKings also hasn’t really done anything to adjust his price tag and he’s put up 40+ fantasy points on two separate occasions in this truck. So we can assume he once again has top ten upside but exposure will depend on where this team qualifies. I would also keep an eye on Chase Purdy ($7,100). He had the best speed of anybody in this range and honestly has had some big DFS performances this year as well so expect an update on him following qualifying. Update: I prefer Sawalich who starts P12. But Purdy starts inside the top ten and could be optimal if he just doesn't lose his starting spot. Wouldn't play either in Cash games.

Tyler Ankrum ($6,800)

This is a questionable price tag for a guy that was having arguably his best year to date in the Truck Series. Ankrum had an electrical issue at IRP but he finished in the top 13 in the four races prior to Indianapolis. Short, flat tracks haven’t really been his bread & butter this year, but he is discounted and he did finish 13^th at Richmond which is a high tire wear short track. Update: Starts P16 so I love the upside at this price tag.

Tanner Gray ($6,600)

This is somewhat of an insulting price tag for the elder Gray brother. It’s been a down year for Gray. But at this price tag you’d be happy with 30+ fantasy points which he’s done eight times this year. He grabbed a top five at Martinsville in the Spring and only finished 18^th at North Wilkesboro but he did start P31 for that race. The last two races he was 16^th at Richmond and 15^th at IRP. Plus, he was much more expensive for both of those races. His practice notes weren’t elite but if he qualifies outside the top 20 I’d be fine with that for DFS. Update: He qualified P11 so that may lower ownership. I'll likely play 20% in Tournaments. Could be optimal if he scored a top ten finish. Not Cash Game eligible.

Colby Howard ($6,200)

I never feel great rostering Howard, but there's potential for a top 15 finish. He finished 17th at Martinsville after starting P26 and he grabbed a top 20 on a high tire-wear track like Darlington. I don't trust his equipment enough for Cash games but I think he's okay to maybe play in 10-20% of Tournament builds. 

Conner Jones ($5,900)

Do I really want to do this again with Jones? He’s in great equipment as we saw Majeski go on a tear in the playoffs a year ago with this ride. But he has just one top 20 finish in five races on a part-time schedule with ThorSport. He had top 20 speed in practice but we’ve seen that before. All in all, I’m still likely playing him because it’s great equipment. But this does feel like a race where he could lose the lead lap early on. But he is running the ARCA race on Sunday if you value those extra laps counting as practice. Update: Starts P28. Good for a value play in Tournaments. I'm weary of saying he's Cash eligible just based on the underwhelming performances we've seen from him. Brett Holmes is a decent pivot in this range.

Sean Hingorani ($5,100)

My jaw dropped when I saw this price tag. Is this kid making his Truck Series debut? Yes, but there’s very raw talent here and he’s not in the worst equipment. He’ll be in the 61-truck. Christopher Bell finished 16^th in this ride at North Wilkesboro while Jake Drew finished 17^th at IRP. Hingorani laid down a quick lap in practice. He gets a bad reputation because he’s a bit reckless in the ARCA Series. And by that I mean he was about to go a lap down at Mid-Ohio by teammate, Dean Thompson, and Hingorani forced Thompson off the course and was subsequently suspended. He’s 16 years old, so it’s a teaching moment for the kid. He’s won four times this year in the ARCA West Series and has upside. I don’t care where he starts either. The equipment is good. He has talent. He’ll have multiple paths to returning value at this price tag. Update: Qualified outside the top 25. Has upside in this truck. I'll be overweight compared to the field.

Tyler Hill ($4,800)

Hill isn’t as exciting of a play as Hingorani, but there’s a reasonable floor of 20+ fantasy points on DraftKings with this play. He’s only run four races this year, but he’s moved up in some capacity in each race and hasn’t finished worse than 26^th. Given the price tag you can justify Hill as a punt. He’s not as reliable as his brother, but he hasn’t been awful and his ownership is usually never that high. Update: Qualified P32 and has top 25 potential. Still think Hingorani hasa the better ceiling, but I like the floor for Hill. He's the cheapest I want to go in this field.

NASCAR DFS Core Drivers

As always, the Cash Game drivers can also be considered for Tournaments.