We have a double dose of NASCAR DFS this weekend as the NASCAR Xfinity Series is set to go green shortly after the NASCAR Truck Series race concludes. Similar to the Truck Series, the practice and qualifying sessions were slightly impacted by weather, and I’ll elaborate on that shortly. Last week at Vegas, Josh Berry took home the win and locked in his spot in the Xfinity Series championship race in Phoenix in two weeks. That shook up the playoff picture especially for AJ Allmendinger who now sits sixth in the standings without a race remaining in the Round of 8 that caters to his strengths. Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, and others will all be fishing for a win on Saturday so let’s take a look at today’s NASCAR DFS picks for the Contender Boats 300!

 

Saturday’s race gives us 200 laps (66 more than the Truck Series) and they’re broken into the typical 45-45-110 lap segments that we usually see on intermediates. Friday’s practice and qualifying session were a bit misleading. The practice session was trimmed from 20 minutes down to ten so they could fit qualifying in as they struggled with keeping the track dry on Friday. So practice notes are available below, but if you read the Truck Series Playbook for the Baptist Health Cancer Cure 200, then you’ll know that I’m not heavily investing in practice notes today because it all boils down to how well you manage your tires in the longer runs. This is the Xfinity Series and I’m expecting the chaos and nonsense we normally see from these drivers.

Contender Boats 300 Practice Notes

NASCAR DFS Top Plays

Noah Gragson ($11,300; Starting P2)

Gragson has been great at Homestead. In his first three races here he finished top five in each while leading over 80 laps in two of those races. In February of 2021, he led over 30 laps and was cruising to victory until this happened with three laps to go…

Obviously that’s an unfortunate incident involving David Starr, but Gragson had a pretty comfortable lead. He didn’t need to drive as hard and that close to the wall. So instead of winning the race, he wrecks and if I recall, he ruined a very profitable DFS day for yours truly. With that in the past he wants a win here. He’s been pretty strong on the higher tire wear tracks this year. He was second at both Vegas races (collecting dominator points in both), he was second at Auto Club, he won Darlington-2 after finishing second in Darlington-1. He has a pretty comfortable seat in terms of the playoff standings, but I get the sense he wants to score a win here given what we saw last year at this track and he’s one of my favorite expensive drivers on the slate.

Ty Gibbs ($11,100; Starting P3)

It’ll be a challenge to play both Gibbs and Gragson in two-dominator builds but it can be done. I just don’t know if you’ll love the overall construction of the lineup. But Gibbs is a driver that has shown up with speed and led laps at a variety of tracks in the playoffs. He led 30 last week at Vegas, 24 at the Roval, 89 at Bristol, and 66 at Kansas. He’s getting up front, but he just hasn’t won since Michigan in the beginning of August. I do question if he can manage tires at the higher tire wear tracks, but he did win Richmond back in April and he won Vegas-1 which is a medium tire wear track. But at Darlington this year he’s finished 16th and sixth while finishing 13th at Auto Club. He’s awfully tough to fade either way.

Justin Allgaier ($10,700; Starting P20)

I’m not entirely sure what the deal was with Allgaier in yesterday’s practice. The car was off the pace and wasn’t great, but remember, last week at Vegas both he and Josh Berry were slow in practice and posted mediocre qualifying runs. Berry went on to win the race while Allgaier finished third. I think given that yesterday’s qualifying session was only ten minutes, he just went out to see where there was grip on the track. The bigger knock on Allgaier is that he just doesn’t have the greatest resume at Miami. He only has two top tens and seven top 15 finishes in 13 career races at this track. He’s a pricy PD play without a ton of success here. I think I prefer just playing him in Tournaments on Saturday, but of all the playoff drivers, he’s the one starting deepest. I don’t love A.J. Allmendinger today, but he’s a pivot off Allgaier that’ll see less ownership and Kaulig Racing looked fast in the short practice run.

Trevor Bayne ($10,000; Starting P1)

Some folks may scoff at this mention because of what happened last week. Did Bayne get any dominator points? No, I was caught off guard by that. But if you actually watched the race, he had a very strong day. On the fourth lap he got loose and almost wrecked the car but saved it. That did cost him several spots and he had to scratch and claw his way back through the field a couple times to finish top five. 40 points on Draftkings at his hefty price tag isn’t ideal but it could’ve been worse. He showed some grit getting back up there and is on the pole for the second straight week. 

Austin Hill ($9,700; Starting P10)

I haven’t mentioned Hill probably as much as I should this year. To be honest, I think I prefer his teammate more this weekend, but more on him shortly. Hill consistently shows up with speed each week and we constantly find ourselves seeing him run top five at some point in the race. But he looked good in practice yesterday for shorter runs and he does have a win here from the Truck Series. But I have a sneaky suspicion his teammate could have the better day for us…

Sheldon Creed ($8,800; Starting P7)

Creed has been pretty vocal this week, especially yesterday, that he loves Homestead. He didn’t have a ton of success here in the Truck Series, but in three races here he did grab a pair of top tens and a top five. He likes these tracks where he can run along the wall and generate a lot of momentum coming out of the corners. Remember, he almost qualified for the playoffs at Darlington, but he put the car in the wall a couple times battling with Kyle Larson and Noah Gragson…

He won Darlington twice last year in the Truck Series and this is one of his favorite tracks. It’s been a very frustrating year for Creed, but there’s dominator potential and a chance at a top five finish. The car looked decent in practice and he was fastest in ten-lap averages if you choose to put any weight into those results. Myatt Snider scored a win in this car so let’s see if Creed can give us a show on Saturday.

Landon Cassill ($8,400; Starting P16) 

The Kaulig cars were surprisingly fast in practice. Perhaps there’s a strong effort by Kaulig to finish out the season strong to give Allmendinger a legitimate shot at winning the Championship. But Cassill stands out as everybody’s favorite option for Saturday’s race among this team. He was second-fastest in single lap speed just behind Gragson and was sixth in ten-lap averages. But what kind of ceiling do we think he has on Saturday? He doesn’t jump off the page as a consistent top five finisher, but he’s certainly optimal if he pulls that off. I think he can get a top ten, which is fine. Kaulig Racing has been awfully hard to trust in 2022, but they may have nailed the setup for this weekend at least.

Ryan Sieg ($8,200; Starting P25) 

Sieg went out and qualified P25 after posting the 13th-fastest single lap, and top ten averages in the ten-lap metric. The qualifying lap wasn’t great, he just got a bit loose in turns three and four, but saved the car. He grabbed a top ten finish here in 2021 but that marks his only top ten in nine races here. He probably finishes top 15, but realistically he’s a 12th-place car every week. And that’s still serviceable in DFS. I may prefer him more in Cash games than Tournaments and here’s why. If he has the opportunity, Sieg isn’t afraid to gamble on old tires for the sake of having track position late in the race. He’ll likely stay out while others go in for fresh tires. That’s not a great idea at a track like Homestead. He’ll either wreck on the restart or he’ll be easily passed depending on how many laps remain. I think several people will target the PD here in Tournaments so I may lay off him and find leverage elsewhere.

Parker Retzlaff ($7,600; Starting P29)

I like Retzlaff a lot more than I like his price tag and equipment. Personally, I may try to be underweight. But the PD is there and I could see him moving up seven or eight spots, but he needs to finish at least 17th for 5X value. My other concerns lie in the fact that he is better on short, flat tracks. Miami is not that and we haven’t seen how Retzlaff can manage his tires in this environment. For the sake of variety, I don’t hate mixing him in because he could always prove my doubts wrong. But I’ll be underweight in the hopes that he wrecks or has a mechanical issue. And I hope that drops his price for Martinsville and Phoenix the next two weeks. Those tracks are better suited for his style of driving.

Myatt Snider ($7,400; Starting P19)

Snider has a win here. And that means enough to warrant a mention in the Playbook. That win came with RCR whose cars are now occupied by Austin Hill and the previously-mentioned Sheldon Creed. But a few drivers in this field consider Snider “The King of Homestead.” Noah Gragson even acknowledged prior to qualifying that he was picking Snider’s brain about this track on the flight down to South Florida. Aside from the win he’s also finished seventh and 15th here and has claimed the pole here before. He has struggled to finish consistently well in this 31-car though. It’s a significant downgrade in terms of equipment from RCR. I think he’s worth some exposure in Tournaments, but we can go elsewhere if playing Cash games.

Anthony Alfredo ($7,200; Starting P35)

Alfredo is an easy Cash game target for Saturday’s action. He’s very good at managing tires on high tire wear tracks and it’s quite possible we see Fast Pasta live up to the name on Saturday. He’s finished fifth and sixth in a pair of races at Auto Club and he finished 11th and fourth in both 2020 races at Homestead. Keep in mind, he was with RCR that year. He did grab a top 15 at Darlington earlier this year in this car and ran well at Auto Club as we’ve already discussed. He only needs to finish 21st for 5x value in DFS. If he grabs a top 15 finish, he’s flirting with 7X value. Get ready for heavy exposure from the field, but he has a clear path to being optimal.

CJ McLaughlin ($6,100; Starting P38)

McLaughlin isn’t good but he does start dead last so he gets the benefit of not getting our DFS lineups negative points. I won’t be going here in Tournaments because I want a better ceiling than a 30th-place finish. But that would get him 20 points and if he can squeeze out a top 25 then that’s about 30 points. We have seen him surprise in a few races in the 38-car for RSS Racing, but it’s awfully hard to think he has that potential on Saturday. His teammate, Kyle Sieg, is in play as well if you need a little more variety as he also offers PD, but without a ton of experience here.

Kris Wright ($5,800; Starting P34)

The value tier is so ugly on Saturday. I can’t bring myself to rostering Bayley Currey so I’ll entertain Wright in the 68-car. He actually had a decent showing at Vegas last week with 26 points on DraftKings, but he was $6,400 and only returned 4X value. This week he at least starts deeper in the field and offers a little more PD. Would we be surprised at all if he cut a tire and wrecked? No. But it’s ugly in this range and if he keeps it clean he can maybe squeak out a top 25.

Josh Williams ($5,200; Starting P32) 

The value plays will be tough to identify on Saturday. You can take the safety net with McLaughlin but that might be a low floor/low ceiling play. So I’m here to once again try and put a successful Josh Williams day out into the universe. Williams does have three top 20 finishes in four races at Homestead with DGM Racing. Starting this deep in the field, he certainly can move up and be a valuable play and he really just needs to finish 25th. He’s about as cheap as I’ll go in both Cash games and Tournaments. I’ve seen a few people hype up Julia Landauer as a DFS option today. I don’t know if I’m on that path. Her car is fine, it’s the same equipment Stefan Parsons has succeeded with lately, but she’s very inexperienced and did not look comfortable during practice and qualifying.

NASCAR DFS Core Plays

The NASCAR DFS Core Plays for this race will be posted in the NASCAR DFS Discord Channel around 3:00pm ET.

 

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