NASCAR DFS Playbook: Love's RV Stop 250 Picks

The Craftsman Truck Series is back after a week off for an exciting race Saturday afternoon from Talladega Superspeedway! It’s actually been a pretty eventful couple weeks for the Truck Series. It was announced Zane Smith will be racing in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024. He signed a multi-year deal with Trackhouse Racing, but he’ll drive for Spire Motorsports in 2024 and make the transition to Trackhouse in 2025. On top of that, earlier this week it was also announced that Spire Motorsports will purchase Kyle Busch Motorsports and Rowdy Manufacturing. Busch has acknowledged he wants to be more of a family man in his personal time as his career winds down. So that meant parting ways with his successful Truck Series team. With three races left in the season we have a lot of storylines regarding this series, but most importantly we have a race to preview. Let’s take a look at this week’s NASCAR DFS Love’s RV Stop 250 picks and strategies!

Let’s remember this is a superspeedway race so there is NO PRACTICE this weekend. The Craftsman Truck Series will qualify 9:30am ET Saturday morning and the race is set for 1:00pm ET so it’s a bit of a quick turnaround to update the Playbook and finalize our lineups. I’m likely only doing three lineups for this race and the Cup Series race. If you’ve listened to any superspeedway podcasts from Matt Selz and myself, you’ll know this is my least favorite style of racing for DFS. But I won’t be mailing it in. It’s just so hard to nail the optimal lineup when even the best plays can wreck at any minute. This race is set for 94 laps broken into 20-20-54 lap segments and the fuel range is roughly 30-33 laps. Let’s not forget, this is still a playoff race. As it stands right now, only Corey Heim is locked into the championship race after his win a couple weeks ago at Bristol. Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, and Grant Enfinger are all comfortably above the cut line but that could change with this kind of race. Zane Smith (-14 points), Ben Rhodes (-19 points), Nick Sanchez (-22 points), and Ty Majeski (-22 points) can’t really afford to wreck out of this one.

Remember, we aren’t trying to target dominator points, but we gladly take them if they’re available to us when the race is green. The Truck Series race has delivered some exciting finishes and new winners in recent memory. Matt DiBenedetto won this race last year for his lone career win after he started P30 last year. In 2021, Tate Fogleman won after he started P20. And in 2020, Raphael Lessard won after starting P15. In the last three races, of the drivers to finish in the top 12 at this track, 27 of them started P15 or further back. So with this series especially, we’ve seen plenty of variance and drivers move up through the field whether it be through the draft or through wrecks. The last three races have averaged about seven cautions per race for about 25-30 laps. So we should expect a good portion of this race to be run under yellow. Last year’s race had 25 drivers finish on the lead lap while nine drivers didn’t finish. The 2021 race which saw Tate Fogleman score the win had only 15 drivers finish on the lead lap while 21 drivers failed to finish the race.  And lastly in 2020, 17 drivers finished on the lead lap while 13 failed to finish. Welcome to Talladega! Chaos reigns supreme!

NASCAR DFS Driver Pool

Zane Smith ($10,500)

Zane Smith is a bit of an anomaly for this race. Zane has won the last two races at Daytona in the Truck Series although the last win came via stoppage due to weather. But it’s been a different story at Talladega. In three career races here he’s wrecked twice, but he did finish 17^th here in 2022 although he did start P4. He does have a top five at Atlanta’s new configuration, but he’s kind of an all-or-nothing type play. I’m still perfectly fine playing him because he’s proven he can run up front and win in this style of racing. He does need a good performance in this race because he’s 14 points beneath the cut line. Update: Qualified P18. I don't think you need to play him in Cash but you can. I'd probably stack the back.

Christian Eckes ($9,900)

Eckes is fairly disciplined on these tracks. He did wreck here three years ago when he was with Kyle Busch Motorsports. But he finished fifth in this race a year ago and led 25 laps. He’s finished third in back-to-back races at Daytona, but really capped it off with a win at Atlanta in the Spring where he led 35 laps. There aren’t too many knocks against him aside from perhaps you wish he had a larger sample size. But he’s a good driver that runs well in the draft. I’m sure Ty Majeski will be added following the qualifying session. He is 22 points under the cut line and can’t really afford a bad run in this race, plus he may just go straight for the win. But keep him in mind for just $100 more. Update: Starts one row ahead of Zane Smith so he's fine. I wouldn't play Majeski as he's starting too high and probably has Homestead circled on his calendar at the track he can score a win at.

Grant Enfinger ($9,600)

Just a quick addition of Enfinger since he's starting outside the top 20. He has won here before but that was seven years ago. In his last five races at Talladega he has just one win. But he does have an additional win at Daytona from 2020 and he finished fifth there this past Spring.

Ben Rhodes ($9,500)

We can never allow ourselves to become too roped up in “sure things” when discussing Daytona and Talladega. But Rhodes has been solid here. He finished second in last year’s race after starting P15 and was fourth in 2020. Even in 2021 he started on the pole and led 20 laps but finished 13^th. He has not wrecked in his last five Talladega races so maybe he’s due. But he’s also performed well at Daytona. He won the season opener in 2021, and finished second in 2022. This past Spring he started P26 and finished 11^th so he was a viable PD play. If he isn’t wrecking he’s usually finishing well on superspeedways. Update: He starts P8 so there's risk. He's better-suited for GPP's but still has win equity.

Chandler Smith ($9,200)

Smith no longer runs in the Truck Series since he got promoted to Xfinity. However, he had some great performances in his career with Kyle Busch Motorsports. He’ll drive the Rackley W.A.R. truck that was vacated by Matt DiBenedetto, but this is the same truck that won this race a year ago. In three career races at Talladega he has an average finish of 12.0 and he has a top ten at Daytona, and he finished fourth in the inaugural race at the new Atlanta configuration and he led 21 laps in that event. I might downgrade him a bit if he starts too high and I don’t think there’s much win equity, but he has experience and can surprise everybody by taking this team to victory lane once again. Update: Playable in all formats starting P28.

Brett Moffitt ($8,700)

Moffitt returns to the Truck Series since Xfinity is off this week. He’ll be in the 34-truck for Front Row Motorsports so the equipment is kind of on the same level as Zane Smith’s ride. Here’s a pretty fun stat about Moffitt. He raced here three times from 2018-2020 in the Truck Series and in each race he somehow managed to qualify P8. His results range from 17^th, to 7^th, to 4^th so he certainly has top ten equity and he led 20 combined laps over his last two races here. The price tag is actually outstanding considering he’s a former Truck Series champion so I’m more than happy getting exposure to him for Saturday’s action. Update: Starts P31. He'll be popular in all contests.

Nick Sanchez ($8,500)

I know the truck will show up with speed. But that doesn’t really matter once they start racing. He’s started on the front row for 35% of the races this season, including Daytona. He was blazing fast in qualifying but ultimately finished 26^th. But at Atlanta, which is not a direct comparison to Talladega but similar in drafting, Sanchez started P20 and finished second. If he qualifies on the front row then we look elsewhere. I’m fine pivoting to Brett Moffitt or someone cheaper. Update: Have to downgrade Sanchez since he starts on the front row.

Matt Crafton ($8,100)

Crafton gets the nod simply because of his experience. Do I think he wins? No, but he’s run Talladega plenty of times and has a handful of top tens. In his last batch of races here he qualified inside the top ten. However, qualifying in 2023 has been an issue for Crafton and on a track where we want PD and the upside of a good finish he might come into play on Saturday. He has a top ten in about nine of his last 17 races at Daytona so I don’t hate the play given that he’ll have teammates to work with even if there’s an order to help Majeski get the win. Update: Starts a little high at P12 but nobody likely plays him from this starting spot.

Taylor Gray ($7,900)

It seems like everyone is kind of high on Taylor Gray for this race which means he likely wrecks. But in each of the last four Truck races at Talladega, a non-playoff driver won, and in each of the last four races this track has produced a first-time winner. Gray has been competitive of late after he finished second at Kansas and fifth at Bristol. I believe he has only one superspeedway race under his belt and that came at Talladega in the ARCA Series. But there’s still upside and he’s +2800 to win on DraftKings Sportsbook which gives him about a 3.57% implied chance of winning this race. Update: Starts P24. Love the starting spot.

Bayley Currey ($7,800)

I’m going to mention Currey, but it comes with a bit of a caveat. He made waves at Atlanta earlier this year where he pulled off a top five. But I don’t think the ceiling is necessarily huge for this race. In this race a year ago, driving for Niece Motorsports, he started P32 and finished 21^st. That’s okay. In 2020, he started P21 and finished 15^th. At the Xfinity level, he has just one top 20 finish in four career races at Dega and the same goes for Daytona. The equipment is perfectly fine and he might have multiple paths to 35+ fantasy points, but I’m not entirely sure there’s a ton of top ten equity here. Update: Starts P27. Love it.

Tanner Gray ($7,500)

Interesting spot for Tanner Gray. He starts P19 and I don't think many DFS players gets exposure here. He's been AWFUL here historically. He's wrecked in each of his three previous races here. If looking purely for leverage he's an option. He's due to eventually finish a race here, right? He's finished second and fourth in his last two races at Daytona.

Jake Drew ($7,000)

By the time we set the starting order, I may be off Jake Drew. There’s no doubt about it, he’s been fun to watch. In four races this year his worst finished was 20^th at Bristol. But he finished 12^th at Nashville, 10^th at Kansas, and 17^th at IRP. Talladega is a whole new challenge for him. He’s never raced on a superspeedway before and he won’t have practice. That alone should give us pause. But he’ll be back in the 61-truck for Hattori Racing Enterprises this weekend. He doesn’t seem too nervous about this being his first superspeedway race so I’ll approach with optimism prior to qualifying. Update: He starts P10 so I'm not in love with the play but he could be optimal if he manages a top ten finish. I'd rather pay an extra $100 for Tyler Ankrum who has a more DFS-friendly starting spot.

Colby Howard ($6,600)

Howard is one of my favorite value plays ahead of qualifying Saturday morning. He started P7 last year and finished eighth, but he also grabbed a top five finish at Daytona to kick the year off. He has a handful of scattered top 20 finishes from the Xfinity Series in this style of racing, but he also fits that profile of a potential non-playoff driver that scores his first win. Update: GPP Play starting P17.

Bret Holmes ($6,200)

Holmes strikes me as a guy who is a bit of an under-appreciated superspeedway racer. In this race two years ago he started P19 and finished 15^th while last year he started P23 and finished third. Now he hasn’t had the same fortune at Daytona, but at Atlanta in the Spring he started P33 and finished 13^th. He even has a handful of top five finishes at this track during his time in the ARCA Series. Update: Starts P15. Great GPP option who came close to winning this race in previous years.

Corey Roper ($5,800)

His average finish on superspeedways is inflated simply because of some stellar results. But at the same time we should be chasing that kind of upside on these tracks. Roper hasn’t run Daytona since 2021 but he has three top 20’s there in as many races and he finished third after starting P31 in the 2021 race. In this race two years ago he started P31 and finished sixth. He’s only run Nashville and Pocono so far this year but he’s gained at least eight spots of position differential in each race. There’s a pretty nice ceiling on this play if he can keep the truck clean and get aggressive in stage three. Update: Starts second-to-last. Love the play in all formats.

Tyler Hill ($5,300)

Tyler Hill has only run five races this year, but he’s returned at least 20 fantasy points on DraftKings in four of them. I say that to emphasize that he and his brother, Timmy, are usually priced down but provide value more often than not. Tyler Hill came close to winning this race a year ago but ultimately finished as the runner-up to Matt DiBenedetto. All in all, I expect him to largely do laps around the back of the field and move up as drivers wreck out and possibly put himself in a spot to contend later on. Update: Starts P34 but I might just play him in Cash. Rostership in GPP's could be juiced because he almost won here last year.

NASCAR DFS Core Drivers