The 2022 NASCAR season marches on with all three series in action this weekend! The Camping World Truck Series kicks off the playoff schedule at a track the series hasn’t run in over a decade! That’s one hell of a way to throw your playoff drivers into the deep end. The playoff field is set after Chandler Smith’s impressive win last week at Pocono. Who will claim the win Friday night and secure their spot in the Round of Eight? The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series will be racing just up the road at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Road Course. Matt Selz and I will have you covered with Playbooks and DFS analysis for those races as well. But we get the trucks under the lights to kick off our weekend and we can make it even better with some DFS success. Here are today’s NASCAR DFS top picks.

Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, aka IRP and fka LOR, will host the Camping World Truck Series for the first race in the 2022 playoffs. To put it simply this is a short, flat track. And we’ve seen plenty of those on the schedule this year and last year. This track measures 0.686 miles per lap with just 12-degree banking. The banking is almost identical to Martinsville, but IRP doesn’t have as tight of a turning radius as Martinsville so for that reason we can also look at a track like Richmond which is 0.75 miles in length with 14-degree banking in the turns. And I’ll also be referencing Gateway, Phoenix, and a little bit of Nashville as well since they also fall on the “flat track” spectrum.

Fortunately, we do get 200 laps Friday night which is a lot for the Truck Series. We have probably 120-130 dominator points available to us for Friday night’s race if we account for cautions. Given that this is a new track for a vast majority of the field, we should expect some cautions. Stages will be broken into 60-60-80 laps segments and the winner automatically moves on to the next round. The scheduling for this week is atrocious. The race is at 9:00pm ET Friday night, but that’s not the problem. I actually like the start time. However, practice is going to be early Friday morning and it won’t be televised so we won’t have eyes on the drivers. And then qualifying is over five hours later when track conditions will be completely different so I’m not even sure how much stock we can put in the practice speeds. And then about three-to-four hours after qualifying is over, we finally get the race when the track will be cooler so maybe then we can rely a bit more on the practice speeds.

For a refresher, the drivers to make the playoffs were Zane Smith, Chandler Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, and Matt Crafton. All ten have some aspect of viability for DFS and DraftKings priced them all accordingly given the importance of this race to them. 

PRACTICE RESULTS

Driver Pool

The driver pool is once again subject to change, as is the case for the Friday night races. Friday’s schedule provides enough of a window for me to provide updates following practice and additional updates after qualifying. Yes, more drivers will be added throughout the day. I am aware you cannot build multiple lineups just with ten drivers to zone in on. Updates after practice will be in BLUE. While updates following qualifying will be in RED.

Zane Smith ($11,200) Smith has three wins on the season and likely isn’t desperate for a win in the round of ten, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to completely mail it in. This year on comparable tracks he’s finished ninth at Martinsville (led 55 laps), ninth at Gateway (led 16 laps), and second at Nashville (led 70 laps). We also saw him win Martinsville last Fall to qualify for the 2021 championship race so we know he can come through in the clutch. Again, this isn’t a “must win” race for Zane, but he’s had arguably the best truck all season long and if he’s in position to collect dominator points, he’s tough to fade. UPDATE: Horrific qualifying and practice runs. Not quite sure what happened, but he just looked off. I think he's okay in Cash games based on the PD, but he might be worth being underweight in GPP's tonight.

John Hunter Nemechek ($11,000) I guess we shouldn't be too surprised that JHN found his way into the Playbook after showing stellar practice times. According to the tables above (I'm prefacing it that way because it's stupid practice wasn't televised), JHN was second-fastest in single-lap speed and fastest in ten-lap average although it doesn't look like too many of the elite drivers stayed out for ten laps. Either way, it looks like he has speed which we've seen before in practice. At this price tag we should expect him to qualify well and we're paying for dominator points if we're going here. UPDATE: JHN went out and won the pole. He was fast in practice and it translated to qualifying. My one concern is the track cooling off and maybe impact the speed. We've seen him crush it in practice and qualifying too many times this year to go out and not live up to our DFS expectations during the race. He's a fringe Cash game play because of the dominator upside. I prefer him in GPP's.

Corey Heim ($10,700) Heim as the THIRD-most expensive driver by DraftKings is a bold move. However, it's one that could pay off. He won Gateway earlier this season. I've seen some people saying he's running the ARCA race tonight, but I didn't see his name on the entry list. IF he does somehow run the race then that certainly doesn't hurt his value. The truck had speed in practice and he's a GPP dominator candidate.

Chandler Smith ($10,400) Smith is fresh off his second win of the season and he looked great last week at Pocono. It certainly can’t hurt to have that momentum heading into the playoffs. I also really like the fact that Smith is basically going to be on the track all day Friday. It’s a brand-new track for plenty of drivers. Smith will get Truck practice in the morning, but he’s also running in the ARCA race Friday night as well. So that means he gets an extra practice and qualifying session. And he gets the additional ARCA race laps and will get a feel for the track as the sun sets leading up to tonight’s race. On flatter tracks in 2022, he’s done pretty well. He finished sixth at Martinsville and he was third at Gateway while he was just 15th at Nashville. He was also fourth at Richmond and Martinsville last year and he won at Phoenix last Fall. It’s an elevated price tag but given the momentum and extra time on track on Friday, I’m on board with the play and hope the Truck shows up with speed to get some dominator points. UPDATE: Qualified next to JHN on the front row. Showed speed and is running the ARCA race and will know how the track feels as the night progresses. One of my favorite plays on the board tonight.

Christian Eckes ($10,000) Nothing too flashy with Eckes. But he’s just been solid. In 16 races this year he’s finished in the top eight on ten occasions while logging seven top five finishes. In 2021, he’s finished 12th at Martinsville, second at Gateway, and sixth at Nashville. Like I said, nothing flashy but the finishes are solid. He’s also not guaranteed for a good qualifying run. We’ve seen him qualify outside the top ten on a few occasions while still finishing quite well. There’s some win equity here, but to be fair he only has one career win. I may change my mind depending on his qualifying effort. $10,000 is pretty high for Eckes, but DraftKings elevated the price tag on everyone this week. UPDATE: Qualified well and had speed. Probably a good GPP play to pair with JHN or Smith.

Ty Majeski ($9,600) Majeski is another playoff driver that didn’t get a win this year, but just had plenty of good races. He really only had two or three bad races. He had seven finishes in the top five, but he only led 35 laps all season long and 21 of those came at Daytona back in February. He’s a similar play to Christian Eckes. There’s the possibility of a safe finish, but the resume on the comparable tracks is a bit of a mixed bag. UPDATE: Top Five speed in practice. No surprise. 

Johnny Sauter ($9,100) A few things to touch upon here. The price tag is tough to swallow. Seriously, we’re talking about a guy with very little win equity that’s running a part-time schedule with two different teams this year. Fortunately, he’s in the 13-truck for this race and he’s run comparable tracks (Martinsville and Gateway) this year, where he finished top five in both races. I think we can also bank on the possibility that he’ll qualify poorly. It’s not that the truck will be slow, but he’s going to be one of the first qualifiers on the track and those drivers tend to post the slower qualifying times. Sauter is also one of the few drivers in the field with experience on this track. He’s raced here four times with a pair of top five’s. Granted, those results are from over a decade ago. Like I said, very tough price to stomach for a guy that could bust, but he has top five upside and likely offers PD Friday night. UPDATE: Top ten speed in practice and he'll be one of the first to qualify. I'm guessing he'll qualify much further back so he's shaping up to be a nice play. UPDATE: So he didn't qualify as far back as I thought, but P15 is still worth exposure in all DFS formats. He has top five upside and looked very comfortable during P&Q.

Grant Enfinger ($8,900) These next two drivers are both in the playoffs, but they need a win to move on to the next round. IRP fits Enfinger’s strengths and he’s excelled on flatter tracks. He doesn’t have the greatest momentum with just one top ten finish in his last six races. But in two races at Richmond, he has a win, and an eighth-place finish while leading 89 laps in both races. He also has a win at Martinsville from two years ago and he was third last year at Nashville. But we haven’t seen that same level of success in 2022 so don’t go too crazy. But there is some win equity here and I have more faith in him scoring a win than the next driver. UPDATE: Speed in practice checks out nicely.

Matt Crafton ($8,700) It has not been a banner year for Crafton. He’s finished top ten in just 8-of-16 races and he only has one top five. He’s performed better as a Cash game play, but he’s been frustrating to roster at times. Luckily for him he did qualify for the playoffs but he’s mostly in a position where he absolutely needs to win to move on to the next round. And luckily for him he has plenty of experience at this track although it’s been a while since the Truck Series has competed here. From 2001-2011 he grabbed eight top ten finishes in 11 races with three top five finishes. Fortunately for Crafton, he’s performed pretty well on flatter tracks like Martinsville, Gateway, and Nashville throughout his career so maybe that success translates to IRP. I might prefer him in GPP’s because he knows he needs to win and this might be his best shot but qualifying could make him a Cash game play. UPDATE: Crafton scrubbed the wall during qualifying so it hurt his time. I don't think he sustained damage that'll drastically impact his ride. I still like his outlook for Cash and GPP contests.

Matt DiBenedetto ($8,300) Matty D posted a pretty solid top eight single-lap time in practice so that's certainly worth monitoring. He didn't make the playoffs, but it was announced he'll be back with the team next year and he has looked better and more comfortable in the ride as the year has progressed. He's had a mixed back of results on flat tracks, highlighted by a sixth-place finish at Gateway. He'll need a top ten with some PD to be optimal. UPDATE: Top ten speed in practice and he qualified about ten spots worse. At this price tag he's looking great if he finishes top ten.

Chase Purdy ($7,400) I have to give credit to DraftKings because they really nailed the pricing this week and didn’t provide any significant discounts on playoff drivers. But one driver that I like looking at in this range, based purely off recent form, is Chase Purdy. Purdy has seven straight top 20 finishes coming into Friday night’s race and six of those finishes have been top 15’s. In the last two months we’ve seen him finish 13th at Nashville and tenth at Gateway. Now he is a driver that I’m a little more skeptical of on a brand-new track, but if he’s starting outside the top 15 I’m a little interested. If he starts outside the top 20 then I’m very interested.

Kaz Grala ($7,200) I never feel great about the equipment he runs in, but he's rolling off P30. The speed in practice wasn't great either. Rarely does he start THIS far back and we know there's a top 20 floor if he runs clean and top 15 upside for GPP's. Don't go heavy here because the equipment could blow up at any moment.

Taylor Gray ($7,100) Taylor Gray is really only in the Playbook because, like Chandler Smith, he’ll be on track all day. The equipment will be solid since he’s racing for DGR and he’ll be in the ARCA race. The Trucks and ARCA cars run differently but laps are laps. The big issue with Gray is that he tends to qualify way too well. He’s qualified in the top 20 in all four races he’s run this year, including three qualifying efforts in the top ten. He went backwards every single race with only one top 20 finish. That same scenario could unfold on Friday. If he qualifies well, then we’ll find pivots. But if he qualifies around P20 then I’ll mix him in given the extra track time. UPDATE: Top 12 speed in practice which I'm not too surprised about. He'll probably qualify well and thus might be a fade but let's check back in a couple hours. UPDATE: Yep he qualified P13. Not terrible, but we've seen him go backward too often from here. Strictly a deep-field GPP play.

Hailie Deegan ($7,000) I don't hate the price tag on Deegan, but there's some serious risk here. She's good for a top 15-20 finish but there isn't much of a ceiling here. She has just one top ten finish on the year and the results on flat tracks this year don't really jump off the page. But she was fast in practice while others were getting a feel for IRP. If she qualifies poorly we can get some exposure, but still not a play I'm heavily interested in. She does have experience here from her time in ARCA.

Timmy Hill ($6,800) Not a great showing from Hill in practice and qualifying. If he survives the war of attrition then he could very well move up and gain PD. However, it's also possible that he gets lapped early on and is then reliant on others wrecking out ahead of him. He's starting second-to-last so he can't really kill you with negative points.

Layne Riggs ($6,500) Riggs is a guy that can make some waves Friday night. This is going to be a new track for several drivers and it’s honestly not a bad spot to make your debut. Riggs has a background that fits this track based on his experience driving late models. Additionally, he’s in the 62-truck that Todd Bodine ran a few times earlier this year. It’s not a terrible truck. It’s arguably the same equipment as Stewart Friesen and he’s at a price tag that makes him very easy to play. I also think that with most people just looking at a sheet of practice results and without actually seeing how he looks on track, he could come in with low ownership. I’m very interested in what he could do. If he offers enough PD and can grab a top 20 or top 15 finish, he could be optimal. I’m hesitant to commit to him in Cash games as of Thursday night, but let’s see how practice and qualifying shake out. Jake Garcia is a driver to keep an eye on for $300 less. He has late model and midget background and he’ll be in equipment similar to Derek Kraus and Colby Howard. He’s only 17 years old though and could easily be bullied around on the track Friday night. UPDATE: Riggs had Top 20 single-lap speed in practice. Let's see where he qualifies. He could be more popular than originally anticipated.

Dean Thompson ($5,500) I’m not entirely sure why Chad Chastain is more expensive than Dean Thompson, aside from being Ross Chastain’s brother. But Thompson has nearly a full season in this ride and we’ve seen him perform well on the flatter tracks. Thompson started P25 and finished 14th at Gateway and he started P24 at Nashville and finished 14th there as well. At Martinsville he didn’t finish the race due to an electrical issue, but Thompson has the ability to surprise with a few top 15 finishes and this week is no different. The playing field is arguably even with not many having experience here and if he’s starting toward the back (which is normally the case) then he’s a solid play in GPP’s. Jesse Little is an okay pivot in this range, but I’m not overly enthusiastic about the play if he qualifies around P20. I don’t trust his equipment as much as I trust Thompson’s. UPDATE: Top 25 speed in practice for Thompson. Little was slow.

Core Drivers

The Core Drivers will be posted in the NASCAR DFS Discord Channel by 8:00pm ET.

 

Fantasy Alarm is the home of all things Fantasy Sports. Bringing you the best Fantasy Football content all year long. Be sure to also check out the best fantasy promo codes on offer today!

Don't miss this week's NASCAR DFS Podcast as our three-time FSWA NASCAR Writer of the year, Matt Selz, and Dan Malin preview Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series road race from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.