Greetings everyone, welcome to this week’s Xfinity preview! We had another successful weekend at Texas for both the Xfinity and Monster Energy races, with members on top of the leaderboards all over the place. Let’s take a quick look at some of them: (note: the three winners shown in the Xfinity Beast were our very own)
And of course, I have to show off our biggest winner from last week. Wow!
We’ve been hot all season long and we look to continue that trend into Bristol. If you’re not a part of our group yet, I’d encourage you to take a look and consider signing up here. We’ll teach you how to build winning lineups like those above with our great tools, such as the research station (which shows a ton of relevant data about every driver in one place) and the Domination Station; our lineup optimizer with unique dominator stacking capabilities that is fueled by the best projections in the business. It doesn’t end with NASCAR, though, we cover everything; NBA, MLB, PGA, MMA, WNBA, NHL, NFL, and even e-sports. Don’t forget to use promo code NILLY to lock in a 10% savings. For now, let’s move on to the next race!
Bristol Motor Speedway
We head to Bristol for our next race at the shortest track on the circuit. There are a few key points to keep in mind this week, with the first being the fact there are are no full-time Monster Energy drivers participating in the Xfinity race. Secondly, there are a few fresh new faces this week with three drivers making their Xfinity debut. Finally, this race will have over 100 laps more than any other race so far this season, which changes the way we approach lineup construction. I’ll give a brief summary of some of that in this article, but the full breakdowns will be for our members only in our Slack channels and VIP articles. Until then, let’s take a look at some of the drivers who will be racing this weekend.
Xfinity drivers
Elliott Sadler ($11,200) – Sadler is once again the most expensive Xfinity driver and offers the same high floor that he always does. With no Monster Energy drivers this week, he does have a better chance at finding a GPP-winning ceiling, though I suspect he’ll still be better suited for cash games. He’ll have a much better chance at a big score if he earns the pole, but he’s only done that once in his 22 races here.
Justin Allgaier ($10,900) – You need drivers who can lead laps, and Allgaier can do just that. He led 75 laps at this race last year, and that was with Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Daniel Suarez, and Aric Almirola all in the mix. He should be viable in all formats this week, and could easily see his way into the perfect lineup.
Christopher Bell ($10,700) – I said last week that Bell could wind up in the perfect lineup without leading any laps. That mostly came true, though he did lead 10 of them. Either way, that should give you a clue as to is in a great position yet again this week. While he hasn’t yet raced here in the Xfinity series, he has in the truck series and led 101 laps in one of those races. He should be viable in all formats yet again this weekend, and could very well see north of 100 DKFP (Allgaier too, for that matter).
Cole Custer ($10,300) – Custer has had four straight top 10 finishes, and that’s exactly where he finished his last time here. He may not get the chance to lead many laps but offers a solid floor even without them. He’s sort of a cheaper version of Sadler this week, in my opinion.
Tyler Reddick ($10,100) – Reddick has pretty limited experience here as well as a hefty price increase. Unless he starts from the back again, I don’t see an easy path for him to pay off his salary this week.
Daniel Hemric ($9,700) – Here’s another driver with four straight top 10s, as well as two top 10s at the Bristol races last year. His ceiling is likely tied to how far back he starts, but he’s showing his floor is right up there with some of the best drivers in the series.
Matt Tifft ($9,500) – The same said about Hemric can mostly be said about Tifft, though his history at Bristol isn’t quite as good. He’s performed admirably so far this year, so don’t sleep on him.
Ryan Preece ($9,200) – Preece has a really good chance to shine this weekend since there are no Monster Energy studs to steal the spotlight. Don’t let his track history fool you; he wasn’t driving a rocket ship at those races. He will be this weekend, and he’s shown he can pilot it very well. If he finds his way up front, he could very well stay there for an extended run.
Kaz Grala ($7,800) – Kaz has been a bit up and down this year (as were his truck series finishes here), so he remains a better tournament option instead of cash.
Ty Majeski ($7,600) – Here’s one of the new faces we’ll see this weekend (and for 11 more races this season). He has limited experience in any professional series (and has never raced here) but has had some success at Iowa (which is also a short track, albeit a different beast than Bristol).
Shane Lee ($7,500) – The second new driver we’ll see is Shane Lee, another one with limited experience in one of these cars. He does have experience at short tracks though, as he raced well at Salem and Elko in the ARCA series.
Ross Chastain ($7,200) – Ross is one of the only drivers without a price increase this week, which could help open up some value. While he hasn’t been returning value reliably, he does have a lot of experience at short tracks and could be in for a nice day. Be sure to keep an eye on him this week.
Driver X ($6,XXX) – Yep, another one of these! My “secret driver” last week had his ceiling severely limited due to the circus act that was qualifying, but he still finished exactly where I believed he would. Had he started just a few spots further back, he would have wound up in the perfect lineup instead of Briscoe (who is a driver I recommended instead of my original one). Alas, I had to call off the hounds in my Slack channel because of how qualifying turned out, but they still knew who to turn to instead. As for this week’s pick, well, stay tuned!
Tony Mrakovich ($6,400) – The third and final newcomer this week is Tony Mrakovich, a 19-year-old with four ARCA races under his belt. He’ll be filling in for Dylan Lupton, who has shown that the #28 car can be a competitive option among the cheaper drivers.
David Starr ($5,600) – While most other drivers saw a price increase this week, Starr actually saw a decrease. He doesn’t have much of a floor, but has been in a winning lineup once this season and could do it again since he’s at a track he’s performed well at in the past.
That’s all for now! If you’re new to NASCAR, be sure to check out my beginner’s and intermediate guides. If you’re not yet a DFS Army member yet and you want to come join us for the more in-depth discussions we have in our Slack channels, along with access to all of our tools/resources, you can do so here. Don’t forget to use promo code NILLY to lock in that 10% savings!
