Hello everyone and welcome to the Xfinity Series Setup. I’m RyanLarkin88 and you can follow me on twitter @Larkin8. This week we will be looking ahead to the Xfinity race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Xfinity race and Truck race will be on the same day back to back at Atlanta. Be prepared for a bit of a chaos period getting lineups and predictions up day of. I will be giving my predictions and answering questions inside the DFSArmy VIP Slack. If you are not a VIP member sign up and use code Xfinity to save 20%!!
Atlanta is one of my favorite races of the season. The old racing surface wears out tires quick and rewards the smooth patient drivers. We will see fall off in the 3-5 second per lap during a pit cycle. Practice times especially 10 lap and 20 lap will be vital this week. Seeing which drivers can maintain long run speed going into the race. For the most part we get 1 dominator who leads 100+ laps. Kevin Harvick is the best driver ever at Atlanta. He is the reason for that 1 dominator having led 754 laps in the last 7 races there. Harvick has retired from racing in the Xfinity Series. Time for someone new to step up.
Quick Facts
Race: Rinnai 250
Laps: 163 Stages: 40/80/163
Drivers: 38
Average # of DNFs: 6
Average Cautions: 3.16 excluding stages
Defending Champ: Kevin Harvick
When building a lineup I would look for 1 dominator. There are no elite Cup Series drivers in the race this week so Christopher Bell will enter the race has the favortie. There is an off chance that there are two equal fominators who split the laps led and fast laps but that has not been the history at Atlanta for any of the 3 NASCAR series.
It will be super important to find value in the mid to low tier this week post qualifying. Should expect a handful of drivers to have +10 position upside.
A strong #2 will be needed. Someone who will lead a few laps and also collect a decent amount of fast laps. Allgaier, Preece, Cindric and Custer will be early favorites for this spot. All 4 have dominator potential as well.
There are very few if any wrecks at Atlanta. Most the DNF’s are from start and park teams who had no intention of finishing the race. This means playing punts will offer very little upside.
Quick Note for qualifying – Due to how rough the track is on tires if a team struggles on their initial qualifying run they will often not attempt another. This is to save the tires for the race. Don’t be shocked to see 1-2 drivers have this issue and start deep in the field
If you are new to NASCAR check out this article I wrote explaining lineup creation!
This race is really straight forward. Find that dominator and look for the drivers with best position upside. This is the type of race is where I believe the Domination Station and Research Station are at their absolute best.
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I will be giving my top plays and fades in the VIP Slack prior to the race.
I will also answer any questions you may have!
This will conclude this edition of The Xfinity Series Setup. If you would like to reach out and talk NASCAR Follow me on twitter @Larkin8 or Become a VIP and join me as well as our other DFS Army NASCAR contributors (Brady Miller, Taco, and NillyJay) in the NASCAR coaching channels.