Welcome to the Truck Series Setup. This week we will be looking ahead to the Truck race at Martinsville Speedway. This week marks the first short track race of the season and race number 3 of 5 for the Kyle Busch show in the Truck Series. I’m RyanLarkin88 and you can follow me on twitter @Larkin8. If you are just finding the DFSArmy and are not a VIP member sign up and use code Xfinity to save 20%!! Our DFSArmy VIP members get access to the Domination Station and Research Station post qualifying. Also, VIP members get access to our VIP Slack and direct contact to the NASCAR coaches. Come join the best team in NASCAR DFS!
After a three week break the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series makes it return at Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville is a half mile low banked short track that offers tons of action. Kyle Busch will be in the race offering an obvious pre race favorite. While he has only raced here in a truck once since 2011 he dominated that race leading 123 laps in route to his only Martinsville Truck Series win. Martinsville has a history of being a somewhat chaotic caution filled race however, that hasn’t really been the case the last few races. We can usually plan on a string of short runs due to cautions but also at least 1-2 long green flag runs. Track position will be key so pitting will be less frequent with tire management and long run speed being key. I will be looking at practice times to see who is good on the long runs.
Quick Facts
Date: March 23rd
Practice 1: Friday 1:05 pm ET.
Practice 2: Friday 3:05 pm ET.
Qualifying: Saturday 10:40 pm ET.
Race: Saturday 2:00 pm ET.
Laps: 200 Stages: 70/140/250
Drivers: 32
Defending Champion: John Hunter Nemechek
AVG. # of Cautions: 4.5 excluding stage
AVG DNF’s: 5 per race
Lineup Building
Dominator / Top Tier
Going in to the weekend everyone will be on the Kyle Busch train. With 250 laps this week he can easy pay off his ridiculous price. The question will be whether or not to fade him and hope he doesn’t dominate enough to pay for himself. This week we will look for lineups with 1 or 2 dominators. Other guys to look at as potential dominators would be Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes. All 3 drivers have had multiple races where they have led sizable amounts of the race here. GMS racing has also won 3 of the last 5 here so keep an eye on Brett Moffitt. Moffitt is driving the truck Sauter led 148 of 200 laps at Martinsville last fall and Moffitt also finished top 3 in both races here last year.
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Mid to Low Tier
While the top 10 is usually dominated by the big teams such as Kyle Busch Motorsports, GMS Racing and Thorsport there are some teams in the mid to low tier worth looking at. I will be looking forward to seeing what the #92 RBR truck can do with Austin Theriault driving it. In their last 4 races at Martinsville they have finishes of 14th, 12th, 12th and 7th with a position place differential of +34. Another driver who will be a heavy favorite of mine will be Timothy Peters. He has record 18 top tens in 25 career races including 1 win.
Punts
Not a huge fan of the punts here as we haven’t seen much in terms of DNFs in recent years. If you can find a driver with killer value who is simply priced wrong then yes they should be played. Chad Finley and Korbin Forrister are two guys who have met that distinction this season. However drivers like Jennifer Jo Cobb who has a car best 24th in 11 races and only 1 finish better than 28th in 6 races should be avoided.
This will conclude this edition of The Truck Series Setup. If you would like to reach out and talk NASCAR Follow me on twitter @Larkin8 or of course Become a VIP member and join me as well as our other DFS Army NASCAR contributors (Brady Miller, Taco, and NillyJay) in the NASCAR coaching channels.