What’s up everyone?! Welcome to the Xfinity Series Setup. This week we will be looking ahead to the Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. I’m RyanLarkin88 and you can follow me on twitter @Larkin8. If you are just finding the DFS Army and are not a VIP member sign up and use code Xfinity to save 20%!! Our DFS Army 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 week off the Xfinity Series makes it’s way to the ultra fast 1.5 mile of Texas Motor Speedway. Texas usually has very long green flag runs meaning long run speed is important. That means pay attention to the 10 and 20 lap averages in practice. This also usually results in only 10 to 12 cars being on the lead lap and having 1 dominator leading the majority of the laps. There are 40 cars on the entry list for this week meaning 2 teams will fail to qualify. There are a handful of team changes to be aware of such as Brad Keselowski in the #12, Kaz Grala in the #21 for RCR, and Jeb Burton in the #8 for JRM. The race also marks the debut of XCI Racing with Jeffrey Earnhardt. XCI Racing has an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Quick Facts
Date: March 30th
Practice 1: Friday 4:05 pm ET.
Practice 2: Friday 6:35 pm ET.
Qualifying: Saturday 10:10 am ET.
Race: Saturday 1:00 pm ET.
Laps: 200 Stages: 45/90/147
Drivers: 38
Defending Champion: Ryan Blaney
AVG. # of Cautions: 5 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 9 per race
Lineup Building
Dominator / Top Tier
I am pleased to write about Kyle Busch having a threat this week as the sole dominator. Brad Keselowski returns to the series in the #12 for Penske. Since Joining Penske Brad has raced at Texas 11 times securing 2 wins and 10 top 5 finishes. Kyle Busch also holds an incredible record at the track with 8 wins and 11 top 3 finishes in his 14 races since joining Joe Gibbs. Penske and Gibbs have dominated this track with Erik Jones winning here 3 times for Gibbs and Ryan Blaney dominating the race last year for Penske.
No matter which way you look at it Busch and Keselowski should be the favorites to dominate this race. Again we will be looking for 1 dominator based of the track history. Getting some ownership on both will be the right strategy.
Other top drivers are Cole Custer who is the most recent winner in the Xfinity Series and also the winner here at Texas last fall. Also, Tyler Reddick who has been very fast this year and led 54 laps last fall at Texas finishing 2nd to Custer.
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Mid to Low Tier
The mid tier this week should feature Jeb Burton in the #8 which had a great run with Ryan Truex finishing 2nd at ISM Raceway and also a couple of top 10s with Ryan Preece at California and Atlanta. Also, Ryan Seig, Justin Haley and Michael Annett have all been solid this season with 3 top 10s each. In the lower tier, guys like Brandon Brown and Gray Gaulding continue to impress running in the 13th-18th positions every race so far this year. They have offered great value for their price. Of course when playing Keselowski or Busch this week you will have to find as much value as possible in this range to offset their price. Look post qualifying for some drivers with strong positional upside.
Punts
We have seen a high DNF rate here in recent races however, most of those seem to be related to the start and parks and the occasional crash. If you see a cheap driver who normally attempts to run the entire race starting behind some of the cars who end up parking then they will be a good play. Mike Harmon in California comes to mind. I would stay away from this area otherwise.
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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 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.