Welcome to the Xfinity Series Setup. This week we will be looking ahead to the Xfinity Series race at Richmond Raceway. 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 with direct contact to the NASCAR coaches. Come join the best team in NASCAR DFS!
Richmond marks the second of four Dash 4 Cash races so still no Cup drivers in the field this week. Of course this means some driver changes for this race. Some important changes for this week will see Elliott Sadlet in the #10 for Kaulig Racing, Riley Herbst will be in the #18 for Joe Gibbs and Mason Diaz will be in the #86 which has been driven by Brandon Brown so far this season. DGM Racing will see a 3rd car this week as well as a shuffled up driver lineup. Josh Williams moves out of the #36 and into the third entry #92 with Donald Theetge driving the #36 this week. Also, Dillion Bassett will be in the #90 for DGM this week. Other driver/team combos to look out for are Zane Smith again in the #8 for JRM and Kaz Grala is back in the #21 for RCR. In the punt region Tyler Matthews will drive the #15 for JD Motorsports with BJ McLeod jumping back into his own #99 car that Tommy Joe Martins has been driving this season.
Race Info
As for the race itself, we will see a one day show from the Xfinity Series with Practice, Qualifying and the Race all happening on Friday. This should give even more of an advantage to the top teams and veteran drivers who will be better prepared for the race. Richmond is a 3/4 mile short track and has an extremely rough surface which wears tires out significantly. There is massive fall off so those 10 and especially 20 lap practice speeds will be incredibly important. Tracks that wear out tires generally have very little in terms of crashes due to the drivers being too focused on themselves and taking care of the tires. There are 40 cars on entry list so 2 drivers will not make race and we will only have about a 2 hour window between qualifying and race to get lineups set.
Quick Facts
Date: April 12th
Practice: Friday 8:05 am ET.
Qualifying: Friday 3:40 pm ET.
Race: Friday 7:00 pm ET.
Laps: 250 Stages: 75/150/250
Drivers: 38
Defending Champion: Christopher Bell
AVG. # of Cautions: 8 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 7.5 per race
Lineup Building
Dominator / Top Tier
For the most part I will look to play 1 dominator with a very strong #2. That 2nd guy probably won’t score enough to be considered a dominator in the traditional sense but will lead 30-40 laps and outscore almost everyone else in the race. Joe Gibbs racing has absolutely crushed Richmond winning 5 of 9 with 2 dominating performances in races in which they haven’t won. JRM is really the only other team who has been on par with Gibbs having won 2 races and dominating a 3rd. This means once again Christopher Bell and Justin Allgaier will be the two biggest favorites heading into Richmond. I am not quite sure will Elliott Sadler will be priced but having scored 6 straight finishes of 7th or better at Richmond with a +32 place diff. in those races he should be someone to look out for at a potentially good price point.
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Mid to Low Tier
The Mid Tier chalk this week will most likely be Riley Herbst driving the #18. Last year Noah Gragson jumped in this car and finished 2nd while being owned by about 50% of the field. I expect much the same this week in terms of high ownership on Herbst. There has continued to be great value in the $8500-$7500 range all year and that should continue this week. The #11 ran 7th and 11th here last year so I like Justin Haley and expect some good info to be gained from Sadler being his teammate this week. In the Low Tier we could see a couple of sneaky good plays who can score 35+ points. We will just have to wait and see how qualifying shakes out.
Punts
I don’t really like any punts this week. BJ McLeod and Tyler Matthews will probably be the only drivers worth playing. I am hoping Draftkings finally bumps up Chad Finchum’s price however, if they don’t then continue playing him as he will be a top 20 candidate most weeks.
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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.