Welcome everyone to the NASCAR Buffet. For this edition, we are going to take a look into the upcoming Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway. We will give info for the race as well as detail into what we can expect for the upcoming DFS slate. Of course, this article is brought to you by DFS Army and is being written by Ryan Larkin aka @Larkin8 on twitter. For next level DFS coverage of NASCAR and every sport, you should become a DFS Army VIP Member!! VIP membership gives you access to VIP articles, research, and domination stations as well as elite coaches. Sign up today and use promo code LARKIN for 20% off membership.
Xfinity Series Is Back!!!
The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity season gets back underway this Tuesday from Darlington Raceway. We do have a threat of rain with a tropical storm off the coast of the Carolinas. Rain Out Date is set for Thursday. Due to COVID-19 NASCAR is having to implement numerous changes for this and every race for the foreseeable future. For starters, there will be no practice or qualifying for the races. The teams will show up and the first laps on the track will be in the actual race. Due to the lack of qualifying the starting lineup for the first race will be set by the current 2020 Owner’s points with a random draw. We will also have a modified competition caution period at lap 15. Another side effect is we will see shorter races. More on these things later in the article. DraftKings has a massive slate for us this week!!
Darlington
This week the Xfinity Series heads to the historic Darlington Raceway. The racing surface is very abrasive which leads to high tire wear. This makes long run speed significantly important. With an early competition caution and short stages long run speed what really matter until stage 2 and the final stage of the race. Tires will be of massive importance late with teams willing to pit after just a few laps for new tires. The main racing groove is up near the wall which leads to numerous drivers making minimal contact with the wall. This is known as the Darlington stripe which I am sure will be mentioned a time or fifty this weekend. The good news is that the composite bodies the Xfinity currently runs minimizes the damage of this contact.
Six NASCAR races in Ten days!!
Tue, May 19 Darlington XFINITY 200 mi FS1 6:00 PM
Wed, May 20 Darlington Cup 311 mi FS1 7:30 PM
Sun, May 24 Charlotte Cup 600 mi FOX 6:00 PM
Mon, May 25 Charlotte XFINITY 300 mi FS1 7:30 PM
Tue, May 26 Charlotte Gander Trucks 200 mi FS1 8:00 PM
Wed, May 27 Charlotte Cup 312 mi FS1 8:00 PM
Xfinity Series Race Info
Date: May 19th
Race: Tuesday 6:00 pm ET. TV: FS1
Competition Caution: Lap 15
Laps: 147 Stages: 45/90/147 LAPS
Drivers: 39
Defending Champion: Cole Custer After Denny Hamlin was DQ’d and had win taken away
AVG. # of Cautions: 5 excluding stage breaks
AVG DNF’s: 9 per race
Pit selection:
- Order based on Phoenix qualifying.
Starting lineup:
- Positions 1 -12: The first 12 NXS Teams in owner points will be assigned starting positions 1st – 12th using a random draw.
- Positions 12 – 24: The next 12 NXS Teams in owner points will be assigned starting positions 12th- 24th using a random draw.
- Starting positions 25 – 36: The next 12 NXS Teams in owner points will be assigned starting positions 25th -36th using a random draw.
- Any vehicles that are eligible for the Event in position 37th – 40th will be assigned starting positions based on their order of eligibility.
Competition Caution Procedure
The Xfinity series will have a modified competition caution in the early portions of each race. Those stoppages will include freezing the field to accommodate longer pit stops, allowing teams to make more extended in-race adjustments that might normally be made during practice.
That modified competition caution procedure includes:
- Freezing the running order at the time of the caution period
- Granting the free pass for the first car one lap down
- No wave-around rule will be in effect for the competition caution
- Pit road opens to the top 20, then the next 20 on the following lap
- Each car will keep its position at the time of the caution, provided it beats the pace car off pit road
- The pit cycle repeats, with the top 20 then next 20 allowed to pit a second time
- Teams that do not beat the pace car off pit road will lose a lap and restart at the tail of the field; teams that pit more than twice or outside of their designated pit window will also restart at the tail of the field.
- The lineup will be reset according to the frozen running order for the restart
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Top Tier/Dominators
For Darlington we usually look for 2-3 dominators however with only 147 laps we will look to trim that down to at most a total of 2 doms. With Kyle Busch in the field, we have to love him as a race winner and race dominator. He starts 26th so he will have some strong place diff upside to go with it. Other drivers I really like in this category will be Allgaier and Briscoe. It is incredibly hard to pass here so we will want to give Noah Gragson a little love as an early dom threat from the pole. Since Kyle Busch qualified on pole at Phoenix he will have the right to choose the first pit stall for the race. That will be a big advantage for him and his crew.
Mid/Low Tier Value plays
In this area we are really going to look to attack the drivers that can save us salary to afford the top dom threats while also scoring well themselves. Place Differential will be huge. We should expect a lot more teams to stay on the lead lap for the majority of the race given how short stages will be. This will give a lot more teams a chance to score well late. I would highly recommend using our Research Station to take a look at speeds for this track type as well as past Darlington history.
Cheat Sheets
For the 2020 NASCAR season the DFS Army is now offering cheat sheets for both the Xfinity & Truck Series. These cheat sheets will pinpoint core plays, gpp main plays, cash plays & fades with drivers specific notes. Cheats Sheets are only available with a DFS Army VIP memberships!!! These notes were a huge hit for the Daytona Speedweeks with multiple members hitting big on the Truck and Xfinity Series. Absolutely nobody else offers this kind of up to the minute DFS coverage on these series. Join today and use promo code LARKIN for 20% off membership.
This will conclude this edition of NASCAR Buffet: Xfinity and Truck Series DFS Preview. 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.