NASCAR DFS and the Xfinity Series is back this weekend at the .526 mile track that is Martinsville Speedway for the Cook Out 250 on Friday night. There will be no practice or qualifying, and the green flag will drop for the race at 8:00pm/ET on FS1.
When it comes to DraftKings and NASCAR DFS, we’ll be blending two strategies.
Competition Caution
For this week’s Xfinity Series competition caution, we’re going to dive into that strategy. This race is is a bit tricky. The Xfinity Series returned to the half-mile paperclip last season after a 13 year hiatus from the Virginia race track. The last time the series raced here was 2006 in a race won by current Cup Series driver, Brad Keselowski.
Friday nights race under the lights is 250 laps. In 2020, two drivers lead 75-plus laps, with three other drivers leading chunks right around 30-laps. We need to find the two “dominators” that will score the bonus points for leading a lot of laps, as well as mixing in guys coming from outside the top-10 to gain position differential bonuses.
With just one race of data and film to work from, we need to get this right — and I have a few drivers in mind!
Grab yourself a Martinsville Hotdog and lets dive in!
NASCAR DFS: Stud Drivers to Target
Austin Cindric: #22 | Team Penske | $11,500
It’s hard to avoid Austin Cindric when writing these Xfinity Series NASCAR DFS articles. The guy has simply been a consistent fantasy points scorer all season long. In the last five races of 2021, his worst finish is 13th. He has a total of 108 fastest laps all together and 260 laps lead.
That’s a lot of bonus points.
His grand total of points scored over the last five races is 291. He’s now heading to a track where he lead 42 laps last year and wound up finishing 10th. He starts Saturday’s event from the sixth position. He has the equipment and talent to wheel that car right to the front, and I expect him to lead some laps.
His pricing is at it’s highest point of the season at $11.5k, but he’s someone you still want to highly consider rostering!
Ty Gibbs: #54 | Joe Gibbs Racing | $10,500
Ty Gibbs, the grandson of legendary car owner Joe Gibbs, has set the series on fire so to speak in just two appearances in 2021. His aggressive driving style and habit of eating peanut butter crackers during the race is hard not to love.
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In just two Xfinity Series events this year, he has finished first and second at the Daytona Road Course and Phoenix Raceway. The best part about those races is he started no where near the front in 15th and 27th.
The evidence is there that this kid can drive the wheels off of his car. I expect him to score some more position diferential points, this time coming from p16. A top five would be fantastic for DFS, and he’s likely to get there. At $10,500 pay the price and get him in your lineup.
Harrison Burton: #20 | Joe Gibbs Racing | $9,300
I like Joe Gibbs racing a lot this weekend in both series. We’re sticking with JGR here and going with last year’s winner, Harrison Burton. Martinsville is the home track to the Burton family, as Harrison’s dad Jeff and uncle Ward have both had success here in the Xfinity Series.
Harrison lead 81 laps last year and his car looked fast throughout the race as he navigated lapped traffic well. The first of two Burton’s on todays list of drivers to target, starts on the pole for Friday’s race. IF he is able to stay out front and lead some laps, everything will be great. IF he happens to fall back and/or run into trouble in this race, we face the problem of negative points for losing positions.
In my option, I think he will lead a solid amount of laps. He should be able to rack up those bonus points and at $9,300 he is underpriced for this event. I like his odds here to win this race for his second straight at his home track.
Other drivers to consider: AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones
NASCAR DFS: Mid-Range Drivers to Target
Brett Moffit: #02 | Our Motorsports | $9,000
Brett Moffitt has had an up and down season in the Xfinity Series in 2021. He has three finishes inside the top-11 and two that were 34th or worse. In the Camping World Truck Series however, Moffitt has run well at this track.
In his last five NCWTS races at this half-mile, he has three top-5’s and has lead 80 laps.
His price is a bit high for my liking at $9,000, but he starts 27th. If he’s able to move up, and he should, we will get considerable bonus points for place differential.
He’s a good play for GPPs.
Josh Berry: #8 | JR Motorsports | $8,000
If you’ve been watching NASCAR Xfinity Series racing this season, you’ll know it’s been a tough one for the “rookie” Josh Berry. In his last two races, he’s wrecked. At Atlanta he managed to be the first four-wheel car to ride a wheelie after catching the infield grass while trying to avoid a wreck.
We’re not going to let that scare us away when we head to a track that he may be most comfortable at. Berry has had success at Martinsville before and has even won here recently in a late model. These types of tracks is where Berry cut his teeth in other series’, and if he’s going to have a good run, it’s likely to be here.
He’s priced at $8,000, should be low owned considering his recent endeavors, and starts from p29. Bonus points galore if he’s able to move up.
Jeb Burton: #10 | Kaulig Racing | $7,800
This is our attempt of a smooth seg way to the other Burton we’re going to start — Jeb. Prior to running into trouble in last week’s unpredictable dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Jeb had been ridiculously consistent in 2021. In the first five races, he had five top-10’s. A rather impressive feat for what used to be considered an “average driver” by many.
I like Jeb and recognize the struggles he has been through to make it in racing and I’m happy to see him with a high-caliber team like Kaulig Racing. Bristol was an outlier, and I expect Jeb to return to his consistent ways when he races the Cook Out 250 at his home track of Martinsville.
In fact, Jeb feels confident too.
“I know I can do it and I know my team can do it,” Jeb said. “That’s my best track so that would be pretty awesome. Harrison definitely had a really good car last time. I didn’t have anything for him that last race. I think that would be pretty special if we could get that done. Four different family members to do that, I don’t think anybody would ever do that again.”
Via Nascar.com
His price is low. He finished fourth here last year. And he starts the race from lucky number 13.
Value Plays
JJ Yeley: #17 | Rick Ware Racing | $7,300
I never thought I’d say these words: JJ Yeley has run great this year.
Wow.
It’s the truth though. He’s only running a limited schedule, but he is making each appearance count! In the two races he has run in 2021, he’s placed 13th in both. Those finishes come after starting p39 and p33.
He ran this race last year too, in the Xfinity Series’ return to the paperclip. He lead five laps and finished 14th.
Guess what?
He starts p33 on Friday night and has proven that the equipment of Rick Ware in NASCAR’s lower series is much better than that of their Cup Series program. His price point is at it’s highest of the season at $7,300 but he should be worth every penny.
Brandon Brown: #68 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | $7,000
Brandon Brown seems like a risky pick, but is he?
Brown has quietly put together a rather solid string of consistent finishes with a few outliers of course. The good runs actually started at the end of last season. Brown was running in the top-10 and making some noise at the end of 2020, and that solid effort has carried over to 2021.
So far this year, he has three top-11’s, one top-5 and two finishes of 33rd or worse. He starts 19th on Friday, but the likelihood of a top-10 finish is there. If Brown is able to keep his nose clean, there is no reason to think he can’t move forward. I’m playing him, and I’m not too worried given his starting spot.
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