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In this article, I’m going to talk about what lineup construction for the Xfinity Series Talladega race will look like because I think we have to approach it differently than the Cup race on Sunday. Here are some of my tips and strategies when it comes to building DFS lineups for Saturday’s Xfinity race.
Don’t Use All Your Salary
I know it’s hard to leave salary on the table but in these superspeedway races, you can because we mostly target the cheap drivers starting near the back. If you make a lineup and it has $5,000 left over, that’s fine! Most of the optimal lineups in these races don’t use all the salary.
Place Differential > Anything
For most races, dominators are very important, but place differential means a lot more this weekend than it does in other weeks. In these races, we usually see a decent amount of attrition, which means that the drivers starting near the back could score a ton of fantasy points if they can avoid the chaos. The hard part is figuring out which of these drivers will work.
Cash vs GPPS (Big difference)
In cash games, we want all of our drivers to be guys starting near the back because they offer more place differential and won’t kill our lines if they get caught up in a wreck. All six of your drivers should be starting 25th or lower. Our cash lineups will definitely be safe, but they’re not going to have the upside to finish near the top of a tournament because some of the drivers starting near the front will score more fantasy points than the guys in the back. You’re more likely to win if you play everyone starting from the back but if you want to have a shot at taking down a gpp, we’re going to have to take some risks in our lineups.
Favorite DraftKings DFS Plays Talladega
You can look at track history if you want, but I’m not going to let that really determine how much exposure I’ll have to a specific driver. The main things that I’ll be looking for when picking my drivers is place differential or if they can potentially win the race. I’m going to divide the field up into 3 groups with 1st-12th, 13th-25th, and 26th-40th to help show you how many drivers I recommend playing from each group and which guys I like.
Drivers Starting 1st-12th (0-2)
Noah Gragson P4 (DK $10,000) – Won at Daytona in 2020, could lead some laps and win this race
Justin Haley P5 (DK $9,200) – Winner of three of the last four superspeedway races
Jeb Burton P9 (DK $8,200) – 4th at Daytona this season and 3rd at Talladega last fall
AJ Allmendinger P11 ($10,600) – Always puts himself in a position to be there at the end, offers some PD starting 11th
Notes: If you haven’t figured it out already, I love all the Kaulig cars this weekend because they’re always very fast at the superspeedways
Drivers Starting 13th-25th (1-2)
Brett Moffitt P13 (DK $9,000) – Finished 2nd at Daytona earlier this season, 5th in summer Talladega race last season, clearly has winning potential and might fly under the radar
Ty Dillon P16 (DK $7,900) – Dillon was always good at the superspeedways in the Cup Series, offers plenty of place differential and could be a threat to lead laps and win this race
Ryan Sieg P17 (DK $9,800) – Playing the RSS cars is risky, but we’ve seen him almost win some of these races in the past, offers a lot of PD upside starting 17th
Brandon Brown P18 (DK $7,600) – Four top 10’s in his last eight superspeedway starts, pretty consistent and has top 5 upside
Gray Gaulding P24 (DK $5,300) – Not in the same car as his track history shows, but it doesn’t mean he can’t finish top 10 (Now in #52 car)
Notes: This range is definitely interesting because I think a lot of these drivers offer a lot of upside, so picking the right driver(s) in this range will be crucial
Drivers Starting 26th-40th (2+)
Joey Gase P29 (DK $6,900) – Driving the #28 car this weekend and has had success at superspeedways in the past, offers PD starting from 29th
Alex Labbe P30 (DK $7,500) – Finishes of 11th and 9th in his last two Talladega starts, driving for DGM which is decent equipment, ton of upside here
Landon Cassill P32 (DK 7,100) – Usually rides around for most of the race and tries to battle for a strong at the end, great because he’ll probably avoid the attrition
Ryan Vargas P39 (DK $6,500) – Finished top 20 in one of his superspeedway starts and had an electrical issue in the other, offers a lot of PD starting 39th
Jason White P40 (DK $8,400) – Finished 10th earlier this season at Daytona in RSS equipment, now in #13 for MBM, can’t kill you starting last and could finish top 15
Notes: I’m expecting most of the higher owned drivers to be these guys that are starting closer to the back. These guys can’t kill you, but picking the right ones will definitely increase your chances of taking down a tournament. Just because a driver isn’t on here doesn’t mean I don’t like them. I didn’t want to list everyone because you can make an argument for almost all the drivers starting near the back.
I hope you guys enjoyed my free article for the Xfinity Series Talladega race, and I wish you the best of luck in your DFS contests! Make sure to follow me on Twitter if you haven’t already @DFS_NASCAR_Zone, so you can see when I post NASCAR DFS content!
