The rankings below are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings’ NASCAR salaries for that day. The ordering is not based on the highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by value of each driver.
Saturday’s NASCAR Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 slate locks at 5:10 p.m. ET on DraftKings.
Set your DraftKings NASCAR lineups here: NXS $100K OCTANE [$20K TO 1ST] (XFIN)
1. Justin Haley ($9,400) - Last year, Justin Haley won three plate races. That’s an amazing stat. No Xfinity driver has ever done that. Sure, having four plate races instead of the normal three helps, so pretend there were only three races and he won two of them. That’s still amazing.
2. Ty Dillon ($9,500) - Put yourself in Ty’s shoes. His older brother has been given the best things by his grandfather his whole life. Meanwhile, Ty has lived on hand me downs. Now, Ty is out of work while his brother continues to live the good life. Ty Dillon is America and everyone is rooting for him. He was a smart plate racer in the Cup Series, and Daytona is his race to win.
3. Harrison Burton ($8,800) - If you’re new to DFS NASCAR plate racing, then just look at Burton’s 2020 plate racing stats. At Daytona, he finished 2nd and 5th, but he wrecked in both Talladega races. That’s how it goes.
4. A.J. Allmendinger ($9,900) - The good news for Allmendinger and the rest of the field for that matter is that Ross Chastain isn’t running the Xfinity race. Allmendinger won at Daytona in 2019 and was on his way to winning at Daytona last season, but his teammate, Chastain, wrecked him on the final lap.
5. Justin Allgaier ($10,500) - The 2020 season was a major let down for Allgaier. He earned a couple of wins, but it was supposed to be his season to shine. If he couldn’t dominate the series last year, then he won’t this year, and plate races may be one of his few chances to stand out.
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6. Austin Cindric ($10,300) - Close your eyes and ask yourself how has Cindric finished in his ten plate races? If you glibly responded, “He’s probably wrecked in half of them, and earned a top 10 in the other half.” That’s exactly right.
7. Josh Berry ($8,000) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. noticed Berry on iRacing and put him in a late model car. Berry went on to win 19 of his 51 Late Model Races. Now, Berry gets a chance in the Xfinity Series. He’s won in every other series, why not this one?
8. Brandon Jones ($9,000) - In the last seven races at Daytona, Jones has finished 13th or better in six of those races. The Xfinity Series veteran is maturing into a respectable driver.
9. Jeb Burton ($8,500) - Finally, Burton has a decent full time ride. This weekend that decent ride is an amazing ride. Kaulig Racing has a secret formula at plate tracks. For the last two seasons, Kaulig has owned the plate tracks.
10. Noah Gragson ($10,100) - Almost every plate race was won by Justin Haley last season. The one exception was the season opener at Daytona. Gragson took a Jr Motorsports car to a familiar place - Victory Lane at Daytona.
11. Gray Gaulding ($6,500) - This is an underdog week. Everyone has a chance at the plate tracks. Gaulding earned a 2nd place finish at Daytona last season and at Talladega in 2019. In his last four plate races, Gaulding has four top 10 finishes.
12. Landon Cassill ($7,200) - There are a lot of feel good stories this season, but Cassill’s might be the best. He dropped out of the Cup Series and became a qualifying driver for Morgan Shepherd, then that job disappeared. Cassill then created a brand for himself by livestreaming iRacing. Now, he’s driving the best car in the JD Motorsports stable.
13. Tyler Reddick ($9,700) - His Our Motorsports car is the worst car that he has ever driven, but it’s still a decent car. In this race, Reddick doesn’t even really need a good car. One of the good things about rostering Reddick is that he won’t lay up and play it safe. It’s checkers or wreckers. He’s a GPP hero.
14. Daniel Hemric ($9,200) - In eight career Xfinity plate races, Hemric only has two top 10 finishes with a best finish of 6th. Plate racing just isn’t his thing, but he could always get lucky.
15. Michael Annett ($8,700) - Take away his 2nd place finish at Talladega in 2020 and his win at Daytona in 2019, and his numbers aren’t that great. Of course that’s the case when you remove his best finishes, but the strange thing with Annett is that while he avoids wrecks, he never capitalizes.
16. Myatt Snider ($8,100) - He paid his dues and now Snider has a full time ride with RCR. The last time RCR fielded the #2 car full-time, they won the championship in 2019. Sinder was terrible at the plate tracks last season, but in the Truck Series he has a 2nd and a 3rd place finish in his two races at Talladega.
17. Brett Moffitt ($8,300) - Our Motorsports bought the old GMS equipment and ran full time last season. Now, they are bringing two cars to Daytona. Moffitt is their full time Xfinity driver with playoff aspirations, but the team is still small. Their best chance to make waves is at the plate tracks.
18. Riley Herbst ($7,900) - There’s two outcomes at a plate track. A driver wrecks or they do not wreck. It’s fair to assume that over a driver’s career they have a 50% success rate at plate tracks based on the two outcomes. Herbst has wrecked in 80% of his plate races. He’s due for a good one.
19. Ryan Sieg ($7,700) - If a driver survives to the end, they still need a decent car to make race winning moves. Sieg has a good enough car, and it’s about time that he got his first career win. The only realistic chance for that win is Daytona or Talladega.
20. Brandon Brown ($7,600) - It’s a David versus Goliath week. The extremely underfunded teams can earn a top 10 by surviving, but they can’t win. Brown’s team has enough funding to build cars that can win plate races. He has finished 15th or better in five of the last six plate races.
Set your DraftKings NASCAR lineups here: NXS $100K OCTANE [$20K TO 1ST] (XFIN)
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