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 the value of each driver.
The DraftKings Credit Karma Money 250 NASCAR slate locks at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
1. Kyle Busch ($14,000) — The #54 JGR car was a rocket ship in the first Xfinity race at Atlanta. It’s a rocket ship everywhere, especially when Kyle Busch is driving. The only problem is that the Sword of Damocles hangs over its head. NASCAR doesn’t like Cup drivers winning Xfinity races, so they changed the rules, but it didn’t prevent Cup drivers from embarrassing Xfinity drivers. NASCAR responded by going a step further and regularly penalizing the #54 car. That’s exactly what happened to the legendary #54 JGR car in the first Atlanta race.
2. Justin Allgaier ($10,600) — He won the Atlanta race and it was a turning point for JR Motorsports, but it’s unlikely that Allgaier will perform this feat again. In that race, Truex was penalized by NASCAR and Austin Cindric, A.J. Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Noah Gragson were all involved in a wreck.
3. Noah Gragson ($9,200) — Despite wrecking early in the Atlanta race, he battled back, and at times during stage three, he was faster than Martin Truex. JR Motorsports experimented with setups at Atlanta. The team ran different setups in each car, and the experiment worked. All of their cars were fast, and their cars have been fast ever since that race.
4. Harrison Burton ($9,000) — JGR had fast cars in Atlanta. If Truex wasn’t in that race, then Burton could be the no. 1 ranked driver this weekend. Burton ran the most laps inside the top 5 (115 of 163). It’s hard to trust Burton this season, but he should unload very fast this weekend.
5. Austin Cindric ($11,000) — The #22 car was off at Atlanta, so the team decided to pit before the end of stage one to work on the car and gain track position during the stage break. Unfortunately, during the mad dash to the end of stage one, Cindric was unable to navigate traffic and got caught in the Brandon Jones wreck.
6. Brandon Jones ($8,800) — Stage one ended with a restart on the final lap. Brandon Jones stayed out and he was in fifth place running down the backstretch before Brett Moffit dumped him and triggered a massive wreck. The #19 JGR car has speed every week, but Jones cannot put together a complete race.
7. AJ Allmendinger ($10,300) — He was involved in the big stage one wreck, and he spent all of stage two in the back. The team got the car fixed, and Allmendinger was able to rally for a fifth place finish. Allmendinger has all of the skill needed to win these races and Kaulig racing is building good cars, but they’re just lacking that extra bit of speed needed to win at intermediate tracks.
8. Josh Berry ($10,000) — This isn’t the #8 JR Motorsports car, but the #31 Jordan Anderson car is former RCR equipment. His previous equipment was top 10 quality; his current equipment is top 15 quality. In the first Atlanta race, Berry was in 10th place before clipping the grass and destroying his car.
9. Ty Dillon ($9,700) — Apparently, Our Motorsports has cars they want torn up because they’re handing the keys over to Ty Dillon this weekend. Dillon ended his four race wreck streak by running a spotless race at Charlotte in the Our Motorsports #23 car. He finished seventh in the Memorial Day weekend race.
10. Daniel Hemric ($8,600) — He was just out there for most of the Atlanta race. Hemric ran around 10th place, which is disappointing for a JGR car, but it’s worse when compared to how dominant his teammates were. Making matters even worse, is that Hemric got into a fist fight with another irrelevant driver after the race.
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11. Brett Moffitt ($7,800) — At the end of stage one, Moffitt slid into a spot that wasn’t there and turned Brandon Jones. Moffitt got the worst of the wreck and finished last. Before that wreck, Moffit had spent 39 of the 40 laps inside the top 5.
12. Myatt Snider ($7,700) — This RCR car should be a top 10 car every weekend. At Atlanta, Snider’s average running position was 10th. That sounds like a success, but several top 10 cars were involved in wrecks. Snider should have spent more time closer to the front.
13. Riley Herbst ($7,500) — Somehow, Herbst is getting worse with experience. Last season, Herbst’s average finish was 16th place. This season, his average finish is 19th place. He earned 17 top 10 finishes last season. The 2021 season is halfway complete, and Herbst has 5 top 10 finishes.
14. Justin Haley ($8,400) — Early in the season, Kaulig Racing had fast intermediate track cars, but that speed has dissipated. Their cars are top 10 cars, but JGR, Penske, and JR Motorsports have separated from Kaulig.
15. Jeffrey Earnhardt ($6,900) — His starting position is heavily influenced by last week’s race at Road America, and Earnhardt did not qualify for that race. JD Motorsports cars are 20th to 25th place cars. A 20th place finish and a 40 point day for Earnhardt is not unreasonable — he finished 19th in the first Atlanta race.
16. Colby Howard ($6,100) — He’s another JD Motorsports driver that failed to qualify for the Road America road course race, so this week he is starting in the back of the field. In the first Atlanta race, Howard finished 21st. Last season, he finished 15th in his fifth start ever in the Xfinity Series.
17. Kyle Weatherman ($5,000) — The Mike Harmon cars have disappointed regularly this season, but their starting positions near the rear are not necessarily due to their lackluster performances. Weatherman and Bayley Currey failed to qualify for Road America, so they’re starting in the back. On a good day, these cars can finish inside the top 25.
18. David Starr ($5,800) — There are a handful of cars starting in the back that are priced to move. One, if not two, of these drivers will make it into the top 25. Starr has 6 top 25s and 9 top 30s in 13 races this season.
19. Jesse Little ($4,800) — Kyle Busch is expensive, so the two punt combo will be popular. The combo with Little offers maximum savings, but there is slightly more risk with his starting position, but not much more. Little has 10 top 30 finishes in 15 races and his average finish is 25th over the last five races.
20. Sam Mayer ($9,400) — The Sam Mayer era is not off to a great start. He wrecked at Pocono and he wrecked at Road America. This looks like the 2020 #8 JR Motorsports car all over again. Mayer is a talented young driver, and he’ll turn it around eventually, but Atlanta is not an easy track to get back on track.
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