RADIO
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Atlanta on Friday for the Fr8 208, part of a tripleheader weekend for NASCAR. While Atlanta's a 1.5-mile track, the recent reconfiguration of it has essentially made it a superspeedway, which means anything can happen on Saturday.
Through two races, Zane Smith holds the points lead and is the only driver with multiple top fives this year. Ty Majesku, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes round out the current top five in points.
Here at RotoBaller, we want to help you make informed decisions about your DFS lineups, which is why I'll be breaking down the slates for the Craftsman Truck Series. Let's look at some NASCAR Truck Series DFS lineup picks for the Fr8 208 on DraftKings. Be sure to also check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Truck Series including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 3/18/2023 at 2:08 p.m. ET.
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Truck Series DFS Preview - DraftKings
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John Hunter Nemechek - $10,800- Starts 24th
While this track isn't quite as unpredictable as Daytona or Talladega, it's still a drafting track with the potential for chaos, so place differential is a little more important than it usually is. That's why Nemechek is the top play on Saturday's slate.
Nemech is in the TRICON 17 truck on Saturday, which has basically replaced KBM as the top Toyota team now that KBM is Chevy. Nemechek is driving in Xfinity this year, but he raced for KBM the past two years in the Truck Series, and he led double-digit laps in both his Truck starts at Atlanta, including leading 21 laps and finishing third in 2021. He should be a threat to win this one.
Grant Enfinger - $9,600 - Starts 7th
Here's the thing: because this has become a superspeedway, people are going to rightly focus a lot on place differential. But this track isn't quite as wild as the other superspeedways, so there's still room to play someone who starts high in the field without it being the potential lineup killer it is at Daytona or Talladega.
A former winner at Atlanta, Enfinger finished just outside the top 10 the last two years here, including last season's 12th-place finish in which he led 14 laps. He knows his way around this place and is likely to be a little overlooked this weekend, making him a nice GPP pivot. I understand why, for example, you might play Stewart Friesen ahead of him for the PD upside, but Enfinger just feels like he actually has a chance to win, which a Friesen or a Tyler Ankrum don't have.
Layne Riggs - $8,300 - Starts 23rd
I'm extremely excited to see Layne Riggs in a Tricon truck this week. He had some good runs last year in a Halmar truck, and now he's going to be jumping into one of the top teams. The son of former Cup Series driver Scott Riggs, Layne's one of my favorite young talents in the Truck Series. Riggs started three Truck races last year, with an average finish of 13.0.
As for this race, Riggs doesn't have superspeedway experience, which definitely worries me. But at a track like this, I'd play any Tricon driver who started outside the top 20, regardless of their experience.
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Nick Sanchez - $7,600 - Starts 20th
Sanchez has run into issues during races this year, but he's shown a ton of speed, with an average starting position of 1.5. If we had had qualifying for this one, he likely would have started top 10 and probably been a fade.
But qualifying was rained out, so Sanchez is starting 20th. The raw speed he's shown this season makes him a really appealing place differential option for Saturday's race.
And it's not like Sanchez doesn't have speedway experience. He ran some Xfinity races for Big Machine Racing last year, with top 15 runs at Texas and Las Vegas.
Hailee Deegan - $7,100 - Starts 32nd
I told myself I'd stop playing Deegan because she keeps wrecking...but then qualifying was rained out, and now she starts 32nd in a Thorsport truck, so I'm right back on the Deegan train. I'm especially interested because of how she ran at Daytona—yes, she crashed out, but she showed a lot of speed early in that race, running as high as second during the race and spending 22 of the 28 laps she completed in the top 15.
I know Deegan's always risky because she ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time a lot, but there's simply way too much PD upside to not sprinkle Deegan into your lineups on Saturday.
Ryan Vargas - $6,300 - Starts 35th
Vargas is set to run a handful of races for On Point Motorsports this season, beginning with this race at Atlanta. This will be the first Truck Series start for Vargas.
But the 22-year-old has 67 Xfinity starts under his belt, so he's no novice, and he's raced at Atlanta four times in that series. And he's done...pretty well. Vargas was 31st in his first Xfinity start here but has been 14th, 12th, and 21st in the three races since then.
Starting 35th, Vargas has a lot of place differential upside on Saturday. He's easily my favorite value play on this slate because of his experience here and the number of spots he can gain on Saturday afternoon.
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