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The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Talladega this weekend. It's a superspeedway race, so you know what that means as far as DFS goes—place differential is king. There's going to be plenty of carnage in this one, so you want to avoid drivers who can lose a lot of PD points. You also want to cast a wider net than usual in terms of drivers you're willing to play.
For example, in the Truck Series race here last October, just two drivers finished in the top 10 who started in the top 10. The winner, Matt DiBenedetto, started 30th. Bret Holmes finished third. Five drivers who started in the top 10 finished 22nd or worse.
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 Love's RV Stop 250 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 9/30/2023 at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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Grant Enfinger - $9,600
Starting 25th
One of the playoff drivers, Grant Enfinger will fire off 25th on Saturday, giving him a good bit of place differential upside. He's had a pretty up-and-down record at this track, but he's won here in 2016 and has led double-digit laps three times.
The downs, though? Two finishes in a row outside the top 20, including a 29th in this race last season. But that's Talladega for you—you can get a contender here for a couple of years then have terrible luck for a couple more years. What matters to me isn't the recent struggles but the fact he has experience and place differential upside.
Chandler Smith - $9,200
Starting 28th
With Matt DiBenedetto out of the 25 truck, Chandler Smith's been signed to fill in this week. It's still unclear who'll run the rest of the races in this truck and who'll be in it in 2024.
Smith brings experience at a track where experience matters. He has the know-how to keep this truck clean. He has three top 20s here in the Truck Series including a third-place run in 2020, and last year he led 17 laps in this race before finishing 14th.
Brett Moffitt - $8,700
Starting 31st
Brett Moffitt will run this race in a Front Row Motorsports truck, marking his first Truck Series race since Kansas last year. Moffitt, a 12-time winner in the Truck Series, has been running Xfinity full-time this season for AM Racing.
He's never won at Talladega, but Moffitt has a pair of top 10s here in the Truck Series, including leading 13 laps in the 2020 race. He didn't have a great qualifying run, but FRM has shown speed with the 38 all season and I expect this truck to perform well once the green flag flies.
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Stewart Friesen - $8,300
Starting 20th
Stewart Friesen starts 20th. That's not as high as I'm comfortable going in this field because I'd play guys like Zane Smith (18th) and Parker Kligerman (13th) without hesitation, but it's as high as I'm covering in this article.
Friesen has a better record here than a lot of guys. In six Truck Series starts at Talladega, he's failed to finish just once, and he has a pair of top 10s. His veteran savvy makes him an intriguing play on Saturday, assuming he can keep the truck clean.
Taylor Gray - $7,900
Starting 24th
Taylor Gray is a riskier case than most. Because of his age, this will be his first superspeedway start in the Truck Series, as he had to sit out Daytona this season. That lack of experience is obviously risky.
But I can't ignore that there's some theoretical value here for Gray, who starts 24th. That's a good spot at $7,900 because of the potential for place differential points.
Also of note: Gray did race here in ARCA earlier this season. He only finished seventh, but he kept the car clean and learned how to work in the draft. He'll be fine Saturday—or, well, as fine as anyone can be at a track like this, where anyone could fall victim to the Big One at any time.
Ryan Vargas - $6,000
Starting 33rd
Ryan Vargas starts 33rd in this On Point Motorsports 30 truck, his seventh start of the season for the team. While he's never run a Truck Series race at this track, he did run the Atlanta race this spring, a track whose drafting profile makes it similar to this one despite being over a mile shorter. And he put together a solid run there, starting 35th and finishing 14th.
He's struggled at Talladega in the Xfinity Series, but it's always hard to know what to make of starts at a superspeedway in an underfunded car. I take the fact he has five Xfinity starts here as a positive, even if his best result was 20th in the spring race last year.
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