RADIO
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Darlington this Friday evening for 147 laps around the esteemed Darlington Raceway. This is part of NASCAR's big throwback weekend, with vehicles in all three series running paint schemes that call back to the paint schemes of the past.
Last weekend at Kansas, Corey Heim led 79 of 134 laps to claim his second win of the season. The victory puts him just two points back of points leader Christian Eckes, who also has two wins. Ty Majeski is hanging around as well, sitting 12 points behind Eckes in third place.
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 Buckle Up South Carolina 200 on DraftKings. Be sure also to check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Truck Series, including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 5/10/2024 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Truck Series DFS Preview - DraftKings
Be sure also to check out all of our other weekly NASCAR DFS articles to help you set your optimal DFS lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Darlington Race Trends
The Truck Series returned here in 2020, running five races in that span. Notably, the polesitter won two of those, and just one race was won by a driver who didn't start in the top five.
Last season, Christian Eckes was the winner here, leading 82 laps. Polesitter Corey Heim looked like the driver to beat early, and his 66 laps led ranked second in the race.
That win for Eckes made it three consecutive Darlington races where the driver that led the most laps wound up in victory lane. Track position is going to be big here, so I'd recommend trying to get a couple of drivers starting near the front of the field to anchor your lineup.
As far as place differential goes, the amount of bumping and banging we get here can cause some big shakeups, even if the drivers at the front of the field are likely to be the ones who started there.
Last year, six drivers finished in the top 10 despite not starting in the top 10. That includes two drivers who started outside the top 20, with Dean Thompson starting 25th and finishing ninth and Kaden Honeycutt starting 24th and finishing 10th.
Top Plays
Note: Written Before Qualifying
Christian Eckes ($10,200) is my favorite play this weekend and the driver most likely to beat Kyle Busch. He's the defending winner of this race, leading 82 laps on his way to the victory last season. He also had a fifth-place finish here in 2020. Eckes has two wins and seven top 10s this season with an average finish of 8.1, which has helped him claim the points lead.
Pre-practice Truck sims for Darlington:
1. Kyle Busch 31.9%
2. Christian Eckes 15.2%
3. Corey Heim 14.7%
4. Nick Sanchez 6.8%
5. Taylor Gray 4.6%Full win/podium/T5 sims plus values at @FDSportsbook ⤵️ https://t.co/MfoLQxexNa
— Jim Sannes (@JimSannes) May 10, 2024
Corey Heim ($10,500) has uneven results here at Darlington. He DNFed in 2021 after a crash, then was 23rd in 2022. Last year, he won the pole and led 66 laps but ultimately finished eighth. This could be the year Heim breaks through with his best Darlington finish ever.
Kyle Busch ($15,000) has to be mentioned here, but I actually don't love this play simply because he's so expensive. He's $4,000 more than anyone else, which is pretty absurd. I mean, sure, Busch has two wins this season in the Truck Series, but if you play him, he pretty much has to dominate because of the flexibility you lose elsewhere in your lineup. I'll build a lineup or two with him, but Eckes and Heim are too intriguing for me to go heavy on Busch.
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Mid-Tier Options
Note: Written Before Qualifying
Matt Crafton ($7,700) is averaging his best average finish since 2020 this season, and he's already halfway to last year's mark in top fives and almost halfway to last year's mark in top 10s. He's finished in the top 10 in half of the races so far this season, including a fourth at Bristol. Now he comes to a track where he has seven top 10s in 11 career starts.
Tanner Gray ($7,500) averages 35.2 DraftKings points per race, just a tad under his brother's 39.3. But while Taylor Gray's salary has jumped to $9,000, Tanner remains an affordable $7,500 right now. He has three top 10s and an average of 5.2 place differential points per race. Plus, he was third in this race in 2023.
Tanner Gray talks about racing his brother in the #NASCAR Truck race at Darlington.
He also discusses improving on the late-race restarts:
(via @TreyLyleVT) pic.twitter.com/LYLx2BSbGF
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) May 13, 2023
Dean Thompson ($6,800) seems to have fixed some of his crashing issues. Last year, he had 10 DNFs in 23 races. This year, he's got two through the first eight, so he's on track to finish more races than in 2023. Thompson often flashes speed but has had trouble getting the finishes to match. He has three top 10s already this season, though, plus he had a top 10 at Darlington last season.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Deep Sleepers
Note: Written Before Qualifying
Daniel Dye ($6,200) has run significantly better than this price indicates. He has three top 10s this season, which includes two in a row now after a sixth-place finish at Texas and then a ninth at Kansas. He averages negative place differential, but the finishes have been making up for that lately.
Mason Massey ($5,400) isn't setting the world on fire this season, but he's regularly finished ahead of where he starts, which is great for fantasy purposes. Massey's average starting spot this season is just 30.6, but his average finish is 22.6. There's only been one race where he didn't have positive place differential, which was at COTA, where he had a mechanical failure. At Martinsville, Massey started 29th and finished 11th.
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