RADIO
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads west this week to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California for the final Xfinity Series race on this configuration of the two-mile track. On Friday, word leaked that NASCAR had sold a large amount of the Auto Club property, which means that if the Xfinity Series returns here in the future, it'll be on a rebuilt short track.
Anyway, onto the actual racing stuff. Last week, Austin Hill took the 21 car to victory lane at Daytona, the second year in a row that Hill opened the Xfinity season with a victory. Can he use that to build momentum, or will this year go like last year's Auto Club visit, when Hill managed just a 27th-place finish?
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 Xfinity Series. Let's look at some NASCAR Xfinity DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Production Alliance Group 300 on DraftKings. Be sure to also check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Xfinity Series including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 2/25/23 at 5:15 p.m. ET.
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Xfinity DFS Picks - DraftKings
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Ross Chastain
Starting 38th - $11,200
Qualifying was rained out. (And the race itself probably will be as well, with it expected to move to Sunday if it can't get going today.) Because qualifying was rained out and the first race of the season was Daytona, where wild things always happen, we have a pretty strange starting grid, and we have one major chalk play: Ross Chastain, who starts this race from last place.
Chastain will be in the Mario Gosselin 91 car. That's not elite equipment, but Chastain wouldn't be dropping down to Xfinity to drive this car if he didn't think he could be competitive in it. Last year, he ran three races for this team, posting a best finish of fourth.
Fontana hasn't been the best track for Ross Chastain, with a best finish of 17th in Cup and eighth in Xfinity, but it's just impossible to ignore one of the best Cup Series drivers going down a level, especially with this much PD upside.
John Hunter Nemechek
Starting 2nd - $10,600
Because qualifying was rained out, we've got a lot of good cars in the back, which means I'm building lineups that feature a lot of place differential plays. But I do want one driver who can dominate in the early parts of the race, which is why I'm high on John Hunter Nemechek, who starts beside Austin Hill on the front row.
Nemechek doesn't have a lot of good results in his past races here. In two Xfinity starts, his best finish was 28th, and he was 25th in his lone Cup Series start at the track.
But some of this play comes down to the power of the car underneath him. Last year, Trevor Bayne led 24 laps here in a JGR car, finishing third, and then Ty Gibbs won the August race at Michigan, a track that shares similarities with this one. Plus, the starting grid is set up for either Nemechek or Justin Allgaier to run at the front early.
Sheldon Creed
Starting 31st - $8,700
Creed's rookie campaign in the Xfinity Series was largely uneven. Sure, he earned 13 top 10s, but he also missed the playoffs in an RCR car. In 2021, Myatt Snider made the playoffs in this car, and Creed's pre-2022 career indicated that he's better than Snider. So, what happened?
I think it was just an adjustment period. In 2019, Creed ran Trucks full-time and was 10th in points. A year later, he won five races and the championship. The young driver has a lot of experience in a lot of different disciplines, and I think his ability to absorb and learn makes him a major threat in 2023.
Crashing out at Daytona last week also puts Creed in position for some good place differential points, as he rolls off in 31st on Saturday. (Or Sunday. Or whenever these cars can get on the track.)
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Kaz Grala
Starting 29th - $7,400
Last week was a nightmare for Kaz Grala, as he had no speed in practice or qualifying, and he then finished 32nd in the race itself. But I'm a big believer in two things: Grala's talent and Sam Hunt Racing's upside. With those two things teamed up, I'm going to keep taking shots at Grala in DFS until his price either rises too much or one of my two beliefs from that last sentence ends up being untrue.
Not really much else to say about Grala here. We didn't get practice or qualifying this week, so we don't know if this car will have speed or not. But since he starts 29th, he should be able to gain a good number of spots just by attrition and all that.
Rajah Caruth
Starting 20th - $6,600
While I wish Caruth started a little deeper in the field for place differential reasons, I think he's someone who'll go pretty overlooked this weekend.
Caruth made seven starts for Alpha Prime Racing last season, and while it took a bit for him to get going with the team, he finished in the top 20 in his final three starts, with a best run of 12th at Martinsville. He's a good, young driver in decent equipment—this isn't a very exciting play, but it's one that helps you differentiate your lineup from others.
Bayley Currey
Starting 36th - $5,400
Kind of a punt play here, but if you want to fit in a couple of the 10k+ drivers, you'll have to find a way to save some extra salary space elsewhere. I think Currey's an interesting way to approach that.
For one, he starts at the very back, with the third-lowest starting spot in this race. That right there sets off the "place differential, especially if things get chaotic" alarm in my head.
One concern here: we don't know what JD Motorsports is right now. What used to be one of my favorite lower-tier teams had just two top 10s last season. But Currey had some good runs to end 2022, with top 20s in two of the last three races. If JDM can sustain some of that late-season improvement, then there's a shot at a top-25 run here, which would be good for DFS purposes at this price point.
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