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NASCAR returned on Sunday, with the first Cup Series race since the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the entire sports world. Now, the NASCAR Xfinity Series is back too.
On Tuesday night, NASCAR's second-tier series returns to the track with the Toyota 200 at Darlington Raceway. With a starting lineup created via random draw and a less-experienced field than we saw on Sunday, Tuesday's race could end with some chaos, or it could end predictably with a Kyle Busch victory. Who knows!
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 moving forward. So, let's look at some NASCAR Xfinity DFS lineup picks for the Toyota 200 on DraftKings. (And if any other DFS providers want to start doing Xfinity, we'll do those too!) Be sure to also check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Xfinity Series including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station.
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Xfinity DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings
Be sure to also check out all of our other weekly NASCAR DFS articles and analysis to help you set your optimal DFS lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Kyle Busch #54 ($16,000) - Starting 26th
Okay, so let's talk about Kyle Busch. He's extremely expensive, which really hinders your ability to build a solid lineup that involves him. Usually, you might opt to build a solid, non-Busch lineup because of that, but it's really hard to ignore Busch this week when he's starting 26th thanks to the format of the random draw for qualifying. We're talking about the most dominant Xfinity Series driver of all-time, and he's got the chance to rack up even more points than usual as he makes his way through the field.
The downside with Busch is that he starts 26th, so he has to get to the front cleanly. This isn't the safe, slam dunk pick you might think it is if you were just judging off of the Busch name. Is it a risk worth taking? Can you find enough viable value guys to justify the $16,000 price tag?
Daniel Hemric #8 ($9,100) - Starting 23rd
If you want a driver in a top-tier car who is starting below 20th and comes in at a much cheaper price than Busch, why not give Daniel Hemric a look? Ignore that pesky thing about Hemric never a race in any of NASCAR's top series. He's a very good driver who had 23 Top 10 finishes in 2018 when he ran the full schedule and finished third in the point standings, and he had 16 Top 5 finishes that year while leading 440 laps.
The one issue here is that Hemric hasn't run super well at Darlington. He's shown qualifying speed, but he's finished 11th and 18th in two Xfinity races here. But he's in a JR Motorsports car and like Busch has a chance to get some place differential points.
Ross Chastain #10 ($9,400) - Starting 9th
Chastain didn't race in Sunday's Cup race, which is a bit surprising since Ross Chastain seems to always be racing. But NASCAR's favorite watermelon-sponsored driver will roll off ninth on Tuesday, looking to get his year back on track. Chastain has three top 10s in four races, but his best finish is eighth at California.
Chastain's luck at Darlington hasn't been great in the past, but three of his four Xfinity races at the track came in JD Motorsports cars, so it's hard to really judge that too much. And while his finishes this season haven't been quite what some hoped for, he's still got a green flag pass differential of 22. Kaulig Racing has shown speed at times, but the team's best chance of winning a race is at a track where the driver really matters. Well, Darlington's a track where the driver really matters.
Noah Gragson #9 ($8,700) - Starting 1st
Let's go the opposite direction here and grab polesitter Noah Gragson. Gragson won't be able to get positive points for differential, but starting first at Darlington has some big advantages. For one, it helps him keep the car clean, something that can be hard to do at the Track Too Tough To Tame.
For another, Darlington's a track where the driver who starts first tends to lead a larger percentage of laps than they do at other tracks. All that plus a relatively nice price tag -- not to mention the speed Gragson showed before the shut down, including a win at Daytona and a fourth-place run at Vegas -- makes Gragson an enticing option.
Ryan Sieg #39 ($8,000) - Starting 4th
I'm really interested to see how Sieg's race goes.
Starting in fourth is Sieg's best starting spot in an Xfinity race since Talladega last Spring. This season, he's got an averaged start of 14.8. But his average mid-race running position is 8.5 and average finish is 6.8, and his pass differential of 52 is the second highest in the series.
Basically, Sieg doesn't show a ton of speed when qualifying, but drives some really good races. So, can that hold up with a better starting position? I think we can at least count on him to not fade too much, and $8,000 seems like a really good price for a driver whose average finish this year is, again, 6.8.
Anthony Alfredo #21 ($6,600) - Starting 17th
Alfredo has run one race in the Xfinity Series, starting 13th at California earlier this year and finishing sixth. While he's largely untested, he's driving a Richard Childress car, a team that's consistently shown speed in this series for years, and Alfredo ran 96.7 percent of his laps in the Top 15 in his first start.
Yes, there's reason to worry about Alfredo racing at Darlington since as far as I can tell (i.e. digging through his career archives on Racing Reference) Alfredo has never raced here, but he'll be in a good car and is priced below a lot of guys with no upside, so if you want a risky upside play, why not Alfredo?
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