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Justin Carter's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 150 at The Brickyard . Read his daily fantasy NASCAR advice and Xfinity sleepers.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this weekend as part of a big weekend of racing in Indianapolis. The Truck Series was across town at IRP last night, while IndyCar and Cup are both at the Indy RC as well.
Last weekend, John Hunter Nemechek won at Michigan. He's now tied with Austin Hill at the top of the Xfinity Series standings, with both drivers sitting at 811 points. Justin Allgaier is in third place, 34 points back.
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 Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard 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 8/12/23 at 5:58 p.m. ET.
Xfinity DFS 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.
A.J. Allmendinger
Starting First - $10,800
When we're at a road course and A.J. Allmendinger is in the field, he's always one of the favorites. He won at COTA earlier thus year, leading 28 laps from the pole, and was second at Sonoma.
He did have issues at Road America, where he started on the pole and led five laps but faded to ninth by the end, but there were extenuating circumstances there, as the car had brake issues. In fact, getting a top 10 in a car that was having those issues all race long was impressive, even if it wasn't the result he wanted.
Now, Allmendinger steps back to down to Xfinity for another race, this time at the Indianapolis road course, a place where he's done well. In 2021, he won the Cup Series race here while racing part-time in that series, and in three Xfinity Series starts here, his worst finish is fourth. That includes a dominant win last year, as he led 42 of 62 laps.
Ty Gibbs, who starts second, has a lot of upside too, but Allmendinger's past performance here makes him my favorite play.
Parker Kligerman
Starting 12th - $9,000
Kligerman has had a solid season for Big Machine Racing, posting 10 top 10s and sitting 12th in points right now in his first full-time Xfinity season since 2013.
He came close to claiming his first victory of the season at the most recent road course race, finishing second at Road America. Overall, Kligerman enters this race with three top 10s in a row, and the last five races that he's been running at the end of have been top 10s, including a ninth at Chicago.
Chandler Smith
Starting 18th - $8,500
Smith's had a solid rookie campaign in the Xfinity Series, winning once and collecting eight top 10s so far. He sits seventh in the point standings entering Saturday's race.
His results on road courses have been a bit of a mixed bag. He was 12th at COTA (and +15 in place differential), ninth at Portland, 14th at Sonoma, eighth at Chicago, and 37th at Road America.
Overall, his 18th-place starting spot offers enough place differential upside for me to ignore things like the Sonoma race, and Road America was obviously a different story since he crashed there. Smith's a solid mid-range play.
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Miguel Paludo
Starting 22nd - $8,300
Miguel Paludo has run the occasional race for JR Motorsports since 2021, and the results haven't really been great, as he's registered two top 10s in that time. A road ringer in a JRM car should probably have a better track record than that.
But he's run solid laps in 2023, finishing 13th in both of his starts. His 22nd-place starting spot is his lowest of the season, so if he can keep the car clean and finish inside the top 15 again, there will be some good place differential points there for the Brazilian driver.
Sage Karam
Starting 27th - $7,400
Sage Karam feels like he's been around forever since he started in IndyCar back in 2014, but he's not even 30 yet, and there's a good shot he can still carve out a solid NASCAR career, especially if he can have more races like he had at Road America, where he started sixth and finished fourth.
That was in a Sam Hunt Racing car, and this race is in an Alpha Prime Racing car. There's a huge difference in car quality, and Karam has just one top 30 in six APR starts. But four of those races saw him suffer mechanical failure, so I don't want to hold that against Karam. If the car can stay together, I think he can have a solid day, potentially getting up and challenging for a top 15 or so. Risky play because this car keeps breaking, but Karam did finish 13th here last year for this team, and he's run three IndyCar races here, giving him additional track time that a lot of other drivers haven't had.
Kyle Weatherman
Starting 29th - $5,700
I think there's some really good place differential upside for Weatherman this weekend as he hops back into the 4 car for JD Motorsports.
The last time he ran this car was at Road America, another road course. He started 38th in that race and managed a 20th-place finish. There isn't as much place differential upside here since he starts nine spots higher than he did in that race, but Weatherman's a talented driver whose worst finish at a road course this season is 22nd, with a best finish of 14th at Chicago.
