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The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Talladega for the second race of the Round of 12. Last week, Noah Gragson clinched a spot in the next round by winning at Texas, his fourth consecutive victory this season. Gragson swept the Xfinity Series in September.
But now, we head to Talladega, the kind of place where anything can happen. Up the randomness. Play more value guys than usual. Value place differential more than usual. And don't count your winnings until the checkered flag flies on Saturday afternoon.
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 Sparks 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 10/1/22 at 4:15 p.m. ET.
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Sam Mayer - Starting 13th ($10,300)
The "good" drivers—in quotes because I'm not sure being good matters a ton here at Talladega—all start pretty high up in the field. If we have a weirdly non-chaotic Talladega race, then Sam Mayer's place differential upside from 13th place is a nice way to try gaining an edge.
Of course, it's Talladega, where anything can happen...which is another reason I mention Mayer. I largely avoid drivers starting up front at superspeedways because of the likelihood that they can get into a big crash and kill your day with negative PD.
Mayer starts just far enough back for me to not be as concerned about that. There's no such thing as a safe play here, and Mayer being 0-for-5 in terms of top 10s at superspeedways is a worry, but I think Mayer is one of the safer top plays.
Noah Gragson - Starting 6th ($10,100)
I don't usually recommend a driver starting in the top 10 at Talladega, because the probability of chaos happening means that there ends up being way too much place differential downside. But I think playing Gragson is different.
Gragson has won the last four Xfinity Series races. He's shown some real maturity this year, and he seems to have this innate ability to run really, really well at Talladega.
Seriously. This is a place where anything can happen. Where last year we saw Brandon Brown win here. But Gragson has been about as reliable as imaginable here. In seven Xfinity starts, he's crashed out just once. He has a win here earlier this season and an average finish of 9.3. He's led laps in all but one of these seven races.
If you're taking a risk with someone who starts up front, it should be Gragson.
(Also, Talladega in Xfinity feels safer than Talladega in Trucks or Cup. Speculation, but I just feel like this is the less chaotic of the three races this weekend.)
Riley Herbst - Starting 23rd ($9,100)
Herbst is one of two playoff drivers starting outside the top 20. We'll get to the other one in a minute. But with Herbst firing off in 23rd, there's a good bit of place differential upside here for this 98 car.
Herbst has made five Xfinity Series starts at this track, with three DNFs, and then two top 10s. Last fall, he led 26 laps here before crashing out and finishing 27th.
Herbst knows how to get up front here. When he finished fourth here in 2021, he did so from the 19th spot on the grid. He can definitely be a factor late in this one.
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Jeremy Clements - Starting 37th ($7,500)
In my piece on the Truck Series race, I talked about not getting the guys who bring up the rear of the field, because they'll likely be overused in DFS this week, so the real edge is in guys starting in the 20s. That was true, and it's also potentially true in this race. But there's simply too much superspeedway talent starting at the back in this one for me to ignore it.
Clements is the lowest starting playoff driver. Why is he even in the playoffs? Because last time NASCAR was at a superspeedway, Clements won—Daytona in August.
That race is the argument against my earlier proclamation that the Xfinity race should be less chaotic than Trucks and Cup. At Daytona, we got a mess. Just 15 drivers on the lead lap, with names like Clements, Timmy Hill, Sage Karam and Ryan Vargas all getting top 10s. If you're expecting chaos, Clements is a great play.
Timmy Hill - Starting 36th ($6,900)
And while we're at it, let's consider the guy who finished second at Daytona: Timmy Hill. Hill started 37th in that race, survived all the chaos, and was right there in contention at the end.
Hill knows this car doesn't have a lot of speed, so he'll play it safe on Saturday. He'll hang out near the back and if things get wild up in the pack, he'll survive by being behind the carnage. It's how in his eight Xfinity starts here, he's finished the race six times, with three top 15 finishes.
JJ Yeley - Starting 35th ($5,900)
While we're at it, let's play another of these guys from really far back. This time, it's J.J. Yeley, who I think has a ton of PD upside this weekend.
Unlike Clements and Hill, Yeley didn't have a top five at Daytona. He was only *checks results* ninth in that race.
Yeley has a ton of experience at this track—not only in Xfinity but also in Cup. He had issues in the first race here this season, but he drove a B.J. McLeod car to a 16th in this race last season, and before his DNF this year, Yeley had finished seven Talladega races in a row, and his other two DNFs here came in a Gibbs car, which meant he wasn't playing it safe those days: he was racing for the win and got collected in incidents.
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