RADIO
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to COTA on Saturday for the Focused Health 250, the third race of the season for NASCAR's second-tier series.
Last week at Atlanta, RCR's Austin Hill continued his domination of superspeedways, leading 146 of 163 laps on his way to the win. Richard Childress Racing cars have now won the first two races of the season. Will they make it 3-for-3 at Circuit of the Americas?
Let's look at some NASCAR Xfinity DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 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 3/1/25 at 2:47 p.m. EST.
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Top Plays
William Byron ($10.5K)
Starts Third
There are three candidates to dominate this race and honestly, my advice is to build enough lineups that you can have strong exposure to all three drivers.
We start with William Byron. This is such a talented front of the field, but Byron is the best of these three drivers at the moment. Starting third limits his upside just a bit since it will be harder for him to get an early lead, but this is a guy who's won at this track in Cup. If he keeps the car clean, he'll find his way into the lead at some point.
Connor Zilisch ($10.3K)
Starts First
Connor Zilisch is probably the next big thing in NASCAR. He's been fast in everything he's raced, and last year, he won at Watkins Glen in his Xfinity debut. His 2025 season has gotten off to a disappointing start, but this is a great chance for Zilisch to bounce back.
He’s proven himself every step of the way.@ConnorZilisch at 18 years old is ready to make his Cup Series debut Sunday. pic.twitter.com/nsrOdYyDcr
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 28, 2025
In the Truck Series race here last year, Zilisch qualified on the pole and finished fourth. He also has some Trans Am experience here. He's one of the best pure racers we've seen come up in a while, so expect him to be a contender at every road course.
Ross Chastain ($10.0K)
Starts Second
In the past, Ross Chastain has been a fade candidate when he drops down to the Xfinity Series because he usually drives for smaller teams when he does, but this week he's in the JRM No. 9 car, which means Chastain should be a top contender.
Chastain is really, really good at COTA. In four Cup Series starts here, he has a win and his worst finish was seventh. Don't be shocked to see Chastain out-duel Zilisch.
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Mid-Tier Options
Sam Mayer ($9.6K)
Starts Eighth
Sam Mayer has seven wins in the Xfinity Series. Four have come in road courses. 57.1 percent of his victories despite the tracks accounting for just 18.5 percent of his career starts.
COTA pic.twitter.com/wEVVRTDvNj
— Sam Mayer (@sam_mayer_) February 28, 2025
In three Xfinity Series starts at COTA, Mayer has finished fifth, seventh, and ninth with a positive place differential in every race.
Austin Hill ($9.0K)
Starts 12th
Austin Hill has raced COTA three times. In two of those races, he came home in second place. That doesn't mean he's guaranteed to give you +10 in place differential with a second-place finish, but he should be a candidate to record a top five with positive place differential.
Carson Hocevar ($8.6K)
Starts 24th
This one really intrigues me. Carson Hocevar is one of the most talented drivers in this field, but he's in an SS-Greenlight car. Can Hocevar take an underperforming car and get a good finish out of it? His 24th-place starting spot is far enough back for me to bet on him getting enough from this No. 14 car.
Sammy Smith ($8.3K)
Starts 16th
Sammy Smith will probably be the slowest JR Motorsports car on Saturday, but that's not saying much because all the JRM cars should have speed. Smith crashed out here last year, but in 2023 he started second and finished fourth in this race. There's solid place differential appeal with Smith.
Value Options
William Sawalich ($7.5K)
Starts 23rd
I don't think this is a particularly good track for William Sawalich. He's never raced here before and he's barely raced on road courses. His only other road course start in NASCAR's top three series was a 27th-place finish at Mid-Ohio two years ago in the Truck Series.
But he's also starting outside the top 20 in a Joe Gibbs Racing car while costing just $7.5K. This is the perfect confluence of factors to make me overlook a lack of experience.
Harrison Burton ($7.4K)
Starts 31st
There's no reason to think Harrison Burton's going to have speed on Saturday, but that doesn't mean you have to ignore him in DFS. He starts all the way back in 31st, so if he can keep the car clean, he can net you 10-15 place differential points. He's been decent here in the Cup Series with an average finish of 23.0 in three starts.
Austin Green ($7.2K)
Starts 20th
While I'd feel a little better if Austin Green started even five spots deeper in the field, he still has high upside on Saturday. Green has run really well in his limited Xfinity starts, most of which have been on road courses.
No shock that Connor Zilisch lead the field in group one of Xfinity qualifying. @JRMotorsports has some great cars this weekend.
It was also great to see two @JARnascar drivers in the top 10 of group one with Blaine Perkins and Austin Green.#NASCAR
— Alex Stricklin (@_AlexStricklin_) February 28, 2025
That includes COTA last year, where Green made his series debut. He started 25th, but a strong race saw him end the day in seventh. It was the first of three top 10s.
Ryan Sieg ($6.8K)
Starts 38th
Yes, road courses are Ryan Sieg's weak spot, but with the No. 39 car starting 38th on Saturday, his 20.3 average finish on this track type doesn't look too bad. Finishing at his average for road courses would be +18 in place differential.
Also of note: in four COTA starts, Sieg's average starting spot is 31.8. His average finish is 18.3. He's a virtual lock for cheap place differential.
Dean Thompson ($5.8K)
Starts 30th
Dean Thompson has very little road course experience. He has a tendency to crash out of races. This probably won't be a good week for him, but the fact he starts 30th means you should sprinkle him into a lineup or two for the potential place differential points.
Jeremy Clements ($5.6K)
Starts 35th
If you want to go really cheap, Jeremy Clements feels way underpriced after running well in the first two races of the season. This team has fallen off in production over the last few years, but Clements has a win and eight top 10s on road courses.
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