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Justin's NASCAR DFS Picks (Truck Series) for the Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville (2025). Read his daily fantasy NASCAR advice and NASCAR Trucks DFS sleepers, values for Martinsville.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is nearing its conclusion. Friday's Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville offers drivers one final chance to clinch a spot in the Championship 4. Corey Heim has clinched one of the four places in the championship battle after a win at the Charlotte Roval, but the other three spots could be anyone's.
Rajah Caruth is currently second in the standings while Tyler Ankrum and Kaden Honeycutt are third and fourth, but Ty Majeski and Layne Riggs are close enough to point their way in if things go right. Meanwhile, Daniel Hemric and Grant Enfinger are further back and likely need a win to advance to Phoenix.
This race should feature a lot of bumping and banging on the tight, paperclip-shaped Martinsville track. Expect a number of accidents, which expands the field a bit in terms of who we can play in DFS. Let's take a look at some NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville on DraftKings. Make sure you check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for the Craftsman Truck Series, including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 10/24/25 at 6:18 p.m. EDT.
*Please note, Craftsman Truck Series qualifying takes place on 10/24/25 at 3:10 PM EST. Check back after qualifying for any updates.*
Craftsman Truck Series DFS Preview - DraftKings
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Post-Qualifying Place Differential Updates
The top drivers mostly qualified well, so not a ton of chalky place differential plays. If I’m looking for PD points, here’s who I’m targeting:
- Chandler Smith - 18th - I had him as a fade initially but that was before he only qualified 18th. Definitely in play now.
- Jake Garcia (22nd)
- Casey Mears (27th) - Risky, but there’s not much to chose from as far as place differential goes in Friday.
Top NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series DFS Plays
Corey Heim ($13K)
On one hand, Corey Heim is the only driver in the playoff field who doesn't have to win. He's already clinched a spot in the Championship 4, and playoff points don't carry over to that race.
On the other hand, the current playoff field features Ty Majeski and Layne Riggs on the outside looking in, and the best way to deny those two a spot in the Championship 4 is to win, which forces both to point their way in.
Did you know:
In addition to his record setting season, Corey Heim is the only full time driver in NASCAR's Top 3 Series (Cup, Xfinity, Truck) without a single DNF in the 2025 season. pic.twitter.com/BARDXYnnXI
— NASCAR Insights (@NASCARInsights) October 21, 2025
Heim has been the dominant driver this season, winning 10 times already. He enters this race with nine consecutive finishes of third or better. He's won at Martinsville before. It's pretty clear that Heim is the favorite this weekend.
Layne Riggs ($11K)
Layne Riggs doesn't have to win this race, but if he doesn't, he'll need help to advance to the Championship 4. It'd be a shame if he misses, considering he has three wins this season.
Short tracks are Riggs' strong suit, though. Three of his five career victories are on short tracks, and he has 13 top 10s in 16 starts on tracks under one mile, with an average finish of 6.1. It's worth noting that Martinsville is his worst short track, but he still has an average finish of 10.7 here.
Ty Majeski ($10.5K)
Could the defending champion miss the Championship 4? Maybe! Majeski sits fifth in points right now, one spot out of a transfer position to next week's title fight.
The good news for Majeski — who has yet to win a race in 2025 — is that Martinsville has been a solid track for him. It's not his best track, but he's shown speed, including his second-place finish last spring that saw him lead 66 laps. He spun while fighting for the lead here earlier this season, leading him to settle for a 13th-place finish.
Daniel Hemric ($9.5K)
Daniel Hemric is basically in must-win territory this weekend after crashing out at Talladega last weekend. Luckily for him, we're at Martinsville, the site of Hemric's only win this season. Back in March, Hemric hung around all race and pounced when he needed to, leading the final four laps of the race after getting past Tyler Ankrum.
Meanwhile, this No. 16 truck won both of the races here last year with Christian Eckes behind the wheel, which feels notable. This McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team seems to have figured out how to win at Martinsville in a way other teams haven't over the last two seasons.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series DFS Fades
Chandler Smith ($10K)
What looked like a potential championship season early on has turned into a disappointment for Chandler Smith. Smith had a top 10 in the first six races of 2025, but two finishes of 30th in the playoffs led to his surprise elimination after the Round of 10.
Martinsville has been a good track for Smith, but I'm hesitant to spend big on someone with just one finish better than 19th over the past five races. This No. 38 truck is in a rut, and while this is a good place for him to break out of it, the other high-priced drivers just feel so much safer for DFS purposes.
Jack Wood ($6.4K)
While Jack Wood's teammates have run well here, Wood himself has been a disaster. His average finish at Martinsville is 25.0, with a best result of 18th. In five starts, he's had negative place differential four times. The only time he didn't was in 2021, when he started 34th and finished 27th.
Mid-Tier NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series DFS Options
Tyler Ankrum ($9.3K)
Tyler Ankrum is in the midst of his best Truck Series campaign, setting career-best marks in top fives and top 10s. He sits third in points and has a great shot to make the Championship 4 if he can run a clean race.
Good thing we're at Martinsville, and I don't mean that sarcastically. Ankrum has four career top 10s here, his second-most at any track on the schedule. That includes three consecutive top 10s here entering this weekend, including a second-place finish back in March.
Kaden Honeycutt ($8.8K)
Kaden Honeycutt sits fourth in points and has a shot to do something relatively shocking: win the title while running for two different teams. Since moving to this No. 52 after Stewart Friesen's injury, Honeycutt has three top 10s in six starts, with no finishes outside the top 20.
Honeycutt has had some bad luck at Martinsville, but he's also run well here. His first two starts here were in backmarker equipment, but in three races here for Niece, he had a top 10 finish as well as two top 10 qualifying runs. He led 20 laps here earlier this season but spun from the lead after contact with Ty Majeski.
Corey LaJoie ($8.3K)
Corey LaJoie has been solid in his starts for Spire this season, recording five top 10s in seven starts with an average finish of 10.4. He's not the most exciting option because it feels like his skill level caps him as a fifth-place driver at best, but he's only had negative place differential once this year, so that's a plus.
Ben Rhodes ($8.0K)
The end is in sight for Ben Rhodes' disappointing season. The two-time champion missed the playoffs and is on track to have his fewest top 10s since 2016 unless he can record one in the final two races.
Martinsville might offer him a chance to do so, though. Rhodes has six top fives and 10 top 10s here, including a fifth-place finish earlier this season and a second-place result in this race last fall.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series DFS Value Options
Giovanni Ruggiero ($7.8K)
With how Gio Ruggiero has run lately, I'd have thought his DFS salary would have jumped even more this weekend. I'm not just saying that because of his Talladega win, but because he also finished in the top five in the two races before Talladega.
Gio Ruggiero's win was a popular one in the Truck garage
People really like Gio here. The Riggs stopped by, etc.
Gio, true to form, when asked about Talladega answers with what he needs to do the next two weeks to win again. pic.twitter.com/cU7isTQWX2
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) October 17, 2025
Ruggiero has made six Truck Series starts on short tracks. He's still searching for his first top five on this track type, but he has three top 10s and an average finish of 12.2.
Jake Garcia ($7.5K)
It's been an up-and-down season for Jake Garcia, who improved on his 2024 numbers but enters this race with four consecutive finishes outside the top 15. This race should offer a good chance to break that dry spell, though, as Garcia was third here earlier this season.
Brenden Queen ($7.1K)
Next season, Brenden Queen is set to move to the Truck Series full-time for Kaulig Racing. This weekend, he'll get some needed experience in the Spire No. 7 truck, his second Truck Series race this season for the team.
Queen's a talented driver who has a lot of short track experience. That includes eight starts at Martinsville during his late model racing career. He could sneak away with a top 10 this weekend.
Andres Perez De Lara ($6.6K)
The ceiling for Andres Perez De Lara is lower now that he's in a Niece truck instead of a Spire truck, but he's got a top 10 in this No. 44, finishing eighth at Bristol. His best finish of the season was in the first Martinsville race, when he finished seventh for Spire. Don't be shocked to see this truck sneak into the bottom of the top 10 on Friday night.
Casey Mears ($5.8K)
Veteran driver Casey Mears makes his Truck Series debut this weekend in what will be the 600th start of his NASCAR career. Martinsville was never a great track for him in the Cup Series, but his 28 races here in that series should be good experience for Friday.
The big question here is how this No. 69 truck will run. Mears has the veteran experience to do well if the equipment holds up. This MBM truck has just one top 20 in five starts, but is that because the truck is bad, or because it was driven by Tyler Tomassi and Derek White? I don't mind playing Mears in a couple of lineups just in case.
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