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Dave's NASCAR DFS Picks (Xfinity Series) for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix (2025). Read his daily fantasy NASCAR advice and Xfinity DFS sleepers.
We’ve reached the final race of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. Many things will change following this race, including the series undergoing a name change. The series will officially be renamed to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starting in 2026. For right now, though, we’ve got one race left to determine the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.
Connor Zilisch, Jesse Love, Carson Kvapil, and Justin Allgaier have all advanced to the season finale. Whoever finishes highest in this weekend’s race will be crowned the 2025 Xfinity Series Champion. This weekend’s event will be held at Phoenix Raceway. This will be the final year the championship race will be held at Phoenix, as the event will return to Homestead Miami Speedway beginning next year. The series already made a stop at Phoenix at the beginning of the year, and several other tracks on the schedule are set up similarly to Phoenix. We will use the results from those races to try and gauge what we should expect this weekend for DFS purposes.
Can Zilisch cap off his historic rookie season by winning his first Xfinity Series Championship? Or will one of Allgaier, Love, and Kvapil take home the title and score an upset? Let's talk about some NASCAR Xfinity DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix on DraftKings. Make sure you check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for the Xfinity Series, including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 11/1/25 at 7:38 p.m. EDT.
Happy New Year! Save 30% on any Premium Pass using discount code NEW. Win more with our DFS, Betting and Season-Long Pass, get expert tools and advice from proven winners! GAIN ACCESS*Please note: Xfinity Series qualifying takes place on 11/1/25 at 3:30 PM EST. Check back after qualifying for any updates.*
Xfinity DFS Preview - DraftKings
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Top NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS Plays
Connor Zilisch ($13.5K)
Starts 4th
Zilisch has enjoyed an incredible rookie year in 2025. He has 10 wins, 19 top fives, 22 top 10s, an average finish of 8.2, and has led 986 laps.
WHAT A FINISH!!!@ConnorZilisch captures his 8th #XfinitySeries victory of the season with a dramatic overtime win in Portland! pic.twitter.com/IIOZHy14A8
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) August 31, 2025
He will look to cap off his incredible season with an Xfinity Series Championship. To do so, Zilisch will have to hold off his teammate and defending Xfinity Series Champion Justin Allgaier.
Zilisch only finished 16th at Phoenix back in March. However, he did score a victory at Gateway back in September.
.@ConnorZilisch wins his record-tying fourth race in a row and captures the @NASCAR_Xfinity regular season championship in his rookie season!!! pic.twitter.com/Tk1LPD8n3F
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) September 7, 2025
That Gateway win was important as it highlighted Zilisch’s ability to win on a flat track. Even though he did not run well at Phoenix in the spring, Zilisch has shown that he is a quick learner, and we should expect improvement in his second start at the track.
Will that improvement be enough to win a title and carry DFS gamers to a nice payday? That remains to be seen. But the one thing we should take away from Zilisch’s 2025 season - Don’t bet against him.
Justin Allgaier ($12.5K)
Starts 5th
Allgaier is looking to go back-to-back and win his second consecutive Xfinity Series championship. Thanks to his track history at Phoenix, he’ll have a great chance to do so.
In 30 career Xfinity Series Phoenix starts, Allgaier has two wins, 12 top fives, and 20 top 10s with an average finish of 9.6. He led 130 laps here in the spring race en route to a runner-up finish to eventual race winner Aric Almirola.
Look for Allgaier to be in contention for his third career Phoenix victory this weekend, and he’ll pose a real threat to steal the 2025 Xfinity Series title away from teammate Connor Zilisch.
Aric Almirola ($11.5K)
Starts 7th
Almirola won the series' most recent race at Phoenix back in March.
ARIC ALMIROLA GETS INTO ALEX BOWMAN AND WINS AT PHOENIX RACEWAY! 😱
📺: NASCAR_Xfinity pic.twitter.com/hcaxbBNj0G
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) March 9, 2025
He also finished sixth at Gateway back in September. Backed by Joe Gibbs Racing equipment, we should expect to see Almirola running toward the front for most of this race.
Don’t be shocked if he scores his fourth win of the season this weekend.
Jesse Love ($10.7K)
Starts 6th
Love finished ninth at Phoenix earlier this year and finished fifth at Gateway, too. In three Phoenix starts, he has one top five and three top 10 finishes with an average finish of 5.7.
Love can score an upset win here and spoil a potential JR Motorsports championship celebration.
NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS Fades
Carson Kvapil ($11K)
Starts 14th
Kvapil is the third JR Motorsports driver to make the Championship Round of the Xfinity Series playoffs. Unfortunately, he is also the least likely of the three to win the title this weekend.
He finished just 26th in his first Phoenix start in March and finished 37th at Gateway, too. Kvapil also has not won a race in 2025 and has scored just 14 top 10 finishes.
Drivers posting mediocre results like this and still getting a chance to race for a championship are largely why the current NASCAR playoff format has drawn heavy criticism and will likely undergo some type of overhaul this offseason.
All that aside, Kvapil just hasn’t shown enough speed on this track type to justify a place in DFS lineups. Leave him in the garage.
Taylor Gray ($9.5K)
Starts 2nd
Gray is fresh off his first career Xfinity Series win at Martinsville last weekend. This is a spot where he could keep the momentum rolling, as Gray finished sixth at Phoenix in the spring.
However, after he qualified second, I see very little upside in putting Gray in DFS lineups. I don't believe he'll be fast enough to score a win here, and there's no potential for place differential points.
Mid-Tier NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS Options
Brandon Jones ($10.2K)
Starts 1st
Jones won at Phoenix back in 2020 and showed good speed at the track back in March with a third-place finish in that race. He also ran well at Gateway and scored a fourth-place finish there.
Jones probably won’t be a serious contender for the win, but he’s more than capable of scoring another top-five finish this weekend.
After seeing Jones win the pole, I still think he is a viable play as he should accrue some dominator and fastest lap points.
Austin Hill ($8.5K)
Starts 16th
Hill has five top 10 finishes in seven career Xfinity Series Phoenix starts. However, he finished 37th here in the spring. Hill also finished 12th at Gateway, but scored negative place differential points in that race.
He hasn’t had the best luck on flat tracks this year, and I will only consider playing him if he has a poor qualifying effort.
Update: After seeing Hill qualify 16th, I think he is a fine play at this price, and he now offers some place differential upside.
Ryan Sieg ($8.3K)
Starts 10th
Sieg has not had the best results at Phoenix in his career, with only two top-10 finishes in 24 career starts. However, he finished fourth here in March and scored a ton of place differential points in that race.
I like targeting Sieg as a potential play this weekend, especially if he has a poor qualifying effort.
Christian Eckes ($7.3K)
Starts 21st
Eckes finished eighth in the spring Phoenix race after starting 20th. He also finished third at Gateway. His track history at Phoenix in the Truck Series is also phenomenal. In six career Truck Series starts at the track, Eckes has one win, three top fives, and five top 10s with an average finish of 8.8.
He’s a great play in this race and should post another strong finish.
NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS Value Options
Jeb Burton ($6.6K)
Starts 11th
If you didn’t watch the post-race antics involving Burton and Sam Mayer, take a few minutes out of your day and check out those videos on YouTube. Burton didn’t really do anything wrong outside of moving Mayer out of the way in the closing laps. Mayer came across looking very childish in that whole incident, but that’s neither here nor there.
Burton was very fast at Martinsville last week, and he scored a top-15 finish at Phoenix in the spring race. He could post another strong result this week. Burton also has seven top 20 finishes in 10 career Phoenix starts. He could be a good place differential target.
Parker Retzlaff ($6.3K)
Starts 19th
Retzlaff finished 11th at Phoenix and eighth at Gateway earlier this year. He scored positive place differential points in both races, too. Expect another solid run this weekend.
Brennan Poole ($6K)
Starts 24th
Poole scored top 20s at Phoenix and Gateway earlier this year. Target him as a place differential play.
Josh Williams ($5.5K)
Starts 37th
Williams finished 11th in the spring Phoenix race. He is a potential dirt-cheap place differential target if you decide to load up on a few of the highest-priced drivers.
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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