RADIO
Justin's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black's Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway. Read his 2025 daily fantasy NASCAR advice and Truck sleepers.
NASCAR is back at Rockingham! The legendary track returns on Friday night. This NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race is the first NASCAR race at the track since 2013 and just the third NASCAR race here since the organization first left Rockingham after the 2004 season.
Last week at Bristol, Chandler Smith dominated, leading 127 of 250 laps on the way to his first win of the season. Smith sits third in points, 36 points behind the leader, Corey Heim. Ty Majeski sits in between the two in the current standings.
Let's look at some NASCAR Truck Series DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Truck Series Black's Tire 200 on DraftKings. Be sure also to check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Truck Series, including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 4/18/2025 at 5:18 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
Truck Series DFS Preview - DraftKings
Be sure also to check out all of our other weekly NASCAR DFS articles to help you set your optimal DFS lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Post-Qualifying Updates
Check back here after qualifying for some updates on top contenders and top place differential plays.
Top Contenders
Really like where Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs start. Could be a big day for FRM.
Top Place Differential Plays
Some place differential options:
- Tyler Ankrum
- Grant Enfinger
- Rajah Caruth
- Brandon Jones
- Parker Kligerman
- Matt Crafton
Fades Because They Qualified Too Well
Should we fade polesitter Jake Garcia? I tend to think not, but I would consider fading:
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Gio Ruggiero
- Bayley Currey
- Connor Mosack
Top Drivers
Before I get to the drivers themselves, a quick note about this track. Since NASCAR hasn't been here in so long, it's tough to know exactly what we're getting from Rockingham Speedway.
Technically, this is an intermediate track at 1.017 miles, but it won't drive like one. Maybe in the Cup cars it would, but expect that the Truck Series will race like we're at a slightly bigger short track.
With that in mind and factoring in the lack of experience for the vast majority of this field here, we're putting a lot of weight on 2025 short track performances.
Corey Heim - $11.0K
Heim is off to a strong start to the season, winning twice already and posting an average finish of 6.2. At Martinsville, Heim finished sixth after a dominant day that saw him lead 149 of 200 laps.
Heim should be viewed as the favorite every week that there isn't a Cup driver interloping in the Truck Series. This week is no exception. If Heim stays out of trouble, he'll be in the battle for the victory.
Chandler Smith - $10.8K
Last week, Smith picked up his first win of the 2025 season, leading 127 laps at Bristol to take the win. He now has a top 10 in all six races and an average finish of 5.3.
I keep talking about Heim as the clear favorite in the Truck Series. That's still the case, but if there are a few more races of Smith performing like this, we might need to have a different conversation about the hierarchy in the Truck Series.
Ty Majeski - $10.5K
Majeski hasn't been super consistent this year with just three top 10s in six races, but stage points have allowed him to still sit second in the point standings.
#NASCAR … Ty Majeski on what he would say to Frankie Muniz after that incident that eliminated Majeski at Bristol. pic.twitter.com/RUwi9k8bXr
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) April 12, 2025
Of the six career wins for Majeski, five have come on tracks that are one mile or less, including all three of his wins last season. By that logic, Majeski should be a contender in this race, though I'd rank him pretty easily below Heim and Smith.
Layne Riggs - $10.3K
Layne Riggs doesn't quite look like a title contender this season, but he sits a solid eighth in points right now with three top 10s. He was sixth at Bristol last week and has four finishes in a row of 11th or better.
Riggs has two Truck Series wins in his career, both last season. He won at Milwaukee, a one-mile oval, and then he won at the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway. That suggests he can be a contender at Rockingham this weekend.
Did you know RotoBaller has a Premium DFS NASCAR subscription?
Like what you're reading? You can show your support for Justin by using promo code CARTER when purchasing a NASCAR Premium Pass. You get 10% off and full access to all of our Premium NASCAR articles, DFS tools, and Lineup Optimizer!
Mid-Tier NASCAR Trucks DFS Lineup Options
Grant Enfinger - $9.8K
Technically, Grant Enfinger raced here in 2012, qualifying ninth but then suffering a mechanical failure just 12 laps into the Truck Series race. That probably doesn't count as enough Rockingham experience to make a difference.
Enfinger has four top 10s in six starts this season. He's the kind of hard-nosed veteran driver who can take advantage of others' mistakes at a track like Rockingham. He's a sneaky good top-5 bet this weekend.
Tyler Ankrum - $9.6K
Tyler Ankrum has become a real threat on short tracks, and he's also looking like one of the top drivers in the Truck Series in the early stages of the 2025 season.
Since a DNF at Daytona, Tyler Ankrum has been quietly having the best start to a season he has ever had. Remember he is still only 24 years old.
P3, P10, P4, P2, P4 in his last five races. Is his second career win coming this season? Has to show he can close out a race.
— Jonathan Howard (@Jondean25) April 12, 2025
Ankrum enters this race with five top 10s through six races. His 9.5 average finish is the best of his career, and his four top fives are already his second-most in a season. This is going to be a career year for Ankrum.
He finished in the top five at both Martinsville and Bristol. I just looked at DraftKings Sportsbook, and Ankrum's win odds are at +1400. I might throw a bit of cash down on that.
Sammy Smith - $9.3K
We've seen this No. 07 truck be fast when Cup Series drivers have been in it, especially Kyle Larson, who has started two races this year and has finished first and second.
Now, we get to see what happens when an Xfinity Series driver drops down. Sammy Smith shouldn't be expected to put up Larson-esque numbers, but he should be a solid top 10 contributor if he can keep the truck clean.
Rajah Caruth - $9.0K
I don't necessarily think of Rajah Caruth as a short track guy, mostly because his only career victory was at Las Vegas, and four of his five career top fives have been at intermediates or superspeedways.
But Caruth enters this weekend off back-to-back top 10s at Martinsville and Bristol, so maybe he's starting to figure these rougher tracks out. He should contend for another top 10 this weekend.
Brandon Jones - $8.8K
Brandon Jones crashed out at Bristol relatively early, ending his day. In two Truck Series starts this year, his best finish is 12th, but the current Xfinity Series driver should be able to contend for top 10s when he drops down for these Truck Series races. I'm not letting two subpar starts this year scare me off of him.
Ben Rhodes - $8.2K
Ben Rhodes is a little underpriced this weekend after back-to-back fifth-place finishes at Martinsville and Bristol. This should be a track that showcases what Rhodes is best at in racing. I'll have him in my lineups regardless of whether he does or doesn't end up with place differential upside.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Value Picks
Note: Some of these won't necessarily be values after qualifying. Check back then for updates, which will be at the top of the article.
Matt Crafton - $7.8K
Yes, Matt Crafton is no longer a weekly top 10 threat. $7.8K feels a little high for his current level of production, which is why I'll probably fade him most weeks unless he drops closer to $7.0K.
But this weekend is an exception, largely because Crafton's really the only driver at this field with experience here, as he finished in the top 10 in both Rockingham races during its brief return to the schedule in 2012 and 2013. That includes leading 40 laps and finishing third in 2012.
Crafton is the only driver in this field to have raced in the 2013 race. Parker Kligerman and Grant Enfinger were in the 2012 race, but I'm fading Kligerman this weekend just because his price seems too high. (That could change with a poor qualifying effort, though — check back later for updates.)
Jake Garcia - $7.0K
I've been really impressed with Jake Garcia lately, but the people doing the salary pricing at DraftKings don't seem to have caught on to his uptick in performance this season. Garcia has just one finish worse than 12th all season. At the short tracks, he was third at Martinsville and then seventh at Bristol.
Had an up and down night but good to leave @ItsBristolBaby with a Top-10.
Excited to head to The Rock with these fast @ThorSportRacing trucks! pic.twitter.com/PcL6oT6C0K
— Jake Garcia (@JakeGarcia35) April 12, 2025
His strong qualifying runs make him a risky DFS play, but he's starting to prove that he can back up a good qualifying run with a good race result, though he's finished with negative place differential in four of six races.
Luke Fenhaus - $6.3K
It's safe to say that Luke Fenhaus hasn't been impressive in his four starts this season for Thorsport, with the young driver posting an average finish of just 19.8.
Still, his mediocre qualifying efforts mean that he's finished with positive place differential twice. In the other two races, he only lost one spot from where he started. There's some upside here, assuming he qualifies back around where he has been, which is the 21-26 range.
Andres Perez de Lara - $6.2K
Andres Perez's DraftKings salary remains low after a shaky start to his career, but his seventh-place finish at Martinsville a few weeks ago suggests that there could be something good brewing from this No. 77 truck.
Dawson Sutton - $6.1K
This is the cheapest play I'm willing to go with, and it'll only be viable if Dawson Sutton starts outside the top 20 — and preferably, it'd be best if he started outside the top 25.
Sutton has run five Truck Series races at tracks I'd say are "short tracks" or "essentially short tracks," and while he has no top 10s, he does have four top 20s.
NASCAR DFS News and Driver Outlooks
More Fantasy NASCAR Analysis
The Keys to Weekly NASCAR Success
NASCAR is back, and it's time for you to win more with RotoBaller! Our NASCAR Premium Package for DFS and betting features several heavy hitters and proven winners.
Jordan McAbee anchors the team with his exclusive NASCAR DFS and betting picks, DFS projections and algorithm-predicted finishing order! Jordan had a 60+ unit betting profit in 2024 NASCAR, and a 25% average annual profit since 2018. He won the FSWA Racing Writer Of The Year award in 2023, and has been nominated for DFS Writer Of The Year in 2024.
Five-time NASCAR Racing Writer of the Year finalist and fantasy industry legend Scott "The King" Engel is also in the crew, bringing you his weekly strategies and lineup picks. Set your winning DFS lineups with our award-winning team. He has been nominated once again in 2024 for this award.
