RADIO
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to COTA on Saturday as part of a NASCAR tripleheader at COTA in Austin, Texas. This is the third time the Truck Series has raced at this track.
Last season, Zane Smith led 11 laps on his way to the victory here. Kyle Busch led a race-high 31 laps, but finished third, while no other driver led more than one lap during the race.
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 Craftsman Truck Series. Let's look at some NASCAR Truck Series DFS lineup picks for the XPEL 225 on DraftKings. Be sure to also check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Truck Series including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 3/25/2023 at 1:38 p.m. ET.
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Kyle Busch - $13,000- Starts 2nd
Any time Kyle Busch is in a Truck Series race, you have to ask an important question: is the overall makeup of the starting lineup one that makes it easy to play Kyle Busch?
This week, I think there are enough place differential plays to make Busch worth the price.
As I mentioned in the 0pening, Busch led the most laps in this race last year, including leading 17 laps at the end of the race before a caution bunched the field back up, which led to Zane Smith's victory.
With Busch starting on the front row on Saturday, he has a chance to run away with this race. Consider him the favorite to dominate.
Kaz Grala - $8,300 - Starts 10th
Grala makes his second start of the season in the Tricon Garage No. 1 truck after last starting at Vegas, where he led five laps and finished 17th.
I'm higher on Grala on Saturday though because this is a road course. Grala has an average finish of 10.8 on road courses in eight Truck Series starts, and 15.6 in 10 road course starts in Xfinity. Those numbers are both above his career averages in those series.
Grala also has a lot of experience at COTA, running here twice in the Truck Series. That includes a 2021 race he almost won, as Grala led 11 laps and finished second. That was in much worse equipment than he'll have Saturday, making Grala a really fascinating play. On one hand, starting 10th doesn't offer much place differential potential. On the other hand, he could still gain six or seven spots and have a strong finish.
Matt DiBenedetto - $7,800 - Starts 28th
If you're going to play Kyle Busch, you should probably load up with place differential plays. That's what the rest of this article's about, but as a quick aside—if you play a lineup anchored by Zane Smith ($10,600), then drivers like Stewart Friesen ($9,300) and Ben Rhodes ($9,100) become solid plays.
Anyway, onto my favorite PD drivers. Matt DiBenedetto starts 28th. He struggled here last year, finishing 31st after a mechanical failure. He ran as high as fourth, though, and had an average running position of 19th. He also had a 23rd-place finish here in Cup in 2021. Not a great track history, but he's proven to be decent here at least. Coming from 28th, "decent" works fine for me.
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Matt Crafton - $7,500 - Starts 34th
Look, I know Matt Crafton isn't great at road courses, with zero wins and an average finish of 12.5, about a spot below his overall average finish of 11.3.
But when a guy with an average finish of 12.5 is starting 34th at a road course, then you've got to play him for the place differential upside. Sure, Crafton won't challenge for the win, but he's snuck into the top 10 in half of his road course starts. And while neither of his COTA starts resulted in a top 10, both did result in top 15 finishes.
Jake Garcia - $6,700 - Starts 32nd
Jake Garcia's looked really solid in his starts for Bill McAnally so far, with a 10th at Vegas and 18th at Atlanta in his two starts so far.
While Garcia doesn't really have road course experience at this level, the simple fact he's starting this far back in a truck with this speed makes him worth playing. I wouldn't go too heavy on him because of the experience factor, but I'd definitely have him in some lineups.
Daniel Dye - $6,400 - Starts 36th
Chalk another one up to the "speed of the truck outweighs the past results of the driver" category.
Dye's never run a road course in the Truck Series, and his average finish is 21.7 in three career starts. But he did race at Portland last year in ARCA, qualifying on the pole and finishing fourth—a minus-three place differential isn't good, but any experience at a road course in a NASCAR series is better than none.
Anyway, Dye's in a GMS truck. While just one GMS truck was in the top 10 here last year, three of the team's trucks found themselves finishing that high, led by Tyler Ankrum in third. Dye's got a good set of wheels under him and should be able to gain a good number of spots on Saturday, even if wheeling it around COTA is a new experience for him.
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