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The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Darlington on Friday night to begin NASCAR's throwback weekend. All three series will be in action over the next three days.
Last week, Grant Enfinger led 65 laps and won at Kansas, with Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Stewart Friesen and Ross Chastain rounding out the top five. Christian Eckes had a strong run, taking the pole and leading six laps, but he was knocked out 78 laps in by a crash.
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 Buckle Up South Carolina 200 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 5/12/2023 at 7:40 p.m. ET.
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Truck Series DFS Preview - DraftKings
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Post-Qualifying Updates
Check back here before the race, where I should have some post-qualifying updates for Friday night's race.
Recent Darlington Data
The Truck Series was last year in May 2022 for the Dead On Tools 200. It was a race marred by cautions, as 10 of them flew. Seven drivers ended up with DNFs during the race. Polesitter John Hunter Nemechek was dominant, leading 69 of the 149 laps on his way to the victory.
Darlington returned to the Truck Series calendar in 2020 after not hosting a race for the series since 2011. Of the four races since, only one current Truck Series driver, Ben Rhodes, has a victory, as he won in 2020.
One thing to note here: starting up front matters a lot. In the 2020 race, Sheldon Creed started second and led 82 laps, while Brett Moffitt started first and led 63. In 2021, we had two races here. In the first one, polesitter John Hunter Nemechek led 65 laps. In the second, polesitter Sheldon Creed led 104 laps and went on to win.
The polesitter doesn't always win here, but he consistently leads a ton of laps, so that's something to keep in mind once we know the starting lineup. Clean air matters here.
And while a lot of cars tend to DNF, those have largely been backmarkers outside of the spring 2021 race.
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Potential Top Plays
Ross Chastain ($11,500): Chastain makes his fifth Truck Series start of the season for Niece. He hasn't really had the kind of dominant race yet that you might expect from him, but he does have a pair of top fives, and he's led laps in his last four Cup Series starts at this track. I expect Chastain to contend for the win.
William Byron ($11,100): Byron makes his second Truck Series start of the season for Kyle Busch Motorsports after previously running Bristol and finishing third. He's probably my pre-qualifying favorite to win this race, considering he's run well here in the Cup Series, including leading 74 laps in his two Cup starts here last year.
Ty Majeski ($10,400): Majeski is having a strong season, with five top fives in the first eight races of the season. A win is coming for this 98 truck at some point. He finished fourth here last season. This is the kind of race track that really suits Majeski's style and his past racing experience.
Ben Rhodes ($9,700): As the only former Truck Series winner here in the field, Rhodes obviously can't be ignored. His first two races here saw him win, and then lead 34 laps and finish second. His finishes since...weren't very good, with a 34th in the 2021 fall race and a 25th last year. But overall, Rhodes knows his way around this place, and he's run well this season, even though he hasn't won a race yet.
Potential Value Plays
Ryan Vargas ($6,700): Vargas has done really well in his two starts for On Point, finishing 14th at Atlanta and eighth at Texas. This is a much different track, but Vargas has some solid runs here in Xfinity. In five starts, he's finished no worse than 27th and has completed all but two laps. Considering he was in JDM equipment, I'd consider that decent.
Dean Thompson ($6,300): It's been an up-and-down season for Thompson in his first season at Tricon Garage, which includes four crash-related DNFs. He's got to get better at keeping the truck clean. But when he isn't crashing, he's done okay, with a pair of top 20s. I think this could be a good week for him though. Last year, he was 15th here in a Niece Motorsports truck.
Timmy Hill ($5,900): Hill has run well this year with an average finish of 19.2, and he's been really good at Darlington in the Truck Series, with two top 10s in three starts and a worst-finish of 16th. He's also finished at least eight spots better than he started in all of his Truck Series runs here.
Daniel Dye ($5,600): Not a great season for Dye in his first year with GMS, but he's coming off a season-best 13th at Kansas last week. If Dye struggles in qualifying and has some place differential upside, I'll have a little interest in him.
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