RADIO
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Round of 8 kicks off on Saturday. Noah Gragson, A.J. Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones and Sam Mayer remain alive in the battle for an Xfinity championship.
And now we head to Las Vegas, where Gibbs won earlier this year. Among the playoff field, Allmendinger and Berry won the races here last year, while Hill has a pair of Truck Series victories at this track.
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 Xfinity Series. Let's look at some NASCAR Xfinity DFS lineup picks for the Alsco Uniforms 302 on DraftKings. Be sure to also check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Xfinity Series including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station. This slate locks on 10/15/22 at 3:24 p.m. ET.
Xfinity DFS Picks - DraftKings
Be sure to also check out all of our other weekly NASCAR DFS articles and analysis to help you set your optimal DFS lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Noah Gragson - Starting 4th ($10,800)
Can Noah Gragson finally break through and win at his home track? This is his best chance for the foreseeable future, as he moves up to Cup next year to drive for a team that won't be up front nearly as much as this JRM Xfinity team is.
In seven Xfinity Series starts here, Gragson has seven top 10s, and his worst finish is sixth. He's been about as dominant as a driver can be somewhere without a victory, and earlier this year he led 52 laps and finished second to Ty Gibbs.
That was his second second-place here, and if we want to go by F1 numbers, he now has four podium finishes at Vegas. With how fast Gragson has been this season—he has seven victories—I think he's probably the best bet to win this one.
Josh Berry - Starting 12th ($9,900)
This is a spot where I was conflicted by two drivers for the "costs in the $9,000s" position. Austin Hill, who starts eighth and costs $9,400, has two Truck Series wins here. But Berry comes with four more spots of place differential potential, plus he's a winner here in Xfinity.
Berry has been extremely good in his starts at Vegas. He's been here three times in the Xfinity Series, with his worst finish being seventh in the first race here in 2021. He then won this race last while subbing for the injured Michael Annett, then finished fourth here in the first visit this season.
This team's also been on a hot streak lately, as Berry has finished in the top 10 in six consecutive races, and his last non-top 10 on a track that wasn't a superspeedway or road course was way back at Loudon, when he crashed out. That race was in July.
Riley Herbst - Starting 36th ($8,500)
Here's our very, very obvious chalk place differential play of the slate. In a GPP, you might want to go light on Herbst as a way of differentiating your lineup, but in H2H contests, he's a must-play.
Herbst is having his best season, with an average finish of 13.6. He's tied his career high in top 10s with 17 of them. Herbst has top 15 speed while starting 36th, offering some major place differential upside.
And like Gragson, this is the home track for Herbst. Unlike Gragson, that hasn't translated into success on a consistent basis, as he has just two top 10s here and has crashed out twice. He was 14th in the first race here this year. That would worry me if Herbst started 15th, but I'll ignore it when he starts 36th.
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Parker Retzlaff - Starting 27th ($7,800)
Retzlaff has had some really strong runs this season, though most of them came when he was driving for RSS Racing. But the 19-year-old driver, who made five starts for RSS this season, recently left that team and hooked up with Our Motorsports, where he's stepping into the 02 car for the second time this season.
In his first start in this car, Retzlaff qualified 23rd and finished 21st, 10 laps down. But that came as a result of Retzlaff essentially starting the race eight laps down, as he was damaged on the first lap and spent a lot of time in the pits working on that damage. He still nursed the car around for the full race to almost finish top 20.
Assuming nothing weird like that happens on Saturday, I foresee Retzlaff running solidly in the top 20 by mid-race. He's a really talented young driver who more people need to pay attention to.
Kyle Weatherman - Starting 26th ($7,100)
Kyle Weatherman has done shockingly well when he's been in this Jesse Iwuji-owned 34 car, to the point where I hope Iwuji runs Weatherman full time in this car next season.
Weatherman has been an Xfinity backmarker since 2019, but he's shown improvement every season. In 2020, he ran 23 races with an average finish of 27.0. Last year, he ran 30, with an average finish of 25.8. This year, that's up to 22.1 in 19 races.
Early on, those starts were in the 92 car, but he started piloting this car at Richmond earlier in the season. Since moving to the 34, he has seven top 20 finishes, including an eighth at Loudon and a 12th at Darlington. He's had three DNFs in the car, including at Texas in his most recent start, when he crashed but still finished 22nd in what was basically just a big wreck fest. If he keeps this car clean, he can gain six to 10 spots on Saturday.
Kyle Sieg - Starting 38th ($5,900)
It's weird to still see Sieg priced so low when you consider that in 14 starts this season, he has an average finish of 22.5 and has just one DNF. He isn't setting the world on fire—he has just one top 10—but he's getting solid results out of this family-owned car.
In the first Vegas race, Sieg started 38th, just like he is today. He ended up gaining 20 spots, finishing 18th in this car. He's shown some good speed at times, and while there are some bad finishes on his resume–three finishes of 30th or worse—he's mostly kept this car moving forward. His average start is just 29.4, so he's gaining around seven spots on average.
Also, if you want to get weird, Hailee Deegan makes her Xfinity debut and is only $4,800 in an SS-Greenlight car that has had some speed at times, but she starts all the way up in 20th, which I think limits her PD upside just a tad too much for my liking. But as someone who likes to try some weird lineups out sometimes, I'll probably build one with her in it just to see what I can do.
