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The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Daytona on Friday night in what should be the best chance left for a surprise driver to win his way into the playoffs. Qualifying was rained out, so the field will be set by the series' rulebook, putting the title contenders toward the front.
Last week, Kyle Larson dropped down to Xfinity and won at Watkins Glen, while A.J. Allmendinger finished second. Ty Gibbs' chances of catching Allmendinger for the regular season title took a hit as he finished 27th.
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 Wawa 250 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 8/26/22 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Xfinity DFS Picks - DraftKings
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Justin Haley ($10,600) - Starting 38th
This is a really obvious play, to the point where I almost didn't write about it because of how many people are going to play Haley. But not all of you are playing GPPs. Some of you are doing some H2H stuff, where you almost have to play Haley.
While Haley is running full-time in Cup now, he's been the best Xfinity superspeedway driver over the last few years. In 2020 and 2021, Haley won four superspeedway races, including winning this race the last two times it was run.
Now, we get Haley starting 38th, giving him the most place differential upside of any driver in this race.
Daytona's a dangerous place. You don't want to be stuck in the middle of the pack. But Haley's an experienced driver here, so as long as the first big wreck doesn't happen in the first stage, then I trust him to move forward and be close enough to the front to avoid the big one.
John Hunter Nemechek ($9,800) - Starting 19th
Sadly, qualifying getting rained out means we don't get to see John Hunter Nemechek racing against his dad, as Joe missed the race since he was in a car that didn't have the points to fall back on.
But JHN is in the race, and he's in a good spot.
With the chaos of Daytona, I want to avoid drivers starting in the top 15, so it's good that we have some good drivers from other series who jumped in this week, because the rain-out formula puts them in good spots for place differential.
Nemechek hasn't run a superspeedway this season in Xfinity, but he has led double-digit laps in his last three Truck Series starts at Daytona. He's gotten caught up in issues in two of those, but that's Daytona for you—randomness is turned up a few notches.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($9,600) - Starting 17th
Despite his reputation for being "Wrecky Stenhouse," Stenhouse is actually pretty solid at tracks like this, even though superspeedways are known for their wrecks.
This will be the first time Stenhouse has raced a superspeedway in Xfinity since 2012, but he's been performing well in Cup at these tracks. Daytona hasn't gone nearly as well as Talladega, where he's got a 50% hit rate when it comes to getting a top 10, but he's gotten up front and led laps at Daytona a lot over the last few years.
If Stenhouse can stay out of trouble, he'll be in contention for the win on Friday.
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Jeb Burton ($7,000) - Starting 29th
After his 37th place finish last week at Watkins Glen, I told myself I was done with Burton in DFS. But here we are again. Time for me to paint on some clown makeup.
Burton now has four DNFs in the last five races. But, he's finished top 20 in both superspeedway races so far this season and he has three top fives in his career here at this track. Sure, two of those came with Kauliig, but he also finished fourth here in 2017 in a JGL Racing car.
I'm hesitant with Burton, but there's too much place differential upside here for me to stick to my "stop playing Jeb Burton" plan.
Brandon Brown ($6,800) - Starting 25th
Brown is back his own No. 68 car this week, which means that he should actually have some speed on Friday night.
Brown stepped out of this car in two of the last three races. He DNFed both of those. If you were looking exclusively at results, you might be worried about playing him.
But when he's in the 68 car, he runs well. He's now recorded three top 15s in a row in this car. He opened the season with a 10th at Daytona and then managed to lead one lap before crashing out at the other superspeedway, Talladega,
Also to note here: Brown won a superspeedway race last fall at Talladega, leading eight laps on his way to victory lane. He's a really solid superspeedway driver who is back in pretty good equipment this week.
Kyle Sieg ($6,000) - Starting 32nd
Finally, let's just take a shot on a value play starting 30th or worse. And honestly, with how Talladega tends to go, you could put a handful of names here. But I'm going with Sieg because he's got a good drafting partner, if they can get hooked up: his brother, Ryan Sieg.
Drafting help matters a lot here. And while there's a major gap between these two at the start of this race, there's plenty of time for them to get together.
Sieg was 21st at Daytona in the season opener after starting 36th, and was 18th at Talladega after starting 37th.
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