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Justin Carter's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Xfinity Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway. Read his daily fantasy NASCAR advice and Xfinity sleepers. (2025)
On Friday night, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series officially kicked off Rockingham Speedway's return to NASCAR with a fun, fuel-mileage race that saw Tyler Ankrum win his second career race.
Now, it's the Xfinity Series's time to shine. This will be the first visit to Rockingham for the Xfinity cars since 2004, a race that was so long ago that Martin Truex Jr., who finished second in it, had never made a Cup Series start at the time. Now, Truex is retired.
Let's look at some NASCAR Xfinity DFS lineup picks for the NASCAR Xfinity Series North Carolina Education Lottery 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 4/19/25 at 4:03 p.m. EDT.
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Post-Qualifying Updates
Check back after qualifying for updates!
Dominator Options
Bit of a weird starting grid here, which makes me interested in two drivers at the top: polesitter Connor Zilisch and fourth-place starter Kasey Kahne. Both have upside, but also clear downside as well — for Zilisch, it's that he's still adjusting to ovals and for Kahne, it's that he hasn't raced in NASCAR since 2018.
Other than that, Brandon Jones, Jesse Love, and Justin Allgaier start sixth through eighth, respectively. All should have a shot at the win.
Place Differential Plays
Here are some drivers to target for place differential:
- Sammy Smith (13th)
- Sheldon Creed (17th)
- Jeb Burton (22nd) — great speed in practice
- Carson Kvapil (25th) — probably my No. 1 play of this slate
- Daniel Dye (27th)
- Harrison Burton (29th)
- Kris Wright (30th) — pure chaos play
- Anthony Alfredi (34th)
- Kyle Sieg (36th) — my favorite value play
Drivers to Fade
These drivers start too high:
- Parker Retzlaff (Second)
- Nick Sanchez (Third)
- William Sawalich (Fifth) — I want to think this is the start of him figuring things out, but it's hard to really get all the way there
- Thomas Annuziata (20th)
Top Plays
Justin Allgaier ($11.5K)
The practice speed might not have quite been there for Justin Allgaier — his 10-lap average ranked just 13th — but the current nature of the Xfinity Series means that he stands out above the rest of the field.
Pre-practice NASCAR Xfinity Series sims for Rockingham:
1. Justin Allgaier 21.2%
2. Brandon Jones 10.1%
3. Sheldon Creed 10.0%
4. Sammy Smith 7.6%
5. Connor Zilisch 6.7%Full win/T3/T5/T10 sims plus values at @FDSportsbook ⬇️ https://t.co/Gkaqi1hzQP
— Jim Sannes (@JimSannes) April 18, 2025
Allgaier has two wins already this year as well as seven top fives, which has led to an average finish of 7.2 for the defending champion. As far as Rockingham experience, he ran a 2008 ARCA race here, but that's probably not much of a factor this weekend. If he dominates, it's because he's the best driver in the series.
Sheldon Creed ($10.3K)
Sheldon Creed has struggled a bit with consistency this season, but the Haas Factory Team driver has three top fives this season and has definitely flashed the speed it takes to finally win one of these Xfinity Series races.
Creed was also very fast in practice, turning the third-fastest single lap and ranking second in lap average across all five tracked average lengths, all the way from 3-lap to 20-lap average.
Jesse Love ($9.7K)
What driver ranked ahead of Creed in all of those averages? It was Jesse Love, who currently sits third in the point standings and looks to build off a strong run at Bristol last weekend, where he finished sixth. He should be a strong contender for the win.
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Mid-Tier Options
Austin Hill ($10.0K)
I prefer Austin Hill's RCR teammate Jesse Love this weekend simply because he seemed to figure this track out faster. Hill was 14th in 10-lap average and 13th in 20-lap average during practice.
Still, we're talking about Austin Hill, a guy who always just seems to be in the mix everywhere. He's won twice already this season and would be ahead of Love in points if not for a 24th-place finish at Bristol last week.
Hill won't be a threat to dominate this race, but if things get messy, he could easily sneak into the lead in the closing laps like he did at Martinsville, where he won despite leading only one lap.
Kasey Kahne ($9.5K)
This is certainly the riskiest play of the race. Kasey Kahne hops back into a NASCAR stock car for the first time since 2018 to pilot this No. 33 car for Richard Childress Racing.
DID SOMEONE SAY KASEY KAHNE FRIDAY⁉️🗣️ pic.twitter.com/7V7lMXM675
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 18, 2025
But while health issues — specifically, dehydration and heat exhaustion — forced him to leave NASCAR, he's kept active in sprint cars, so he shouldn't be too rusty. In practice, we got a glimpse of that. His best lap was only the 18th-fastest, but he was fourth in 20-lap average.
One thing working in Kahne's favor is his experience at Rockingham. Most of this field has never stepped foot on this track, but Kahne finished second in the final Cup race here in 2004, plus he's run five Xfinity Series races at the track.
Connor Zilisch ($9.3K)
It feels like consistency is starting to arrive for rookie Connor Zilisch, though he remains a bit of a DFS risk because he keeps qualifying too well and losing place differential points.
But Zilisch has finished 12th or better in four of the last five races as he works to get his bearings on ovals, and he was fifth in 20-lap average in practice.
Brandon Jones ($9.0K)
Brandon Jones ran Friday's Truck Series race to get some extra Rockingham experience. He only finished 17th, but those laps should still be useful.
In Xfinity, Jones has five top 10s in the last six races, including a win at Darlington. He was fifth at Bristol last week and appears to have his best shot ever of being an Xfinity title threat.
Carson Kvapil ($8.8K)
Carson Kvapil ran the fastest individual lap during practice and he comes into this race off of back-to-back top fives. He's going to break through with his first Xfinity Series victory at some point and this might be the weekend, as the lack of experience here for much of this field should work as a way of evening things out.
Sammy Smith ($8.6K)
Sammy Smith is a great sleeper pick this weekend, largely because he was one of the few Xfinity drivers to race in Friday's Truck Series race. Smith only finished 16th in that race, but he logged valuable laps that could be useful as he navigates through the Xfinity field on Saturday.
Ryan Sieg ($8.2K)
Ryan Sieg has finished in the top 10 in all three short track races this season and ranked sixth in practice in 10-lap average. He should definitely be viewed as a top 10 threat on Saturday.
Value Options
Christian Eckes ($7.6K)
Christian Eckes showed good long-run speed in practice. He was only 18th in 3-lap average, but jumped all the way to sixth in 20-lap average.
Christian Eckes finished 9th in the SciAps 300 at Bristol pic.twitter.com/YhRbJdMLZ6
— Where did Christian Eckes finish? (@EckesResults16) April 12, 2025
Eckes comes into this weekend with back-to-back top 10s at Darlington and Bristol. Before that, he led 22 laps at Martinsville but crashed out with a little over 20 laps to go in the race. The rookie driver is quickly figuring things out.
Dean Thompson ($7.3K)
Rookie Dean Thompson has been impressive. Best known for how often he crashed in the Truck Series, Thompson has just one DNF this year and has managed three top 10s, including at Martinsville and Bristol.
Daniel Dye ($7.0K)
Daniel Dye was seventh at Martinsville and 13th at Bristol. He's shown some aptitude on short tracks and his only DNF this season was at Daytona, which shouldn't really count against him. Dye should be able to battle for a spot in the back part of the top 10 if he keeps the car clean.
Jeb Burton ($6.8K)
Jeb Burton was the biggest surprise of practice as the No. 27 car ran the fourth-fastest lap and barely fell off on the long run, ranking eighth in 20-lap average. My only concern here is that he'll qualify too well, leading to him being a late fade option. Check back after qualifying for an update on that.
Parker Retzlaff ($6.7K)
Parker Retzlaff showed surprising speed during practice, running the eighth-fastest individual lap, though his speed fell off on longer runs. Still, he was 16th in 20-lap average and he enters this weekend with four consecutive top 20s.
Kyle Sieg ($6.2K)
Though not nearly as competitive as his brother, Kyle Sieg could be a sneaky good cheap play this weekend after displaying solid speed in practice. Sieg ran the 13th-fastest lap and even his 20-lap average ranked inside the top 20.
Kris Wright ($5.5K)
If you want to really dig in the bargain basement, Kris Wright showed at Martinsville he could survive a chaotic race, finishing ninth. However, at Bristol he was right back to the tail of the field as he finished 31st, so Wright's not a cheat code or anything. He's just a decent chaos punt option.
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