It took a couple of extra days, but the Xfinity Series crowned Austin Hill as their Daytona champion (again) and now they are ready to complete in a double-header day of racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The racing this weekend will be similar to what we had at Daytona. The Xfinity Series cars will draft around the track and likely put on another great race. The Raptor King of Tough 250 can be seen Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING AT ATLANTA
NASCAR no longer has practice on the Superspeedway tracks (other than the first race at Daytona). The Xfinity Series cars went through inspection and then lined up for single-lap qualifying Friday to set the field for the Raptor King of Tough 250. We will have to rely on the data from the previous races at Atlanta and the race last week at Daytona for the picks Saturday.
DRAFTKINGS POINTS ON ATLANTA (2022 – 2023)
There have been four races on the resurfaced Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Xfinity Series. We can learn a lot by looking at the drivers who ran well in those races. Here are the average DraftKings Points in the four Xfinity Series races at Atlanta…
STRATEGY FOR ATLANTA
The race Saturday is scheduled for 163 laps (244.5 miles). That means there are 40.75 points available for leading laps and 73.35 points available for fastest laps. The trend in this race is to have one driver lead 80 laps, two other drivers lead 15 each. The rest of the laps led are spread out through-out the race. That means there should be one dominator for the race Saturday and we all know who it is….
Austin Hill has won two of the four races at Atlanta since it has been converted to a Superspeedway. He finished second in another race. He has averaged 52 laps led and 8 fastest laps in those races (16.6 Dominator Points). I took a risk and played Hill from the second starting position last week and he scored 50 DK Points. He is averaging 60 DK Points at Atlanta. I will pay up for Hill this week and pair him with five drivers who can score place differential points and finish in the top-10.
The drivers with the best chance to score dominator points today includes Austin Hill, AJ Allmendinger, John H. Nemechek and Jesse Love
The drivers with the best chance to score place differential points include AJ Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed, Cole Custer, Jebb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Parker Reztlaff, Jeremy Clements, Jordan Anderson, J.J. Yeley, Garrett Smithly and Patrick Emerling
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
AUSTIN HILL ($11,000) will be my top dominator for my Cash Contest lineup. Remember when Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. would show up at the Superspeedways and they would be the “free square” no matter where they started the race? Well, Hill is getting really close to being in that same situation.
COLE CUSTER ($10,000) should have a good chance to finish inside the top-10 from his 11th starting position. Custer finished third in this race last year. He works well with Riley Herbst in the draft. I expect both drivers to be good picks Saturday.
SHELDON CREED ($9,500) nearly won at Daytona last week. Creed should have a good chance to finish in the top-five again this week. I would not be surprised if he is racing his “best friend” Austin Hill to the checkered flag.
Jeff Burton ($7,800) will be in both lineups Saturday. He is really good on the Superspeedways and Burton has a great chance to be one of the top drivers in scoring place differential points.
PARKER RETZLAFF ($6,900) has been one of the best value picks at Daytona and Talladega, but so far that success has not translated into positive runs at Atlanta. It is not his fault though. Retzlaff has been running up front at Atlanta, but someone’s stupid mistake takes him out. Retzlaff finished third last week at Daytona. I would not be surprised if he did it again at Atlanta.
BLAINE PERKINS ($4,800) will be my “punt play” in my Cash Contest lineup. He started 34th and finished 14th at Daytona last week. That was good enough for 49 DK Points. This lineup will easily cash if Perkins can do that again.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
AUSTIN HILL ($11,000) will be my top dominator for this race. He started third last year and scored 64.6 DK Points. I played Hill last week from the second starting position and he scored 50 DK Points. The No. 21 car should dominate this race and score close to 60 DK Points Saturday.
AJ ALLMENDINGER ($10,200) is just as good as Austin Hill on the Superspeedways. Allmendinger should be the biggest threat to Hill for the win Sunday. He starts seventh Saturday. Allmendinger started seventh in this race last year. He led 41 laps, scored nine fastest laps and finished third (good for 59.3 DK Points). I expect Allmendinger to have a similar race Sunday.
Ryan Truex ($8,300) will be my third driver for my Tournament Contest lineup. I had to choose between Parker Kligerman and Truex. Both should be good, but Truex has a chance to score more place differential points. He finished third in the two Superspeedway races at Atlanta.
Jeff Burton ($7,800) is good on the Superspeedways. He starts 25th and his average finishing position in the four Superspeedway races at Atlanta is 14th. Burton will score 40 DK Points if he can finish 14th Saturday.
Ryan Sieg ($7,400) was in my lineup last week and I will have him in the lineup at Atlanta. Sieg starts 20th and he finished three of the four Superspeedway races at Atlanta in the top
PATRICK EMERLING ($4,700) will be my “punt play.” He starts 37th and his average fishing position on the Superspeedway at Atlanta is 18th. Emerling starts deep enough in the field that he won’t hurt you, even if he crashes.
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS
The Driver Group Game added the Xfinity Series to their list of games in 2023. It is easy to play. You simply select one driver from Group A, two drivers from Group B and one driver from Group C for your lineup. You can only use the drivers nine times throughout the season, so you have to use your allocations wisely.
Here are the drivers I will use for the Raptor King of Tough 250 Saturday…
Good Luck This Week!
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