The Xfinity Series will continue the short track portion of their schedule this week when they race under the lights at Martinsville Speedway. There are a lot of drivers with scores to settle in the Xfinity Series. This is typically a tough race to predict because you can select all of the fast cars for the race but if Ty Gibbs pisses off Ryan Sieg (again) and Sieg decides to punt Gibbs into the wall…. Well, all of that speed from the No. 54 car does not matter. You other fast drivers could easily get caught up in the payback because there is nowhere to hide at Martinsville. This is a fun race to watch, but it can be very frustrating for DFS contests.
XFINITY SERIES PRACTICE RESULTS
The Xfinity Series had their normal practice session Thursday. The teams were allowed to practice for 20 minutes and then the field was through qualifying. Most of the teams had enough time to make some long runs in practice. This is an impound race so the teams will not be allowed to make adjustments before the race. What the drivers had in practice and qualifying is what they will have for the race. Here are the practice speeds from the Xfinity Series Practice Thursday evening….
XFINITY SERIES DRIVER RANKINGS
STRATEGY FOR MARTINSVILLE
The race Friday night is all about the dominators. The Call 811 Before you Dig 250 is scheduled for 250 laps (131.5 miles). That means there are 62.5 points available for leading laps and 112.5 points available for fastest laps (175 dominator points). We must score as many of these bonus points as possible Friday night.
The trend in the Xfinity Series at Martinsville is for one driver to lead 94 laps and score 26 fastest laps (35.2 dominator points), a second driver leads 52 laps and score 26 fastest laps (24.7 dominator points). There typically are two other drivers who lead 28 laps each and score roughly 18 fastest laps (15.1 dominator points). We need the top dominator and at least one of these sub-dominators in order to win our contests Friday night. That means we need to pay up for the drivers with the best chance to lead laps. I will be building a lot of “stars and scrubs” lineups for the race at Martinsville.
My top dominators today are Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric, and Justin Allgaier.
CORE DRIVERS FOR MARTINSVILLE
TY GIBBS $11,300: Gibbs continues to win races. He won last week at Richmond, he won at Atlanta and he won at Las Vegas. That is what happens when a driver has the fastest cars in the field and the other fast cars are not allowed to touch Gibbs because Grandpa owns their contracts. Gibbs is going to be fast again Friday night. I will be surprise if he doesn’t receive some payback for his aggressive driving style. I will have some shares of Gibbs, but I will not be surprised when he is in the wall.
NOAH GRAGSON $11,000: Gragson is going to be tough to beat Friday night. He finished second at Auto Club, second at Las Vegas, won at Phoenix and finished fourth at COTA, so Gragson is having a great season. He has also had success at Martinsville. Gragson led 153 laps and won the playoff race last year. He also led 54 laps and finished second in 2021 in the spring race last year. Gragson is one of my top dominators for the race Friday night.
AJ ALLMENDINGER $10,500: Many drivers say that Martinsville races like a road course because drivers must be able to out-brake their competitors in the corners. It will be a good idea to play the best road course driver in the Xfinity Series this week. Allmendinger has run up front at Martinsville and he has been punted out of the lead over the last two seasons. Allmendinger already said he is going to be driving more aggressive this year. If this is true, Almendinger should be up front leading laps.
JUSTIN ALLGAIER $10,200: Allgaier is always good at Martinsville. He is never great though. Allgaier has finished second, ninth and fifth in his three Xfinity Series races at Martinsville. He has never led a lap though and that is important. If we are paying $10,200 for a driver, we need him to lead some laps. I will have a few shares of Allgaier, but not a lot.
DALE EANRHARDT JR. $9,800: Earnhardt selects one Xfinity Series race to compete in each year. This year it is Martinsville. He has been “OK” when he returns to the No. 88 car. He finished 14th at Richmond last year, fifth at Homestead in 2020 and fifth at Darlington in 2019. Earnhardt should be able to compete for a top-10 finish but I do not think he will be the top dominator in the race. He is a lock for Cash Contests since he starts 30th.
BRANDON JONES $9,200: Jones is always a roller coaster ride in DFS. He will be up front and then get a penalty and fall to the back and then to the front again and then something happens and he is in the back again. Sometimes it works out well in DFS though. Jones has been consistent at Martinsville. He finished sixth, fifth and ninth in his three races at the track. I will play Jones in some Tournament Contests this week.
SAM MAYER $8,900: I really like Mayer Friday night. He has some momentum after his third-place finish last week and his fifth-place finish the previous week. He also has had some success at Martinsville. Mayer drove the No. 8 car for Junior Motorsports last year at Martinsville. He started 11th and finished 4th. It is a small sample size, but it is a good start. I will take my chances with Mayer Friday night.
JEB BURTON $7,800: Burton has been a decent driver to have in your DraftKings lineups this year. He is averaging 35.9 points per race. That is not bad for $7,800 price. Burton Had success at Martinsville in the No. 8 car for Junior Motorsports (He finished 4th in 2020) and in the No. 10 car for Kaulig Racing (hBurton finished 11th last year). Now we get to see what he can do in his Our Motorsports car. Burton should be able to finish in the top-12 Friday night.
BRETT MOFFITT $7,700: Moffitt has a lot of experience at Martinsville because he competed at the track every year in the Truck Series. Moffitt has four finishes in the top-six at Martinsville in the Xfinity Series. He finished 13th, 12th and 19th in his three races at Martinsville in the Xfinity Series. Moffitt starts sixth and he had the speed in practice to finish in the top-10 Friday night.
RYAN SIEG $7,200: Sieg has been the best value pick in the field this season and that will not change Friday night. Sieg finished the last four races in the top-11 so he has some momentum. Sieg did not post a fast lap in practice but he said his car is good on the long runs. I have had good luck with Sieg this year so I will use him again Friday night.
JEREMY CLEMENTS $6,900: I really like Clements because of the success he has had at Martinsville but I do not like him because of the slump he is in. Clements finished ninth, 14th and 15th in his three races at Martinsville. He also averaged five place differential points per race. He also finished 20th, 24th and 37th in his last three races this season. I will take a chance with Clements and hope his luck turns around Friday night.
JADE BUFFORD $6,400: Bufford has a road course racing background so it should not be a surprise that he is good at out-braking his compactors at Martinsville. Bufford started 30 and finished 19th at Martinsville in the sprig race last year (35 DK Points). He started 31st and finished 17th in his last race at Martinsville (40 DK Points). Bufford starts 31st and he should finish inside the top-20.
J.J. YELEY $6,200: Experience is going to mean a lot Friday night because the Xfinity Series has only been competing at this track for a few years. Yeley has more experience than any driver in the field (other than Dale Eanrnhardt Jr.). Yeley has a 27.5 average starting postion and a 15.8 average finishing position in his four races at Martinsville. Yeley starts 33rd and he has top-20 upside Friday night.
NATALIE DECKER $4,500: Is Decker a good driver? No. Will she finish in the top 20? No. But she will be my “punt play” Friday night. Decker is the minimum price and she starts dead last. She cannot score use negative points. I need to save salary so I can select all of the top drivers to give me a good chance to score all of the dominator points. Decker is in a Ryan Sieg Racing car, so it cannot be that slow.
DFS EXAMPLE LINEUPS
Each year I get told the same thing… I used your lineup and I did not win the big jackpot. That is because 25-50 other people copied and pasted my lineup too and you had to split the pot 25-50 ways. The lineups posted this year will be examples on how to create a lineup for the race. You can copy and paste, but just know a lot of other people will have the same lineup. (It is OK to copy and paste the Cash Contest lineup). There is plenty of information in this article to help you create your own unique lineup to give you a better chance of winning.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
Good Luck Friday Night!
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