The Xfinity Series will travel to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300. This is not a Dash for Cash race, but it is a very important race on the Xfinity Series schedule. The Xfinity Series will get a two week break after the race Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. The teams will want to run well at Texas so that they can take some momentum into the break. The Xfinity Series races in the Lone Star State typically put on a god show. I am expecting the same this weekend. The Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 can be seen Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on CW Channel.
PRACTICE / QUALIFYING
The Xfinity Series had their practice and qualifying canceled Friday evening. That means the starting lineup was set “per the rule book.” There are some drivers in the field who do not have any experience on this fast, difficult track (Katherine Legge). It could get messy Saturday.
Here is the starting lineup for the Andy’s Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway….
STRATEGY FOR TEXAS
The race Saturday is scheduled for 200 laps (300 miles). That means there are 50 points available for leading laps and 90 points available for fastest laps (140 dominator points). Justin Allgaier led 117 of the 200 laps last year and he led 133 of the 200 laps in 2023.
Connor Zilisch crashed pretty hard last week at Talladega. The Xfinity Series has two weeks off after today’s race so Junior Motorsports decided to give Zilisch some extra time to heal and they put Kyle Larson in the car. Larson competed in the Xfinity Series races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway this year. Larson led 132 laps at Homestead and 276 laps at Bristol. I will just pay up for Justin Allgaier and Kyle Larson in most of my lineups because they have a great chance to be the top-two dominators today.
DRAFTKINGS STATS FOR TEXAS
The Xfinity Series raced on the 1.5-mile tracks at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Las Vegas is the most similar track to Texas Motor Speedway, so I will be using a lot of the stats from that race to help handicap the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300. I will sprinkle in some of the stats from Homestead and use the stats from the last two races at Texas to help predict which drivers have the best chance to run up front Saturday.
Here are the stats from the races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway this year and the race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2023 and 2024, sorted by DraftKings Points…
DRIVER RANKINGS FOR TEXAS
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
I think you can get away with fading KYLE LARSON or JUSTIN ALLGAIER in Cash Contests. I will fade Larson because of his price and his starting position and play Allgaier. The No. 7 car had been the top dominator in the last two races at Texas. There is a good chance Allgaier will lead a lot more laps Saturday. RILEY HERBST is in the No. 19 car for Joe Gibbs Racing. This may be the best car he has ever had in the Xfinity Series. Herbst should score a lot of place differential points from the 27th starting position. SAMMY SMITH starts 22nd and his average finishing position at Texas is 5th. He should score well from the middle of the pack Saturday. RYAN SIEG came an inch away from winning at Texas last year. He also finished 7th at Las Vegas this year. Sieg could easily be the third-highest scoring driver behind Larson and Allgaier Saturday. KYLE SIEG is starting to run like his brother. He finished 11th at Las Vegas this year and he finished 12th and 14th in his two races at Texas. GARRETT SMITHLY starts dead last. He started 33rd and finished 27th at Las Vegas earlier this year. I just need Smithly to have a simular race Saturday.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
I will pay up for KYLE LARSON and JUSTIN ALLGAIER and hope I can score most of the dominator points Saturday. I will just need the rest of the lineup to score some place differential points if my top-two drivers lead all of the laps at Texas. HARRISON BURTON won at Texas before in the Xfinity Series and he finished 8th at Las Vegas earlier this season. Burton should be a sneaky good play Saturday. I doubt MATT DIBENEDETTO will have much ownership from the 9th starting position. Matty-D finished 16th at Las Vegas and he has been getting better with each race. I will take a chance with the Italian Stalian Saturday. BRENNAN POOLE has been my go-to-driver to save some salary. He has been pretty good at finishing in the top-20. I think he can finish in the top-15 Saturday. JOEY GASE is my “punt play” in the Tournament Contest lineup. He starts 37th and his average finishing position at Texas is 27th. That would be good enough if the rest of the drivers in this lineup simply do their thing Saturday.
Good Luck Saturday!
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