The Truck Series returns after a week off to race at Pocono Raceway. The Truck Series race will be part of a double-header day of racing at the Tricky Triangle. The trucks will race first, followed by the Xfinity Series. The field is absolutely stacked with Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Austin Hill, Parker Kligerman and Kaz Grala racing for the checkered-flag at Pocono. It should be a fun race for your DraftKings contest. The CRC Brakleen 150 can be seen Saturday at 12 pm ET on FS1.
PRACTICE / QUALIFYING
The Truck Series had a short practice session to shake down their trucks for the race Saturday. Pocono is a 2.5-mile, triangle shaped track. The track is too large for most of the teams to make a 10-lap run in practice, but we can still learn a bit from the single-lap speed and the five-lap average speed.
Here are the lap times from the practice Friday at Pocono…
FIVE-LAP AVERAGE SPEED
DFS STRATEGY FOR POCONO
The Truck Series races at Pocono tend to be a one dominator race. The main dominator typically leads 42 laps and scores 16 fastest laps (17.7). The field is so stacked, that there may be more competition up front Saturday. I still expect there to be one dominator in the race Saturday and his name should be Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch has finished 1st, 2nd, 25th, 1st and 2nd in his five Truck Series races at Pocono. He has also averaged 37 laps led in those races, so Rowdy has to be considered one of the dominators Sunday.
Christopher Bell has only competed in two Truck Series races since 2017. He started on the pole and finished 28th at Bristol in 2018 (Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck) and he started 9th and finished 16th at North Wilksboro earlier this season (Hattori Racing Truck). He will be back in the Hattori Racing Truck Saturday. Bell won the Truck Series race at Pocono in 2017 and he finished 10th in 2016.
Ross Chastain sounds like a good pick on paper but he has only been “OK” in the Truck Series this season. Chastain has competed in six Truck Series races in 2023. His average finishing position is 11.3 and he has only led 10 laps (COTA). He has not led any laps on the oval tracks, so it may be tough for Chastain to lead any laps on a triangle.
The drivers with the best chance to score dominator points today are: Kyle Busch, Corey Hiem, Nick Sanchez and Grant Enfinger
The drivers with the best chance to score place differential points include Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, Matt Crafton, Parker Kligerman, Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson and Corey Roper
DRIVER RANKINGS FOR POCONO
DRAFTKINGS CORE DRIVERS
TOP-TIER DRIVERS: KYLE BUSCH ($13,000), CHRISTOPHER BELL ($10,700), ZANE SMITH ($10,400), COREY HEIM ($10,200), CARSON HOCEVAR ($10,000), AUSTIN HILL ($9,700), CHRISTIAN ECKES ($9,500), TY MAJESKI ($9,200)
VALUE-TIER DRIVERS: GRANT ENFINGER ($8,900), BEN RHODES ($8,700), NICK SANCHEZ ($8,500), KAZ GRALA ($8,300), STEWART FRIESEN ($8,000), PARKER KLIGERMAN ($7,800), MATT CRAFTON ($7,700), MATT DIBENEDETTO ($7,500), TAYLOR GRAY ($7,100), DEAN THOMPSON ($6,900), TANNER GRAY ($6,500), COLBY HOWARD ($6,100),
PUNT PLAYS: DANIEL DYE ($5,900), TIMMY HILL ($5,500), STEPHAN PARSONS ($5,400), LAWLESS ALLEN ($5,100), COREY ROPER ($5,000), JOSH REAUME ($4,600)
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST PICKS
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST PICKS
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS
The Driver Group Game will once again have a contest for the Truck Series. 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 in Groups A & B six times throughout the season. You can only use the drivers in Group C five times throughout the season, so you have to use your allocations wisely. Here is the link to join: DGG Truck Series Game
Here are the drivers I will use for the CRC Brakleen 150 …
Good luck with your lineups!
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