The Xfinity Series will join the Truck and Cup Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week. There will be a familiar driver in the field too. The “Kyle Busch Retirement Tour” is over. Rowdy will be in the No. 10 car for Kaulig Racing. That did not take long…. Busch will be joined in the race by Tyler Reddick and a very stacked Xfinity Series field. It should be a fun race to watch. The Alsco Uniforms 300 can be seen Saturday 4:30 pm ET on FS1.
XFINITY SERIES PRACTICE / QUALIFYING
The Xfinity Series had a short practice session Friday and then they lined up the cars for qualifying. We probably will not be able to learn too much from practice because a lot of the teams did not make long runs. This is an impound race, so the speed the drivers had in practice is the speed they will start the race with Saturday.
Here are the lap times from the practice Friday at Las Vegas…
*** The following drivers will start in the back and be scored from their qualifying position because they had to go to a backup car: Kyle Busch, Cole Custer, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones
DRIVER RANKINGS FOR LAS VEGAS
WHAT TO DO WITH KYLE BUSCH
Did you really think Kyle Busch was going to stay retired from the Xfinity Series? He has 102 wins, led over 20,000 laps and has completely dominated the field for 19 years. It is hard to sit on the couch and watch the race when you know you could be out there giving lessons. Does all of this success make Busch a “must play” today? Not really.
Busch is $2,400 more than any other driver in the field. He starts in the back in a car he said, “”I’m not too happy with the car to be honest about it. I wish I would have seen the setup sheet before we unloaded. I would have made a lot of changes. It is not what I wanted, but we will work on it and get it fixed up during the race.”
I still think Busch will win, but there is more risk in playing him when he starts in the back and could easily get caught up in a younger drivers mess and he is in a car that doesn’t drive the way he likes it to drive.”
STRATEGY FOR LAS VEGAS
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). This race tends to be a two-dominator race. One driver leads 60 laps and scores 35 fastest laps (30.75 dominator points). The other dominator leads 50 laps and scores 25 fastest laps (23.75 dominator points). We are going to need these two drivers in our lineup. I had Kyle Busch penciled in as dominator. I think he will lead laps, but not as many since he starts in the back.
The drivers with the best chance to score dominator points tonight are: Kyle Busch, John H. Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and Chandler Smith
The drivers with the best chance to score place differential points include Tyler Reddick, Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Joe Graf Jr. and Alex Labbe
CORE DRIVERS FOR LAS VEGAS
TOP-TIER DRIVERS: KYLE BUSCH ($13,500), JOHN H. NEMECHEK ($11,100), JUSTIN ALLGAIER ($10,800), COLE CUSTER ($10,500), JOSH BERRY ($10,200), TYLER REDDICK ($9,800), SAM MAYER ($9,500), BRANDON JONES ($9,000)
VALUE DRIVERS: SAMMY SMITH ($8,700), PARKER KLIGERMAN ($8,300), RILEY HERBST ($8,100), CHANDLER SMITH ($7,900), JOE GRAF JR. ($7,700), KAZ GRALA ($7,600), BRETT MOFFITT ($7,400), RYAN SIEG ($7,200), ANTHONY ALFREDO ($7,000), RAJAH CARUTH ($6,700), KYLE WEATHERMAN ($6,400)
PUNT PLAYS: BRENNAN POOLE ($5,900), RYAN ELLIS ($5,800), JOSH WILLIAMS ($5,400), JOSH GASE ($5,000), JOSH BILICKI ($4,900)
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS
The Driver Group Game picks got off to a good start at Daytona. They scored 349 points and currently rank 6th in the overall ranking. I will do my best to keep this momentum going at Auto Club Speedway and get us to the top of the overall standings. If you have not joined yet, here is the link to join: DGG Xfinity Series Game
Here are the drivers I will use for the Alsco Uniforms 300 …
GROUP A: JOHN H. NEMECHEK won last week and his No. 20 car looked fast again in practice. My choices were Josh Berry and Nemechek. Berry starts in the back and Nemechek starts in the second row after Cole Custer goes to the back too. Nemechek should be a great pick Saturday.
GROUP B: CHANDLER SMITH won the pole and scored us 10 bonus points. We may not get him in this position the rest of the year, so I will take a chance with this talented young driver
GROUP B: BRETT MOFFITT looked fast in practice and he qualified fourth for the race. Get used to that, because his car is provided and set up by Stewart-Haas Racing. He is essentially a teammate of Cole Custer and Riley Herbst.
GROUP C: KYLE BUSCH starts in the back. That will only motivate him more to win the race.
Good Luck Today!
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