The Xfinity Series will join the Cup Series at Michigan International Speedway this weekend. This is race No. 21 on the Xfinity Series schedule. “The Series Where Names Are Made” still has six races on their schedule before the playoffs start. That means the drivers outside the playoffs still have time to earn some points or win a race to secure one of the 12 playoff spots. It should be another wild race in Michigan this week for the Xfinity Series. The Cabo Wabo 250 can be seen Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
XFINITY SERIES PRACTICE / QUALIFYING
The Xfinity Series had a short practice session Friday to shake down their cars for the race Saturday. Michigan is a two-mile intermediate track. Some drivers made long runs in practice, but most of the field made short runs and then came into the pits for some adjustments. We should still be able to learn a bit from the practice speeds this week.
Here are the lap times from the practice Friday at Michigan…
XFINITY SERIES STATS INTERMEDIATE TRACKS
The Xfinity Series competed on a two-mile oval track earlier this year at Auto Club Speedway. A lot has happened in the Xfinity Series race since February, but I still think it is a good idea to use the data from the race at Auto Club to help handicap the race at Michigan. I will also be using the data from the intermediate track races this year (Las Vegas and Charlotte), the data from the last race at Atlanta and the data from the last two races at Michigan. This should give us an idea of which drivers should score well in our DraftKings contests Saturday.
Here are the average DraftKings points from the races on the intermediate tracks in 2023 and the last two races at Michigan…
STRATEGY FOR MICHIGAN
Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain will drop down from the Cup Series to compete in the Xfinity Series race Saturday. They will be driving the cars that won the last two races at Michigan. AJ Allmendinger won in 2021 in the car that Chastain will be driving Saturday and Gibbs won last year at Michigan. Gibbs looked fast in practice, so I plan to have a lot of ownership of the No. 19 car Saturday.
The trend at Michigan is for one driver to lead 50 laps and score 28 fastest laps (25.1 dominator points). Another driver leads 40 laps and scores 24 fastest laps (20.8 dominator points). I will pay up for the two drivers I think can lead the most laps Saturday and try to score the projected 46 dominator points.
The drivers with the best chance to score the most dominator points includes Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs and John H. Nemechek
The drivers who start in the back with the best chance to score place differential points includes Ty Gibbs, John H. Nemechek, Cole Custer, Sheldon Creed, Daniel Hemric, Jeb Burton, Parker Retzlaff, Kaz Grala, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Joe Graf Jr., Blaine Perkins
DRIVER RANKINGS FOR MICHIGAN
CORE DRIVERS FOR MICHIGAN
TOP-TIER DRIVERS: TY GIBBS ($10,800), JOHN H. NEMCHEK ($10,600), JUSTIN ALLGAIER ($10,500), JOSH BERRY ($10,300), COLE CUSTER ($10,100), ROSS CHASTAIN ($10,000), AUSTIN HILL ($9,800)
VALUE-TIER DRIVERS: SHELDON CREED ($8,800), CARSON HOCEVAR ($8,600), RILEY HERBST ($8,300), DANIEL HEMRIC ($8,200), RYAN SIEG ($7,700), BRETT MOFFITT ($7,500), KAZ GRALA ($7,300), JEB BURTON ($7,200), JEREMY CLEMENTS ($7,000), PARKER RETZLAFF ($6,800)
PUNT PLAYS: JEFFREY EARNHARDT ($5,800), JOSH WILLIAMS ($5,700), BRENNAN POOLE ($5,500), BLAINE PERKINS ($5,400), JOE GRAF JR. ($5,300), RYAN ELLIS ($5,200), GARRETT SMITHLEY ($5,000)
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS
Here are the drivers I will use for Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan…
Good Luck Saturday!
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