NASCAR is in Talladega this week for a playoff race for all 3 series. The weekend kicks off with the Truck series racing on Friday afternoon at the superspeedway. This is the final drafting race of the year so this will be one of the last races with high unpredictability for the season.
Top Place Differential Plays
Layne Riggs
Daniel Dye
Tanner Gray
Stewart Friesen
Johnny Sauter
Matt Crafton
Christian Eckes
Ryan Reed
All of these drivers will be some of the top plays for the truck race today. Place differential is the most important factor on superspeedways as the draft will keep the trucks close together and almost anyone can win. Dominator points will be spread throughout the field so the drivers starting farther back with place differential potential will have a better chance to be high point scorers. We have several yop drivers that did not qualify for various reasons that huge huge place differential potential since they are starting in the back. Riggs, Dye, and Gray will be some of the highest owned drivers because they have such a big upside starting so far back. A finish in the top 10 by any of them likely will put them in the optimal lineup. All of these drivers are the biggest place differential options that are in good equipment and I expect to race to the front.
Fades
William Sawalich
Ben Rhodes
Ty Majeski
Grant Enfinger
Taylor Gray
Chase Purdy
Matt Mills
With place differential being so key for the race the drivers that start up front have a difficult path to being optimal in this race. I prefer to not pick drivers starting up in the top 5 and limit the number of drivers starting up front. However, in the truck series there may be less drivers willing to risk a wreck so I am more open to picking drivers starting closer to the front than I do the Cup Series. Also Talladega is a lot wider than Daytona so typically we expect less large wrecks here as there is more room to avoid them. So when looking at past races we see less underdogs finishing in the top 10 here than we do Daytona. Overall, stacking the back is still a good strategy, you just want to make sure you pick drivers that could still be aggressive enough to get to the front and not just ride in the back.
Cheap Options
Bayley Currey
Kaden Honeycutt
Dawson Sutton
Danny Bohn
Stefan Parsons
Jason White
Mason Maggio
Norm Benning
These drivers all are on the cheaper side for their salaries on Draftkings and have big place differential potential in the race. At Superspeedways you do not need to worry about using all of your salary in your lineups. The biggest focus is place differential and it doesn't matter if you use cheaper drivers to get that potential. I expect drivers like Currey, Honeycutt, Sutton, and Parsons to be more aggressive and could race hard throughout the entire race while drivers like Bohn, White, Maggio, and Benning could ride in the back to miss the wrecks. Either are solid options depending on your strategy and how you want to build your lineups.