RADIO
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will make its second-ever appearance at the Daytona road course on Friday.
Last year, Sheldon Creed led 19 laps on his way to a victory in the inaugural event, while we saw drivers like Scott Lagassee Jr. finish ninth and Austin Wayne Self 11th. Unlike the Xfinity race that saw some stronger runs by road-track aces, the Truck race mostly saw the same drivers as always perform strong.
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Truck Series DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings
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Austin Hill #16 ($10,700)
Starting 20th
The place differential upside for Hill starting back in 20th makes him the top play in this field. Fifth in last year's race here, Hill has three top 10s in three career road course races in the Truck Series, including a pair of top-fives. His six starts on road courses in the old K&N East Series produced four top 10s.
Hill's not a road course expert, but he's a very good driver who can compete for a win at most tracks. You aren't going to get trucks this good starting this far back, and with this just being a 44-lap race, I'm targeting place differential with my top salary slot more than I'm targeting the laps led upside of Sheldon Creed.
John Hunter Nemechek #4 ($10,200)
Starting 4th
...but I am targeting one guy when it comes to grabbing someone starting near the front, and it's not defending race-winner Sheldon Creed. No offense to Creed -- he's a great play in head to heads, but I just envision people going heavy on him because he won this race the only time it was run. I like pivoting to the slightly cheaper Nemechek.
For one, Nemechek also has experience here, even if that experience came via the form of crashing out of the Cup race here last season. But Nemechek also has shown success in this series at road courses, winning at Canadian Tire in 2016, plus finishing second there in 2018. And while he hasn't had the same success in Cup and Xfinity on these kinds of tracks, I think he has some strong upside this week. He's in a fast Kyle Busch Motorsports truck and has a chance to get upfront early on and lead some laps. Two of the cars starting ahead of him are Niece Motorsports trucks that should fall back pretty quickly.
Sam Mayer #75 ($9,200)
Starting 36th
Alright, let's go place differential chasing!
Mayer is appealing, though I think I won't go too wild in terms of how much I roster him since this 75 truck isn't as good as the GMS machine he piloted to a win at Bristol last year.
But Mayer is still a good, young driver who starts extremely far back, and Parker Kligerman delivered an eighth-place run for this team here last year, so speed isn't a concern for me. Mayer was also third in the ARCA race here last season, behind two drivers who combined to lead every lap.
Look, the price point here is a concern when you factor in that Mayer has never run a road course race in this series. Stewart Friesen (starting 30th) is $200 more and a safer play. But Mayer's a risk that I think I'm willing to take.
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Tanner Gray #15 ($7,200)
Starting 33rd
I love the drivers in the $7,000 range. You can get Johnny Sauter (starting 19th) at $7,800. You can take Timothy Peters ($7,600, 27th) or Derek Kraus ($7,500, 31st) as safe-ish plays. You can take the chance on Jett Noland ($7,300, 35th) in his Truck debut, though his lack of experience means I probably wouldn't.
But one of my favorite plays in this range is Tanner Gray. He finished 15th in this race last season, which was above his season average of a 16.1 finish. He didn't lead any laps, but he ran as high as sixth and posted a decently-high driver rating.
Gray's riskier than someone like Peters, but he's also cheaper and has more PD upside.
Kaz Grala #02 ($7,100)
Starting 24th
Alright, here we go. This is my play of the race.
Grala starts 24th and is in the 02, which isn't elite equipment. But Tate Fogleman had some good runs in this truck last season, and while he didn't record a top 10, he ran in between 15th and 20th a lot and was 19th in this race.
We can't overstate this, though: the upgrade in driver here from Fogleman to Grala is huge.
Grala had to sub into the Cup Series 3 car last year at this track, and he took that car to a seventh-place finish, leading three laps. He's run multiple sports car races here. He's got four top-fives in six road course starts in the K&N East Series. He's a good road course driver and he's only $7,100! He can contend for a top 10 here, even if I worry this car doesn't have the speed to compete for a top-five or a win.
Camden Murphy #8 ($4,900)
Starting 37th
Have to risk money to make money, right?
Murphy will pilot the NEMCO truck this week. In 2019, he ran five raes in this machine and had five DNFs. But I think NEMCO is only running races this year if they think they can be competitive. Again, I think this is the case, based on how this is one of just two races -- last week's Daytona was the other -- that we even know the truck will be at.
Murphy's only start in the 8 last year saw him finish 19th at Bristol after starting 36h. Murphy -- who drives monster trucks as his primary racing gig -- has two starts on road courses in Trucks. In 2016, he parked the 71 truck after three laps, but in 2017 he took the 83 to a 22nd here. I think with such a low starting spot, there's some nice upside here.
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