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A big weekend at Pocono starts on Saturday morning, as the Truck Series will be the first of four national series races at the Tricky Triangle.
It's a Kyle Busch race weekend, and with Busch starting 22nd there's a lot of place differential upside available. This will likely be a week where you'll need to figure out how to build around Busch, which is what I'll be focusing on in this week's article.
Here at RotoBaller, we want to help you make informed decisions about your DFS lineups, which is why I'll be breaking down the slates for the Truck Series. Let's look at some NASCAR Truck Series DFS lineup picks for the CRC Brakleen 150 on DraftKings. Be sure to also check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Truck Series including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station.
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Kyle Busch #51 ($15,000)
Starting 22nd
Kyle Busch averages 79.6 fantasy points per race. Ryan Preece has started one race this season, won it, and his 57 fantasy points per race from that one race is the second-highest mark of anyone in this race.
That, uhh, is a big gap, and it's why the smart money is to build a lineup around Busch. You'll want a few contrarian lines to allow you space in case Busch crashes out or something, but mostly you should assume another big race is here for Busch.
Busch has three Cup Series wins at this track, all coming since 2017. In the Truck Series, he's run here four times, with a pair of wins, a second, and a 25th place finish in a race where he led 32 laps and then crashed out. He didn't have to drive through the field in those races, but I'm honestly not that concerned about Busch getting through the traffic and up to the front of this race quickly. The fact there's only 60 laps means Busch might not be as dominant as he sometimes is, but he could still wind up leading 30-ish laps.
Bayley Currey #45 ($8,700)
Starting 27th
This is a 2.5-mile track. That means we don't really have a lot of laps led and fastest lap points available, so my main targets here are going to be drivers with place differential upside, because that's where you'll earn your points.
Which is why I really like Currey this week. This will be his fifth race of the season for Niece. In the two races where he's started in the back of the pack, Currey scored 45 fantasy points and 38 fantasy points. His last two races didn't go as well because of a better spot on the starting grid, but I'm all over playing Currey when he starts 27th.
Josh Berry #25 ($7,500)
Starting 20th
Josh Berry's best known for his time at JR Motorsports this season, but this week he's running in the Truck and Xfinity races, neither of which are in a JRM vehicle.
Berry has run three Truck races already. The past two have been in this 25 truck, and he's recorded a 10th ad 19th place finish. He's posted under 20 fantasy points in two of his three races, but part of that was one start being in the 02 truck and the other was that he started 12th last week, which was a little too high for this 25 truck.
I think 20th is a good spot for Berry to start, though. He's a smart driver. There's some place differential upside here. Not the most exciting play, but a solid one.
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Derek Kraus #19 ($6,500)
Starting 24th
Another fairly boring play, but I like Kraus's combination of place differential upside and truck quality.
It's true that this team has taken a big step back this year, with an average finish of 23.2 after an average finish of 13th last year. He's only finished on the lead lap four times in 12 races. But he also has three DNFs that have hurt his numbers after recording just one all of last year. And he has a pair of top 10s.
After qualifying on the pole last week, Kraus looked like he'd turned things around. He led 48 laps, but then crashed out on lap 110, leading to a 35th-place finish.
But Kraus has been looking much better lately. There was last week's speed. There was a 13th at Texas, and before that an eighth at Charlotte.
The 19 is trending in the right direction. I think we're about to the point where I'd expect a top 15 as long as he keeps the truck clean.
Ryan Truex #40 ($6,100)
Starting 23rd
Truex hasn't been quite as good as some of his Niece teammates have been, with an average finish of just 21.1 this season. But he has five top 20s over the past six races and at just $6,100, I think there's some good value here.
Risky value, because Truex's average showings wouldn't offer too much in the way of fantasy upside, but if Niece can hit the right setups this week and the 40 can stay out of trouble, there's top 15 upside. If you're trying to save some cash to afford Kyle Busch, you're going to have to play drivers like Truex.
Hailee Deegan #1 ($5,900)
Starting 19th
Speaking of drivers like Truex, Hailee Deegan is another option who starts in this 19th through 25th spot that a lot of my picks this week are coming from. Like Truex, she has an average finish in the low 20s, in her case 20.2.
Technically, this means Deegan is starting above where her average finish is. There's some concern there, but this 1 truck has been improving a lot lately. She was on her way to her first top 10 at Texas before problems on pit road, while last week she had an average running position of 18th and ran 43.7 percent of her laps in the top 15, her fourth-highest mark of 2021.
Deegan is getting better. A top 10 is coming. She remains super cheap on DraftKings because the finishes haven't matched the speed she's showing. Pocono is maybe a weird track for Deegan, but she has run here before in ARCA, so she won't be brand new to it.
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