RADIO
It's time for Talladega! And guess what: we've got an Earnhardt on the pole.
That's right. Jeffrey Earnhardt — in a one-off start in the No. 3 car that his grandfather, Dale Earnhardt, made famously in the Cup Series — will start first alongside teammate Austin Hill. Richard Childress Racing holds three of the first four starting spots.
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 Xfinity Series. Let's look at some NASCAR Xfinity DFS lineup picks for the Ag-Pro 300 on DraftKings. Be sure to also check out our NASCAR Premium Tools for Xfinity Series including our DFS Lineup Optimizer and powerful Research Station.
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Xfinity DFS Picks - DraftKings
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Noah Gragson ($10,300) - Starting 19th
Love the place differential upside here with Gragson. Before crashing in his last race here, Gragson had never finished worse than 11th at Talladega. He's led 56 laps here with two top fives. He's also won at Daytona.
JR Motorsports cars always have a shot to win at this track. Gragson's toned down some of that aggressiveness that used to get him in trouble when he was mired back in the pack and should move forward boldly but also with a sense of control on Saturday.
AJ Allmendinger ($9,700) - Starting 13th
It's a superspeedway, so I want to have some exposure to Kaulig Racing, even if the team didn't show the usual Kaulig superspeedway speed in qualifying. These cars always find a way to end up near the front.
Allmendinger has some decent place differential upside from the 13th position, though not as much as you'd necessarily like at a track where place differential is king.
Allmendinger was third here last spring and seventh in the 2020 spring race. His fortunes haven't gone so well in the fall races, as he's crashed in both his fall starts here.
Riley Herbst ($8,500) - Starting 20th
In his first season in the 98 car, Riley Herbst had an average finish of 17.1.
But the 23-year-old has taken a step forward this season, with an average finish of 13.3, which includes five top 10s in eight races. He's already closing in on his number of top fives from last year.
Herbst does seem to have a nose for getting into trouble, with three DNFs in four Talladega starts. But the one non-DNF was a fourth last year, and he was also fourth at Daytona earlier this year. His superspeedway performances over the last couple of years suggest that Herbst will either crash or contend for a top five. Play him and hope it's the latter.
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Myatt Snider ($7,900) - Starting 31st
At a place as unpredictable as Talladega, you need to take some swings on some drivers starting 30th or worse and hope that they survive the carnage.
Snider's track record of surviving at superspeedways is spotty, but there have been some good results. In five Daytona starts, he has two top 10s and two DNFs. In four Talladega starts, he has three DNFs and one top 10.
Not the most encouraging thing, but crashes at tracks like this are largely luck-based, with a sprinkling of "if you were running closer to the front, there's a better chance you won't crash" thrown in. His handful of good results outweigh the wrecks, for me.
Chandler Smith ($6,800) - Starting 30th
Chandler Smith makes his Xfinity debut on Saturday in the Sam Hunt Racing 26 car.
In the Truck Series this year, Smith sits second in points, with one win, three top fives and four top 10s in the first six races.
Smith's run two Talladega races in the Truck Series, including a third-place finish in 2020. He's also got a ninth at Daytona on his resume and while he has gotten involved in some issues in his other superspeedway starts, he's managed to have his truck running at the finish in each try. Good place differential play that comes at a really nice price.
Joey Gase ($5,900) - Starting 36th
Gase is one of a handful of drivers starting near the back that I'll have exposure to, along with Jeremy Clements (starts 34th, $6,900), Kyle Sieg (starts 37th, $6,600), David Star (starts 35th, $6,000), Ryan Ellis (starts 38th, $5,400) and Bayley Currey (starts 29th, $5,200). Gase and Ellis are my two favorites in this range because of their salary cost.
This season hasn't gone super well for the Emerling-Gase Motorsports team, but Gase does have top 30s in three of his four starts. He finished lead lap at Fontana.
He also has a lot of experience here, with eight 'Dega starts. That includes a fifth-place finish in 2015 in a Jimmy Means car. It also includes three more top 20s, plus a 21st. And at Daytona, he had a pair of top 10s on his resume. I like Gase as my big value swing this week.
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