CRC Brakleen 175 DFS Picks & NASCAR Playbook: Pocono Raceway

The Craftsman Truck Series returns after a week off for the Chicago festivities that mostly included a music festival with a side order of stock car racing. This weekend all three series are in action. We head to Pocono Raceway for some high-speed racing around the tricky triangle. We have just three races left in the regular season for the Truck Series. That leaves just Pocono, IRP, and then Richmond following the break for the Olympics. So, the chances to win your way into the playoffs are running thin for several drivers. 

As it stands right now only Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, Nicholas Sanchez, and Rajah Caruth are locked in with wins. There are still six spots available for some drivers to win or point their way in. It’s a big weekend for this series so here are the top NASCAR DFS lineup building strategies and drivers for Friday’s CRC Brakleen 175.

CRC Brakleen 175 NASCAR DFS Lineup Picks

Pocono Raceway is a massive track measuring in at 2.5 miles. It’s three turns are a bit of an homage to Trenton Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Milwaukee Mile. Despite its vast size it has almost no comparison to superspeedways like Daytona or Talladega.

In fact, the racing here can be relatively boring. This track features two of the longest straightaways on the NASCAR schedule. The front stretch comes in at 3,740 feet. So, it’s not uncommon for drivers to fan out and possibly go five-wide in an attempt to grab some clean air.

Most of my builds will be one-dominator builds. Truthfully, I’ll even have some builds where I’m just trying to put together a lineup of six drivers that can score well. Last year’s race saw just two drivers lead double-digit laps. Zane Smith led 19 laps but finished 34^th. Corey Heim led 27 but ultimately finished with just 9.9 dominator points. Kyle Busch won the race but led just seven laps.

In 2022, Chandler Smith did win this race with 17.2 dominator points back when this race was just 60 laps for the Truck Series. Even in 2021, we only saw one driver lead 20+ laps, and in 2020 Sheldon Creed led 31. So, most weeks we encourage you to get multiple dominators in your lineup. I don’t think we need to take that route for Friday. Now, as a caveat, we can target dominator points a little more for the Xfinity and Cup Series races because they’ll have more laps.

This is a weird schedule for the Truck Series. It’s not weird that they’re racing on Friday. However, it is weird that they’re racing at 5:30pm ET on Friday. Practice will start at 2:00pm ET that afternoon with qualifying at 2:30pm ET. About two hours after qualifying wraps up, we’ll see this race go green. So, I will do my absolute best to provide updates to this Playbook. However, if you want the most up-to-date and current info, I suggest just hanging out in the Discord for updates as well.

CRC Brakleen 175 Practice Notes

Top Price Core Plays

Corey Heim ($11,000)

Again we kick off the NASCAR DFS Playbook previewing Corey Heim. He is good on almost any track in this series. As far as Pocono goes, he started P9 in this race a year ago and finished as the runner-up while leading 27 laps. Even in 2022 with Kyle Busch Motorsports, he started P17 and finished fourth.

He manages to find his way to the front in just about every race. Sure, he didn’t lead a lap at Nashville, but he had 16 fastest laps and in the five prior races leading up to Nashville he led at least 65 laps.

For this race, he’s a +140 favorite to win. That’s very hard to actually bet but it does emphasize his win equity and likelihood to run up front. If you play Heim, you should assume he’s your lone dominator and you build the rest of the lineup with drivers that can score well. And you likely don’t even need to go too deep into the driver pool to do so.

Update: Heim was not initially fast in practice, but the truck got significantly better as the session went on and he finished with the second-fastest lap behind Eckes. With qualifying cancelled, both Eckes and Heim will start on the front row and both are viable. Eckes was incredibly fast but we need to monitor whether their pit crew will make the race in time as the McAnally trucks are waiting for their crews to fly in from Charlotte.

Ross Chastain ($10,500)

Just a PD play if you can afford it. Chastain's truck was top 12 in speed, but will start P27 since there's no qualifying.

Zane Smith ($10,300)

Zane Smith has run four races this year in the Truck Series. He hasn’t finished worse than eighth and most recently, he was the runner-up at Kansas with 29 laps led.

Zane is getting some extra laps for Sunday’s Cup Series race. He’s back in the 91-truck for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing so the equipment is on par with what Christian Eckes ($10,800) will run.

Zane’s track history is nothing special at Pocono. In four Truck Series races here, he never finished in the top five and he has just one top 10 finish. But in last year’s race he led 19 laps and even won the first two stages. But he was caught up in a wreck in stage three and once again finished poorly at Pocono. Given what we’ve seen from him so far this year in a limited sample size, he’s certainly worth playing for the safe floor he provides, but the ceiling is quite high if he can get the win.

Update: Not the greatest practice effort from Zane Smith (just outside the top 10), but he'll start outside the top 20 and should be able to move up. Similar to Eckes, there is concern whether the full-time pit crew will make it on time for this race.

Ty Majeski ($9,800)

Majeski can certainly get out front and lead. He’s led 35+ laps on five different occasions this year. The only downside is we haven’t run too many comparable tracks to Pocono. The good news is that his track history has gradually gotten better.

He was caught in a wreck in 2020. But in 2021 he started and finished 14^th. Then in 2022 he finished seventh. And last year he started P34 and finished sixth.

He has yet to record a win this year, but truthfully only four full-time Truck Series drivers have recorded a win this year so he’s not alone. Majeski does have the equipment to get a win and is +750 to win Friday’s race.

Update: Majeski looked fine in practice but if you're fishing for more PD you can pivot to Taylor Gray and save $300. Gray starts P19.

Mid-Price Core Plays

Tyler Ankrum ($8,800)

Ankrum got off to a hot start to the 2024 season. He finished 11^th or better in the first four races but was second at Vegas and fifth at Bristol. He’s cooled off a bit since then with just a pair of top five finishes in his last nine races.

The other risky feature with Ankrum is that he’s regressed and had some very poor finishes as well. But Pocono has been a great track for him. He finished second here with DGR-Crosley (who would eventually become TRICON Garage), and he was top 10 in a pair of races here with GMS Racing (now defunct). 

The price tag is manageable and he’s another McAnally-Hilgemann driver to build around alongside Smith and Eckes. He’s not a bad longshot bet at 22-1 on DraftKings Sportsbook, but I’d feel better betting him for a top five.

Update: Ankrum rolls off P4 so he's a bit risky. But there's still appeal in Tournaments if he can scored a solid finish. Again, his pit crew may not make it in time though. Going to be something to monitor.

Layne Riggs ($8,100)

Here’s what I like about Layne Riggs. He has this weird trend of every other race being good for DFS. Last race at Nashville? He put up zero points. The race before that? He scored 51 points on DraftKings. Prior to that, he scored -11 points at Charlotte. And before that he finished third at North Wilkesboro (although I think he was disqualified after DraftKings paid out). So, this moronic trend on my part points to Riggs having a solid day.

But even if we don’t look at Riggs’ current trends, the 38-truck has been really good here. Last year, Zane Smith qualified P6 and won the first two stages with 19 total laps led but wrecked out later on. Even in 2022, the 38-truck won the pole. In the two races at Pocono with Todd Gilliland at the wheel for the 38-truck, he finished fourth and seventh. 

The jury’s out on whether Riggs has the talent or upside of Zane Smith or Todd Gilliland, but this team has shown they can nail the setup for this truck at Pocono so I’m liking him ahead of practice and qualifying.

Update: This is an interesting one. He wrecked his truck in practice, but qualifying was cancelled. He has to drop to the rear for going to a backup. Looks like he could be scored from P17 so we'll have to see if his starting spot adjust because he wouldn't have posted a qualifying lap. I don't think it will, but I think he's okay for Tournaments as he has plenty of time to move up and score well. But if he isn't scored from the back, we can look elsewhere for cash games.

Matt Crafton ($8,000)

It does get a little tiresome previewing Matt Crafton so much. And it’s only made worse by the fact he hasn’t really looked great in the last handful of races as he now finds himself desperately outside the playoff picture.

But as of right now, I’ll lean into track history and the fact he usually doesn’t qualify that well. He’s raced here 14 times in his career and only twice has he finished outside the top 15. In those two races he finished outside the top 15? Well, he wrecked so we have to just deal with the poor score. But when he does finish at this track, he’s scoring well.

My mindset remains the same. In fact, I hope the recent results turn people off to Crafton because as long as he’s finishing at this track, he’s putting up a good score. He’s finished in the top 10 in eight of his 14 races here. The win equity is minimal, but the price tag is manageable for a driver that can potentially score 40+ points on DraftKings.

Update: Slight downgrade here. Qualifying was cancelled so he'll start P15 which is right around where he ran in practice. Not as great of a play as we hoped, but still serviceable.

Value Price Core Plays

Dean Thompson ($6,900)

Dean Thompson is always a very good tournament play. And he’s not even the cheapest TRICON driver in the field, but we’ll get to that driver shortly. Thompson is in great equipment and has the potential to break the slate with a top 10 finish.

I can’t commit to Thompson as a cash game play because the two times this year he’s qualified outside the top 25, he’s only moved up one spot. But Thompson certainly has the equipment, and usually the speed, to provide a great ceiling in tournaments.

So far this year, he finished 16^th at Texas after starting P21. Moreover, at Kansas he started P22 and finished eighth, and then at Charlotte he started P11 and finished ninth. Pocono is not a direct correlation to those tracks, but at least they are intermediates on the higher end of the speed spectrum.

In this price range, I also like Daniel Dye ($7,000) for $100 more. Dye is flirting with making the playoffs based on points and he’s actually been flexing a higher ceiling of late so he’s someone worth getting exposure to if he doesn’t qualify too high.

Update: Thompson will start P22. That's just fine, and his pit crew is at the track currently.

Luke Fenhaus ($6,600)

Obviously, the sample size is incredibly small. And by small, I mean literally one race in the Truck Series. But in that lone race at Gateway over a month ago, he did start P27 and finished 10^th. 

Pocono is nearly twice the size of Gateway. And it’s still flat but that hardly matters. Fenhaus is still going to be running a ThorSport truck. For what it’s worth, this 66-truck grabbed top 20 finishes at Vegas, Texas, and Kansas. More recently it’s been top 12 at Charlotte, Gateway (as we’ve already discussed), and Nashville.

Fenhaus isn’t quite a slam dunk simply because of the equipment but he is certainly a driver that will garner attention. And because he likely has to go out and qualify early in the session, he likely won’t have the greatest starting spot.

Update: Starts deep in the field. Very strong play and his pit crew is already at the track.

Kris Wright ($6,500)

There isn’t a ton to necessary like about Wright as a driver. He’s back in the 1-truck for TRICON Garage so obviously the equipment is good. But even when Wright appeared in this ride earlier in the year at Texas, he started P26 and finished 30^th.

From 2021-2023 he ran schedules with Niece Motorsports and Young’s Motorsports. So that equipment obviously can’t hold a candle to what Wright will run on Friday. Even in his previous two races at Pocono, he finished outside the top 25 in both.

To pay this price tag is to buy into the equipment and hope that Wright can do just enough to provide value. The driver isn’t top notch, but the ride certainly is. 

It pains me not to mention Timmy Hill ($5,600) or Bret Holmes ($5,500), but that has run its course a bit. They’ll likely make the table below Friday afternoon, but I can only mention them as values so many times, but I do still like those two drivers as options to put up 30+ DraftKings points.

Update: Wright, Hill, and Holmes all start P25 or deeper with Holmes starting deepest of the three. Wright may also have a pit crew advantage and equipment advantage over several drivers since TRICON's crews are readily available at the track.

CRC Brakleen 175 NASCAR DFS Driver Pool