Mission 200 at The Glen DFS Expert Picks & Lineups: NASCAR Xfinity Playbook

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Watkins Glen for some road course action! This is the penultimate race for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. Both the Truck and Cup Series have started their playoff schedules, while Xfinity has two races remaining on the year. 

Austin Hill went to victory lane again at Atlanta last weekend. It was a relatively quiet race from him for the most part. He wasn’t really getting to the front as much as we had seen in previous drafting races. But he was in contention at the very end and once again gets a win at Atlanta. But we shift gears specifically for this weekend’s action so let’s dive into the Mission 200 at The Glen DFS picks.

Mission 200 at The Glen DFS Picks & NASCAR Lineups

This week’s NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS slate will call on us to recalibrate our lineup building process. We only have 82 laps for this race and the stages are broken into 20-20-42 lap segments. So there will be some drivers that stay out for stage points, and there will be others that pit for track position.

There isn’t a ton of drama regarding the playoff standings. For starters, Sammy Smith is holding on to the final playoff spot over Ryan Sieg. However, Smith has a 44-point lead on Sieg and the next closest driver behind Sieg is Brandon Jones who is 139 points out of the playoffs. So the only takeaway from this note is that anyone who is below the cut line is likely going to be aggressive in terms of strategy to get a win the next two weeks.

The other monkey wrench that is thrown into this race is that this is the final Xfinity Series race of the season where Cup Series drivers can compete. Since the season finale is next week, and with the playoffs following shortly after, this is the last opportunity for Cup drivers to “get additional practice” in the week by running the Xfinity Series race. For the Mission 200 at The Glen DFS picks, we will have big names like Joey Logano, William Byron, Ty Gibbs, Aric Almirola, and Ross Chastain all making an appearance in this race.

We don’t necessarily “dumb down” the thought process for road courses. However, we do de-value the dominator points just a bit. 82 laps only provide a maximum of 57.4 dominator points to consider when building out our NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS lineups on DraftKings. If there are cautions, obviously we aren’t hitting the total.

The name of the game is win equity in addition to position differential. We can’t solely play drivers starting in the back. Even in cash games that’s a bit of a risky strategy. Simply put, not all of those plays are going to start in the back. Moreover, we should still expect the best drivers to qualify well, including the road ringers.

Practice is early on Saturday and can be seen on the NBC Sports App. Practice starts at 9:30am ET and then qualifying is at 10:00am ET. This race will go green around 3:00pm ET Saturday so this is going to be one of those NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS Playbooks where it won’t be finalized until around 1:00pm ET Saturday once we know the starting order.

Once that is complete, updates will be published in RED with the full driver pool available at the bottom of the article.

Top-Price Mission 200 at The Glen DFS Picks

Shane Van Gisbergen – DraftKings: $11,000

SVG is the most expensive driver on this slate. $11K is a tough price tag to pay off on a road course. Even if he wins the pole on Saturday and collects every dominator point in the first stage, that’s just 14 points on DraftKings in addition to the 45 points for being in first. So that’s 59 fantasy points and he would ultimately lose track position when he has to pit.

So we may have to pivot or adjust exposure if he qualifies too well. If he wins the pole, he needs to collect at least 20 dominator points and still finish in the top five. If he loses too much track position and finishes poorly, the negative PD will crush his value.

Obviously, we have to acknowledge that all three of his NASCAR Xfinity Series wins this year have come on road courses (Portland, Sonoma, Chicago) so the talent and equipment are clearly good enough to get there. But there could be challenges in the way of paying off such a hefty price tag.

Update: Well SVG went out and qualified P13 so that actually does help him potentially pay off the price tag with a top five finish and possibly 10-15 dominator points.

William Byron – DraftKings: $10,500

Byron steps into the 17-car for Saturday’s race. This car has won two of the nine Xfinity Series races it has entered this year. Kyle Larson drove it to a win at COTA and Chase Elliott won at Charlotte.

Byron drove this car for the Xfinity Series race at Pocono earlier in the year and he finished third with 16 laps led. Byron has shown he’s capable of winning on road courses. In fact, he won the Cup Series race at Watkins Glen just a year ago and he led 66 laps. Even earlier this year he went to victory lane at COTA in the Cup Series.

It definitely has been a while since he’s won a race, but that could certainly happen for this race on Saturday which would bode well for his chances on Sunday given the extra laps he’s getting on track.

Justin Allgaier – DraftKings: $10,000

Allgaier has a pretty decent resume at Watkins Glen. He’s never won here but from 2017-2021 he finished in the top four of each race. In 2022 he was caught in a wreck, but he was looking great finishing in the top five in the first two stages of last year’s race, but ultimately he finished outside the top 10. All in all, he still had a 106.4 driver rating.

But he is a pretty strong road ringer. At Sonoma this year he finished sixth, he’s a previous winner at Road America, he’s finished as the runner-up in each of the last two races at Portland, and he’s finished third and ninth in the two Chicago Street races.

He likely doesn’t have the win equity of the two drivers above. But he also doesn’t need a win for this weekend since he’s locked into the playoffs. Perhaps he’s mostly targeting points, but I do love the play and he has enough veteran experience to make you feel good about playing him on a road course.

Connor Zilisch - DraftKings: $9,500

I'm adding Zilisch to the Playbook because he had speed in practice. But he did qualify on the pole for this race, but he has some great road ringers that'll be trying to get by him. He did win Friday's ARCA race at Watkins Glen so there's certainly some upside with this play.

Mid-Price Mission 200 at The Glen DFS Picks

Cole Custer - DraftKings: $9,300

Custer is a respectable road course driver as he won last year's race at Chicago. Granted, there are some questions regarding the legitimacy of that win, but either way a win is a win. He also rolls off P15 and is coming in at a discount this week.

Parker Kligerman – DraftKings: $8,700

We’ve been featuring Kligerman a good amount lately. Over the last seven Xfinity Series races he’s finished 13^th or better including a pair of top three finishes at Daytona and Atlanta. So far this year he’s been top five at COTA and Chicago while finishing top 10 at Portland and Sonoma.

Kligerman recently announced that he wouldn’t be pursuing any full-time opportunities as a driver in 2025. That’s a bummer because, while he isn’t in the best equipment, he is a good driver and has really been pulling out strong finishes of late.

Kligerman finished second last year at Road America and he was third at Watkins Glen as well. We may have to manage expectations a little bit. With the loaded field, it’s likely that he may not have as much of a ceiling as he’s flashed in recent weeks. But for a mid-range play with top five equity, we could do far worse in this range. Update: Great starting spot from P19.

Aric Almirola – DraftKings: $8,500

Almirola resumes his part-time schedule with Joe Gibbs Racing. Let’s not forget, in lesser equipment last year with RSS Racing, he did win a road race at Sonoma so there’s certainly plenty of intrigue here.

In a small sample size with JGR this year, he hasn’t raced at any road courses. However, in the last four races where he did appear (Richmond, Martinsville, Darlington, and Indianapolis) he’s finished top five in all of them including a win at Martinsville.

Almirola is typically a top play at short, flat tracks. Some DFS analysts have drawn comparisons between flat tracks and road courses because of some of the tighter turns, leveled terrain, etc. I don’t necessarily buy into that narrative. However, the equipment is great, he’s won a road course race in the last two years in this series, and like Kligerman, there’s top five equity here. Update: Not really turned off by the starting spot of P8. However, if you want more PD you can look at Joey Logano ($8,800) who rolls off P33. But be mindful, Logano's equipment is not very good for this race and he's not recognized as a road course driver to begin with.

Austin Green - DraftKings: $8,100

I'm not entirely sold on the equipment. the 32-car for Jordan Anderson Racing has had it's moments. But Green has a road course background and he starts P27 with top 15 upside.

Jesse Love – DraftKings: $8,000

I have written Jesse Love up a few times this year for previous NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS Playbooks when they’ve gone competed on road courses. He actually won the ARCA race at Watkins Glen last year so it’s not like he has zero experience here.

Earlier in the year at COTA, he started P14 and finished sixth, and then he grabbed a top five at Chicago. Now he did finish outside the top 10 at Portland and Sonoma, but I still think he can do very well in this type of race.

The fact there are Cup Series drivers making appearances likely lowers his rostership. And I will fully acknowledge that I’m more bullish on Love at a road course than most. But he flat out dominated the ARCA Series last year and this was one of the many tracks he won at. All three drivers in this tier for the Mission 200 at The Glen DFS picks have top five upside. Not all will finish there, but I’m pretty high on all three ahead of practice and qualifying.

Value Mission 200 at The Glen DFS Picks

Brandon Jones – DraftKings: $7,300

I’ll be honest, this is one of the worst NASCAR Xfinity Series DFS recommendations I’ll ever make. I’m mostly just trying to draw attention and make sure we’re all aware of Jones’ strategy for this race because it’s largely impossible for him to get in on points.

Jones needs to win as he’s more than 130 points shy of the final playoff spot. The equipment is good, but he has surprisingly gotten worse as a driver the last few years. Back in 2021 he had 19 finishes in the top 10 including 11 top five finishes. In 2022 he had only 13 top 10 finishes and just six in the top five. In his first year with Jr. Motorsports in 2023 he had just 10 finishes inside the top 10… This year he only has six with just one single top five finish. He has won at this level before but all five career wins came during his time with Joe Gibbs Racing.

He's not even a great road course driver. Even this year, he wrecked in back-to-back weeks at Portland and Sonoma. But if his team is smart, they will do all the strategizing for late-race track position because they have absolutely no other way to get into the playoffs. With that said, we’ll offer pivots in this value range once we know the starting order.

Ed Jones – DraftKings: $7,100

Ed Jones isn’t a household name by any means. But he’s a foreign driver with IndyCar, Formula Three, and IMSA Sportscar experience. So the road courses are right up his alley.

He’s run three races this year for Sam Hunt Racing mixing in time in the 24-and-26 cars. He wrecked at COTA back in March, but then finished top five at Portland and he was 15^th at Sonoma the following week.

Sure, there’s a little risk because the sample size is very small. But we have a driver that thrives in this kind of race, but we know the equipment is good enough to hang around in the top 10. Corey Heim has driven this car to a handful of top 10 results in the Xfinity Series this year so do not overlook Jones for this race. Update: You can likely lock him in for cash games as he starts P37 after not posting a qualifying lap. 

Ryan Sieg – DraftKings: $6,900

Sieg is a recommendation similar to Jones, but one I have a little more confidence in. So far this year, Sieg finished top 20 at COTA, Portland, Sonoma, and Chicago. Moreover, he was 16^th or better in three of those races.

He’s not an elite road ringer by any means. But he still has somewhat of a chance to ‘point’ his way into the playoffs. In all likelihood, he probably needs to win, but at the same time, we’ve seen that Sieg is not afraid to take risks for track position. Honestly, sometimes it’s great but to a fault.

There are some tracks you can stay out on older tires, but others where you can’t. For a road course, you do need to take some risk when trying to gain heavy position. Watkins Glen isn’t his best track by any means but he started P34 in this race two years ago and finished 13th. For his playoff chances, he needs a much better result. But again, we’re simply highlighting a pair of value drivers that need a home run performance for their playoff chances so don’t sleep on these two simply because the road course results don’t catch your eye.

Josh Williams - DraftKings: $6,500

Williams isn't necessarily the greatest road course driver. But it is worth reminding everyone that he's in comparable equipment to SVG and AJ Allmendinger. Williams will start dead last and can't get you negative points. Williams is looking at a 30-point floor if he can simply finish 25th.

Mission 200 at The Glen NASCAR Xfinity Series Driver Pool