NASCAR DFS Playbook Toyota 200: Top DraftKings Picks

The Craftsman Truck Series is once again back in action this weekend. All three series head West from Charlotte Motor Speedway, and while the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Portland for some road course racing, the Truck and Cup Series head to the Midwest for another trip to World Wide Technology Raceway, or better known as Gateway. The Truck Series has been racing here for a few years now, but this weekend marks the second time for the Cup Series. We have just five races left in the regular season for the Truck Series until the playoffs start in the beginning of August. It seems hard to believe we have just a handful of races left, but we have six drivers locked into the playoffs with four spots remaining for anyone that can win their way in. Here are the NASCAR DFS top plays for Saturday’s Toyota 200!

Gateway is a unique 1.25-mile flat track shaped like an egg similar to Darlington, but it’ll race nothing like Darlington. Tire wear won’t be as much of an issue and Darlington has much higher banking. We have plenty of track data to look at for Gateway but we can also consider comparable tracks such as Richmond, Phoenix, IRP, and Martinsville. They aren’t direct comparisons to Gateway, but they’re as good as we can get.

We will likely want two dominators for Saturday afternoon’s race, but with Corey Heim withdrawing from the race due to illness, this could be the week Majeski steals the show as a solo dominator. He was fast in practice and starts on the pole. Several lineups will be starting roster construction with Majeski, Crafton, and Caruth. That’ll basically be the Cash game core and from there it comes down to a 3v3 to finish in the green. Tournaments will see heavy ownership on those three drivers as well so do your best to get different and take some risks in that format. This race will have 160 laps broken into 35-35-90 lap segments for the stages. We’ll have a little over 100 dominator points to target and we’ll want to collect as many of those as possible to win big.

Don't forget to check out this week's NASCAR DFS Playbook for the Xfinity Series race out in Portland! There will be updates following Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions leading up to the race!

Toyota 200 Practice Notes

NASCAR DFS Driver Pool

Ty Majeski ($11,000; Starting P1)

I wasn’t even going to feature Majeski in the Playbook until Corey Heim was ruled out for the race. It’s not that I didn’t think Majeski could win or that I didn’t like him, but I was going to really load up on Heim, but his illness spreads win equity out among the top tier. Thorsport got their first win of the season last week with Ben Rhodes going to victory lane at Charlotte. Since then, there’s been a crew chief shakeup between Rhodes’ and Crafton’s teams. Majeski sees no changes though which is a relief because the truck has been fast, he just hasn’t found a win yet. Majeski grabbed a top five finish at Martinsville in April and he was the runner-up at North Wilkesboro two weeks ago. Not to mention he grabbed top ten finishes at IRP and Richmond last year and he led over 70 laps in each race. With Majeski landing the pole and being fastest in practice, he’ll be popular in all formats.

Grant Enfinger ($10,100; Starting P10)

Enfinger is another guy I didn’t have much consideration for, but with the Corey Heim withdrawal, he gets added to my player pool. Enfinger will always be just a GPP-only play for me. The floor is modest, but when he breaks out and hits, he hits big like what we saw at Kansas a few weeks back. I know I’ve said he usually wins one race a year, but back in 2020 he did collect four wins and two of those were at Richmond and Martinsville, and he won IRP in 2022. 

Ben Rhodes ($9,800; Starting P2)

Rhodes scored his first win of the season last week and he was rewarded by having his crew chief join Matt Crafton’s team. Not to worry though, as Brian Ross will be Rhodes crew chief going forward and these two worked together from 2017-2020 and Ross is the lead engineer for Thorsport. So it seems like a potential upgrade for both teams. Rhodes was top three in single lap speed in practice. He led 43 laps here a year ago and finished eighth, and he finished third here in 2021. He was the runner-up last year at IRP and Phoenix, and he has good track history at Martinsville. There’s upside so long as he manages to get some dominator points and finish well.

Christian Eckes ($9,500; Starting P3)

We shouldn’t be too surprised if Eckes came out of nowhere to win this race since he’s already done that twice this season. He hasn’t been too good on flatter tracks this season though so I would limit exposure to just Tournaments. There isn’t a ton of place differential, but he did post the best ten-lap average during Friday’s practice session.

Matt DiBenedetto ($9,300; Starting P15)

This is an awful price tag for Matty D. He’s probably $1,000 too expensive so that likely drives ownership down especially if DFS players are playing Majeski, Crafton, and Caruth. But the recent form for DiBenedetto has been solid. He was eighth last week at Charlotte and third the week before at North Wilkesboro. He also finishes seventh at Martinsville in April so I have no issues playing him in Tournaments if everyone else overlooks him. If he can somehow crack the top eight, he’s likely in the optimal lineup.

Stewart Friesen ($9,100; Starting P5)

Friesen’s pricing has bounced around a bit this year, but $9,100 seems like a discount when you look at his recent performances on flat tracks. He’s finished in the top five at Gateway each of the last four years. He’s finished sixth or better in six straight Phoenix races including a win back in 2019. He also finished fourth at IRP last year. Martinsville and Richmond haven’t produced similar results, but I think we have enough of a sample to know that he can produce on these tracks, specifically at Gateway. He hasn’t run up front much this year, but there’s still an opportunity for him to be optimal with a strong finish and with Heim out he becomes an even better play.

Nick Sanchez ($8,900; Starting P9)

I don’t anticipate significant ownership on Sanchez this week because his deal has been that he’s been fast on intermediates but has been so-so elsewhere. But he was top ten in single lap speed and he was only behind Ty Majeski by 0.02 seconds in ten-lap averages. Last year in his brief stint in the Xfinity Series he showed us upside on flat tracks by finishing seventh at Martinsville and 12^th at Phoenix. Even last month at Martinsville he started P20 and finished 11^th in the Truck race. We don’t have much PD to work with, but the speed should be there once again.

Matt Crafton ($8,700; Starting P34)

Earlier this week it was announced that Shane Wilson was no longer Crafton’s crew chief and that Jeriod Prince would move over from Ben Rhodes team to crew chief for Crafton. It hasn’t been a great run recently for Crafton. Since the start of the 2018 season he only has one win, but something still has to be said for experience, of which he has plenty. But he only has one top five finish in 2023 and it came at Bristol Dirt. Playing Matt Crafton in NASCAR DFS is basically an attempt to buy low in case this crew chief switch does improve his ride. Jeriod Prince did crew chief Rhodes to a win last week at Charlotte, so perhaps the move is an attempt to try and get Crafton into the playoffs as it looks like he may need to get in based on points. He’s a cash game lock given the place differential.

Bayley Currey ($8,000; Starting P11)

I think more ownership flocks to the Gray Brothers who are priced up a little higher than Currey. I’ll be plugging them into some lineups, but not a ton. Both Taylor and Tanner have top eight upside, but I’m going to feature Currey because he’ll likely be the leverage play in this range. He was fifth-fastest in single lap speed in practice and seventh-fastest in ten-lap averages. He doesn’t run a full-time schedule with Niece Motorspots but he’s giving them reason to reconsider that as he finished fourth at Atlanta and 13^th at Charlotte. This truck clearly has plenty of speed and he can potentially snag a top five here.

Jack Wood ($7,500; Starting P21)

I know, I know, I know, I know. He’s more likely to wreck than grab a top ten. But so what? I’d honestly be happy with a top 15 out of this kid. He’ll be in one of the best trucks in the field. Does he deserve it? That’s up for debate. But the 51-truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports has been fast historically. I’m curious if the flatter track maybe helps Wood since, in his four races this year, he’s run at two drafting tracks and a pair of intermediates. There will be speed and if he keeps it clean he can help us out today.

Rajah Caruth ($7,400; Starting P35)

GMS Racing has historically nailed the setup for this track in recent years. Brett Moffitt ran two races here in 2019 and 2020 and finished fifth and second. In 2020 and 2021, Sheldon Creed flat out owned this track winning both those races and he led over 140 laps in the 2021 race. So while we like Enfinger for his track history and ability to drive well at flat tracks, we can bump up Caruth who has had speed in this truck and the fact that GMS knows what they’re doing here only helps his case and he could be considered a dark horse to win this weekend. Similar to Crafton, he’s also a lock for Cash games and can be utilized in Tournaments as well. He wasn’t able to post a qualifying lap because of a mechanical issue, but GMS is confident he’ll be ready to go on Saturday.

Jesse Love ($6,900; Starting P20)

Really nice price tag on Jesse Love for his Truck Series debut. Love is an ARCA Menards Series regular who already has three wins this season. He has raced here once before, but it was three years ago where he grabbed a top five finish. Overall, I’m not too concerned about the lack of experience because the ARCA Series does tend to run a lot of short, flat tracks. On top of all that, he’s in a very good truck this weekend. Bubba Wallace drove this truck to a top five at North Wilkesboro and we’ve seen William Sawalich and Kaz Grala finish in the top ten, plus Toni Breidinger finished 15^th at Kansas in her Truck Series debut. Love will be a popular option given that he’s cheap and the equipment is elite. He’s one of the top prospect with Toyota and rightfully so. I’m excited to see how much noise he makes in this race. Writer’s Note: I initially wrote Love up with the mindset he’d be in the 1-truck, but since Corey Heim isn’t feeling well, Love moves into the 11-truck and Toni Breidinger will be in the 1-truck again. This might make Love an even better play since he’ll get Heim’s truck and whole team for this race.

Timmy Hill ($6,700; Starting P27)

Ole Reliable, Timmy Hill! He starts P27 and could contend for a top 20. In last year’s race he started P29 and finished 17^th and he even started P28 last month at Martinsville and finished 19^th. I do wish he was a little cheaper, but he’s been a fairly reliable DFS play having finished all the races he’s run and he’s provided plenty of value along the way. He will need a top 20 to hit value. He can certainly get there, but it’s far from a guarantee.

Conner Jones ($6,300; Starting P24)

Jones has been a tough DFS play so far. The equipment has been great obviously, but he hasn’t done much in two races. He was top 15 at Martinsville back in April which was great at the price of $4,800 but he dropped back a bit and finished 18^th. But at least now we have him starting outside the top 25 but the price tag is elevated. He’s a borderline Cash game play for me. I think in this range you take into consideration the equipment and use it as a tiebreaker. I’d probably lean Hill over Jones in Cash games, but would go Jones over the likes of Dye, Breidinger, and others in this range for Tournaments.

Daniel Dye ($6,200; Starting P17)

We can give a little love to Dye since he’s in a GMS truck. We already noted why we like Enfinger and Caruth this weekend so we can go to Dye, but he doesn’t have anywhere near the win equity that those two drivers do and even Caruth’s odds of winning are slim. But Dye comes into this race with four straight top 20 finishes including a top 15 at North Wilkesboro two weeks ago. The price tag is slowly rising so it might be difficult for him to return 5X value unless he’s starting outside the top 20. Lawless Alan is also in play and he saves you some money compared to Dye, while also offering more position differential points.

Toni Breidinger ($5,700; Starting P18)

Breidinger is a good value play for Tournaments. I would not play her in Cash games though. I’m pretty sure she’ll have to go to the rear for a driver change and she’ll be scored from P18. To her credit, she grabbed a top 15 in this truck last month at Kansas. But she also didn’t start at the rear and she was also $1,000 cheaper. The truck should be set up perfectly fine as TRICON has made great strides to become a better team this year. But the value tier is a wasteland that is tough to read this week and I imagine many DFS players will automatically click her name for Tourney lineups. Could be worth being underweight, but the truck should be fast. She does have one race at Gateway under her belt but that came a few years back in the ARCA Series.

Spencer Boyd ($5,000; Starting P28)

The downside of Boyd is that I just wish he was starting a little further back. There are no real punts that stand out this weekend, but Boyd can go out and possibly give us 5X value. He’s run five career races here with three finishes in the top 20. He’s run four races here with Young’s Motorsports and finished 31^st (electrical issue last year), 16^th, 25^th, and 20^th. So there is potential for him to move up if he just finishes the race. He will no doubt get lapped so he’ll need other drivers to wreck to improve his own footing in the field. He did manage to move up and finish 23^rd at Martinsville in April. I’d probably be happy if he finished 25^th and got 20 points on DraftKings. There is obvious risk here when paying down unfortunately.

NASCAR DFS Core Plays