NASCAR DFS Victoria's Voice Foundation 200 Playbook & Top Picks

The Craftsman Truck Series heads to Sin City to race under the lights at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200! The NASCAR Cup Series stole the show at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week delivering arguably the best race of the NextGen Era. The Truck and Xfinity Series race were relatively ho-hum, but the race on Sunday certainly delivered plenty of excitement. But with all three series heading to Vegas, we finally have a track where we get more data. Practice sessions matter this week. And this Truck Series race has plenty of big names in it that will garner plenty of attention. 

So, let’s talk about the on-track activity and preview the top drivers for Friday’s race with the top NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is what you’ll consider a typical 1.5-mile intermediate track. It’s a tri-oval that has a layout that most closely resembles Kansas but draws comparisons to Texas and Charlotte. But we should also consider the fact that Vegas is starting to show some wear and tear. It was repaved about 17-18 years ago and has hosted plenty of races and events. And with each year it naturally gets older. It doesn’t feature high tire wear like Darlington or Homestead, but we’ll say the tire wear is moderate for this race.

This will go green around 9:10pm ET Friday night with 134 laps broken into 30-30-74 lap stages. Out of the last six races, we’ve had a mixed bag of tame and chaotic races. Three of the races have had either five or six cautions for an average of 25.6 caution laps. The other three races have seen nine or ten cautions for an average of 46.3 caution laps. So, while we have a field loaded with talent for this race, there are still bad drivers in bad equipment that can bring problems.

Now with 134 laps we’ll likely have about 85 dominator points at our disposal depending on the number of cautions. Most of my own personal lineup builds will be lineups taking a two-dominator approach. However, I’ll mix in some solo-dominator lineups because Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell are in the field. Kyle Busch did win the pole and the race last year leading 84 laps with 30 fastest laps, good for 79.5 fantasy points on DraftKings. Nobody else in the race had more than nine dominator points. 

The 2022 race did see the dominator points more evenly distributed as Chandler Smith, Kyle Busch, and John Hunter Nemechek all led at least 20 laps. Even Zane Smith would lead 15 laps. In the Spring 2021 race, John Hunter Nemechek had 38.35 dominator points and Kyle Busch finished second. But keep in mind, JHN was an employee of Kyle’s at the time and Kyle likely let his driver get the win to lock him into the playoffs. In this race four years ago, Busch led 108 with 61 fastest laps in a winning effort back in 2020.But it is important to note that Busch is no longer driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports. He sold the team, garage, and equipment to Spire Motorsports in the offseason. But in driving for Spire last week, he did get a win at Atlanta. So, Spire is attempting to make waves and improve their program. But this is also Busch’s home track, and he loves to put on a show for the home crowd. 

If building lineups with Kyle Busch, you should build them with him being the sole dominator. He’s $14,500 on DraftKings so if paying that premium, you are pretty much hoping for him to finish with 75+ fantasy points, similar to last year. You’re left with $35,500 for your remaining five drivers as soon as you plug him in. 

You can manage to mix Christopher Bell into two-dominator builds but you really need to match him perfectly with the other dominator. For example, playing both Bell ($11,500) and Corey Heim ($10,500) can work. You’re left with $28,000 for your remaining four drivers. And because of the presence of Busch, Bell, Heim, and Zane Smith we’re actually seeing good drivers at a discounted price.

As always, this is an early preview for the Truck Series race Friday night. Once the starting order is determined I will provide updates in RED, and I’ll publish the driver pool at the bottom of the article. These drivers will practice at 4:35pm ET on Friday and then they’ll have qualifying about 30 minutes later. So, we’ll know the starting order by 6:00pm ET and I’ll start working on updates so we can finalize our lineups.

Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 Core Driver Picks

Top-Price Core Plays

Christopher Bell ($11,500)

I’m leading off with Bell. I really don’t think we need to write up Kyle Busch, do we? I detailed up top what he basically needs to do to pay off his price. He won last week at Atlanta. I’m probably going to have him in some lineups as my lone dominator. WE ALL KNOW HOW GOOD HE HAS BEEN IN THIS SERIES! However, he won last week on a drafting track. And it’s his home track. I’m leaning towards being underweight on Busch because it’s good leverage to have in this race. And Christopher Bell will be in a TRICON ride Friday night. Bell was phenomenal in the Cup Series last year at intermediates. And TRICON has shown they can deliver great equipment and setups. This ride collected a couple top five finishes last year and those were with drivers who don’t have near the talent Bell has. Update: Not the greatest qualifying effort from Bell. Christian Eckes may have more dominator upside and he'll save you $1,700 to make it easier to fit in Heim. Still fine playing him despite the poor qualifying effort.

Corey Heim ($10,500)

Heim likely carries less ownership simply because of the presence of Busch and Bell. But remember, you can seamlessly work Heim in as a solo dominator or in two-dominator builds. Heim got off to a weird start last year. In the first six races of the year (including Vegas) he didn’t lead a single lap with no wins. However, he did start P15 and finished fourth in the Vegas race in that span. But across the final 16 races, Heim rattled off 15 straight finishes in the top eight until the championship race at Phoenix where he had on-track issues with Carson Hocevar. But Heim still won three races last year with a runner-up finish at Kansas-1 and Charlotte, and he finished fourth at Kansas-2. Over the last 16 races last year, Heim led 611 total laps. Even when you consider that in that span there are intermediates, short tracks, a road course, Pocono, and Talladega he still averaged 38 laps led per race in that 16-race sample to finish the year. The competition is stiff in this field, but Heim can certainly contend in this race Friday night. Update: Chalk city. Works well in two-dominator builds especially if you think he dominates the second half of the race. The PD certainly helps his floor.

Christian Eckes ($9,800)

Starts on the front row next to Rajah Caruth. The challenge will be holding off Kyle Busch who only needed eight laps of practice to be satisfied with his ride. But Eckes is likely optimal if he dominates stage one and finishes top five. He works very well in two-dominator builds potentially.

Nicholas Sanchez ($9,300)

Sanchez had some rough finishes last year on the intermediate tracks. He started on the front row of last year’s Vegas race, led eight laps, but wrecked in stage three. He was on the pole for Texas, led 168 laps but wrecked late and finished 16^th. Nashville isn’t quite an identical track to Vegas as it’s a bit shorter, but Sanchez still led 37 laps and finished third. And last fall at Kansas, Sanchez led 43 laps and grabbed a top 10. That was kind of the story with Sanchez in 2023. He was a young, but very green driver that had a lot of potential. And the truck seemingly showed up with speed almost every week despite the lack of wins. But he’s got the win out of the way this season and can rack up more. This is a loaded field, but he can certainly get out front and lead some laps and (fingers crossed) finish well. 

Mid-Price Core Plays

Tyler Ankrum ($8,500)

I don’t know if I’m all that enamored with Ankrum. However, the switch to a new team had him looking quite sporty through the first two races of the year. At Daytona he may have only finished 11^th but he had a 100.2 driver rating, led 16 laps, and had an average running position in the top eight. Last week at Atlanta, he finished seventh but similar to Daytona he ran better than that. He surprisingly had an average running position in the top three, with a 116.8 driver rating, and he led 46 laps. Now, Vegas has not been a good track for him and Ankrum has been a young driver that’s failed to reach his potential. But in five races here he does have a pair of top 10 finishes. The move to McAnally-Hilgemann Racing could pay off similar to how it did for Christian Eckes. I think there’s certainly potential with this play, but it will ultimately depend on where he qualifies. Don’t get too attached to the results from the first two weeks because those two tracks differ greatly from Vegas. Update: Ankrum starts P5 which is risky, sure. He'll be a low-owned mid-range play for Tournaments. Layne Riggs and Taylor Gray likely carry more exposure. But Ankrum has been strong to start the year.

Taylor Gray ($7,700)

The younger Gray brother has certainly made waves the first couple weeks of the 2024 season especially coming off a top five finish last week at Atlanta. We have to remember, he didn’t turn 18 until late March last year so he had to sit out the first few races. But he eventually got in the truck and rolled out some solid results, especially on intermediates. Gray started P19 and finished ninth at Kansas-1. Then he started P17 and finished 10^th at Charlotte. He was third at Pocono which is a larger track, but a higher speed intermediate all the while. And at Kansas-2 he started P16 and finished second. Even after last week’s solid result at Atlanta, we get Gray at a discount. Update: Starts P19 and has top 10 upside. Solid play overall.

Stewart Friesen ($7,400)

This is quite the bargain on Friesen. He didn’t have great results at the drafting tracks the first two weeks. However, if we go off track history, few are more consistent than Friesen in this pricing range at Vegas. Friesen started P22 last and finished 14^th in last year’s race. Good, but not great. In the five races at Vegas from 2020 through 2022, Friesen finished in the top 10 in all five races including four finishes of sixth or better. Last year was rough for Friesen, but his better finishes came on intermediates. He finished third at Texas, fourth at Kansas-1, second at Darlington, seventh at Kansas-2, and sixth at Homestead. So, while he won’t have the best equipment, we’ve seen him score well on the intermediates whether we’re looking at track history or just from the results on intermediates last year. Update: Probably can't play him starting P3 but Matt Crafton and Tanner Gray are decent pivot.

Value-Price Core Plays

Dean Thompson ($6,900)

You all may be thinking “There goes Malin again, putting in the driver at $6,900 cause he’s the ‘nice’ play of the day,” and you’re not entirely wrong. But you’re also not completely right! Thompson is the first driver under $7,000 and he’s in TRICON equipment. That’s right, he will have Christopher Bell, Corey Heim, and the Gray brothers as his teammates. Thompson does have boom-or-bust potential. That’s the downside with this guy. In this race a year ago with TRICON he started P25 and finished 16^th. The year before with Niece Motorsports he started P29 and finished 11^th. Even last year at Darlington he started P25 and finished ninth. And in 2022, he started P33 and finished 15^th. He even finished THIRD at Charlotte last year! So there is certainly a ceiling to be aware of with this driver and the equipment can certainly help him out. 

Rajah Caruth ($6,700)

You can say what you will about the kid’s skills and whether you think he’s good or not. There were times last year he flashed solid speed, and he started logging more consistent results later in the year. He finished top 12 at Charlotte and Kansas-2. Last year he drove for GMS Racing, a team that closed up shop in the offseason. This year, he’s with Spire Motorsports, which means he’s in comparable equipment to Kyle Busch for this race. Moreover, he locked up sponsorship for the full year…

Getting a full-season sponsor from Rick Hendrick is quite the win for the young driver. Caruth was the runner-up at Daytona two weeks ago and he followed that up with another top 10 at Atlanta last week. I actually think the next driver might be safer, but I have some interest in Caruth simply based on the equipment he’ll be in. Update: He's hard to trust in Cash games, but the truck looked sporty and he won the pole. He might be a cheap source of laps led but he'll have to hold off Christian Eckes and Kyle Busch early on.

Jake Garcia ($6,500)

If you played the Truck Series race at Vegas last year, it was very profitable for us. I typically play low-dollar GPP’s for the Truck Series, but I remember finishing roughly sixth that night in the Happy Hour with a solo dominator build with Kyle Busch, and Jake Garcia as a low-cost GPP play. Last year in this race, Garcia started P14 and finished 10^th and had very little ownership. So, he made us some money. This year, he switched teams but he’s with Thorsport, and that team can still set up trucks very well. Garcia finished top five at Texas last spring, finished 11^th at Kansas-1 and eighth at Kansas-2. So, he can certainly thrive and pay off on these “cookie cutter” intermediates. I’ll also acknowledge Conner Jones ($5,900), Garcia’s teammate at Thorsport. Jones is pretty affordable and typically had top 20 speed last year, but never quite got the finishes. He also didn’t race on an intermediate last year so tread carefully. Update: Garcia starts right around where he started last year. In line to be another decent GPP play Friday night.

Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 NASCAR DFS Lineup Picks