Toyota 200 DFS Picks & NASCAR Playbook - Gateway, 6/1

The Craftsman Truck Series is back in action for the fifth straight week! We’re coming off a very eventful weekend at Charlotte where we saw Nicholas Sanchez claim his second win of the season. If you managed to faded Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton, and Ty Majeski then congratulations to those that went contrarian, but the trucks are headed out to the Midwest this weekend and we’ve got plenty to look at for the Toyota 200!

The latest news surrounding Stewart-Haas Racing closing up shop doesn’t directly affect any drivers or teams in the Craftsman Truck Series, but it does limit potential future opportunities for the Ford drivers. But the Fords only make up the minority of this series, but it’s a bummer for anyone at ThorSport thinking of a promotion for next year.

World Wide Technology Raceway aka Gateway plays host to our beloved trucks Saturday afternoon, but we did get practice and qualifying late Friday afternoon. So no further updates are needed and the driver pool is set. Practice results are also posted below.

Gateway hasn’t always produced the most exciting racing. It’s a unique track without any direct track comparisons. It’s not short at 1.25 miles in length but the track is fairly flat. I guess you could pull some data from tracks like Nashville, Dover, New Hampshire, and Phoenix. Unfortunately, the trucks don’t run all those tracks.

We do get 160 laps for this race which probably gives us about 100 dominator points to consider when building out our NASCAR DFS lineups on DraftKings. Fortunately, we’ve seen enough races here to know that multiple dominator builds can work. The 2021 race is the only race that saw one sole dominator. Sheldon Creed led 142 laps with 52 fastest laps in a winning effort that day.

In the other three races over the last four years we’ve seen two drivers lead 40+ laps with an additional third driver leading 20+ laps. The last two races have seen 11 cautions for 50+ laps. So that will open the door for some drivers to move up. We haven’t seen too many green flag passes especially when the run gets dragged out. So, we will need cautions to be on our side as we try to fit in the right dominators for this race.

Toyota 200 Practice Notes

Top Price Core Plays

Christian Eckes ($10,800; Starting P2)

I won’t highlight Corey Heim ($11,000; Starting P9) this week only because he’s never really off the table and we know how good he is.

So I’ll lead off the Toyota 200 NASCAR DFS Picks with Eckes, who has done very well on these shorter tracks in 2024. Heim won this race in 2022 but Eckes has finished as the runner-up each of the last two years.

It’s also worth noting that Eckes started on the front row at Gateway back in 2018 and 2019 with Kyle Busch Motorsports and led a combined 91 laps between both races. We’ve seen Eckes lead double-digit laps in six straight races and in his winning efforts at Bristol and Martinsville he led 130+ laps in each race.

We already know he has an easier path to dominator points early on and there’s win equity here. Because of the starting spot he likely carries more ownership than Heim but you can easily play both in your lineups on Saturday.

Grant Enfinger ($10,500; Starting P10)

I am begrudgingly including Enfinger in this article. I don’t love the play. I really don’t love the price. He’s been optimal the last two weeks because his price tag was reasonable and he provided PD and a top five finish.

This week he’s the third-most expensive driver in the field and we know this is not a top three truck. At this price tag, you need more than PD and a good finish. We need dominator points. Enfinger has led just three laps over the last three months.

Now, does he have anything going for him? Sure. He starts P10 and has a little PD on his side. Additionally, he won this race last year. But we need to remember he was with a better team at that point, despite starting in the exact same spot this year.

It also doesn’t hurt that he was arguably top five in practice speed. I don’t love the price tag especially because we haven’t seen him lead many laps, but he’s put up 50+ points each of the last two weeks and has had success at this track.

Ty Majeski ($10,300; Starting P1)

It’s never a bold strategy when writing these Playbooks to put both drivers from the front row in it. And honestly, according to his Driver Averages profile, this is arguably Majeski’s worst track.

Despite wrecking in two-of-four career races at this track, he also started on the pole in last year’s race and led 55 laps while finishing second in each of the first two stages.

Majeski still has dominator appeal. He’s led 40+ laps this year at tracks like Vegas, Martinsville, Darlington, and North Wilkesboro so we should at least like the variety we’re getting. After laying down the fastest single lap, and 10-lap average in practice he could get early dominator points in Saturday’s race if he can hold off early pressure from Eckes.

Mid-Price Core Plays

Layne Riggs ($8,300; Starting P17)

I’m giving Riggs the nod over Matt Crafton ($8,700; Starting P19). Crafton will make the table below, but I’ve written him up plenty this year. The narrative is the same: he has top 10 upside and qualified poorly. 

But I like how Riggs is trending if he can just keep the truck clean. He finished third two weeks ago at North Wilkesboro but the bigger news is that he gets a new crew chief this week. Crew chief Dylan Cappello is away for personal reasons so Mike Contarino steps in.

Riggs laid down the third-fastest lap in practice and was still strong in the longer run as well. We also know Riggs has done better on the flatter tracks like IRP so this may be a good opportunity for him to score well this week. Crafton is still on the table if you choose to go that route.

Stewart Friesen ($8,000; Starting P6)

The best part about Friesen is that nobody will want to play him. And he is strictly a tournament only kind of play Saturday afternoon. Friesen does look to have another top five car for Gateway but it is unfortunate that he couldn’t qualify a little further back.

Either way, Gateway is one of his better tracks. I hope I’m not jinxing him but he’s grabbed a top five in each of the last five races at Gateway and he’s led 23 laps combined in the last two races. If he can grab another top five finish without any dominator points, we’re looking at a 40-point performance from Friesen on DraftKings. I will say there is a slightly higher ceiling than that, but he qualified P6 which could suppress ownership.

Value Price Core Plays

Andrés Pérez de Lara ($6,500; Starting P16)

It’s a little hard to get a read on this kid. He certainly has upside as he’s a former NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series champion from back in 2022. But he’s still just 19 years old but he is running in the ARCA Series.

The good news for Pérez is that he gets to make his debut in the 7-truck for Spire Motorsports and we know this ride is capable of grabbing a win as we saw Kyle Busch do so at Atlanta and Texas. Even Connor Mosack finished eighth in this ride last week at Charlotte.

I don’t love that Pérez is making his debut at a track like Gateway, but it’s the hand we’re dealt. We know the truck will have a solid setup but there are also those added nerves when making a debut. He did have top 10 speed in the 10-lap average so if he manages a top 10 in this truck he’s giving us 40 fantasy points at a cheap price tag. But I’m not necessarily opposed to fading him if we assume the equipment alone is enough to elevate his rostership numbers.

Luke Fenhaus ($6,600; Starting P27) is also worth consideration in this range but he may be chalky and has some Conner Jones-esque vibes at this price. But still, he's in the 66-truck for ThorSport.

Matt Mills ($6,100; Starting P26)

Mills and teammate Bayley Currey ($6,300; Starting P25) are arguably the same play. But I’ve professed enough love for Currey the last handful of weeks so I’ll give Mills the mention for Gateway.

Mills was 26^th in single lap speed in practice, but the good news is that he was 16^th in 10-lap averages which is 10 positions better than where he’s starting.

Mills started P29 in this race last year with Young’s Motorsports, easily a worse team than Niece Motosports, and he managed to finish 19^th. 

And I know that there has been some chaos of late in a lot of the races, but he was 11^th at Darlington, 18^th at North Wilkesboro, and fourth last week at Charlotte. He’s a little risky but there’s no reason to believe he can’t go out and grab a fourth straight top 20 finish.

Bret Holmes ($5,500; Starting P32)

So this is one of those rare instances where we have a shallower field for the truck race. So this naturally elevates the floor for whoever starts dead last. For this race, that is Bret Holmes.

Holmes made his Gateway debut last year where he started P25 and finished 14^th. That’s not too bad as a top 15 finish is arguably his ceiling every week.

For this race he starts last and cannot get you negative points, “Dems Da Rules!” So Holmes is locked in for at least nine fantasy points on DraftKings. If he finishes 25^th he’s returning 24 fantasy points. If he cracks the top 20? That’s 35 fantasy points.

So most weeks I argue that Holmes is the tournament play and Timmy Hill ($5,800; Starting P28) is the cash game play. This week the roles are reversed. I’m fine playing both drivers in both formats but will likely have more exposure allocated to Holmes because of the floor.

Toyota 200 NASCAR DFS Driver Pool