Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 DFS Expert Picks & Lineups: NASCAR Truck Series Playbook

The Craftsman Truck Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the second-to-last race of the year! Grant Enfinger claimed another win last week as he went to victory lane at Homestead-Miami. Enfinger didn’t necessarily need the win as he was already locked into the championship race at Phoenix. 

But the win is still a nice payday at one of the best tracks on the schedule. It’s also an impressive run for Enfinger after GMS Racing closed up shop last year. He joined a new team that was arguably a downgrade in equipment and once again he will be racing for a championship.

But there are still three spots up for grabs technically. I say ‘technically’ because there isn’t much drama regarding the standings unless something drastic plays out Friday night. But here are the latest Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 DFS Picks for Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series race!

Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 DFS Picks & NASCAR Lineups

Martinsville Speedway is a short, flat track with tight turns in the corners. It measures in at 0.5 miles in length and laps tick off rather quick at this track. Moreover, this is another “track position is very important” kind of track. Given the size of the track it’s easy to get lapped. And on top of that, an error on pit road or the slightest damage from a wreck can end a driver’s race.

For the most part, this has only been a track where the Truck Series would race in the Spring. 2024 brought the return of Martinsville to the Truck Series Playoffs. So we still have a good sample size even if Martinsville only had one race each year from 2020-2023.

Friday’s race is scheduled for 200 laps. At the very most we have 140 dominator points, but a more realistic estimate might be 100-105 dominator points. The last four Truck Series races have averaged 10.5 cautions per race for 76 laps. We don’t get fastest lap points when the race is run under caution.

These races usually play out with one primary dominator and a secondary dominator. Unlike the Xfinity and Cup Series, I’m less inclined to try and force a third dominator into my builds for this race. The other two races this weekend will have more dominator points available. If we’re projecting for cautions and fewer fastest laps, I’m mostly going to build with just two dominators in mind. 

The current playoff picture has just Grant Enfinger locked in for the championship race in Phoenix. Corey Heim sits 49 points above the cut line so it’s safe to assume he’s in regardless. Christian Eckes is also sitting pretty with a 38-point cushion. And Ty Majeski, in fourth, is 22 points above the cut line. Even he’s looking decent ahead of Friday’s race as long as he doesn’t have a disastrous run. The remaining four drivers are Rajah Caruth, Taylor Gray, Tyler Ankrum, and Nicholas Sanchez. They all arguably need to win this race or score a good finish with Ty Majeski having a disastrous showing.

Practice and qualifying for this race will be at 1:35pm ET on Friday afternoon and the race goes green around 6:00pm ET. I will have updates in RED with practice notes and the driver pool at the very bottom of the article once we know the starting order.

Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 DFS Picks: Practice Notes

Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway DFS Picks

Christian Eckes – DraftKings: $10,500

Eckes spanked the field in this race in this race in the spring. He led 133 laps with 58 fastest laps. That’s what happens when you have the luxury of starting on the front row. 

But that success and domination correlated at plenty of other flat tracks on the schedule this year as well. He won the pole at North Wilkesboro and finished sixth but also added 62 laps led. He finished as the runner-up at IRP (73 laps led), runner-up at Richmond (64 laps led), and he was third at Milwaukee (71 laps led). Are you sensing a trend here?

It’s been a career year for Eckes and the short tracks have been his bread and butter and that’s what makes him such an appealing play both this weekend and next week at Phoenix.

Ty Majeski – DraftKings: $10,200

Majeski earned the pole during this race in the spring and finished as the runner-up with 66 laps led and a 132.6 driver rating. Even in 2023, he started P12 and finished fourth at this track so the track history is pretty damn good.

Similar to Eckes, Majeski has “upped his game” at the short, flat tracks. He finished 11^th at North Wilkesboro but also managed to lead 50 laps. And don’t forget he had the incredible run at the comparable tracks at IRP, Richmond, and Milwaukee. He led at least 45 laps in all three races while winning both IRP and Richmond, then finishing second at Milwaukee. 

Plenty of lineups will start with Eckes and Majeski and that’s totally fine. I wouldn’t even be scared away from that core if they start on the front row. They combined to lead all but one lap and accounted for 88.45 dominator points out of 103.55 possible points.

Update: This applies to both Eckes and Majeski. But they qualified on the front row similar to the spring and we can very well play both of them for this race. Eckes had the fastest single lap in practice while Majeski was best in 10-lap average in practice.

Grant Enfinger - DraftKings: $10,000

This one is tough. Enfinger does need to win this race. He's already locked in for Phoenix next week. But he was top 20 in single lap speed in practice and top 10 in 10-lap averages. But he absolutely crapped the bed in qualifying with a very poor effort. So there's PD here, but at the same time, this race means absolutely nothing to him. So does he even try? Or does he preserve the short track information for next week? Play at your own risk. There are fewer dominator points available in this particular race, so this PD play has some appeal. He hits 5X value if he finishes 13th and he'll return 6X value if he finishes 8th. And that's assuming he gets zero dominator points as well.

Layne Riggs – DraftKings: $9,500

We have to keep our eye on this one. It may shock some that I didn’t lead the article off with Corey Heim, but I think it goes without saying that he’s never not in play. But these three drivers in the top tier have flashed a ton of upside on the comparable tracks.

Even Layne Riggs, who got off to a rough start this year, has two wins in the playoffs despite being a non-playoff driver. He won at Milwaukee (53 laps led) and Bristol (80 laps led). He was also top five at both IRP and Richmond, plus he finished third at North Wilkesboro.

What concerns me heading into practice and qualifying is that Riggs’ crew chief, Dylan Cappello, will be suspended for this race due to safety infractions following Homestead. But this is still a track type that Riggs thrives at and is a good pivot off the three more popular drivers.

Mid-Price Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 DFS Picks

Taylor Gray – DraftKings: $8,800

Gray isn’t my favorite play on the board. Truthfully, you might be able to save some money and have the same fantasy upside with the next driver in this article. But Gray at least knows that he arguably needs a win in this race. To that note, he has the equipment to potentially win.

Gray started P12 in the first Martinsville race in the spring and he finished sixth. He also brought home a pair of top five finishes at Richmond and Milwaukee.

Could he already have his eyes on the prize as he’s getting promoted to the Xfinity Series next year? Maybe. But he’s not out of the playoff picture just yet. 

Brett Moffitt - DraftKings: $8,600

At best, this might be a top 15 truck but he starts P28 so there's PD on his side. The truck didn't have a ton of speed in practice or qualifying but he's good enough to move up in this field. I do think he needs some chaos for a top 10 finish.

Tyler Ankrum – DraftKings: $8,400

Ankrum is a playoff driver that needs a home run Friday night. Does he advance to the championship next weekend? I doubt it because the win equity is minimal, but he’s posted his best short, flat track performances in 2024.

Earlier this year he started P9 and finished top five at Martinsville. Then at North Wilkesboro he led 26 laps after starting P21 and he finished eighth. Plus, he finished sixth or better at IRP, Richmond, and Milwaukee. If there’s chaos, that will help Ankrum. But we have another driver that knows how badly he needs a win in the mid-tier.

Update: He absolutely whiffed on the setup and was seconds slower than everyone in practice but looked to have made slight improvements in qualifying, but he still starts outside the top 20. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say he goes to the rear as he absolutely needs to win this race and he still can't compete with any of the other playoffs drivers given the speed and handling.

Connor Zilisch - DraftKings: $8,200

Zilisch didn't lay down a great qualifying lap by any means but there's still speed in the truck. He was top six in most practice metrics but he just struggled with the handling in practice. 

Johnny Sauter – DraftKings: $7,500

With Conner Jones being suspended for intentionally wrecking Matt Mills (and hospitalizing him), Sauter steps into the 66-truck Friday night. Sauter has only run four races this year but two were with Niece Motorsports and the other two were with Hattori Racing Enterprises. Not to mention, two of the four races he ran were superspeedways.

Sauter is a former Truck Series champion. He’s a veteran with plenty of experience on a variety of tracks. He has raced at Martinsville 27 times and he’s won here on four different occasions. In the 2022 spring race at this track he started P36 and managed to finish second. 

This is also some of the best equipment Sauter has had despite running a part-time schedule now. He is a former full-time driver with the organization but was given the boot (for the most part) after the 2021 season. He is a bit of a hothead, but the equipment is good and there’s so much track history on his side for this race.

Value Price Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 DFS Picks

Tanner Gray – DraftKings: $7,400

Gray is only $100 cheaper than Sauter but I’m throwing him in the value tier. He’s in comparable equipment to Corey Heim and his brother, Taylor Gray. But he just doesn’t have that kind of upside.

Fortunately, this is still a fairly experienced driver who has a pair of top five finishes in the last four Martinsville races. Gray wasn’t elite at the comparable tracks by any means, but he finished 16^th at North Wilkesboro, and he grabbed a pair of top 12 finishes at Richmond and Milwaukee.

There is a little variance to Gray, which is unfortunate. But for a driver in the $7K range, it carries some weight when you can say you have top five equity at a track like Martinsville.

Matt Crafton – DraftKings: $7,200

Crafton was hilariously mis-priced last week for Homestead and we tackled that with pride. He was just $6,900 and he returned 43.45 fantasy points for over 6X value. DraftKings did adjust his price tag a little for this race, but this is still the second-cheapest price tag he’s had all year.

It’s actually interesting that Sauter is more expensive than him. Crafton is a full-time driver with ThorSport and yet, he’s $300 cheaper than Sauter who hasn’t driven for the team in nearly two years.

Sauter has raced at Martinsville 41 times in his career. He has two wins and he has 23 top 10 finishes. If we move the goal posts to how many top 12 finishes he has, then we’re looking at 27.

We know that he hasn’t been qualifying well this year and he’s been a PD value quite often. Earlier this year, he started P24 and Martinsville and finished 12^th. He also finished 15^th at Richmond, and he was top 10 at Milwaukee. It just seems like it’s another week where Crafton is too cheap.

Daniel Dye – DraftKings: $7,000

The season of growth for Daniel Dye is almost up. He didn’t really impress me much last year, but 2024 has been different. He has nine top 10 finishes in 21 races this year.

Even at Martinsville, while he didn’t grab a top 10, he gained 10 spots of PD after he started P23 and finished 13^th. But he was also top 10 at North Wilkesboro, Richmond, and Milwaukee.

It also boils down to where he qualifies because he’s qualified top 15 in nine of his last 10 races on the year. That would limit his PD upside so we’ll keep an eye on how the starting lineup shakes out.

Corey Day - DraftKings: $6,700

Not the greatest speed in practice or qualifying. However, he starts outside the top 30 and Hendrick Motorsports is a sponsor on his 81-truck so there's definitely money and resources invested in it. He can pay off this price tag with a top 20 finish.

Landen Lewis - Draftkings: $6,400

This is strictly a GPP play because he qualified P14 and I think that keeps ownership suppressed. The equipment is good as he's in the 16-truck for Hattori Racing Enterprises. He's actually a client of KHI (Kevin Harvick's agency) and he was really wheeling this truck around the truck. It was almost as if he was comfortable slipping and sliding coming out of the corners as if this was a dirt track. He finished third in last week's Mazda MX-5 Cup race at Martinsville.

Timmy Hill – DraftKings: $5,700

We’ll go with a safety net to wrap up the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 DFS picks. On the year, Hill has an average starting position of 26.6 and a 21.1 average finishing position. In 10 career Martinsville races he has a 24.7 average starting spot with a 19.3 average finishing position.

All in all, we know Hill can start deep and move up some spots to score well. In his last seven races at Martinsville, his worst finish is 23^rd. But in that span he also has five top 20 finishes and in those races where he finishes top 20, he gained at least seven spots of position differential.

He also had top 20 finishes at Richmond and IRP so the short track resume is strong with this play. And with Bret Holmes not running the final two races this year, we’re short on $5K plays to feel good about ahead of practice and qualifying.

Update: Downgrading Hill just a bit because he qualified P19. Hopefully we don't have to pay down here into the $5K range but the table below will provide pivots.

Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 Craftsman Truck Series Driver Pool