On the final lap of this past Saturdays O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway Harrison Burton was able to steal the victory from Noah Gragson. Gragson would have punched his ticket into the Championship Four race at Phoenix in two weeks if he had of been able to stave off a charging Burton. Burton made his move on lap 198 of 200 to take second place away from Anthony Alfredo. Then continuing to beat Gragson on the final lap. Notable lap leaders on the day consisted of Gragson with 43, Justin Allgaier with 35, Chase Briscoe with 34, Ross Chastain with 30, and Burton with 24. Following the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 the playoffs now sit with Briscoe on top, Austin Cindric in second (+14), Allgaier in third (+8), and Justin Haley (+4) as the four drivers currently moving on to the Championship Four. Brandon Jones sits in fifth (-4), Chastain in sixth (-15), Gragson seventh (-24), and Ryan Seig in eighth (-43). Jones is likely the only driver on the outside looking in that could make it to the final race by points. Chastain, Gragson, and Seig will need to win or get extremely lucky to move on to the next round. Allgaier and Haley will need to be careful if one of the other playoff drivers get ahead of them in Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
Today’s free pick is the driver of the Number 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Harrison Burton ($10,300 DK). This season Burton has three wins, at Auto Club Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. To go along with his wins this year Burton has placed top five 14 times, top 10 20 times and has led 210 laps. Burton has raced at Martinsville Speedway six times with the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck series. In six races Burton has one top five finish and three top 10 finishes. Burton will race Friday looking to add his fourth win of the season to his resume. In the two races earlier this year at Bristol Speedway the other short track Burton has two fourth place finishes.
Starting at $5 per week subscribers can expect to find high value plays that are well priced on DraftKings. We have DFS Potential Dominators, DFS Place Differential Options and who to avoid for the upcoming Draft Top 250.
The Draft Top 250 will be the NASCAR Xfinity Series first stop at Martinsville in a very long time. There will be Xfinity drivers who potentially have never raced at Martinsville before. The race will be 250 laps, stage one will be 60 laps, and stage two will be 60 laps. Martinsville Speedway is 0.526 miles in length. This makes it the shortest track this year on the NASCAR Xfinity Series circuit. Its small size, tight corners and unique shape, sometimes referred to as the “paperclip” offers some of the most exciting and close quarters racing in the sport.
Potential Dominators
Noah Gragson: Historical data will not be able to help us this weekend as the Xfinity Series has not raced at Martinsville. Starting in the second spot this week is Noah Gragson ($10,000 DK). Gragson has raced at Martinsville Speedway four times in the Gander RV and Outdoors Truck series. In four races Gragson has won once, finished top five three times, finished top 10 in all four races, and has led 10 laps. Gragson comes into Martinsville with some of the most experience in this race. Couple that with his excellent starting position and Gragson could be a sure-fire pick to win this weekend.
Ross Chastain: Same with Gragson Ross Chastain ($9,700 DK) has not raced at Martinsville in the NASCAR Xfinity series. Chastain has raced at Martinsville three times since 2017 in the NASCAR Truck Series. In three races he has an average start of 9.0 and an average finish of 4.33. His best finish was second and his worst seventh. Two of the three races were top five finishes. Ross is currently sitting on the outside looking in on the Championship Four and will need to place high, get lucky and have a driver with more points have a bad race. However, if Chastain were to win at Martinsville Speedway he would punch his ticket to the final race. Chastain has not been able to find victory lane yet this year, but he has had 15 top five finishes, 25 top 10 finishes and has led 512 laps.
DFS Place Differential Options
Myatt Snider: Starting in the 22nd spot for this weeks Draft Top 250 at Martinsville Speedway is the driver of the number 21 Richard Childress Racing Myatt Snider ($7,100 DK). In three races at Martinsville in the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck series Snider has an average start of 13.3and an average finish of fifth. In those races he has placed third and sixth twice. Starting 22ndfor the Draft Top 250 is right where Snider can be successful like he has been in the past at Martinsville. This season Snider has two top five finishes and six top ten finishes. One of his top five finishes coming at Bristol, another short track.
DFS Picks to Avoid
Austin Cindric: The points leader in the playoffs Austin Cindric ($11,100 DK) has been excellent this year. Martinsville is its own unique beast, and Cindric has only ever raced at Martinsville three times in the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. In the three races he started on average 11.0 and finished 18.67. In all his races he fell behind his starting position, some by a large margin. Cindric is expensive this week and I think there will be better value options.
MY TOP-FIVE OVERALL AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
- Noah Gragson
- Chase Briscoe
- Ross Chastain
- Ryan Seig
- Justin Haley
