We now leave Daytona Beach and move north to Dover, Delaware, and the Infamous Monster Mile. The track is a one-mile concrete oval, with 24-degree banking in the turns and nine degrees banked straight away’s. This will be a doubleheader weekend after which there will be five more races until the Playoffs start. Austin Cindric looks to add to his points leads, as he will start on the pole position on Saturday afternoon. Noah Gragson will be starting opposite Cindric on the front row. So without further ado, let’s delve into the driver options for this upcoming cup series event. I’ve broken down the selections between high salary and mid-range. Best of luck to everyone with your lineups this weekend.
High Salary
Austin Cindric (11,300 DK)
Cindric has been absolutely awesome over the past two months, no other way to put it. Had he managed to hold on at Kansas, Cindric would be on a six-race win streak. That loss would come down to the last lap heroics of Brandon Jones, costing Cindric the victory. Cindric has visited Dover four times in the past couple of seasons and has not finished outside the top nine in any of those races. Expect Cindric to be very popular this weekend, with his first-place starting position and outright domination of the Xfinity series over the last half-dozen races. However, at the price, Cindric isn’t a driver you can just sleep on as he will get his points.
Justin Haley (9,900 DK)
While Haley does come off a 38th place finish at Daytona, he has shown to be very adept at bouncing back from a bad run this season. Consider that in the previous nine Xfinity events, Haley would crack the top eight on seven of those occasions. Haley has two previous visits to Dover in the series with a best finish of fourth this past October. If you can’t afford Cindric for this event, consider Haley with that very appealing 22nd place starting position. He should be able to pick up numerous points through place differential and possible fastest lap.
Mid-Range
Brandon Brown (7,700 DK)
Brown has proven to be a nice bookend selection this season, as he has continued to finish well within the top 15 over the course of the season. Brown did have the 34th place stinker at Daytona, however, in the four prior events, he did finish outside the top 13 once. He sits 12th in the points standings and is just 28 points above Jeremy Clements for the last playoff position. So with that in mind, expect Brown to do everything he can in order to distance himself even further from Clements with the season winding down. Last October at the Monster Mile, Brown would finish with a top 11 finish, and a driver rating of 85.8. Brown will earn you points through point differential and possible fastest lap. Slated to start 21st in the running order he should be able to overtake more than half a dozen or so cars.
Anthony Alfredo (8,700 DK)
Alfredo could be a nice value selection in the mid-range, due to his 26th place starting position and will be a solid candidate to finish within the top 15 or better. In his limited schedule this season, he has finished outside the top 14 on two of those occasions. He could be a nice dark horse pick to pile up points through place differential and possible fastest lap. Although Alfredo has not run at Dover in the series, he has run well at Intermediate tracks in the past. In two of his last three attempts at this style of track, Alfredo has finished with a top six.
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