Dale Money & Brandon Braasch | May 24th, 2020
For an Xfinity race that was set to commence on Tuesday night, it would take two more days due to the heavy rainfalls at Darlington Raceway. Thursday would also suffer a four-hour rain delay, but would eventually get rolling.
With Kyle Busch starting out in 26th position, it was obviously of little surprise to see him creep his way up into the top handful of drivers over the early portion of the race. Busch would manage to get himself into a jam, with less than 50 laps to go, dropping him back in the field. He would again need to work himself back up through the pack, without much time in which to get it done.
Chase Briscoe would have a hard challenge from Busch on those final two laps. After Briscoe would end up losing the lead spot with one lap left, both drivers would continue duking it out. As they hit the last corner and headed towards the start-finish line, Briscoe would just manage to beat the No. 54 driver to the finish. Indeed a huge victory to add to his race portfolio. Justin Allgaier, Austin Cindric, and Noah Gragson rounded out the top five.
Looking at Charlotte Motor Speedway, it is a 1.5-mile quad-oval track with an asphalt surface. The track was built in 1959 and was host to it’s first NASCAR 600 race a year later. Tyler Reddick was the victor here last May, beating out Allgaier in a clear cut win.
I do hope you decided to consider our advice, in regards to driver selections for Darlington. Between the two of us, we would hit on all five of our picks. Are Drivers which included Daniel Hemric with 57 points, Allgaier 58.75, Busch 95.75, Brett Moffitt 44, and Jeffrey Earnhardt rounding it out with 32.
Now let’s jump into our top drivers for Monday night’s race, as we breakdown our high salary, mid-range, and value selections. Now let’s go and win some money.
High Salary
Noah Gragson (9,500 DK) – Dale
Over the course of the first portion of Xfinity races, Gragson has been able to consistently finish safely inside the top 10. After kicking off the season with an opening victory at Daytona, he’s managed to rack up two top-five finishes at Las Vegas and Darlington. Outside of a 22nd place finish at Fontana, he’s been a constant threat wherever he’s gone. He has also been a good source of bonus points through laps led. In the past two events, Gragson has led at least 20 laps or more in each of them.
Gragson does not have much of a history to look at when it comes to Charlotte, having raced here just once in the Xfinity. However, that one visit, would prove to be successful, finishing with a top-four finish. Looking at Monday’s race, he will be situated tenth in the running order. Gragson still has plenty of value, as a high salary selection, with his lap leading ability and knack for continuously finishing inside the top 10.
Kyle Busch (17,000 DK) – Brandon
Busch is by far the most expensive driver on this slate. However, similarly to last week he will be starting mid-pack. That almost guarantees he will get place differential points. Busch will also be in contention for the win. Last year at Charlotte in the Xfinity Series, he finished eighth and led 93 laps. I expect him to lead a lot of laps again this year and contend for the win.
Daniel Hemric (10,100 DK) – Brandon
Hemric was one of my picks last week and he did not disappoint. He finished sixth and scored 67 fantasy points. This week he will be starting 12th and will look to use his momentum from last week to get another good finish. Hemric has raced three times at Charlotte in the Xfinity series. In those races he finished seventh twice and 13th in the other. He runs well at Charlotte and should easily contend for another top ten finish.
Mid-Range
Alex Labbe (9,200 DK) – Dale
Prior to the temporary series stoppage due to COVID-19, Labbe had been performing relatively well. Labbe would manage to survive Daytona, and post a top-10. During the next three races, he would crack the top 20 twice. He would then come back off hiatus and finish with a 17th place run. Labbe has posted an average finish of 16th and completed 99.6 percent of his race laps.
With Labbe slated to start from the back in the 37th spot, I see no reason why he shouldn’t be able to work his way through at least a dozen or more cars with his skill set. Of course that’s not to overlook his prior history at Charlotte, having finished 34th here two seasons ago. However, over that time Labbe has continued to grow in the Series not to mention, it would be quite unwise to not take a good hard look at his point potential.
Currently ranked 13th in the point standings, I see Labbe challenging for at the very least a top-20 place finish, which would certainly be a good handful of bonus points. You can’t pass up on a play as appealing as this one, not at the price.
Value Plays
Garrett Smithley (6,600 DK) – Brandon
Smithley showed a lot of skills in the Pro Invitational Series. However, in the Xfinity Series his equipment isn’t up to par with the top drivers in the series. Smithley will be starting in the 24th spot. However, even in subpar equipment he has actually run very good at Charlotte. In his last two races in the Xfinity Series at Charlotte he finished 17th and 14th. Those are very good finishes considering the equipment he was driving in. His average finish in six races is 19.67. He should be able to improve from 24th and will be a great value driver and allow you the flexibility to afford the top drivers on this slate.
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