Austin Cindric left Kentucky Speedway on cloud nine, as he would sweep the doubleheader. Cindric makes history as the only driver to win two straight nights at Kentucky. The only other NASCAR driver to have ever won on back to back nights at one track was in fact Richard Petty. Cindric is currently locked into third place in the Xfinity standings, just 14 points behind Noah Gragson.
Race one would come down to a two-lap overtime dash to the checkered, as Cindric would be challenged by points leader Chase Briscoe. Briscoe would try his best to give the Penske driver a challenge but was not able to keep up. However, the closeout race on Friday night could not have been more different, as Cindric would lead 130 of the 200 laps raced. Gragson finished second among drivers, with 37 laps led.
Friday night did not end quietly, as both Gragson and Harrison Burton would have a pit road altercation following the second race of the doubleheader. This followed an on-track scuffle between the two drivers, as they had been fighting for the fourth place spot. Gragson would finish the race in seventh and Burton would end up in 12th spot.
We now move on from the bluegrass state and head out to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It is a 1.44-mile wide quad-oval track with banked 20° in turns one and two and banked 24° in turns three and four. Gibbs Toyota has won the past two Xfinity events here, with Christopher Bell going to victory lane last fall.
Looking towards this Saturday’s race, pole-sitter Michael Annett will start opposite Jeb Burton on the front row. Also worth noting is the return of Kyle Busch, Busch is set to start in the 28th position. So without further ado, let’s delve into the driver options for this upcoming Xfinity series event. I’ve broken down the selections between high salary and mid-range. Best of luck to everyone with their lineups.
Dominator
Chase Briscoe (11,300 DK)
As the season is going right now, one driver that continues to pour it on has been Briscoe. Consider in five of the past six events, Briscoe has finished among the top four or better. Briscoe has led laps in six straight tries, and could possibly help in both laps led and fastest laps. It isn’t just his commanding performances in the last number of races, that perks my interest in Briscoe as a dominator for Texas. But also when you look at his percentage of laps completed over 15 races, Briscoe has finished an incredible 99.8% of the laps.
Briscoe’s prior experience at Texas is certainly mixed, having finished 22nd and 5th respectively in his past two attempts at the track. He has an average finish of 12.0, and a 99.3% laps completed percentage. He will be slated to start in the 12th position on Saturday, also offering value with points through place differential. Outside of the rare blip, Briscoe has managed to bring it week in week out. You know what you are getting with the No. 98 driver, so invest accordingly.
Justin Allgaier (9,700 DK)
I know a lot of players will be scrambling to add Busch to their individual rosters. However, with his juicy 28th place starting position, Busch also comes with an enormous price tag. Which could end up crippling your attempts at building an all-around solid team. For this reason, I decided to lay off Rowdy for this upcoming race.
Allgaier comes off a hit and miss trip to Kentucky. After picking up a 20th place run in the first event, Allgaier would quickly turn it around with a fifth-place outcome in the second race. Currently, Allgaier is ranked seventh in Xfinity series points and is still looking for his first win. He now comes to a track this weekend in Texas, in which he has plenty of race experience. Since 2008, Allgaier’s raced here 19 times, having racked up nine top 10’s and an average finish of 12.74. His last attempt in November resulted in a sixth-place result.
He’s had a problem leading laps here in the past, which is the only wrinkle I see. However, Allgaier is ranked third in laps led this season, which puts him behind only Gragson and Cindric. Also, when you consider he is slated to start off the line in fourth, I see no reason why Allgaier cannot get himself to the front and lead some early laps.
Mid-Range
Jeremy Clements (8,700 DK)
Clements comes off a solid two race trip at Kentucky and should make for a solid plug-and-play this weekend. In Clements’s past four tries, he has finished top 13 or better. He doesn’t have a great history at Texas but has managed to rack up a pair of top 15’s in two of the last four tries. Clements is slated to start in the 22nd position, this leave’s him a fair amount of potential in which to pick up points through place differential.
Value Play
Brett Moffitt (7,100 DK)
In three of his past five races, Moffitt has finished among the top ten drivers. Among those results was a fifth-place finish at Talladega, and also a seventh-place finish at Pocono. This will be Moffitt’s first visit to Texas as an Xfinity driver. However, he’s had some strong runs in the Truck series. Slated to start in the 15th place position, he should be able to crack the top 10 early and hold his position through the majority of the race. Along with a top 10 finish, Moffitt also has potential for around a half-dozen place differential points.
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