NASCAR Xfinity Series Portland DFS Picks

The NASCAR Xfinity Series has a stand alone road course race this week in Portland so we won’t have any Cup drivers in the race this week and have a few more drivers doing one off races in the Series this week. But Conor Zilisch is in the field this week and without SVG, he is the heavy favorite and Draftkings has really priced him that way at $15,000 salary, which is $4,000 more than the next driver. Since the race is a stand alone event there will not be live pit stops so track position will be even more important as that pretty much eliminates any strategies to play with doing something different on pit stops. We are likely to see the drivers that are good on the road courses and start up front be some of the top drivers this week for the Xfinity race. 

Potential Dominators

Connor Zilisch

Zilisch is likely to lead almost all of this race and win since other teams can’t do much different strategies on pit stops. However, since he is priced so high, I am not sure that is going to be enough for him to be in the optimal lineup. We would have to get some good finished from the value drivers under 7k, or not have many good finishes from the mid range drivers in that 7-10k range. Zilisch leading all the laps would be almost 19 dominator points, with some fast laps there is a path for him to score 80+ points, but we could get a handful of mid range drivers get around 50 points. It is really going to depend on if we get some cheap drivers around the top 10 at the end of the race.

Place Differential Plays

Taylor Gray

Jack Perkins

Christian Eckes

Austin Green

Harrison Burton

Gray has been good on road courses this season and he had good speed in practice when he was on the track. Starting 13th he has some room to move forward and is a solid value if he has the issues he had in qualifying fixed. Perkins is a road course specialist and should be a good option at Portland today. He starts just outside the top 10 and I would not be surprised to see him compete for a top 5 this weekend. Austin Green is another one if the road specialist that has run all the road courses this season and has been really good with several top 10 runs. He should have potential for that kind of run again this week. Burton was actually 4th in 5 lap averages in practice and looked pretty good with the speed he had. He starts in 18th and should have top 10 upside in the race if he can move forward and stay out of trouble.

Cheap Options

Alex Labbe

Daniel Dye

Brennan Poole

Parker Retzlaff

Anthony Alfredo

Blaine Perkins

Thomas Annunziata

Labbe is a good road racer but has not been in good equipment this season. He starts in the back so he has potential, but he is not in the best car. If he can make it to the end without any issues and stay on track he is a good option. Dye, Poole, Retzlaff, and Alfredo are all solid options starting outside the top 20. They have had good finishes at times on road courses and it is all going to depend on getting track position and not having any issues in the race. Perkins has actually been a pretty good road racer this season with some top 20 finishes. He starts 23rd so he doesn't have much room to move forward but with there being no live pit stops he could be a good option with some track position already with his starting spot. Annunziata is a good road racer and seemed happy with his car in practice. He had an issue in qualifying so he did not get a lap in and starts in the back. If they fix all the issues he should be a great cheap option this week.