The Grander RV Truck Series is back and I’m going to be completely honest, I’m not excited about this slate. From a pricing standpoint you can make some fun builds especially since John Hunter Nemechek and Parker Kligerman are racing. However, the contest payouts on DraftKings leave a lot to be desired. The Slingshot contest is only rewarding $1,000 to first place. The $12 single-entry contest is rewarding $1,000 to first as well, but the more expensive SE contests aren’t worth playing due to the smaller payouts and smaller fields. The $8 Octane contest still rewards $20,000 to first place but I typically don’t play contests if I don’t plan on entering the maximum amount of lineups. So I’m playing this one light by my standards. I’ll play the Happy Hour, the Hot Rod, maybe the $12 SE contest and then possibly some SE Cash games but I’m undecided on those at the moment. I’m much more excited about the Xfinity series race on Saturday as well as the Cup contests. But I’ll still dabble in getting exposure to the Truck contests despite going a little lighter.

If you’re new to NASCAR DFS and aren’t sure what to expect from Michigan, here’s the Track Breakdown that Matt published Thursday night. This is a two-mile track that closely resembles Auto Club (California) and Kansas. However, the Truck series only ran Kansas this year so we’ll pull a little data from those two races as well as previous history at Michigan races. This race gets underway at 6:15pm ET on Friday night and the stages are 20-20-60. It’s on the lighter side for dominator points with just 75 dominator points available. So try and target position differential and don’t try to build around more than two dominators. I don’t believe there will be a competition caution tonight since the Truck series has fewer sets of tires to work with and in general, we haven’t seen the comp. caution lately in this series.

Driver Pool

John Hunter Nemechek ($11,100; Starting P34) Considering back in May when JHN started 38th he was over $14,000 this is a more reasonable price tag. And if you’re worried about playing him due to his propensity for wrecking in the Cup series, well he’s wrecked twice in four races at the Truck level when racing at Michigan as well. When he does finish the race he can finish in the Top 12. And a finish in that area would be 5X value so he’s a borderline Cash game play, but very well worth it in GPP’s. Given the nature of this race and the lack of dominator points available he isn’t an awful Cash game target, but I’d probably trust the next guy a little more.

Parker Kligerman ($10,800; Starting P35) Kligerman’s a more trustworthy Cash game play. In two races this year at the Truck level he’s started outside the Top 35 and finished inside the Top 18 in both races. And one of those races was a rain-shortened race where he could have possibly moved up more. He hasn’t raced in the Truck series at Michigan in about eight years but he’s another strong PD target and he’s a little cheaper than JHN as well.

Johnny Sauter ($10,400; Starting P13) I’m never crazy about playing Sauter, but I like this price tag for him this week starting P13. He has a win here and a couple other impressive performances as well, but he may be flying under the radar given the two drivers listed above. And there is the possibility that JHN and Kligerman could be trap plays. Sauter makes for a great GPP play, and I’m not ruling him out for Cash either since the field will be heavy on the two drivers listed above.

Austin Hill ($10,100; Starting P5) Hill is always a threat to win. Hell, he won here a year ago and led 26 laps. He’s one of the safer bets on the slate for a Top 10 finish as well as a candidate for dominator points. If he gets to the front he’ll have no issue returning value with dominator points. It’s tough to read how the race will go with a lot of the best drivers starting at the top. Hill’s worth building around in numerous lineups.

Matt Crafton ($9,900; Starting P4) Crafton finally broke through for his first win in a long time a couple weeks ago at Kansas. He doesn’t have an outstanding resume at Michigan, but he does have seven straight Top 10 finishes here. He also has momentum coming into tonight’s race with a win two weeks ago, and four straight Top 4 finishes. I don’t expect him to win so I’m limiting exposure to GPP’s. But I do expect him to get some dominator points.

Brett Moffitt ($9,700; Starting P2) Moffitt has had a really strong truck the last few races. In four straight races entering tonight he’s registered dominator points in each one and he rolls off on the front row tonight with an opportunity to lead some more. He’s won here twice already and he finished fourth here a year ago. Given the starting position and his resume, be ready to eat the chalk.

Christian Eckes ($9,300; Starting P3) This is a solid price for Eckes starting in the second row. Eckes can get to the front and log the dominator points we seek to take down a GPP. He’s flirted with a win in the last few races and maybe he gets it done tonight, but he’s still a worthy GPP play that can pay dividends.

Stewart Friesen ($9,100; Starting P21) Friesen had a rough go at Kansas a few weeks back. Even when he was the ultimate chalk for the second race, he still managed to not return value. So while this starting spot is friendly for PD, there’s still some risk. He needs to finish in the Top 10 to return value. Fortunately for him he’s never finished worse than 13th here and he has a pair of eighth place finishes in 2019 and 2018.

Todd Gilliland ($8,900; Starting P19) Gilliland typically starts much higher than P19 so he’s never offered as much PD as he does now. The last two years at Michigan he’s finished in the Top 10 in every stage, save for the final stage a year ago where he was involved in a crash. But in 2018 he finished in the Top 5 and he’s a nice PD target tonight. The downside is that he needs to finish in the Top 6 or 7 for value if he doesn’t collect any dominator points.

Sheldon Creed ($8,500; Starting P8) Creed is a guy that can seemingly find his way to the front and get in contention any given week. To be honest, he does this mostly when I don’t play him, but I’ll get some exposure tonight. I just don’t like that Moffitt, Crafton, Hill, Eckes, Enfinger, and Smith are starting in front of him. But he stole a win at Kentucky a few weeks ago and he finished second here a year ago after starting P18.

Jeb Burton ($8,300; Starting P15) Burton steps into the 44-truck in place of Natalie Decker this weekend. Burton hasn’t raced in the Truck series at Michigan since 2014, but he does have a pair of Top 10 finishes here and he piloted the 44-car to a 16th-place finish at Atlanta. He needs a Top 10 finish to get close to 5X value and I’m not entirely convinced he finishes that high, but a Top 12 is in play.

Ben Rhodes ($8,100; Starting P10) It was a tossup between Burton, Rhodes, and Enfinger in this range. Enfinger didn’t make the cut simply because I don’t think he hits value as much as the other two can. I’ll still get a little exposure to Enfinger because he tends to finish seventh or eighth at Michigan, which would still be a decent return in DFS. But I really like Rhodes especially with the momentum he carries. He’s returned at least 40 DraftKings points in five straight races and he is capable of moving up into the Top 5. I don’t think he wins, but we’ve seen him register some fastest laps while rarely getting to the front. The ThorSport trucks have been very fast lately so get exposure.

Tanner Gray ($7,600; Starting P16) Gray is coming off a Top 5 finish at Kansas, but we’ve seen him hit 40+ points on DraftKings quite a few times this year. He comes with variance though. The ceiling is solid, but the floor is low as well. I typically don’t tend to play him because of that reason. However, I need to adapt to get better with the Truck series so I won’t ignore him any longer and I’ll throw him into some Happy Hour lineups tonight.

Raphael Lessard ($7,400; Starting P11) I’m still convinced at a certain point he’ll break out. He’s signed to an elite team and he has potential. He just hasn’t put it together quite yet, but the results haven’t been terrible. The starting spot is pretty high which leads me to believe ownership will be soft on him because he needs a Top 10 finish. He’s strictly a GPP play and hopefully he can piece together a solid day and move up a few spots.

Ryan Truex ($6,800; Starting P20) Ryan Truex is worth taking a shot on in a GPP build or two. He hasn’t raced in the Trucks at Michigan in three years but he did get a Top 5 finish the last time he did race here. This will be just his fourth race on the year, but he finished 13th at Atlanta and Texas without getting practice in. He’ll need a Top 15 for 5X value here so keep the exposure just to GPP’s.


Ty Majeski ($6,700; Starting P18) You know I love getting exposure to Majeski especially in GPP’s. This week is no different as the price tag is fantastic. He did great in the first Kansas race a few weeks back where he started 19th and finished 11th. Sadly he was unable to finish the second race, but it was tough to play him when he was starting P5. This is a similar position to the first Kansas race and he’s discounted this week. He hasn’t raced at Michigan so proceed with a little caution, but he’s worth throwing in a couple GPP lineups. He’ll hit 5X value if he finishes 14th.

Austin Wayne Self ($6,000; Starting P27) This is a really good slate to get exposure to Austin Wayne Self. He’s coming in with solid momentum with four straight Top 20 finishes with solid position differential in each of those races. At Michigan, the resume is pretty damn strong. In four races here he has an average start of 21.8 with an average finish of 11.75, but the average finish is inflated a little bit because he finished fifth last year. But he’s never finished worse than 16th at Michigan. A Top 20 finish easily returns 5X value and even if he just matches his worst career finish here of 16th that’s 6.5X value. He’s playable in all formats tonight.

Spencer Boyd ($5,600; Starting P31) Boyd won’t ever blow you away with his DFS output, but he’s a solid play. He’s put up at least 23 points on DraftKings in five of his last six races and while he didn’t necessarily return 5X value in those races, we need to temper value expectations a little with the Truck series because these contests typically see lower scores. In both races at Kansas a couple weeks ago he moved up at least five spots in each race and last summer he started P27 and finished 22nt at Michigan. He’ll need to finish 23rd or 24th to hit value, but he’s truly not an awful punt on this slate.

Tyler Hill ($4,900; Starting P30) Tyler Hill looked pretty solid in his last appearance in the second Kentucky race where he earned a career-best 16th place finish. I don’t quite understand why he’s priced way down to $4,900 with a great starting spot but we’ll take advantage of it. Even if he moves up and finishes 25th he’s delivering 5X value. If he finishes 22nd he’ll deliver 6X value. Dare I say he’s playable in Cash games at such a cheap price?

Josh Reaume ($4,700; Starting P29) Reaume is a similar play to Hill, just a little bit cheaper. He hasn’t raced since Pocono, but in three races at Michigan he’s done a great job of moving up through the field. He has three straight Top 20 finishes here and he’s moved up at least five spots in each race. A Top 25 finish gets 5X value, but if he can get a fourth straight Top 20 here then he’d return 7X value.

Example Lineups

Note: These are EXAMPLE lineups showing different roster construction that's made with the playbook, tools and lineup generator. These are not meant to be plugged in and simply played.

 

DraftKings Cash

1.Parker Kligerman ($10,800)

2.John Hunter Nemechek ($11,100)

3.Tyler Hill ($4,900)

4.Spencer Boyd ($5,600)

     a.Austin Wayne Self ($6,000 – Pivot)

5.Zane Smith ($8,400)

     a.Ben Rhodes ($8,100 – Pivot)

6.Todd Gilliland ($8,900)

 

DraftKings GPP

1.Parker Kligerman ($10,800)

2.Austin Hill ($10,100)

3.Spencer Boyd ($5,600)

     a.Raphael Lessard ($7,400 - Pivot)

4.Tyler Hill ($4,900)

     a.Josh Reaume ($4,700 - Pivot)

5.Ben Rhodes ($8,100)

6.Brett Moffitt ($9,700)

     a.Todd Gilliland ($8,900 – Pivot)