The field is set for Saturday’s Xfinity race at the Charlotte Roval with Austin Cindric and Justin Allgaier on the front row. We’ll use the Awesemo NASCAR projections do drive our NASCAR DFS lineup suggestions. Let’s delve into the top NASCAR DFS picks on DraftKings for the Drive for the Cure 250.
Drive for the Cure 250 NASCAR DFS Picks for DraftKings
Austin Cindric, 1st ($10,300 DraftKings)
13, 21, and 16. Those are the laps-led totals of the three pole sitters in the three Xfinity races at the Roval. Being able to dictate the preferred line is huge here as drivers hang the big left-hander in turn-one before meandering through the stadium course. Considering Cindric’s road-racing prowess, it should be safely assumed that Cindric leads from the opening green flag until the yellow flag at lap 20 for the first segment break. However, what happens after this is the question. One, because the polesitter has failed to win any of these three previous events. Second, because Cindric has not been that “dominating” as a polesitter in 2021. Furthermore, whatever dominator points he may accrue early could easily be negated just by losing a handful of spots.
At $10,300, the threshold of what Cindric needs is lower this week and with a fantasy score, that gives him 5X value, he could end up being optimal. However, because of the pricing attached to Ty Gibbs and A.J. Allmendinger, who both start in the teens, it is better to utilize Cindric in just tournaments.
Ty Gibbs, 12th ($10,500 DraftKings)
More than just Gibbs’ own record this season at road courses (two victories and a third-place finish out of four total races), the history of the No. 54 this season at road courses (four victories), or even Gibbs place differential potential. Gibbs has one major thing in common with two of the previous three winners here at the Charlotte Roval. When Chase Briscoe won in 2019 and Allmendinger won in 2020, they were non-playoff drivers who were able to race off-sequence, not worry about stage points while the playoff drivers were trying to accumulate them and ended up winning. It is a scenario that could easily play out once more, especially in lieu of Gibbs’ outright odds, the third highest on the board at BetMGM (+450). Even if Gibbs does not elect to go off-sequence versus the field, he has shown the capability to pit with the rest of the contenders and still maneuver his way through the field and win.
Myatt Snider, 13th ($7,900 DraftKings)
Following wrecks at Las Vegas and Talladega, Snider finds himself in a 24-point hole to Harrison Burton for the final playoff spot. This is on top of Snider knowing he will not be returning to Richard Childress Racing in 2022. Snider’s best shot to make a name for himself and help improve his chances of securing a ride for next season comes down to what he can do on Saturday. Down 24 points, his chances of just racing his way into the next round of the playoffs are slim to none.
Snider and crew chief Andy Street should put together a game plan that hopefully gets Snider out front late, using off-sequence pit strategy, and use whatever skills Snider obtained in the Euro Series to hold on to the lead. The scenario isn’t likely as Snider’s outright odds at BetMGM sit at +6600, even lower than Alex Labbe‘s (+5000). However, this is knowing what Snider has to do in order to advance, and should he accomplish it, he could really pay off his salary in tournaments.
A.J. Allmendinger, 14th ($10,700 DraftKings)
The returning back-to-back winner of this race rolls off the grid in 14th making it tough to not make him the first player clicked in either cash or tournaments. In these two straight victories, Allmendinger has shown the ability to win here in typical October conditions (2019) or in an absolute deluge (2020) when the race took so long, due to a myriad of cautions for the weather, that it ended up becoming a night race. With this place differential in hand, Allmendinger comes in with a safer floor than polesitter Austin Cindric, who though $400 cheaper, has to gain that many more dominator points in order to compensate for these 13 points Allmendinger can gain just via passing other drivers.
Joe Graf Jr., 30th ($4,800 DraftKings)
It is easy to get carried away with playing Graf this week, especially when DFS players look at his brief Roval history and see his 15th-place finish in the rain last year. Also, a 20th-place finish in the Daytona Road Course race, from earlier this year, is not that bad either considering his punt-price salary. However, it is the fact that Graf is in the No. 17 for Rick Ware this weekend. Graf gets a vehicle upgrade that could potentially see him push for another top-20 finish in potentially better conditions than what he dealt with last year.
Josh Billicki, 31st ($7,500 DraftKings)
Despite starting positions being based on Talladega results, there really are not that many glaring place differential spots this week from drivers starting in the 20s or 30s. Billicki, however, is one that makes sense. Driving for Bobby Dotter in the No. 7 this week (typically Joe Graf Jr.’s car), Billicki should have a floor of at least 10 positions, if not more, depending on what impact the rain does or doesn’t have. In 2020’s two stadium road courses, Billicki finished 12th in Daytona and followed that up with 13th here at the Roval. Both races were impacted by rain, and should this track be impacted by precipitation once more, Billicki should be able to capitalize on his road racing history and move through the field while other racers are overdriving into the turns and carving their splitters through the mud.
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