NASCAR Trucks - XPEL 225

Stevie gives an in-depth look on the Truck race for the weekend. This article will be posted by Thursday night.

With same day qualifying, we’re changing up the process for the XFINITY and Truck Series articles. I will be working on getting a preview type of article up by Thursday for Trucks. I will have core, tournament, and value tags/blurbs on LineupHQ for same day qualifying races.

XPEL 225

This weekend we head to Austin, Texas for the XPEL 225. This is the first of two road course races for the Truck Series this season. With only a 20-minute practice session on Friday, we’re going to be relying on recent road course data as well. This is the first race without stage break cautions, and I think it benefits the fast trucks the most. There’s no more worrying about what type of pit strategy teams are on. We will still see strategy, but it’s not going to be as unpredictive as early-stage pitting. I expect the fast trucks to stay up front most of the race.

The stages are 12, 14, and 16, which is a total of 42 laps. With only 42 laps, we’re looking at 18.9 fastest lap points and 10.5 laps led points. With only 27ish dominator points, we are focusing on finishing position and place differential. We want a good mix of drivers that can gain 10+ spots and drivers that have the upside to finish inside the top five. I don’t want to make a dominator group. I want drivers that can run up front and finish well. If anything, I’ll make a group of those type of drivers. With Busch and Chastain in the field, it’s going to be hard to pivot off them for that type of race. I think Zane Smith is an interesting tournament option as well.

I’m going to do a quick version of core/gpp/value plays this week. I still feel miserable, and it’s taken everything to keep my eyes open for longer than 20 minutes.

Core Plays

Kyle Busch, Matt DiBenedetto, Matt Crafton

Large Field Tournament Plays

Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Parker Kligerman

Value Plays

Timmy Hill, Colby Howard