The field is set for Friday night’s Trucks race with John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill on the front row. Let’s jump into the top DraftKings NASCAR DFS picks for the LiftKits4Less.com 200 at Darlington Speedway.
LiftKits4Less.com 200 NASCAR DFS Picks for DraftKings
John Hunter Nemechek, 1st ($11,000)
Austin Hill, 2nd ($9,800)
Before last year’s rescheduled Darlington race, the last time the Trucks Series had raced at the track “too tough to tame” was 2011 – a win by Kasey Kahne. With nearly everyone in that 2020 field lacking any sense of familiarity in a Truck, the top dominators boiled down to starting position. This is the likely scenario this race, especially with the Series’ best full-time driver and vehicle stating first.
Through seven races, Nemechek has led the most laps among full-time drivers (273), 169 more than second-closest Sheldon Creed. He has led laps in every race, save for Bristol – coincidentally, the only race in which he doesn’t have a top-seven finish. Given his consistency in 2021, it’s hard to believe Nemechek won’t be the class of the field once more.
As for Hill, he is a bet on starting position and emerging dependability. Since the Trucks Series left Daytona, Hill has been knocking down top-10s, including finishes of third, second and third in the three races at intermediate tracks. The one flaw to Hill in 2021 has been his single lap led, and with Nemechek starting alongside him, Hill’s upside to lead is hurt. However, because of that, there might be an ownership discount on Hill.
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Zane Smith, 3rd ($9,600)
With only race worth of data, it is hard to gleam anything usable to forecast Friday’s race, save for that lone recent race. Using that information, it would be easy to bypass Smith, who finished 16th after starting that day in fourth. However, a corollary track is Dover, and Smith was the winner of the 2021 Dover race after leading 50 laps.
Seeing as that 2020 Darlington race was Smith’s first exposure to this track, the subpar performance is understandable. Perhaps, with last year under his belt and his excelling at Dover, Smith can take those results and help them translate to Darlington.
Tyler Ankrum, 16th ($8,200)
For tournaments, gamers will need to take chances on drivers who start in the teens and hopefully sneak their way into the top 10. Most will flock to Sheldon Creed or Ryan Truex. However, pivoting to Ankrum in tournaments offers more upside than Truex and a discount from Creed. Ankrum’s results this year show a bit more volatility, with three DNFs. However, Ankrum finished ninth in this race last year and sixth at Dover in August.
On the plus side, all three of Ankrum’s DNFs have been due to crashes and not mechanically related. As long as Ankrum races clean, he should be a safe bet for another top-10 finish here.
Timmy Hill, 26th ($7,200)
Hill is not the same driver in the Trucks Series that he is in the Cup Series. He has shown plenty of times that when he’s behind the wheel of his own equipment, he will actually compete. Case in point, Hill competed in this Trucks race last season and finished ninth after starting 21st.
In a week where track familiarity matters, Hill gets an additional bump since he has seen this venue plenty of times in the Cup and Xfinity Series.
Parker Kligerman, 36th ($10,400)
Kligerman makes his fifth start of the 2021 season in the No. 75 way back in 36th. Kligerman is a talented driver, and if he had a full-time ride through Kyle Busch or Thor Motorsports, he may be a contender for the championship. However, in this No. 75 he’s a top-10 to top-15 driver, as evidenced by his finishes this season. Considering this ceiling and his salary, he may be better suited for cash games unless pairing Kligerman with a single dominator in tournaments.
Bayley Currey, 38th ($8,600)
In a points-swapping move, Currey was able to move his points to the Truck Championship so he could race this week in the Trucks Series. Without that maneuver and the approval from Mike Harmon, Currey wouldn’t have been able to race Friday night. Thus this race obviously has some sort of special meaning to Currey.
Currey will be in the Niece No. 44 Truck on Friday, the Truck Ross Chastain nearly win in at Kansas. The only time this Truck has been in contention was with Chastain manning the wheel. However, there is hope considering Currey took this Truck in last year’s Darlington race and drove from 29th to 12th.
Now starting even further back, with last year’s results in mind, Currey is a lock for cash and will be hard to get away from in tournaments.
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