This article is part of our NASCAR DFS series.
Speedycash.com 250
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Course: Texas Motor Speedway
Format: 1.5-mile quad-oval
Laps: 167
NASCAR Trucks Speedycash.com 250 Race Preview
Zane Smith scored his second victory of 2023 after successfully defending last season's win at Circuit of the Americas. In doing so he became NASCAR's first repeat winner at the road course. This week the series stays in Texas with a visit to Texas Motor Speedway where Stewart Friesen took the checkered flag in 2022. The quick oval has produced 26 different winners from 48 visits with seven of those winners coming from pole position. Friesen and Matt Crafton are the only two previous Texas winners entered this weekend. Zane Smith sits atop the championship standings with a two-point gap back to Tyler Ankrum, who is seeking his first win of 2023. There is still a long way to go this season, but the pace is picking up with this week's race being the third in as many weeks. Teams and drivers will want to stamp their entry in the playoff picture with a victory as soon as possible.
Key Stats at Texas Motor Speedway
- Number of races: 48
- Winners from pole: 7
- Winners from top-five starters: 28
- Winners from top-10 starters: 40
- Winners from 21st or lower starters: 2
- Fastest race: 158.002 mph
Previous 10 Texas Winners
2022 - Stewart Friesen
2021 - John Hunter Nemechek
2020 fall - Sheldon Creed
2020 spring - Kyle Busch
2019 fall - Greg Biffle
2019 spring - Kyle Busch
2018 fall - Justin Haley
2018 spring - Johnny Sauter
2017 fall - Johnny Sauter
2017 spring - Christopher Bell
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams know Texas Motor Speedway well. The track hosted two series races a year for much of its tenure, but moved to a single visit per season back in 2021. Like with many 1.5-mile ovals, fantasy players should expect track position to be a major factor in the outcome. The track's unique feature is its lower banking through turns 1 and 2. Teams need to adjust their setups to enable drivers to navigate that end of the track and carry as much momentum down the back straight as possible. More passing lanes are available in turns 3 and 4, but that doesn't mean passes can't happen on the other side. A truck that can carry speed, potentially even in different lines, could gap the field quickly if there are long green-flag segments. Drivers will also seek clean air in order to dictate the race from the front. In order to gain that positive track position there could be some pit strategies designed to give drivers less traffic to navigate under green. Late restarts and untimely cautions could also shake up the order as teams plan pit stops. Typically, the winner comes from the top starting positions. Texas has only produced eight race winners from outside of the top 10 starting positions, and no one has won at the track starting lower than sixth since Christopher Bell started 21st and won in 2017.
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DraftKings Value Picks for the Speedycash.com 250 (Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap)
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Zane Smith - $10,900
Ty Majeski - $10,700
Corey Heim - $10,400
Ben Rhodes - $10,200
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
Stewart Friesen - $9,900
Grant Enfinger - $9,700
Carson Hocevar - $9,500
Nick Sanchez - $9,300
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Matt Crafton - $9,000
Matt DiBenedetto - $8,800
Tyler Ankrum - $8,700
Chase Purdy - $8,500
DraftKings Long-Shot Values
Rajah Caruth - $7,800
Colby Howard - $7,400
Hailie Deegan - $6,800
Chad Chastain - $5,800
NASCAR DFS Picks for the Speedycash.com 250
Christian Eckes - $10,100
Stewart Friesen - $9,900
Tyler Ankrum - $8,700
Rajah Caruth - $7,800
Ryan Vargas - $7,300
Kris Wright - $6,200
Christian Eckes already has a win on a 1.5-mile oval in 2023 and Saturday's race at Texas should be a good chance for him to join Zane Smith with multiple wins on the year. Eckes has three prior Texas starts and two of them ended in runner-up finishes. He led at least 40 laps in each of those races and will be aiming to finish one spot higher there this week. This season hasn't started as brightly for Stewart Friesen and Saturday's Texas stop could be his chance to turn that around. He led 60 laps and won this race last season and has four total top-fives at the track from 10 starts. His 14th-place finish last week was his second top-15 of the season as he works to return to the top 10. Last week's fourth-place finish should be a boost to Tyler Ankrum. That was his second top-10 of the season and leaves him seventh in the standings. This week's race will be Ankrum's seventh at the track and he is seeking a fifth top-10 from those races. Aside from last year's race, when he was forced to retire due to overheating, his worst finish is 16th.
Rajah Caruth is making an impact in his full-time move to the Truck Series. Sunday's road course race was his first top-15 finish of the year as he climbs the learning curve. That curve will be steep again this week as he makes his first start in any series at this track. He has a lot of potential, though, and has been consistently quick thus far. Turning that pace into top-15 race finishes is the next step on that journey. Ryan Vargas is another driver offering upside to many fantasy players. This will be his second start of the season. In his series debut at Atlanta he delivered an impressive 14th-place finish despite starting 35th. He returns for his second start this week with On Point Motorsports. He has four Xfinity Series starts at the track with a best finish of eighth. Kris Wright completes this week's selections with two prior Texas starts under his belt. He finished 22nd in 2021 and sits 20th in the points with a best finish of 15th at Atlanta.
