Overview
For the second straight week, the Xfinity Series takes to a road course. This week they will be on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix road course. The course is a 14-turn 2.44-mile road course with some very interesting characteristics. Here is a detailed breakdown of the course throughout each turn. As we saw with last week’s race, these road courses are incredibly entertaining. The one wrinkle we’ll have to deal with this week is that there will be same-day qualifying. Simply put we don’t know who is starting where at the time of this article being written. “Fun”. Please note that any significant changes pertaining to thoughts I have on any drivers will be posted in the NASCAR discord channel. With all of that being said, let’s get into who I like as far as dominators, mid-range, and value drivers go (naturally we don’t have a take on place differential targets here because we need to wait for qualifying to sort this out). We’ll be looking to take the same approach when building as last week however as there are just 62 laps to play with here.
Most comparable tracks: Any road course
*Note: all pricing is DraftKings focused
Dominators
These are the drivers that we can typically expect to, you guessed it, dominate the race. When we think dominator we are looking for guys that will be in a position to lead a hefty amount of laps as well as be able to turn over fastest laps.
Ty Gibbs ($10,300)
The impressive youngster Gibbs has three wins on the season already, two of which came on road courses. Gibbs found himself in victory lane at the Daytona road course to start the season after starting 15th. He’s also coming off a win last week at Watkins Glen where he also started 15th and dominated leading 43 laps. It’s clear that no matter where Gibbs qualifies that he has a knack for the road courses and can dominate from wherever he starts.
Austin Cindric ($10,500)
At the Xfinity level, Cindric has been a dominant force on road courses totaling four wins and 14 top fives in his 18 races. He’s led 288 of 1075 laps including a fifth-place finish with 21 laps led at the Indy G.P. last year. Cindric has three top 10’s on road courses this season alone and continues to be one of the better road-course racers in the series.
Also consider: A.J. Allmendinger ($10,400)
Mid-range Drivers
Brandon Jones ($8,800)
Jones has been very strong on the road courses regardless of where he’s qualified. At Daytona he started 39th and finished fourth, Mid-Ohio started seventh and finished fourth, and last week at Watkins Glen he started 21st and finished sixth. The worry with Jones is always whether or not he can stay out of trouble and keep the car clean. If he can do that, he can be a mid-range gem on Saturday.
Preston Pardus ($7,900)
Pardus has a 16th place and 14th place finish on road courses this season. He posted two top 10’s last season including a 10th place finish on the Indy G.P. course. Last week he was able to gain 12 spots from his starting position. Depending on where he qualifies Saturday, Pardus can be a big mid-range difference-maker.
Also consider: Andy Lally ($8,300), Jeb Burton ($7,700), Alex Labbe ($7,200)
Value Drivers
Stephen Leicht ($4,700)
Leicht always runs the road courses and typically is a value option considering that he runs a solid race and keeps the car clean. Last year at the Indy G.P. he finished 21st after starting 28th. Considering that he won’t be expected to qualify well and that he’s just $4,700 he should be one of the more popular value options.
Josh Williams ($4,900)
In his four road course races this season, Williams has finished in the top 20 every time including a 10th place finish at Mid-Ohio. He finished 22nd at Indy last season and a finish in that area could be expected again provided that he stays out of trouble.
Also consider: Jade Buford ($6,400)
*Be sure to check the NASCAR discord channel for any updates.
GOOD LUCK!!