Overview
For the first time since March 4th, the Camping World Trucks hit the track, this time at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 1.54-mile quad-oval features 28 degrees of banking in the turns and 5 degrees on the straightaways. The Trucks have been racing here since 2004 and this race for years was the week after the initial Daytona race weekend. The drivers will turn 135 laps accumulating 208 miles on this reconfigured speedway. In 2021 NASCAR announced that the track would be reprofiled for the 2022 season, which has been completed to have the aforementioned 28 degrees of banking and would be narrowed from 55 to 40 feet which the track claims will turn racing at the track similar to restrictor-plate superspeedways. This will be the first race weekend since the makeover and if those characteristics are accurate, we could see more drafting than we are accustomed to seeing at Atlanta.
Strategy
If the characteristics remain true to the description with the new track configuration, we should see a lot of drafting/pack racing which we are accustomed to seeing at Daytona and Talladega. Considering that the majority of the drivers at this level are inexperienced and, let’s say aggressive, that could cause some mishaps and in turn, let’s not sugarcoat this, make this race a wreck-fest. Of course, we won’t really know if that’s the case until these drivers start turning laps but my sense is that it will be beneficial to follow the superspeedway strategy and look for drivers being scored from the back, especially since there aren’t a ton of dominator points available within the 135 laps.
Most comparable tracks: *Keep in mind that these tracks had similar characteristics prior to the reconfiguration: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway
*Note: all pricing is DraftKings focused
Top Drivers
Ross Chastain ($10,700), Starting 36th
Chastain is making a guest appearance in the Trucks Series but he’s no stranger to wheeling around the track in a truck having run four races last season, nine in 2020, and a full-time schedule in 2019. One of his four races last season was here at Atlanta where he started 40th and finished seventh. Chastain will be in the 41 truck, a Niece Motorsports truck which is obviously an organization he’s very familiar with. Starting as far back as he is at a reasonable price, Chastain should be a staple for any cash games.
Zane Smith ($9,600), Starting 25th
Like Chastain, Smith is a driver with a ton of place differential upside and he’s finished in the top two in both races this season. In his first season with Front Row Motorsports taking over the 38 truck, Smith has had much better luck early on this year than last. His salary is the lowest it’s been this season and it makes no sense at all. He should grab a ton of ownership.
Corey Heim ($8,500), Starting 19th
Marietta, Georgia native Corey Heim makes his second start of the season in the Kyle Busch 51 truck. His first appearance didn’t end like he’d hoped after wrecking out at Daytona. Heim has some experience in the Truck Series running three races last season in this truck including an 11th place finish at Martinsville. Heim spends the majority of his time racing in the ARCA Series where he won the Daytona race this year and six races last season competing with talented drivers such as Ty Gibbs, Drew Dollar, and Thad Moffit among others so he’s no stranger to competition. He’ll roll of 19th in high-level equipment with an opportunity to make his way to the front and have a good run.
Chandler Smith ($10,400), Starting on the Pole
Riding high off of the momentum from last week’s win, Smith slots in on the pole for this race, a race in which the front two drivers last year led a combined 123 laps, and both we’re driving Kyle Busch Motorsports trucks (Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek). Smith, who drives the number 18 truck for KBM is obviously in good equipment and has a ton of talent to be able to lead a good chunk of this race. There’s a bit of risk here as he’ll need to be the dominant drivers (pun intended) to pay off his salary but his ownership will be low.
Timmy Hill ($6,100), Starting 23rd
Hill is a solid value option starting 23rd with an average finish of 17th through two races. Hill ran this truck to three top 10 finishes last season and should be considered as a solid value play among a ton of intriguing high-priced drivers.
Jesse Little ($5,300), Starting 34th
XFINITY Series regular Jesse Little will be running the 02 truck for Young’s Motorsports for the second time this season after driving the truck to a sixth-place finish at Daytona. Over the last couple of years drivers have taken turns wheeling this truck but in 2021 Kris Wright drove it in 16 races posting an average finish of 26th, keep in mind that there were four DNFs of those 16; three crashes, and one engine failure. Otherwise, this truck has done a good job of holding up throughout that span including Wright guiding it to 12th, 13th, and 16th place finish in that season.
Also Consider:
John Hunter Nemechek ($11,000), Starting 12th
Spencer Boyd ($6,600), Starting 30th
Ben Rhodes ($10,000), Starting 15th
Lawless Alan ($6,000), Starting 24th
GOOD LUCK!!