Latest / Daily Fantasy Sports by Ship It Nation / NASCAR DFS Xfinity 500, 2026 | DraftKings Drivers, Dominators & Place Differential

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NASCAR DFS Xfinity 500, 2026 | DraftKings Drivers, Dominators & Place Differential · Daily Fantasy Sports by Ship It Nation

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: All systems go. Clear your liftoff. Good morning and welcome
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to this weekend's NASCAR Quick Hit here for ShipFit Nation.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I am Eric, also known as The Game on Discord,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and this morning we will be discussing the penultimate race
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Xfinity 500 taking
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: place at the home of the famous Martinsville Hot Dog
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and of course its paper ship clipped racetrack, Martinsville Speedway.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: But before We go ahead and discuss the Xfinity 500
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: at Martinsville Speedway. Let me, of course, mention us. And
• 1:16
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• 3:42
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• 3:45
  Speaker 1: built some MMA lineups yesterday and just hopped in while
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: we were out doing some pre-trick-or-treating prep. Popped on the website,
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• 4:12
  Speaker 1: like that. ShipItNation.com. Once again, we are talking about the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The penultimate, second to last,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: race of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. And first and foremost,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: there are 500 laps around the Fane paperclip. which equals
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: out to roughly 350 dominator points up for grabs, and
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: we will absolutely want to target those numbers. Why? Dominator
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: points matter as the laps get higher. So 500 laps
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: is the most we have in NASCAR. No, we don't
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: have 600 miles for the Coke 600. 500 laps, I believe,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: is the most laps we have in a NASCAR race period.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: We want those dominator points. I'm recommending at least two.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: potential dominators per lineup. Let me go ahead and pull
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: up the NASCAR stoned version of the stoned. And the
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: stoned version is just the ownership and projections blocked out.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I also blocked out the odds this morning, and I
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: don't know why. Truthfully, folks, no real surprises. The major points...
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Hold on. I'm having some hat and headphone difficulties here.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: The major points I want to touch on are a
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: few things. One is the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Points Battle.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: And why am I talking about that as far as
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: DFS is concerned? Well, it kind of plays into this,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: in my opinion. For all seriousness, this points battle is
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: fairly done. Kyle Larson, unless something ridiculously awful happens today
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: and he finishes like dead last, will be your 2026
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: NASCAR Cup Series champion. I believe he has like a
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: 77 point. Hold on. I can look at this real quickly.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I have the power of the internet in front of me.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? He has a 73 point
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: lead over Denny Hamlin, and he needs a 77 point
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: lead to lock this up. So if he scores four
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: more points than Denny Hamlin today, assuming in a perfect world,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: He wins this title. I think I read if he
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: scores like 54 points, regardless of whatever happens today. Excuse me.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: He locks up this championship. Why does that matter to us? Well,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: because his closest competitor is Denny Hamlin in second place. Technically,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Christopher Bell is there as well in third place. Denny
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Hamlin is amazing at Martinsville, amazing. You'll see there in
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the stone, he has A pluses for track rank and
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: track type rank. That means he's great here at Martinsville,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: and he's great at tracks this year that are similar
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to Martinsville. Now, there aren't many flat paperclips around the circuit.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: In fact, there's just one. It's Martinsville, but short flat
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: tracks that use the same tire type situation, Denny has
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: crushed at this season. Denny absolutely positively needs a smash
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: day to day. He needs, A, something to happen to Larson, which,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: if you look at practice, doesn't look the best, but
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: he's still qualified third, right? Danny Hamlin needs to, A,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: have something happen to Larson. Terrible day, bad finish, wreck, whatever.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: He needs Larson to shit the bed today. But he
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: also needs to... have a maximum points day today. He
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: needs to score as many points as possible. That includes
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: leading laps and includes winning stages. Okay. Danny Hamlin needs
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to dominate this race today. That's why when you go
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: look at the stone and you go look at Saber Sim,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: you'll see how disgusting his projected ownership is. It's kind
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of gross. He's at like plus 220 on the Vegas odds,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I think, and projected over 80%. It's disgusting. I hate it. However,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: When you pair the fact that how good he is
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: at Martinsville and you pair that with the fact that
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: he absolutely positively needs to have a smash day today,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to ignore. It's really, really like
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: if this was, you know, like Watkins Glen and it
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: was this situation, this wouldn't even be a talking point.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: But it's Martinsville. He's on the pole. By far the, the,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: the leader of the, the pole sitter by far has
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the best pit stop. It's not as an advantage as
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: it is in Phoenix, but it is still pretty damn
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: big advantage of Martinsville. Clean air is King. We know
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: he has speed and you can't tell me that his
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: teammates are going to be beaten down the door to
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: get past him. If that situation arrives, right? So in
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: my opinion, At least as far as stage one goes,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: this is Denny Hamlin's stage one to lose. I think
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Denny Hamlin by far needs to lead over half of
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: this race. He needs to win each stage to have
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: any possible chance of winning this point championship. So pair
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: that with the fact how good he is here. That's
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: why he is far and away my favorite dominator pick
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: of the day. Ryan Blaney. is the only driver who
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: has A-pluses across all three power rankings. He's also fantastic
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: at Martinsville. I think he has two wins since 2023,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and he starts 13th. So he gives you some PD
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: upside as well as some dominating, obviously dominating upside with
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: fast laps and stuff going up through the field. I
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: love the idea of pairing Denny and Blaney together. You
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: get your leader, your odds-on favorite to win as far
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: as the Vegas books, you get the second favorite to
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: win in Blaney, and you get some PD upside. They
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: are very expensive, and a lot of people will do that.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: That's going to be a very popular play. There's no
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: sugarcoating that. That's a very popular, obvious play. I will
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: probably have At least 40% of my lineups that way,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: if not more, starting with those two guys, probably more. Well,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I haven't run anything yet, but probably more. So I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: think Denny and Blaney are by far and away your
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: favorite and top-dominant options today. But you can't sleep on Gibbs, Logano,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: and old Chase Elliott. Chase Elliott has been fantastic here
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: over the last five races. Way better than I thought
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: he's been when I looked at the driver averages this morning.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: If something happens to Denny in the beginning and he
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: muffs the start, old Ty Gibbs is in the catbird seat.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: And for a lot of the practice rankings, Ty Gibbs
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: ranked better than Denny Hamlin. So, you know, however, what
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: sucks for Ty Gibbs is he started on the outside
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: and that has been hard to get down to the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: bottom of the racetrack where there will want to be
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: when this race starts. So. if, if Denny stumbles the start,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I would not be surprised to see Ty take advantage,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: but it could be one of those things where you
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: play Ty Gibbs in hopes that something happens to Denny, right? Uh,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Lugano has been, uh, it's amazing at the beginning of
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the season, myself included, mind you, myself included, uh, kind
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: of wrote Lugano off, kind of wrote him off. And then, uh, Boy, howdy,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: did he spring to life. He's been great at the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: short flats. I think he won Bristol, and I think
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: he won Wilkes-Barre off the top of my head. I
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: think he finished third at Martinsville in the March. I
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: know he had a bad stretch of races leading up
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: to Martinsville in the springtime, and then Martinsville kind of
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: brought him out of that funk. So don't sleep on Logano.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Hamlin and Blaney are by far my favorite, but Gibbs
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and Logano shouldn't be slept on, and neither should Chase Elliott.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Chase Elliott starting ninth. I should be looking at the
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: stone on my monitor and not on the stream yard.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Elliott starting ninth. I want to say his worst finish
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: in the last five races here at Martinsville is like
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: a fourth. His worst finish worst is a fourth. Like
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that surprised me because I know he's kind of been
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: ho-hum all season, right? But when you see that kind
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: of stat And you have ownership huge like, you know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Hamlin has. You know, you need to get different somewhere. And,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you know, some of your lineups, right? So, hey, Chase Elliott,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: worst finish of fourth here in the past five races.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Should not be slept on. Anyway, back to practice. No
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: real surprises of practice. They had an hour of practice.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: It was great. It was great. A lot of teams
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: ran over 100 laps. We only have the averages for
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: 30 of them. Maybe for next season, I'll see if
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I can somehow... Not somehow. I know I can get
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: said data. If I could pull all the data and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: incorporate that in the Stone 2.0. So that way, if
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: you want to look at the, you know, like the
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: 85 lap average or however many people ran that many laps, whatever,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: you're able to do that. You're not locked into just
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: this 30. But yeah, it was glorious, glorious, glorious practice yesterday.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I kind of felt like old school NASCAR with just,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: you know, everyone out there at one time. It just
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: it was great. Great. Thank God they got rid of
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: that stupid group practice stuff. Nothing really exciting to report, though.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: No accidents, no rubs, no nothing. Right. No, no, no
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: dramas to be found in practice. So practice data, specifically
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the long lap, 30 lap average is what I will
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: be using to help me craft my lineups today. So
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I think that's all I have for practice qualifying and
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: just general information. So let's go ahead and break down
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: this slate. Because once I said, once I said earlier,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: this is the penultimate slate of the season. Second to
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: last race of the NASCAR Cup Series. Second to last
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: NASCAR video I'm making for the year. I'm not smiling. However,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I am ready for a NASCAR vacation. That's for sure.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Starting on the pole, second in the points is Denny Hamlin.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: We already spent a minute talking about him. Outside pole
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: is Ty Gibbs. I like both of these drivers. Denny
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Hamlin is far and away my favorite play for all
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: of the reasons I said earlier. If he stumbles, don't
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: be surprised if Ty Gibbs takes advantage. Ty Gibbs has
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: really taken a step up in his competition level this season.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: So if something happens to Denny, Do not at all
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: be surprised if Ty Gibbs sets sail. Row two, Kyle
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Larson and Austin Sindrick. Larson, like I mentioned, looked awful
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: in practice, but this race or this championship is practically his.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: He just needs a ho-hum day, and I think he's
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: going to make sure he has that nice, quiet ho-hum day.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I would be stunned if he's up there beating and
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: banging for the lead to lead laps and putting himself
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: in precarious positions just because of his spot currently in
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the championship. but we have seen young money quote unquote
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: step on it before. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: that that happens, but it's a championship, you know, it's
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: a little bit different. Uh, Cendric. Hey, great. He was
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: actually ranked first in long run practice. We already know
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Blaney Lugano and Josh Barry can get it done. Cendric
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: has had a really big uptick recently, so I don't
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: mind taking a shot on Cendric at all, especially the 8,200, uh, Lugano.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: We touched on him. really good at short flats this season.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Finished third here in spring. I wish he wasn't 10.7,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: but when you have a good stretch of races, that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: will happen. Ryan Priest is really good here. Don't sleep
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: on Priest, man. He was good here before Roush Fenway,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Keselowski Racing. He was good here in Stuart Haas. And
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: when you were good here at Stuart Haas, that means
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: you're good here, period. Those Stuart Haas colors were garbage.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: So don't sleep on Priest. Alex Bowman, I have... No interest. Bowman,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: shut me up. Shut me up. Bowman, go win this
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: race today. Shut me up. Shut me up. But I
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: got to be honest with you. I ain't playing you.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: A seventh starting Alex Bowman. No, that's gross. Prove me wrong.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Prove me wrong. I'm not playing you. Willie Byron. I
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: ain't probably going to play you either, Willie B, if
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I'm being honest. He just hasn't had it this season.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Could it be found today? Maybe. I'm not putting my
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: American currency on it, though. Chase Elliott, I will, though. Hey, Chase,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: how are you? He's starting ninth. Josh Berry really struggled
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: to start this season. Got on fire late. Got fired
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: from his ride. Then he went on a run and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: got John Hunter fired from his ride to take over
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the legacy seat next season. Don't be surprised to see
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: another good day for Josh Berry because this is his
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: style of racetrack, and Penske puts good cars on the
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: track here, and that is a Penske car. So don't
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: be surprised to see a good Josh Berry day. Briscoe
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: and Reddick. Briscoe, I love, much like Ryan Priest. Briscoe
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: was good here in Stuart Haas days. And once I
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: said earlier for Priest, if you're good here at Stuart Haas,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: that means you're good here, period, because those cars were trashed.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: yes to, uh, chase Briscoe. I remember my brother and I, uh,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Briscoe lost a race late a couple years ago, next
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: gen era. I knew, I don't, I've been to a
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: lot of races. I don't remember which one it was,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: but he, I, we were in the, in the fancy
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: parking lot getting ready to leave. And we saw Briscoe
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: on the golf cart going to the RV and he
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: looked absolutely devastated, devastated. And I think he was in
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: the Stuart Haas car then. So, Don't sleep on Briscoe.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Reddick looked good here. He's not a short. Actually, no,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: he didn't. He looked real slow in practice, right? Yeah. Yes,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: he did. I'm actually surprised he qualified as good as
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: he did. Red Dog is a no for me. It's
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: hard to believe that he won so many races to
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: start this season. That was a crazy stretch he was on.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Hard to believe. Ryan Blaney. Yep. If Hamlin's my 1A, Blaney,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: you're my 1B, baby. Seabell. Yeah, not a lot of
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: people are talking about Seabell. Good option as well. In fact,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: he's cheaper than Blaney by a lot and had better
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: practice speeds. He doesn't have as great track history as Blaney.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: That's why Blaney gets the nod. But if you're looking
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: for a pivot off of Blaney for whatever reason, maybe
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: give old Seabell a click. Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. Bubba. Yup.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: He didn't look the best in practice, but I'll take
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: those bees and he should be insulated from going a
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: lap down, which we want. Melon man has had looked
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: decent lately. Decent. Maybe I shouldn't even say that, but
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: they were like super slow to start the year. They're
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: still kind of super slow, but they're getting better. They're
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: getting better. I normally don't, report this kind of thing,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: but I'm just looking at my phone and Bob Hockrus
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: tweeted his Martinsville picks for today. And we all know
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: that Bob Hockrus is the GOAT of NASCAR reporters. His pick,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Ty Gibbs with Denny Hamlin second, Kyle Larson third, Christopher
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Bell in fourth. I gotta look at the whole tweet here, Eric.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Top five, Gibbs, Hamlin, Larson, oh, Chastain Bell second, So Willie,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Bob Pockriss' top five prediction for Martinsville. Gibbs, Hamlin, Larson, Chastain, Bell,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: with Sindrick as his long shot. So that remains to
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: be seen. But hey, speaking of Melloman, Ross, Chastain, they
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: need some kind of positivity at the end of season.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: The track house lost Zilich to Hendrick in 2028. Yeah,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: we're in 2026. I got to be honest with you.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised in the offseason if that gets
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: bumped up in a year. Like if that happens next year,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I got to be I'd be very surprised if Bowman's
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: entire is in that race car all season next year.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: But I've been wrong before. Chastain look good in practice,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: look good in practice. He pulled off the hail melon
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: in 2022 to lock himself into the into the playoff
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: race or the championship race. That's such a cool ass move. So, uh,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: positive vibes for Chastain today. Uh, this was, is, uh,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: I'll be playing him. He'll be in the player pool.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: It's hard to ignore. Uh, 7,100 price tag with a
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: B minus track rank and those practice speeds for sure.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Like we're jamming in studs. We need cheap plays. And
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: he's one of them. Uh, Austin Hill looked good in practice. I,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I'm still not going to make the click, uh, open country, uh,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know what happened to him at Talladega last week.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I need to follow up on that. But it seemed
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: like he had a chance to win that race at
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Daga last week. He is a super speedway man, so
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: that's not too surprising. His practice sprees at Martinsville, though,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: a bit surprising. So this could be a play. And
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: he's starting 17th, too. So, look, this race is probably
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: going to be boring with a lot of cars going
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: a lap down. If you can keep as many of
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: your six cars from going a lap down and having
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: a true shot to, you know, win in the end,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: that's key. And Austin Hill starting 17th, that could be
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: a play because I don't think Denny Hamlin is going
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: to lap up to 17th place in stage one. Like
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I would be surprised. Of course, stuff can happen and
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: does happen, but maybe that's a, maybe that's a place
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: to get different. If that practice speeds relates to, uh,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: to on-track race speed on Sunday, uh, Chris Buescher and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Connor Zilich, um, Buescher looked real slow. in long run practice,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: that's a no for me. And that's surprising. I love Buescher.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Buescher's in a great car today, though. Connor Zilich, that's
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a no for me, dog. Austin Dillon, hey, I'll take
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: a shot. Much like old big country Austin Hill, he
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: also looked good in practice. And he ranked like 23rd
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: in my track rankings, I want to say. And hey,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: you rank, you know, middle of the road and you're
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: starting middle of the road. If you could just have
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: a middle of the road day and let other people
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: fall behind you, Sometimes that's all you need for a
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: good day. So we're going to see if that happens
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: with Austin Dillon. Cole Custer. He didn't run long runs,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: but he wasn't slow in his five or ten lap.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: But if we're only focused on long runs, I kind
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: of find it hard to play Cole Custer since we
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: didn't actually see him make one. So he is cheap, though.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Super cheap. Gilliland. Yep. I love Gillie. Gilly ranked number
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: 17 on my track rankings this morning. I put them
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: in letter form with a raw number, but if I
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: just rank the drivers from top to bottom, he ranked 17th,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: which is great for Gilly. Really good, right? He's what? 5,700,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: ranked 17th, and had good practice speed? Yeah. We're jamming
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: in studs. You will need cheap plays, and he's one
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I want. Yep, to Gilly. Brad K, I'll take a chance.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: He's a veteran. He's raced here since the, God, dark ages.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: He had a press conference yesterday that kind of announced nothing.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: He's now a minority owner of RFK, I guess, that
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: will still allow him to race for another team, but
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: no new team driving updates for Kez. So take a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: shot on Kez. I'm not going to go over the
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: moon to get to him, though. Mi amigo, Daniel Suarez.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Have no interest. Sorry, bud. Josevar Spire. It's interesting how
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: this kind of happens with Spire. it seems like they
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: always practice and qualify like in groups, like Suarez didn't
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: look great in practice, but hosts of our, and McDowell
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: looked really good in practice. And then they all qualify 24th,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: 25th and 26th. Suarez probably won't get no love for me.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Michael McDowell has looked really good in practice. I feel
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: like a lot this season and has kind of always
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: shit the bed. So that's probably a no for me.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Host of our has had speed everywhere. This season has changed.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: really become one of the most popular drivers of the sport. Um,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I think I saw that they made 10,000 of his
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Talladega wind car, which is a lot in the year
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: 2026 for a diecast car. Um, however, we can't ignore
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the fact that like 97% of his fellow drivers hate
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the ever loving shit out of him. Right. Uh, and
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: if anybody is in their fields today, uh, It's very
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: easy to take it out on the 77 here at
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Martinsville because it's a half-mile short flat racetrack. It's much
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: easier and safer to slam someone into the wall here
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: at Martinsville than it would be, say, next week at Homestead. So,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: am I predicting that someone is going to snuff Josevar
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: into the fence today? No. Would I be surprised if Josevar...
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: rub somebody the wrong way and then retaliation comes in
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: droves also no so i will be playing host of
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: our but i won't be going uh over the moon
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: with ownership on him just because uh mike mac we
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: touched on riley herbst lame duck um you look good
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: in practice and isn't in toyota so yeah i'll take
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: a shot uh ty dylan no uh shane van gisberg
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: yep he's getting a lot of ownership he's done um
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: He's surprised us a lot this season on ovals. In fact,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: I have him as a cash play. I can't believe
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: I have SVG as a cash play on an oval.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: But here we are in 2026 at the end of
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the season. He's looked good, man. He's looked good. I am.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I'm really optimistic for his oval future. I think he's
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: picked it up a lot faster than I thought he would.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: So I'll take a shot on SVG today. Eric Jones
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: and Noah Gregson, no and no. AJ Allmendinger, no. Zane Smith,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: I'll take a shot. He's not my favorite by far
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: because Gilly, I think, outranks him and outpaces him and
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: is safer than going a lap down. Zane Smith starts 33rd.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Teammate Gilly starts 22nd. So I wouldn't be surprised to
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: see Zane Smith go a lap down, but his 30-lap
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: average was 16th, which is a lot better than those
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: cars around him. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., no. John Hunter Niemicek,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I guess. If you're looking for the deepest player to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: play or to consider playing, it would be John Hunter
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: because I have no interest at all in Balikian Ware.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: But even John Hunter is a lame duck and I
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: don't know, man. It seems like these past couple weeks,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: if he's had a bad situation, it seems like he
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: has no problem calling out, you know, team and car
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: and stuff and I don't know that that doesn't from the,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: from the armchair NASCAR team owner side of me. I don't,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: I don't, I don't like that. So is that, is
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: that mean he's going to have a bad day today
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: or a great day today? No, and no, but his 20,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: 30 lap average did rank 20th and he's starting 35th. So,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: You would think he should be able to pass cars
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: on the long run. But like I said, I'm not
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: going to go over the moon to get access to
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: John Hunter Nemechek just because this is Martinsville. It's a
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: short flat track. Cars should be a lap down at
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the end of stage one. It all depends on, you know,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: like how many cautions fall in stage one, et cetera,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: et cetera. But don't be surprised to see cars a
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: lap down at the end of stage one. How many?
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: That remains to be seen. That's it. For me, for now,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: if you have any questions about the slate at all,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: please feel free to tag me on Discord. We are
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: recording this at 827 on Sunday morning. And as of now,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: no drivers have been sent to the rear. So that
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: could easily happen. I expect the garage to be open soon,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: if not already, because it's a two o'clock race today.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: So if any drivers are announced as going to the rear,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I will as always make sure to tag and alert
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: the channel. Good luck in this pen ultimate NASCAR slate today.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Have yourself a Martinsville style hot dog at home. If
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: you don't know what that is, Google it. It's a
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: whole bunch of stuff on a hot dog. And, and
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: as a hot dog, basic kind of guy who just likes,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: you know, some ketchup. I know that might be taboo
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: to some, even I eat a Martinsville hot dog. So,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Fire up your homemade Martinsville hot dogs. Enjoy the race.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Good luck in all your slates today. I'll of course
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: be in the NFL streets as well. And as always,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: let's ship it.