This article is part of our NASCAR DFS series.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship
Location: Avondale, Ariz.
Course: Phoenix Raceway
Format: 1.0-mile oval
Laps: 150
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race Preview
The 2024 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship comes down to this week's 150-mile race at Phoenix Raceway. Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, and Corey Heim will battle it out on the oblong 1.0-mile oval in the desert to hoist the championship trophy. Stage points do not matter to those drivers this week because whoever finishes the best in the race will be crowned the 2024 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion. Ben Rhodes got the job done last year with a fifth-place finish, but it may take more than that this time. The four championship contenders have a combined 14 race wins between them this season, nearly two-thirds of the total races run. Corey Heim has the most victories of the bunch with six, but Christian Eckes will be feeling confident having won at Phoenix last season. The big prize is within reach for those four competitors this week and now is the moment that each will have to be at their best in order to grab it.
Key Stats at Phoenix Raceway
- Number of races: 33
- Winners from pole: 8
- Winners from top-5 starters: 24
- Winners from top-10 starters: 31
- Winners from 21st or lower starters: 0
- Fastest race: 108.014 mph
Previous 10 Phoenix Winners
2023 - Christian Eckes
2022 - Zane Smith
2021 - Chandler Smith
2020 - Sheldon Creed
2019 - Stewart Friesen
2018 - Brett Moffitt
2017 - Johnny Sauter
2016 - Daniel Suarez
2015 - Timothy Peters
2014 - Erik Jones
Phoenix Raceway's flat 1.0-mile oval has played host to NASCAR's championship weekend since 2020. This week's Truck race will be the 34th time the series has race on the desert oval, too. Teams are very familiar with this track and know that mechanical grip and track position can be the keys to victory. Those two factors place extra emphasis on getting the most out of each set of tires and qualifying well. No driver at this track in this series has started further back than 16th and still won, and that was the first series race at the track in 1995. No one has started lower than 11th and won since then either. The track's flat layout and wide racing surface offer room for many creative lines, especially on restarts, but being at the front to begin with is the preference. With track position being an important factor, teams may gamble on pit and tire strategy to gain spots depending on how rapidly tires wear through a fuel run. Like Martinsville, it can be an advantage at Phoenix to be on fresher tires later than the race as long as too much time isn't lost prior to that. The cleanest way to a top finish is qualifying at the front and staying there, though.
RotoWire NASCAR DFS Trucks Tools
DraftKings Value Picks for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship (Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap)
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Christian Eckes - $10,900
Corey Heim - $10,600
Ty Majeski - $10,300
Grant Enfinger - $10,000
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
Nick Sanchez - $9,700
Layne Riggs - $9,500
Ben Rhodes - $9,200
Taylor Gray - $9,000
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Tyler Ankrum - $8,800
Rajah Caruth - $8,500
Matt Crafton - $8,200
Stewart Friesen - $8,000
DraftKings Long-Shot Values
Connor Mosack - $7,700
William Sawalich - $7,600
Chase Purdy - $7,200
Daniel Dye - $6,900
NASCAR DFS Picks for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship
Corey Heim - $10,600
Layne Riggs - $9,500
Matt Crafton - $8,200
Kaden Honeycutt - $7,500
Chase Purdy - $7,200
Daniel Dye - $6,900
With six victories this season, two more than any other driver, Corey Heim would be a worthy series champion. He enters the championship finale with just one finish outside of the top 10 in the last six. His last victory was at Kansas, and this will be his third Phoenix start. His best finish at the track was seventh in 2022. However, he started last year's race from the pole, won the second stage, and led 47 laps before contact ruined his chances for the win. With championship race experience under his belt, Heim might be tough to beat this time. While Layne Riggs didn't make the playoffs, he does have a chance to finish the season as best of the rest. He claimed two wins this season and enters the final race with a 22-point advantage over Stewart Friesen in 11th. Riggs started on the front row in the 2022 edition of this race and has been very competitive at other flat ovals like Phoenix this season. Riggs finished 13th in that only prior Phoenix start. Veteran Matt Crafton also missed the playoffs, but has been finding regular top-15 finishes as the season has drawn to its close. Despite starting 28th, Crafton finished 11th in this race last season, too. He has 12 top-10 finishes from 23 starts at the track and hasn't finished outside of the top 15 there since 2017.
Kaden Honeycutt and Chase Purdy both finished in the top 10 at this race last year. Honeycutt started that day 27th but finished eighth while Purdy started and finished in the top five. Last year's finish was Honeycutt's second top-10 from as many Phoenix starts. Purdy has more Phoenix experience with an average finish of 12.8 from four prior starts. His third-place finish last year was his best, but both of these drivers deserve a look from fantasy players this week. Daniel Dye also deserves to be in the conversation. Friday's race will be Dye's second series race at Phoenix. He crashed out of last year's race, but with two top-10s from the last five races, Dye has some momentum heading into the weekend. This will be his last before moving to the Xfinity Series full time in 2025, and he will hope to close out his time in the series with another top result.
