Las Vegas Trucks

Late Update:​ Seeing Tyler Hill now scored from 26th starting spot. Solid play there as well.

200 laps of Friday night racing from Las Vegas for the Trucks Series this week. I think pricing is a little soft this week and it will allow us to roster three of my top four options along with some pretty decent salary saver plays. Here's who I'm focused on:

• Austin Hill -- Love, love, love Austin Hill at the 1.5 mile tracks. The #16 team just seems to have the best, most consistent set ups at these tracks. Hill won the last Trucks Series race here without Kyle Busch in the field (last Fall), scoring 78 DK points. I wouldn't be at all surprised if a repeat performance is in order. He adds in a + position difference potential this week, starting 11th.
• Brett Moffitt -- Starts from the pole and should lead early on in this race. Brett has had a really strong truck the last month or so and is back to leading laps and running fastest laps -- which is what we expect from this team. Hill is a little bit safer with his starting spot, but Moffitt has tremendous upside because he is most likely to lead the most laps and run a bunch of fastest laps up front.
• Zane Smith -- Great speed all year. He, too, has been leading laps and running fastest laps at the most recent 1.5 mile track races. Starting 7th, and I feel real good about his chances to finish in the Top 5 and throw in some fastest laps and possibly even laps led.
• Christian Eckes -- It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Eckes lead this race. The KBM trucks are always very fast here and Eckes himself has run well the past few races here. And, this #18 truck has finished 2nd in two of the last three races at 1.5 mile tracks this season. I think Hill, Moffitt and Smith will be heavily owned so, if you want a lower owned play with nearly equal upside, Eckes is a good choice.

Here's what I have on the salary saver side:

• Chase Purdy -- This pricing is way off. This is the same #24 truck that won the race last week with Sam Meyer behind the wheel. Purdy doesn't appear to have that type of talent, but this is easily Top 10 equipment and Purdy should be able to gain 2-3 spots at a minimum from his 17th starting spot. He's already run three races at the 1.5 mile tracks, finishing 15th and 10th in his last two efforts.
• Austin Wayne Self -- He can be very erratic and prone to craziness, which is something we usually want to avoid. He's on the radar this week because he's relatively cheap and he usually does OK at the 1.5 mile tracks. In fact, he's finished in the Top 18 in the last five Las Vegas races. And, in eight races this year at the 1.5 mile tracks, he's finished in the Top 20 seven times. He starts 26th, which brings some level of safety in that it won't kill you if it goes bad and some level of upside if he does finish in the Top 18.
• Jesse Iwuji -- It looks like this #33 truck has sponsorship and I don't think Jesse would be coming here to park the thing. So I think he tries to run the full length and, if he does, he should gain 4-5 spots and finish with a pretty solid day.
• Ray Ciccarelli -- Not going to be fast, but he starts 35th and can't really go backwards. He should finish above other weak trucks (like J.J. Cobb) and those who retire early. I'd say something in the 28th-30th range, but that's plenty good at his $5k salary.