martinsville trucks

FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE:  After practice today, a few more names are standing out as budget options in a Kyle Busch lineup.  Raphael Lessard is near minimum price but is running in top notch Kyle Busch Motorsports equipment.  He had good speed in practice.  But it's his first ever Truck series race so I would use him only if he starts pretty far back in the field.  Tyler Ankrum is running in the #17 truck, which has been solid this year with multiple different drivers.

Love the racing at Martinsville.  Here are my thoughts going into the Trucks Series race on Saturday.

• Pay extra close attention to qualifying.  There are going to be nearly 40 trucks that attempt to qualify for only 32 starting spots.  (The entry list is so large because the race is very close to Charlotte meaning travel costs are minimal for the part time teams.)  A significant number of drivers are not even going to make the race.  Don't be that guy (or gal) who mistakenly starts one of them.
• There will be lots of cautions so lots of restarts and short runs.  Kyle Busch loves restarts and short runs.  
• Speaking of which, you can set it and forget it on Kyle Busch.  He's a machine right now and should dominate this race.  With 250 laps, there are a ton of points to be won for fastest laps and laps led.  The last time Kyle raced in the Trucks here (April 2016), he led 123 laps and had 41 fastest laps.  Those were both nearly double the next closest driver.  That race also featured Kyle Larson or the domination by Busch would have been even more one-sided.  I would fade him only in a contrarian third (or deeper) lineup in a tournament.
• Myatt Snider and Austin Hill are very badly under priced at $7,000 and $7,500, respectively.  Snider is running an extra entry for Truck powerhouse ThorSport.  He was full time with them last year and finished 6th and 3rd in the Martinsville races.  Hill stepped up in class this year joining the defending champion team at Hattori Racing.  He's been solid here in the past on a mediocre team (9th last Spring, Top 20 in the last 5) so should be even better with a power house team.
• Corey Roper and Tyler Dippel have both been very solid this year and offer good salary relief options.  They don't have top level equipment, but they are full time rides on decent teams so should finish in front of all the back markers and all or most of the part time teams that make the field.
• Timmy Hill and Austin Theriault are possibilities at near minimum salaries.  Don't expect much, but they might be viable if starting at the back.  I wouldn't use both, but you could use one at near min. price to allow you to get another top level driver to pair with Busch.
• Korbin Forrister and Sheldon Creed are also on my radar.  Creed in particular will be running for GMS, which is probably the top Truck Series team overall.  He's young though and has very little Martinsville experience.
• If you do fade Busch in a contrarian lineup, Johnny Sauter is the guy who has dominated the most recent races without a Cup series driver in the field.  He has won 2 of the last 5 races and finished in the Top 3 in 4 of those races.  Last Fall, he won at Martinsville while leading 148 laps and running 66 fastest laps -- both by far the most in the field.