John H. Nemechek Could Gain Positions at Iowa, but Not a Top-Tier DFS Option

John Hunter Nemechek started 34th and finished 26th at Iowa last year for a Legacy Motor Club team that has badly struggled on short tracks. He did win here once in the then-Camping World Truck Series in 2017 and led 35 laps in year's Xfinity Series race before a late race crash here, so he's […]

Erik Jones Will Probably Gain Positions, but Not Enough to be Viable for DFS

Erik Jones started, finished, and had an average running position of 32nd as well as his second-worst driver of the rating last year at Iowa, but he was still struggling to recover from his injury at Talladega, so it's hard to tell what that means for this year when he's been significantly faster although still […]

Slower Cars Will Likely Render Noah Gragson Uncompetitive at Iowa

Noah Gragson started 23rd and finished 16th in last year's inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa, but he was driving for Stewart-Haas Racing last year and is now driving for Front Row Motorsports, which has much slower cars. As a result, Gragson qualified significantly worse and will be starting 31st this time. In his […]

Despite Decent Qualifying, Cole Custer Likely Won't Contend at Iowa

Cole Custer has never competed at Iowa Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series since the Cup Series race was not added to the schedule until last year when he was a full-time Xfinity Series driver. However, the fact that had Custer spent more time in the Xfinity Series than many of his peers means he […]

Ryan Preece Finishes Fourth but Loses Ground to Playoff Cutline

Yesterday's Brickyard 400 was a mixed blessing for Ryan Preece as his fourth-place finish was his best since Las Vegas 17 races ago and his 12 laps led were his most since Phoenix the race before, but because Bubba Wallace, the driver he was chasing for the final playoff transfer spot, won the race Preece's […]

Brad Keselowski Has Good Strategy, but Not Enough to Win

In a Brickyard 400 that was pretty much just a strategy roulette, Brad Keselowski attempted to make up for his painful near miss last year and almost succeeded as the No. 6 team's typical decision to stay out later than other drivers on the race's final green-flag pit sequence reaped great dividends when the race […]

Ryan Blaney Bails from Hail Mary Strategy Attempt but Recovers to Finish Seventh

In a race where none of the Team Penske drivers qualified particularly well, Penske tried some wild strategies to gain track position as Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, and Josh Berry stayed out of the pits during the Brickyard 400's first caution yesterday although Ryan Blaney did not. Blaney's team had something else up his sleeve […]

Tyler Reddick Eliminated from Brickyard 400 in Crash After Top Five Run

Although Tyler Reddick entered yesterday's Brickyard 400 as probably the favorite on paper, his teammate Bubba Wallace ultimately won the race. Reddick ran well throughout the event, starting fourth and driving quickly up to second, but in keeping with the rest of this season, he had a high average running position while rarely leading. Although […]

Toyota Qualifying Dominance Suggests Tyler Reddick is a Strong Contender to Win at Indy

After losing the semifinal round of the In-Season Challenge to Ty Gibbs last week, Reddick is now more free to take risks to fight for wins than he was before being eliminated from the tournament. Although he hasn't won a race to lock himself in the playoffs yet and has contended for wins a lot […]

Ty Gibbs Stands Poised to Win In-Season Challenge

Ty Gibbs looks to both win NASCAR's In-Season Challenge against Ty Dillon today and make up ground in the playoff race as he sits only 52 points behind Bubba Wallace for the last playoff spot. The first mission should be easier as Gibbs is much more talented than Dillon, not to mention the fact that […]

Ross Chastain Likely to Slice Through Brickyard Field, but Might Not Be the Best DFS Option

As usual, Ross Chastain qualified poorly for today's Brickyard 400, where he starts 33rd while both his teammates, the lame duck Daniel Suárez and rookie Shane van Gisbergen surprisingly outqualified him. Since Chastain's racecraft has improved and he crashes much less than he used to, he's definitely a strong choice for DFS Place Differential points. […]

Chris Buescher's Recent History of Fading After Strong Qualifying Runs Makes Him a Poor DFS Option

After years of tending to qualify poorly and moving up through the field as other drivers made mistakes, Buescher has substantially improved in qualifying this year but it seems to have come at the expense of his race speed. Buescher usually tends to outqualify his teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski, but Preece is typically […]

Kyle Busch Unlikely to Recapture His Brickyard Dominance From a Decade Ago

Kyle Busch used to be something of a master at the Brickyard 400 with back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016, three straight poles from 2016-2018, and the most laps led in any Brickyard in 2016. However, at Richard Childress Racing, he has increasingly struggled at many of the tracks where he used to dominate and […]

Josh Berry Hard to Predict Since He Crashed in His Only Other Brickyard Start

Josh Berry was the most crash-prone driver in his 2024 rookie season, and last year's Brickyard 400 was no exception as he finished 35th and his average running position of 29th was far below his usual standard for last year. Obviously, he has improved to some extent this year after switching from Stewart-Haas Racing to […]

Austin Cindric Slightly Faster in Brickyard Qualifying, but Likely Won't Do Much

Although Austin Cindric had consistent speed on the superspeedways early this season (even the non-drafting ones), he has faded to his typical mediocrity in recent weeks and the onetime road race ace tumbled from 15th to 20th after back-to-back poor finishes at Chicago and Sonoma. Cindric has gotten his qualifying mojo back to some extent […]

Daniel Suarez Likely Needs Strategy or Attrition to Contend

Although Daniel Suárez finished eighth in last year's Brickyard 400, he only had an average running position of 21st so he wasn't very fast and only finished well because of the large numbers that crashed last year. With Connor Zilisch, yesterday's Xfinity Series winner at Indianapolis, expected to take over Suárez's No. 99 car next […]

Lack of Speed Will Likely Sink Austin Dillon at Indianapolis

As he does at many tracks, Austin Dillon has a very mediocre record at Indianapolis, but he has been good at keeping his nose clean and getting slightly above average finishes despite never contending. After finishing 13th last year in his first Indy race with the new NextGen car, Dillon starts 20th today, his worst […]

Michael McDowell Sneakily Consistent in Brickyard 400

Michael McDowell starts 22nd in today's Brickyard 400. McDowell has actually been more consistent here than you might expect sa he has finished no worse than 18th on the oval since 2016, not to mention his win in the last race on the infield road course in 2023. His previous five starts all ame for […]

Noah Gragson Likely to Finish Worse Than He Starts at Indy

Noah Gragson was one of the most significant beneficiaries of the heavy attrition due to numerous crashes in Stage 3 of his first Brickyard 400 last year. Although Gragson started 21st and only had an average running position of 16th, he ended up finishing 9th after several cars ahead of him crashed out. There likely […]

Ty Dillon Will Probably Lose In-Season Challenge Finals

It's an all-Ty showdown in today's final round of NASCAR's laughably unfair In-Season Tournament. This tournament has been an excellent example of the perils of consistency in evaluating race performance as Dillon's first two opponents crashed out and then he pulled a bump and run on Alex Bowman at Sonoma, who had outrun him all […]

Justin Haley Unlikely to Gain Enough Positions for DFS Play

In Justin Haley's first Brickyard 400 last year, he drove from 35th to 20th much like his then-teammate Cody Ware mainly because a lot of other drivers crashed probably because none of the drivers had past experience with the Next Gen car at Indianapolis. Although Haley has moved to Spire Motorsports, which is traditionally faster […]

Likely Lack of Attrition Will Spoil Cody Ware's Chances at a Decent Finish

Cody Ware has only started one previous Brickyard 400 last year when he started 36th and finished 18th, but don't expect him to repeat the feat in today's race, even though his 34th place starting position is a little better this time. Not only did he receive two separate free passes, he significantly benefited from […]

Chase Briscoe Makes Gallant Charge on Fresh Tires to Finish Second at Dover

Chase Briscoe had a run reminiscent of vintage Ryan Newman in the 2000s at Dover, where he started second after being awarded a second-place starting position after qualifying was canceled before slowly fading to the back and reemerging late, finishing right where he started. Although he rarely fell outside the top ten, he spent most […]

Ty Gibbs Upsets Tyler Reddick to Advance to In-Season Challenge Finals

Ty Gibbs had a successful run at Dover, upsetting Tyler Reddick to advance to the finals of the In-Season Challenge, where he will face Ty Dillon. The Hendrick Motorsports cars and Joe Gibbs Racing cars were substantially faster than those for any other team in this race and Gibbs therefore had a strong run, while […]

Two Unforced Spins Cost Christopher Bell a Chance at Victory

Christopher Bell had the most topsy-turvy race of any driver at Dover on Sunday. In a race where the Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing cars dominated, Bell first took the lead when he beat Chase Elliott out of the pits on a green-flag pit cycle then passed his teammate, eventual winner Denny Hamlin, for […]

Ty Dillon Shockingly Reaches In-Season Challenge Championship

Ty Dillon improbably advanced to the final of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge in Sunday's race at Dover after beating his opponent John Hunter Nemechek by a single position. The duo ran near each other nearly all race, with Dillon posting an average running position of 25th to Nemechek's 26th. They ultimately finished 20th and 21st. […]

William Byron One of the Dover Favorites Despite Shaky Finishing Record

William Byron has never won at Dover before, as his best finishes here have been a trio of fourth-place showings. However, he has also not lacked for speed, as he has led 250 laps in the last four races, including 229 in the last two. In the 2023 race, he made the first two passes […]

Tyler Reddick Looks to Win Back Lost Charter Money for 23XI Racing

Although 23XI Racing stands to lose a lot of money from the revocation of their charter, they could easily make some of it back if Tyler Reddick wins NASCAR's $1,000,000 In-Season Challenge, and he's certainly the favorite since he's the only likely playoff-bound driver remaining in the Final Four. However, despite being the only driver […]

Ty Gibbs Looks to Upset Tyler Reddick in Bracket and Gain Ground in Playoff Race

After back-to-back top-10 finishes on road/street courses at Chicago and Sonoma, Ty Gibbs is now somewhat alive to point his way into the NASCAR playoffs and he has also made the semifinal of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge, where he will face Tyler Reddick. Although Gibbs is nowhere near as good on any other track type as […]

Joey Logano a Risky DFS Option

Dover has been one of Joey Logano's worst tracks throughout his career as he has never finished better than third and he has only ever led 41 laps here. One thing that can be said for him here is that he usually gets a finish, but he isn't a great option for DFS play today […]