Riley Herbst Surprisingly Outqualifies 23XI Racing Teammates at Mexico City

Not only did Riley Herbst post his best starting position of the season with a 15th-place qualifying run at Mexico City, he shockingly also outqualified both of his 23XI Racing teammates, including perennial road course master Tyler Reddick. Although that seems surprising on the surface since road courses weren't his strongest track type in the […]

Cody Ware a Very Experienced Road Racer but Still a Long Shot

Although it's hard to imagine Cody Ware seriously contending anywhere, if there's a place he could, it might be a track like Mexico City. Ware does have more road racing experience than many of the NASCAR Cup Series drivers and even won the 2019-20 Asian Le Mans Series championship in the LMP2 Am class with […]

Chris Buescher Takes Second Place After William Byron Runs Out of Fuel

Chris Buescher had probably his best run of the season on Sunday at Michigan, where he finished second in a race where all three RFK Racing cars placed in the top 10. Michigan has always been a great track for the team, dating back to the Roush Racing days, so it shouldn't come as much […]

Bubba Wallace Has a Great Points Day to Build Buffer Over the Playoff Cut Line

After coming perilously close to the playoff bubble after three straight crashes at Texas, Kansas, and Charlotte, Bubba Wallace recovered with a fourth-place finish at Michigan. When coupled with both Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe failing to finish in the top twenty and scoring no stage points, this significantly strengthened Wallace's playoff position. Wallace ran […]

Flat Tire Results in Poor Finish for Ryan Blaney

Ryan Blaney's 2025 bad luck continued at Michigan on Sunday. After taking the lead in the pits after finishing sixth in Stage 1, he fell out of the top 10 after pitting during the caution for Alex Bowman's crash. While driving up through the field, he blew a tire while running 12th and spun onto […]

Alex Bowman's Playoffs in Doubt After Stage 2 Crash at Michigan

Alex Bowman's chances of making the playoffs have become increasingly doubtful after he crashed and finished last in Sunday's Michigan race. Although Bowman had typically been running well before bad luck struck earlier this season, he didn't even run well as he started 16th and had faded to 26th before crashing on Lap 67. Although […]

Ryan Blaney One of the Leading DFS Contenders, but Might Be Slightly Overpriced

After a comical string of bad luck this year, Ryan Blaney finally broke through to victory at Nashville, becoming the last of the four Penske-affiliated drivers to do so even though he has as usual been running better than his teammates. Although recent history suggested Team Penske was neglecting non-playoff tracks to focus exclusively on […]

Ross Chastain Has Less DFS Value than Usual Since He Qualified Better

Although Ross Chastain is one of the most valuable DFS drivers most weeks because he tends to qualify poorly and finish well, Michigan may not be one of the best tracks to start him. Although he's generally known for his intermediate prowess, he tends to do better on the 1.3-1.5 mile intermediates than the 2-milers. […]

Joey Logano Should Run Better at Michigan

It seems like Joey Logano's team has shifted its strategy in 2025. After purposely ignoring many races in recent years to focus entirely on winning the championship at Phoenix, it seems like all the Penske drivers are placing more emphasis on the entire season, perhaps to prepare for 2026 when the NASCAR Cup Series finale […]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Likely to Regress to the Mean at Michigan

Although Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been one of the most anonymous drivers of the season, he still quietly remains in the playoff hunt since he has been much less crash-prone this year. His only DNF came when Carson Hocevar wrecked him out last week at Nashville, which resulted in Hocevar overtaking Stenhouse by two points […]

After Back-to-Back Top-Five Runs, Carson Hocevar Could Easily Lead at Michigan

Despite pissing off everyone when he wrecked Ricky Stenhouse Jr. last week at Nashville, Carson Hocevar has been on a roll. After his first pole at Texas, he blew an engine while battling for the lead at the Coca-Cola 600 after starting 39th, then drove up from 26th to second at Nashville, earning his second […]

Austin Dillon has Solid Record at Michigan

In Austin Dillon's heyday, Michigan was one of his best tracks as he earned two top fives, actually fought for the lead in the 2021 race, and won in the Xfinity Series here. However, Dillon consistently lacks speed when Justin Alexander is not his crew chief and Richard Childress Racing's recent burst of intermediate speed […]

Daniel Suarez Will Likely Need a Strategy Play to Contend at Michigan

Despite Ross Chastain's win in the Coca-Cola 600, Trackhouse Racing still rarely has speed and Daniel Suárez seldom does. Suárez actually has a solid record at Michigan though with two top fives in 2019, and 52 laps led and two top tens in his Next Gen era starts. However, he also qualified 35th, the worst […]

It's Unclear Whether Josh Berry's 1.5-Mile Oval Speed Will Transfer to Michigan

Although Josh Berry has consistently had speed on 1.5-mile ovals this season, it's hard to know whether that will transfer to the two-mile Michigan oval on Sunday. In last year's race, he had one of his more mediocre runs, starting 16th and finishing 22nd, but he's definitely been faster on the intermediates this year. His […]

Michael McDowell has Weak Michigan Record

Although Michael McDowell has had a very poor record at Michigan historically with his 19th-place finish last year serving as his career best, he has arguably never looked faster on intermediate tracks than he has this year with his pole at Las Vegas, a top-10 finish at Charlotte, and a pass for the lead at […]

Noah Gragson has Little DFS Value, but Probably More Than his Teammates

Noah Gragson starts 29th at Michigan on Sunday, his worst ever start at the track. Although he did finish 12th in last year's race for Stewart-Haas Racing, that was more due to attrition than speed, as his average running position of 21st was actually worse than it was in his first start in 2022 before […]

Justin Haley Too Mediocre to Consider for DFS Play at Michigan

After replacing Corey LaJoie at Spire Motorsports last year, Justin Haley hasn't really proven to be much of an improvement as he is consistently being outrun by Carson Hocevar and Michael McDowell most weeks, although he does crash less than LaJoie did. Haley has his worst starting position at Michigan today of his career (31st), […]

Despite 23XI Racing's Speed, Don't Expect Riley Herbst to Contend at Michigan

On paper, it might look like Riley Herbst might have some DFS value for Sunday's Michigan race since his 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick won here last year, and his other teammate Bubba Wallace won the pole and finished second here in 2022. However, as usual, the rookie lacks speed in the NASCAR Cup Series, […]

Cole Custer Lackluster at Michigan

Cole Custer makes his first start at Michigan since 2023 from the 24th starting position on Sunday. Although Custer had one of his most decent runs of the season last week at Nashville, don't expect that to continue at Michigan, a track where he has never finished better than 23rd or had an average running […]

Denny Hamlin Factors for Nashville Win Until Ryan Blaney's Three-Wide Pass

Although it was unclear whether Denny Hamlin would start Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, he ran the entire race and was one of the leading contenders for the win. After starting second, Hamlin trailed his teammate Chase Briscoe for most of the first stage before passing him on Lap 83 for the stage […]

Joey Logano Runs Better Than Expected, Still No Match for Teammate Ryan Blaney

After a string of races early in the season where Joey Logano ran well and earned a lot of stage points and laps led before ultimately finishing outside the top 10, Logano did almost entirely the opposite on Sunday as he quietly delivered one of his better runs of the year. While he was no […]

Erik Jones Delivers Best Run Since 2022 at Nashville

Erik Jones had his best run in the NASCAR Cup Series in a very long time even if it wasn't quite his best finish. After starting 14th, Jones broke into the top ten in Stage 2 where he finished 5th before slightly fading to 7th in the race's final stage. What made this even more […]

Christopher Bell Recovers From Stage 2 Crash to Finish 10th

Christopher Bell made the best of a bad situation to finish 10th at Nashville on Sunday. After finishing fifth in Stage 1 when the Joe Gibbs Racing cars were very fast, he continued to run fifth directly behind eventual winner Ryan Blaney when he was wrecked on Lap 113 by Erik Jones, the driver he […]

Ross Chastain Mildly Disappointing at Nashville but Still Runs Decently

Considering Nashville is one of Ross Chastain's tracks and he actually qualified well for once, many people expected him to be one of the favorites for Sunday's Nashville race. Although he was as usual the fastest Trackhouse Racing driver throughout the race, he was mildly disappointing, as he spent most of the race running between […]

Chase Briscoe Dominates Early but Struggles in Traffic

Although Chase Briscoe started on the pole for the second consecutive week at Nashville, Briscoe's car seemed to only run well in clean air and he eventually faded to a 17th-place finish. Briscoe dominated Stage 1 leading 51 laps before both Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick overtook him very late in the stage, but as […]

Tyler Reddick Likely to Run Worse Than Expected

Tyler Reddick is currently having a pretty overrated season. As compared to 2022 and to a lesser extent 2023 when he had blinding speed and was a lethal passer but was also both unlucky and mistake-prone, and 2024 when he seemed less dominant but drove more smoothly, he now seems to be combining the sloppy […]

Joey Logano's Team Will Likely Ignore Nashville After He Locked Into the Playoffs

Although Joey Logano won at Nashville Superspeedway last year, don't expect him to repeat that performance this year, as his performance in last year's race was very mediocre. He was only running 14th with two laps left in regulation when his teammate Austin Cindric won, but he ended up inheriting the lead because he could […]

Kyle Busch's Loss of Intermediate Speed This Year Will Likely Foil Him at Nashville

Although Nashville Superspeedway did not become a part of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule until after Kyle Busch's elite period ended, Busch has still been a solid performer here, even if it hasn't been reflected in his finishes. He led 10 or more laps in each of his first three starts despite never finishing better […]

Despite Improved Qualifying Speed, Chris Buescher Seems Much Slower in Races

Although 10th-place Nashville starter Chris Buescher got a bit of a reprieve as his penalty from the Kansas race was reduced from 60 points to 30, he's still having a somewhat baffling season. The once-poor qualifier is having a career year in qualifying with the second-best average start, but is simultaneously running a lot worse […]

Team Penske's Firing of Austin Cindric's Dad May Hurt the No. 2 Team's Morale

After delivering his teammate Joey Logano the ultimate gift last year in Nashville when his spinout with two laps remaining allowed Logano to climb from 14th to back into the playoffs after five overtimes, that will likely forever define his career here. Although Cindric finished 7th as a rookie, he has never had an average […]