May 11, 2025
Although Chase Elliott hasn't been terrible this season, he's never seemed so invisible or ignorable before as even Alex Bowman seems to be faster than him most weeks before some bad luck invariably strikes. Elliott starts ninth in today's AdventHealth 400 and he's pretty much a lock for a top ten finish as he has only missed the top ten in three of his last 13 starts, dating back to his win in 2018. He has also led over 40 laps here five times, most recently with this car in his otherwise mediocre 2023. If this were 2020 and Elliott were still one of the most electrifying passers on the circuit, you could probably count on him to lead enough laps to still be worth considering even though he's starting ninth. But it's no longer 2020 and he rarely leads anymore, so he probably isn't one of the best options compared to other drivers who could gain more via Place Differential.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May
11,
2025
Joey
Logano
starts
fifth
at
Kansas
today.
The
track
has
historically
been
very
good
for
him
as
he
won
three
times
there,
most
recently
in
2020.
However,
in
the
Next
Gen
era
he
has
rarely
been
much
of
a
race
factor,
read more...
May 11, 2025
After his awful start, Ty Gibbs has been running pretty well every week lately and now sits only 20 points below the playoff cutline, which is really a sign of how weak the bubble is this year. Gibbs missed out on a good finish at Texas despite running well after he got trapped a lap down on a set of green flag pit stops. Now that he and his new crew chief Tyler Allen are beginning to jell, he seems to suddenly have top ten speed most weeks now and Kansas is a very good track for his grandfather's team and Gibbs himself earned a top five here in his last start. The problem is he is starting sixth, so he is still more likely to lose positions than gain positions and will likely take a hit on Place Differential. If he goes out and leads a bunch of laps today, which seems very possible, he could be a great DFS option. But he's definitely more likely not to do that.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
Carson Hocevar won yesterday's Craftsman Truck Series race for Spire Motorsports with relative ease after his similarly-initialed onetime Truck Series rival Corey Heim had a botched pit stop, got trapped a lap down, and then a penalty for changing lanes on a restart. Although it's not as pronounced as in the past, there still seems to be some correlation between extra track time and good setups on Sunday, so Hocevar will likely run very well even though he qualified 22nd. It helps that Spire's Cup Series cars have been very fast on intermediates with several poles including Hocevar's pole at Texas last week and McDowell's shocking near win. Hocevar will probably have top ten speed based on recent history and he's strongly worthy of consideration for DFS if you think he won't crash. Admittedly, there's almost no way to predict something like that.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
Daniel Suárez earned a rare top ten qualifying run for Trackhouse Racing this season, and his eighth-place start is only his second top 20 start of the season. Intermediates are one of his best track types, but he tends to do better on the high-banked intermediates than the flat ones. Although he does occasionally lead here, most of his finishes are usually just outside the top ten. This is his best start here since 2019 so he stands a better chance of earning some stage points than usual, but it seems likely he will lose positions since he has never finished in the top ten here after starting in the top ten and he tends to lose positions here in general. The exception of course is if he gets lucky on strategy, and Trackhouse seems to have better strategies than any other teams. But since Kansas seems to favor speed over strategy, starting Suárez seems like a bad idea.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
Chase Briscoe continues to be one of the hardest drivers to predict in the Cup Series. He remains a force of chaos and one of the few drivers who could win, have an extremely mediocre run, or crash and few would be surprised by any of these outcomes. Meanwhile, James Small continues to be one of the worst strategists on a top-tier team. That shouldn't matter as much at Kansas as on other tracks since it tends to be easier to pass so speed is more paramount than track position, but Briscoe has not had much speed here in the past as he has never led or finished better than 13th. Intermediates tended to be where he struggled most, but the same could also be said for late-period Stewart-Haas Racing. Obviously Joe Gibbs Racing is faster and their cars are expected to get top tens on intermediates, so he could earn Place Differential points, but he should primarily be avoided because he seems overpriced at $8,200.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
Shane van Gisbergen's season continues to meander in an aimless way as he continues to struggle to learn oval racing. Week after week, he is one of the slowest drivers on every oval and it's hard to imagine that changing until it actually happens. 1.5-mile ovals are arguably his worst track type as he finished 34th at Las Vegas and 32nd at Homestead. Although he did finish 22nd last week at Texas, that was almost entirely because pit strategy and attrition elevated him to a better finish than he deserved, and Kansas doesn't tend to have as much attrition as Texas. Clearly SVG and his team seem to be treating oval races as gap weeks between road courses, but this could easily backfire since with Trackhouse Racing's lack of speed he seems more likely not to win a road course before the playoffs than to win on one. He should likely be avoided on all non-drafting ovals for DFS play, even at $5,000.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
After coming agonizingly close to winning at Texas, a track where he'd never even placed in the top ten before, Michael McDowell comes to Texas with momentum and a Spire Motorsports team that seems to have speed on every intermediate track. His Kansas record isn't much better than his Texas record as his only top ten here came in last year's race and he's only ever led three laps at Kansas. He does qualify well here somewhat frequently and his 11th-place run in yesterday's qualifying is consistent with that. In all probability, McDowell will finish worse than he starts and be very costly for DFS play. However, on paper he should've been a worse choice at Texas than he turned out to be as well, so if you think he can bring similar speed here, he might be worth considering especially because not many people will want to pick him based on his past record and where he's starting.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
The good news is that Todd Gilliland has been consistent at Kansas. The bad news is that he's been consistent at an extremely low level as he started between 31st and 33rd and finished between 23rd and 27th in all but one of his previous starts. The exception came at last year's race when he started 25th and finished 14th. Even in that outlier race, his average running position was still only 20th and he still only spent 25% of laps in the top 15. Gilliland has his best starting position ever here at 23rd and the Front Row Motorsports cars possibly look a little faster here. That and the fact that he has gained at least six positions in every race is promising, but considering how he usually runs, it's unlikely to imagine him continuing that trend in this race. He could be a better option than his teammate Zane Smith for DFS because he is starting worse, but he probably isn't good enough to start.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
Zane Smith earned a tenth-place finish in his last start at Kansas, so he has higher expectations entering today's race than you might expect. He did have his most dominant win in the Craftsman Truck Series at the track when he led 108 out of 134 laps in the 2022 race. Smith starts 18th today and has been finishing reliably in the top 20 most weeks, but although he is beating both his Front Row Motorsports teammates in points, he still only sits 26th in the standings. Smith should likely be expected to get another finish towards the back of the top 20 like he usually does, but that won't be enough to either score many points for finishing or Place Differential, so he is probably not very valuable for DFS lineups.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
Cole Custer qualified 31st at Kansas. Although the track is similar to the defunct Kentucky Speedway where he won in 2020 and he earned his best career finish there 11 days later when he finished 7th, all of Custer's remaining runs have been mediocre since as he usually starts and finishes in mid-pack and lately in the back half of the pack. Although his Haas car is probably somewhat faster than the Rick Ware car he drove in his last start here, the team does not seem to be as fast as it was when it was Stewart-Haas Racing and the fact that this is his worst-ever start here isn't inspiring either. It's certainly possible that he could back into a good finish here if a caution comes out during a green flag cycle (which have been frequent this year) but Kansas races tend to be fairer than those at most other tracks, so it's not likely enough to happen to consider him.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 11, 2025
Cody Ware qualified 37th and next-to-last for today's Kansas race. Since he was a half second slower than the next slowest driver Brad Keselowski (not counting Josh Berry who hit the wall). Ware has not competed at Kansas since 2022 and he has never finished fewer than two laps down. At a track where there doesn't tend to be a lot of attrition in recent years, this suggests he won't be fast enough to gain enough positions to be valuable in terms of Place Differential so he should still be avoided for DFS play even though he is the cheapest driver at $4,800.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 10, 2025
Even though he qualified back in 26th place for this weekend's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, Ross Chastain should be strong during the race on Sunday. "The Melon Man" is the defending winner here at Kansas Speedway, as the No. 1 Chevrolet went to victory lane here last September despite starting back in 20th place. Looking at similar tracks this season, Chastain started 19th at Las Vegas and finished fifth, and just last weekend at Texas started back in 31st place but wound up with a runner-up result when it was all said and done. As far as speed in practice this weekend, Chastain was relatively strong on Saturday, ranking 11th-fastest in 20-lap average during the session. With four results of seventh or better in the six Next Gen races at Kansas, Chastain is a very strong place-differential DFS option this weekend, especially at his relatively low salary of $8,700 on DraftKings.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
May
10,
2025
Alex
Bowman
doesn't
have
the
best
starting
position
for
this
weekend's
AdventHealth
400
at
Kansas
Speedway,
but
that
doesn't
mean
the
No.
48
Chevrolet
is
lacking
in
speed.
Bowman
got
on
X
soon
after
qualifying
was
over
on
Saturday
to
explain
read more...
May
10,
2025
Brad
Keselowski
can't
catch
a
break.
In
the
midst
of
his
worst
season
ever
in
the
NASCAR
Cup
Series,
Keselowski
is
off
to
a
rough
start
at
Kansas
Speedway
this
weekend
as
well,
as
the
No.
6
Ford
suffered
a
flat
read more...
RADIO
