August 23, 2025
The NASCAR Cup Series caps off its regular season this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, with fans wondering whether an underdog driver will play spoiler and steal a spot in the Playoffs at the last chance. Cody Ware is asking a simple question regarding that: "Why not us?" In the weekly team advance for this race, the Rick Ware Racing driver stated, "We always seem to do well at Daytona every time we go there, but I think even more so in the summer, so why not us? I don't know what it is about the night race, whether it's the heightened aggression of the field and being able to capitalize on it even more than in the Daytona 500, but I'd say we have just as good a shot as anybody to win on Saturday night." Ware has scored finishes of fourth and sixth in his last two summer starts at Daytona. Although he's often passed over by DFS players on most weeks, Cody Ware is definitely on the table to use this weekend at Daytona. He starts 35th, so the Place Differential upside is sky-high.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Motorsport
August 18, 2025
Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon was one of the top drivers from Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. Dillon began the race from 11th place, but quickly showcased that he had one of the fastest cars on longer green flag runs. Dillon's speed was shown off in the first stage as he went from 11th to fourth and scored stage points at the end of stage one. In the second stage, Dillon briefly inherited the lead for a few laps before losing it to Tyler Reddick, but still stayed strong in the second stage. He placed fourth at the end of stage two and collected even more stage points. In the final stage, Dillon finally overtook the lead from Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell and held it until green flag pit stops occurred. Dillon then chased Ryan Blaney for the lead and reclaimed it while never looking back as he held off Alex Bowman by 2.7 seconds to win at Richmond. It was Dillon's second win at the site and the sixth overall of his Cup career as he got into the 2025 playoffs as a result of his victory.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
August 18, 2025
Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron finished 12th after a hard-fought day at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400 on Saturday night. Byron started 14th during Saturday's race, and also finished there at the end of the first stage. Byron continued to experiment with pit strategies throughout the first two stages to gain track position in the long term. Still, he also became involved in a multicar accident on lap 190, resulting from being sent back into the pack due to the various pit stops. Byron was able to continue and finish the second stage in the ninth position, gaining two stage points. Although he would run as high as fifth in the final stage, Byron did not muster up the right pit strategy and did not have the car to finish in the top 10 at Richmond. Byron's 12th-place run, however, was enough for him to clinch the regular-season championship and 15 additional playoff points at the start of the 2025 Cup Series playoffs.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
August 18, 2025
Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing had an up-and-down performance during Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. Hamlin began the race from the fourth position, and even after green-flag pit stops, Hamlin finished the first stage of the race in third to earn stage points. In the second stage, Hamlin would fall outside of the top 10 and finish the stage in 12th after being involved in a multi-car accident on Lap 190, and slow pit stops during the stage itself. The theme of slow pit stops continued into the final stage with Hamlin. Despite having one of the fastest cars on the track, Hamlin barely finished the entire race in the top 10 and placed 10th at the end. This marks Hamlin's sixth top-10 finish in seven races at Richmond since 2022.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
August 18, 2025
Team Penske's Joey Logano struggled through most of the weekend at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400, but he ended up climbing his way to success by the end of Saturday night's race. Logano started the race from the 38th position after unapproved adjustments from hitting the wall in practice caused him to start at the rear of the field. Logano never earned any stage points from either of the first two stages, but took advantage of a fast car and great pit strategy to recover into the top five during the second stage. He fell out of the top five by the end of Stage 2, but then recovered once again to run in the top 10 during the race's final stage. Logano attempted to vary his pit strategy during the final stage to gain more track position, but he only had a fast enough car to secure fourth place, where he ultimately finished the entire race. This finish marked Logano's third top-five finish in the last four Richmond Cup races and puts him 12th in the regular-season standings with only one race left before the playoffs begin.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
August 18, 2025
Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports finished sixth during Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. It was not an easy feat for the No. 5 Chevrolet driver to accomplish, as he began the race from the 30th position. Larson progressed from 30th to 16th by the end of the first stage and then made it up to 10th by the end of the second stage. He also briefly held the lead during green-flag pit stops in the second stage. In the final stage, Larson ended up leading a few more laps over the course of green-flag pit stops, but ended up running inside the top 10 for most of the stage. He fell just short of finishing in the top five, placing sixth and gaining a top-10 finish at Richmond for the third consecutive race at the site.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
August 17, 2025
After a fast race at Iowa, Austin Cindric quietly delivered again by finishing fifth at Iowa's "sister track" in Richmond, giving him his first top five on a non-drafting oval since Martinsville last year. Team Penske's decision to pit all its cars early in Stage 1 reaped dividends and proved to be the correct decision as it allowed Cindric to dive from 15th to finish fifth in Stage 1. He remained in the top ten for nearly all of Stage 2, finishing eighth, but faded somewhat in Stage 3 before reemerging in the top five over the last 100 laps. After being first pigeonholed as a road racer and later as a drafting track driver, he is clearly becoming more well-rounded in his fourth season and his driver rating of 106.5 was his best since his win at Gateway last year.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 17, 2025
Although Ryan Blaney traditionally hates racing at Richmond, he has recently improved with the Next Gen chassis, and on Saturday night, he had probably his best race ever there, factoring for the win and earning his first top-five finish (third place). After starting 20th, steady long run speed and savvy strategy propelled him to a seventh-place finish in Stage 1 and a third-place finish in Stage 2, but he really came alive in Stage 3 when he passed Carson Hocevar for the lead on Lap 304 before eventual winner Austin Dillon caught him and they had a frantic duel, running side-by-side nearly continuously for 10 straight laps until Dillon ultimately took the lead on Lap 340 before pitting the next lap. Blaney pitted four laps later, and by then he had fallen seven seconds behind and couldn't catch Dillon. Eventually, Alex Bowman passed him for second, but nonetheless, Blaney running this well at a track where he had struggled is a great sign for the playoffs.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 17, 2025
Alex Bowman finished second at Richmond yet lost ground in the playoff picture thanks to Austin Dillon's win from far below the playoff cutline. He ran barely in the top ten in the early stages of the race before staying out of the pits for the entirety of Stage 1, which droppd him to 17th when that turned out to be the wrong strategy. However, he slowly recovered to finish fifth in Stage 2 and advanced to third on lap 242, which he generally maintained until passing Ryan Blaney for second on lap 385. Although Bowman gained some time on Dillon, lapped traffic prevented him from really making a race of it. Dillon's win knocked Chris Buescher below the playoff cutline and put Bowman on the bubble. Since he holds a 60-point lead over Buescher, he clinches a playoff spot if a driver from above the playoff cutline wins, but if a driver below the cutline wins, he needs to outscore Tyler Reddick by 29 points.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 17, 2025
Although many people think of Bubba Wallace as being primarily an expert on drafting tracks, in recent years, he has actually had his most consistent performances on short tracks. Yesterday's race at Richmond marked the first time that he potentially had winning speed on a short track as he led a race-high and career-high 123 laps, giving him nearly twice as many laps led as his conventionally higher-rated teammte Tyler Reddick. Although Reddick won Stage 1, Wallace beat him out of the pits on the stage caution. Reddick beat Wallace out of the pits on a green-flag pit cycle before Wallace repassed him to win Stage 2 and he later also passed Michael McDowell for the lead before eventual winner Austin Dillon passed him the next lap. Wallace was beginning to fade somewhat before a loose wheel relegated him to a 28th-place finish; he still beat all three of his 23XI Racing teammates.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 17, 2025
Chris Buescher's weeks of treading water for most of the summer have now caught up with him as Austin Dillon's win coupled with Alex Bowman's second-place finish and Buescher's shockingly bad 30th-place finish at a track he won at a mere two years ago have combined to eliminate Buescher from the NASCAR playoffs on points. Buescher was outrun by his teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski all race and he never seemed to have much speed prior to that either. Despite sitting just inside the playoffs for months, he seemed to be more complacent and conservative this year than he was in previous years, which is never a good sign when nearly 16 drivers win prior to the playoffs each year. Since he is 60 points behind Bowman, who now sits on the playoff cutline, and second-place only pays at most 55 points, Buescher cannot advance to the playoffs unless he wins at Daytona.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 16, 2025
Surprise, surprise. Denny Hamlin is the heavy favorite to win this weekend's Cook Out 400 race at Richmond Raceway. Hamlin is one of the premier racers at short, flat tracks, and has been great at the venues that are comparable to Richmond this weekend, including a win at Martinsville and podium finishes at Bowman Gray and Phoenix. As far as Richmond specifically goes, there arguably isn't anyone better than Hamlin--especially right now. He has five career victories at this track and an average finish of 8.1 over his 36 career starts. Over the last eight races here, Hamlin has finished first or second six times, and also has a fourth-place result to his credit. Simply put, Richmond Raceway is Denny Hamlin's playground. As far as DFS goes this weekend, Hamlin is a premier option, even as the highest-priced driver on the DraftKings slate (at a $11,000 salary).
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Driver Averages
August 16, 2025
If the NASCAR Cup Series is at a short, flat track, Christopher Bell is always a solid option. That's exactly the case at Richmond Raceway this weekend. Over his eight career starts here with Joe Gibbs Racing, Bell has just one finish worse than sixth. In last year's race, he started fifth, won Stage 1, and led 122 laps en route to a sixth-place finish when it was all said and done. This weekend, Bell starts eighth and should be a contender all night long in Richmond. His long-run speed looked solid during practice on Friday and his falloff looked great, which should pay high dividends on Saturday night. At $10,800 on DraftKings, Christopher Bell is one of the highest-priced drivers on the DFS slate, but he has some Place Differential room and is also a prime dominator contender behind his teammate, Denny Hamlin. Remember, CBell won the All Star Race and Phoenix this season, and also finished second at Martinsville, all of which compare nicely to Richmond.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
August 16, 2025
Richmond Raceway has been an interesting track for Ryan Blaney, and not in a good way. In 17 career starts at "The Action Track," Blaney has just three top-10 finishes to his credit and has never ended up better than seventh. Last year, he had a typical race at this track and both started and finished 11th without getting any Stage points along the way. As far as this weekend goes, Blaney will start from 20th-place for Saturday night's Cook Out 400 race. He had a really strong car in practice and was among the fastest in the second group. Now the question becomes, can Ryan Blaney finally break through at Richmond and get a great finish? In DFS, Blaney is a solid Place Differential option due to his speed and starting position, but he comes at a price ($10,200 on DraftKings). A strategy decision to make could be to let everyone else hop on the Blaney train once again at Richmond and go a different direction with your daily fantasy lineups, but it is worth noting that eventually the No. 12 team is going to break through here.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
August 16, 2025
Joey Logano is one of the best at Richmond Raceway, as the Team Penske driver is a two-time winner at the track and would have grabbed a third victory here last season if Austin Dillon didn't dump him on the final lap. Additionally, Logano is a constant top 10 threat, as he has finished inside that mark in 18 of his last 23 Richmond starts. That could be in jeopardy this weekend, though, as Logano will start dead last when the Cook Out 400 goes green on Saturday night. He has to start back there after blowing a tire during practice on Friday and hitting the wall. He wasn't able to even get up to speed during qualifying, and was struggling to find speed even before that issue. With that being said, with his strong track history and dead-last starting spot, Logano is the most obvious DFS Place Differential play on this weekend's slate. However, there is a bit of risk there because we don't really know what kind of race car he has to work with. If that No. 22 Ford struggles to find speed during the race like it did during practice, Logano could easily go a lap down early, which makes JoLo an interesting option to pivot off of onto someone else in DFS contests this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: MSN
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