July 27, 2025
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 Team Penske's Wood Brothers satellite, but not necessarily by as much as you might think. After his somewhat hot start, he has not led a lap in the last ten races, he still crashes a lot, and his win at Las Vegas is looking more flukish in hindsight than it did at the time. Berry is a big question mark because he crashed in his only previous appearance and he also crashed on the opening lap of last year's Xfinity race. Since he has an above-average starting position of 17th and isn't likely to lead in this race, he probably isn't worth the risk.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 as his 10th place start today is his best on a non-drafting oval since Texas 11 races ago, but one has to assume either that Team Penske is mostly ignoring non-playoff tracks to focus on Phoenix or that the firing of Austin's father Tim Cindric has hurt his performance. Penske is less likely to treat Indianapolis as a throwaway race than many of the other summer tracks, so Cindric might run a little better than he has recently, but his recent slump and his high starting position suggest you shouldn't start him for DFS.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 year, Trackhouse Racing has little invested in him, so you shouldn't expect much especially since he's lacked speed all season and is only starting 31st today. Suárez is starting poorly enough that he could gain a lot of points on attrition, particularly since Trackhouse does tend to be more successful at developing wilder strategies than other teams. Since he doesn't seem to have much speed anymore, only strategy and/or faster cars crashing out would significantly help him. You probably shouldn't start him when his superior teammate Ross Chastain is starting even worse
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 starting position here since 2017. Since he rarely has speed and has stagnated lately, he's unlikely to drive through the field on speed so he would have to likely count on attrition to get a decent finish this time as he did last year when he had an average running position of 19th. However, the fact that everybody now has a year's experience with the Next Gen chassis on this track unlike last year means it is likely that fewer cars will crash and that longshot options like Dillon won't be worth it.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 Leavine Family Racing and Front Row Motorsports, but now he is driving for a Spire Motorsports team that seems to be faster as Carson Hocevar and Corey LaJoie both placed in the top fifteen in last year's race. While a top ten finish is probably unlikely, he should gain a handful of positions in the race based on his past history here, making him a middling selection for DFS play. There are plenty of better options elsewhere.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 won't be as much attrition this time since everyone has more experience at Indianapolis with the Next Gen car, so Gragson will probably finish worse than that even though he qualified better (18th). It doesn't help that he's arguably been more crash-prone than he was last year, including crashes in each of the last two weeks. He has only finished better than his starting position five times this season, which means he will probably thereby lose Place Differential points and isn't a good DFS selection.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 race. Even in the first four rounds, he's only had an average finish of 16.25 and an average running position around 22nd, solid by his standards but not particularly extraordinary. Although he has upset the higher-seeded driver in every previous round, Ty Gibbs should still be favored to finish higher since he is far more talented, he's finished ahead of him in 12 out of 21 races including the last six non-drafting races, and the Toyotas are faster than the Chevies, but since bad luck can befall anyone, don't be shocked if Dillon wins the tournament, but even if he does, it won't mean much.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 than Rick Ware Racing, Haley has performed probably worse since despite his faster cars, his 31st-place rank in the championship ties his career-worst points finish last year. Because his cars are a little faster, he qualified 28th but his teammates Carson Hocevar and Michael McDowell both outqualified him as they usually do. Haley still tends to finish where he starts more often than not, but he usually doesn't gain enough positions for him to be one of the top contenders for DFS.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 27, 2025
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 a string of several crashes in a row during Stage 3, which is not something you can likely count on again. The large number of crashes may have been in part a result of the Cup Series no longer racing on the oval from 2021 to 2023, but now that most of the drivers have a race of experience with the Next Gen car under their belt, there will likely be far less attrition, which means Ware will score far too few points to be viable for DFS play.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July
21,
2025
Kyle
Larson,
the
No.
5
Chevrolet
driver,
finished
fourth
in
Sunday's
race
at
Dover
Motor
Speedway,
the
Autotrader
EchoPark
Automotive
400.
Starting
from
the
25th
position,
Larson
spent
the
race
slowly
making
his
way
through
the
pack
and
towards
the
front
read more...
July
21,
2025
Chase
Elliott
of
Hendrick
Motorsports
was
the
dominant
driver
of
the
Autotrader
EchoPark
Automotive
400
at
Dover
Motor
Speedway
on
Sunday,
but
could
not
lock
in
the
win.
Elliott
began
the
race
right
from
the
front
in
first.
Although
he
was
read more...
July
21,
2025
Hendrick
Motorsports
driver
Alex
Bowman
proved
once
again
that
Dover
Motor
Speedway
is
a
great
track
for
him
as
he
finished
third
during
Sunday's
Autotrader
EchoPark
Automotive
400.
Bowman
started
this
race
from
the
16th
position,
but
during
the
first
stage,
read more...
July
21,
2025
William
Byron
of
Hendrick
Motorsports
held
a
consistent
performance
during
Sunday's
Autotrader
EchoPark
Automotive
400
at
Dover
Motor
Speedway,
until
the
very
end
of
the
race.
Byron
started
the
race
from
the
fifth
position,
but
held
plenty
of
speed
right
from
read more...
July 21, 2025
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 of the race in the back half of it before he elected to take tires on a late caution while his teammate Denny Hamlin stayed out. Briscoe drove all the way up to second thanks to several cautions and a fortuitous bump from Alex Bowman on one restart, but he was unable to pass Hamlin even though Hamlin was on older tires. Briscoe's run was solid albeit not quite as strong as it looked on paper as he was the slowest Joe Gibbs Racing driver most of the day. He remains eighth in points, 132 points behind Chase Elliott.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
July 21, 2025
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 Reddick backslid through the field and typically earned a decent finish despite a mediocre run. Although Reddick largely outran Gibbs in Stage 1, Gibbs first passed Reddick on lap 49 and outran him for the majority of the race before Reddick repassed him on lap 343. Although this looked like one of Gibbs's patented late-race fades, he repassed Reddick on lap 392 to win the match and his fifth-place finish also kept him alive in the playoff picture, as he sits 52 points behind Bubba Wallace for the final playoff spot.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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