May 25, 2025
Cody Ware of Rick Ware Racing will be starting 36th for this week's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Coca-Cola 600. Ware's starting position for this week's race is the lowest of his Cup career at the site since 2019. In three previous starts at Charlotte, Ware has an average finish of 28.7 with only one top-20 finish. Through the first 12 races this season, Ware has six finishes of 30th or better and an average finish of 30.8. He is also the lowest in the regular season standings of all full-time drivers and ranked 37th in overall lap averages in practice. Ware may be one of the cheapest drivers for DFS this week on DraftKings at $4,800, but he does not carry the speed to be competitive past his starting position. He is only usable in cash games, but even then, there are better alternatives available this week.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
May 25, 2025
Chase Elliott was definitely one of the best drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Gen-6 car, where he led over 100 laps as a rookie, won the second 2020 race, and would have won that year's Coca-Cola 600 if Alan Gustafson hadn't pitted him before an overtime restart. With the Next Gen car, his performance has been more muted. Although he led 86 laps in the 2022 event before crashing, he was a lot faster that year than any other year with this car. Still, he's usually a solid bet for a top ten, which coupled with his 22nd-place starting position means there is likely some DFS value, but too many other drivers who are worthy of consideration are starting worse and are therefore better choices for DFS play. The main advantage for starting Elliott would be that fewer people might pick him than some of the obvious choices, which definitely makes him a valid option.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
It's hard to know what to make of Tyler Reddick's 2025 season. After showing frequent blinding speed in the early years of the Next Gen car, he seemed to trade that in for consistency in 2024. This year he seems to have neither the speed nor the consistency nor the passing ability of previous seasons, but he has probably run better in the races than his finishes imply. He seems to be barely faster than his teammate Bubba Wallace right now, but he did vastly outqualify him yesterday, qualifying 12th to Wallace's 32nd. He's generally renowned for his intermediate prowess and he's gotten a top 15, lead lap finish in all six of his Charlotte starts even if he hasn't really factored for the win. He does seem like a potentially likely dominator since he's starting better than most of the other big stars, so he's definitely strongly worthy of DFS consideration, but his strangely mediocre run at Kansas last week gives one pause.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Charlotte Motor Speedway has not been one of defending champion Joey Logano's best tracks. He only won here once in the 2015 fall event before the Roval race which replaced it even existed. Even that race (part of Logano's three-in-a-row playoff streak) wasn't that impressive. Although he led 227 laps, he only took the lead when his No. 20 car replacement and impending mortal enemy Matt Kenseth pitted and he rarely seems to take the lead here by force. His performance with the Next Gen car has been even more lackluster as all his starts, finishes, and average running positions have been mid-pack, just like his 16th place qualifying run yesterday. Logano and the No. 22 team are probably ignoring this race because there is no Charlotte oval race in the playoffs so this track simply isn't a priority to them. Since he has already locked himself into the playoffs, he is likely to finish worse than he should on paper.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
After being originally and erroneously typecast as a road course expert, Austin Cindric has now found his primary niche as a drafting track driver and his secondary niche as an intermediate driver. Cindric has seemingly been fast in the first stage of every intermediate race this year, even winning Stage 1 at Las Vegas and Texas, but he hasn't really gotten the finishes corresponding to how he has run since he tends to run worse at the end of the race. However, Cindric's 14th place start tonight is his worst on an intermediate this season, just worse than last week's 13th at Kansas. This raises the question whether Cindric and the No. 2 team are no longer focusing as much on current races now that he is locked into the playoffs in order to prepare for the playoff races. Since this is Penske's consistent playoff strategy of late, be wary of starting Cindric anywhere unless he qualified terribly. Yesterday, he did not qualify terribly.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Although Charlotte Motor Speedway used to be Jimmie Johnson's playground (particularly when both he and the track were sponsored by Lowe's) his record eight career wins here mean nothing since he is washed up, has never really been a contender with the Next Gen chassis, and is now driving for his own Legacy Motor Club, which is vastly slower than Hendrick Motorsports. He no longer has the speed he used to have, as evidenced by him starting, finishing, and having an average running position of 29th in last year's event. Although the Legacy cars seem a little faster this year, he is also starting better (17th) and almost guaranteed to lose positions from there. Despite having arguably the best record at the track, he is absolutely one of the worst options for DFS play.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
After a very slow start to the season, Ty Gibbs was trending upward for a while, particularly on the stretch from Martinsville to Talladega, none of which were very chaotic races. Gibbs seems to do best when there are long green flag runs and minimal chaos, so the fact that there are three guaranteed cautions instead of two may not help him. His speed has improved recently, but his luck has not as although he is starting 7th for his fifth consecutive top ten start, he fell from 6th-place starts at Texas and Kansas at 23rd and 28th after getting trapped by poor strategies. Gibbs did dominate portions of last year's race, leading 74 laps from the pole last year before finishing sixth, but he had positive momentum entering that race, which he really doesn't this time. There's definitely a chance he could lead a lot of laps and have value, but it's probably too small a chance to actually start him.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Like a modern day Jerry Nadeau, Daniel Suárez seems to be almost completely irrelevant except for intermediates and 1.5-mile ovals. He has already earned a 2nd at Las Vegas and a 10th at Texas on intermediates this year, but he tends to be better at both those tracks than he is at Charlotte. He did have one great race here in 2022 where he impressively made four passes for the lead without being passed for the lead before crashing out, but that came in Trackhouse Racing's fastest year and Suárez has never shown anything like that at Charlotte before or since. In his last two races he did run in the top 15 a lot, but he didn't really contend. Suárez doesn't seem to have the speed he once did and seems to need to rely on strategy more and more to contend. This does work out for him frequently so he's a decent DFS option, but there are better options, starting with his teammate Ross Chastain.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
In addition to winning the 2017 Coca-Cola 600 on fuel mileage, Austin Dillon has actually been a fairly consistent performer at Charlotte with three top-10 finishes in his last five starts, with one of the exceptions being the 2022 Coca-Cola 600, where he was attempting to clear Kyle Larson for the lead on an overtime restart and crashed. However, most of those races came with crew chief Justin Alexander, and he's been much worse without him than with him historically. Additionally, with him qualifying 26th and Kyle Busch 24th, it seems like Richard Childress Racing doesn't have a great deal of speed, but if there's anywhere they might contend, it's likely an intermediate track. However, his run in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday was not inspiring, as the full-time Cup driver finished behind his Xfinity regular teammates Austin Hall and Jesse Love. On paper, Dillon seems like a possible good DFS choice given his recent record, but he's likely to finish worse on Sunday than he has recently.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Erik Jones has been hard to figure out lately. Although his Legacy Motor Club team seems to be faster this year than in previous years and he finally got his first top five at a non-drafting oval in a year and a half at Kansas, he doesn't seem much faster than he was last year while John Hunter Nemechek has had a bit of an uptick in speed, as evidenced by Nemechek qualifying 6th to Jones's 27th. While that obviously makes Jones a better DFS choice than Nemechek, he no longer seems like the surefire threat on 1.5-mile tracks that he looked like in 2022. Even considering that, Jones has only ever placed in the top ten once on his debut in 2017, so this isn't one of his best tracks even as an intermediate specialist. Although it seems likely he'll finish better than he starts, there's not enough value there for DFS play.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Noah Gragson has never finished a Coca-Cola 600 before, so it's hard to really predict how he'd do. Additionally, he is now driving for his fourth different team in four years (Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Stewart-Haas Racing, and now Front Row Motorsports), which makes this even more complicated. This wasn't one of Gragson's best tracks in the Xfinity Series as he never won here, but he did surprisingly qualify eighth almost out of the blue despite his very mediocre season. Since he finishes worse than that far more often than not, he is very likely to plummet through the field making him one of the weakest options for DFS play, particularly when so many better drivers qualified worse.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Todd Gilliland has never qualified well at Charlotte, and Saturday was no exception, as he qualified 34th. However, in his previous starts with Front Row Motorsports, he finished 16th and 17th with this car after starting 30th or worse. With Gilliland's teammate Noah Gragson qualifying in the top 10, it's possible that Gilliland will have some speed on Sunday. He's definitely not one of the best options like top contenders like Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, and Bubba Wallace, but at $5,900, he's also much cheaper, which could allow for the possibility to sign more expensive drivers for dominator points and also pick a driver who others are less likely to go for that could pay dividends if one of those more popular choices crashes out. Gilliland isn't a top choice, but he is probably one of the better dark horses.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Cole Custer is making his first start at Charlotte since his full-time return to the NASCAR Cup Series with the rebranded Haas Factory Team from 29th. Custer has been arguably NASCAR's most invisible man as he has contended in races arguably less than any driver for a chartered team other than Cody Ware and the rookies. Although he has never earned a top ten finish at Charlotte, he was fast in his one previous race with this car for Stewart-Haas Racing, where he had an average running position of 15th and had 170 laps in the top 15 before crashing out after the originally-scheduled distance. However, Haas has been much slower than SHR in general and it's hard to see that changing. There are so many other top contenders who qualified poorly that Custer should be avoided for DFS, even at the relatively cheap cost of $5,400.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Josh Bilicki is making his second start of the year for Project 66, the Carl Long-owned team formerly known as MBM Motorsports. As with all part-time non-chartered teams, the No. 66 team is very slow and Bilicki qualified 38th, even slower when Derek Kraus in the very similar No. 44 entry. Much like Kraus, Bilicki is priced extremely lowly at $4,600, but he will undoubtedly finish laps down if he even finishes at all, and therefore isn't worth starting especially when so many top contenders like Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, and Ross Chastain are starting at the absolute back of the grid, each of whom should have chances for top ten finishes at least.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
May 25, 2025
Derek Kraus makes his first NASCAR Cup Series start of the season in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Since he is driving for the underfunded NY Racing Team, it should come as little surprise that he qualified 37th, nearly two seconds slower than Chase Briscoe. As usual, NYRT is so much slower than all the chartered teams that Kraus will probably be lapped enough times to not be worthy of starting for DFS play, even at the very cheap value of $4,500. Since there are stage breaks after every 100 laps, it will be harder for anyone to be lapped than in other races, but the No. 44 car is probably slow enough that it still will be. Coupling that with Kraus, who is vastly less experienced than the car's usual driver J.J. Yeley, it's hard to imagine this team or driver doing anything.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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