Justin Haley Hoping For A Better Result At Homestead This Time
The last time the NASCAR Cup Series was at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Justin Haley had a day to forget. After having a solid qualifying effort and starting 10th, Haley got spun on the first lap of the race (while running in sixth)read more...
Could Zane Smith Be A Sleeper This Weekend?
Source: Racing-Reference
One driver who had better-than-expected speed during practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend was Zane Smith, who ranked between ninth- and 11th-fastest in all lap average categories, including 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, and 30-lap average. His single fastest lap was 17th-fastest on the board. Zane then qualified 17th for this weekend's Straight Talk Wireless 400, which forces the question, does he have upside on Sunday--particularly in DFS? Smith had a day to forget here at Homestead last season, as he qualified up in 19th but ended up finishing 30th when it was all said and done. The No. 38 team also struggled to find speed during the race last week at Las Vegas despite qualifying ninth, as Smith ended up 23rd out in the desert. There's always some sneaky potential for Zane Smith on race days--he does have a second-place finish to his credit at Homestead in the Truck Series--but more than likely, he's going to slip back a bit this weekend. Use him sparingly, if at all, in your DraftKings lineups this weekend.Todd Gilliland Has Steadily Improved At Homestead
Source: ifantasyrace
Todd Gilliland and his No. 34 Ford will roll off the starting grid from 29th place for this weekend's Straight Talk Wireless 400 after the Front Row Motorsports driver posted a time of 32.445 seconds in qualifying on Saturday afternoon. This is par for the course for Gilliland at Homestead-Miami, as he has started from 31st, 32nd, and 29th place in his three career Cup Series starts at the track thus far. Finish-wise, Gilliland has walked away with 20th-, 25th-, and 31st-place results, respectively. In practice this weekend, Gilliland ranked 26th-fastest on the single-lap speed chart and was 23rd-fastest when it came to 30-lap average. There's some upside for him this weekend, but you should definitely temper your expectations. A top-20 finish out of Gilliland would be considered a good day out of the No. 34 team on Sunday.Ty Dillon Provides Valuable DFS Cap Relief At Homestead
Source: Driver Averages
Don't be afraid to roster Ty Dillon on DraftKings this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. There are several high-priced drivers on the slate this weekend that are very good at Homestead, so you're going to need to find salary cap relief somewhere. Ty Dillon is an excellent option. Although he's not going to blaze through the field and challenge for a top-10 finish on Sunday, Ty should be able to keep his fenders clean and challenge for a mid-20s result. At just $5,200 on DraftKings, that would be an incredible value considering he qualified back in 34th for this weekend's Straight Talk Wireless 400. Ty has finished between 22nd and 28th in each of his last six races at this track. Sometimes in DFS, all you need is a reliable and cheap option to fill out a lineup. That is Ty Dillon this weekend at Homestead-Miami.Tyler Reddick's Solid Performance Is Derailed By Late Pit-Road Issues At Las Vegas
Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing finished 24th in Sunday's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the first stage, Reddick began the race from the 14th position and eventually made it as high as second before fading to 11th byread more...
Ryan Blaney's Struggles End In A Disappointing Exit Late At Las Vegas
Source: NASCAR.com
Ryan Blaney's performance on Sunday was defined by struggle and disappointment. Starting from the rear of the field due to having to his team having to repair his car due to a practice crash, Blaney began the first stage, making moves through the field. Blaney intended to split the first stage into two green flag runs but had issues during his pit stop, causing him to go two laps down. It wouldn't be until lap 109 in the middle of the second stage when Blaney returned to the lead lap, and he made the most of it as he got to sixth by the end of the stage. In the final stage, Blaney ran around the top five before getting caught in contact with Noah Gragson and Bubba Wallace, causing his car to spin and get massive damage. The No. 12 Ford driver would be unable to continue the race, being scored 35th for the day.Josh Berry Impressively Earns First Cup Series Win At Las Vegas
Source: NASCAR.com
Josh Berry is officially a NASCAR Cup Series winner--and it wasn't a fluke victory. Although he only led 18 of the 267 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Berry was strong from start to finish, boasting the third-best average running position during the Pennzoil 400 and having the fourth-fastest Green Flag Speed. This win comes in Berry's 53rd career Cup Series starts and a strong indicator that Wood Brothers Racing made the correct decision in signing him this year. Berry now sits 13th in the points standings after five races and is one of just five drivers to have multiple top-five finishes this year. AJ Allmendinger Scores First Top-10 Finish Of Season At Las Vegas
Source: Frontstretch
Las Vegas Motor Speedway has always been a relatively good race track for AJ Allmendinger, especially considering he isn't known for his oval racing, and the gamble paid off for fantasy managers that backed him this weekend, as the Kaulig Racing driver scored his first top-10 finish of the season on Sunday afternoon in the Pennzoil 400. In addition to crossing the finish line in eighth place at the conclusion, Allmendinger also ended up with a sixth-place result in the first stage. He now sits 23rd in the points standings after five races. Good news for Allmendinger fans: the Cup Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway next, where The Dinger has been strong at recently with finishes of eighth or better in each of the last three races there.Kyle Larson Leads The Most Laps, But Settles For A Top-10 Finish At Las Vegas
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson raced well at Las Vegas and ran inside the top 10 for most of the race on Sunday, finishing in the ninth position. Beginning the race from 10th, Larson had one of the faster cars inread more...
Ross Chastain Obtains A Hard-Fought Top-Five Finish At Las Vegas
Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain continued to show why Las Vegas is one of his better tracks by finishing fifth during Sunday's race. Starting from the 19th position, Chastain spent awhile figuring out how to navigate to the front and during theread more...
Daniel Suarez Scores Career-Best Finish At Las Vegas, But Falls Short Of Winning
Source: NASCAR.com
After a couple of races of failing to score a great finish, Daniel Suarez of Trackhouse Racing finished second. Starting from the 23rd position, Suarez progressively made his way through the field over the course of the race through moves on track or pit strategy. He was 14th by the end of the first stage, making him unable to score stage points, but he did place seventh at the end of the second stage, and scored a few there. Suarez made his way to the lead in the latter portions of the race by taking advantage of two tire strategies to maintain track position, gaining the lead and ultimately leading 12 laps before battling with Josh Berry. By lap 254, Suarez lost the lead for the final time thanks to his car getting loose, allowing Berry to slip by while Suarez settled for being the runner-up to this week's race. This is a new career-best finish for Suarez in the Cup Series at Las Vegas in 16 starts.Bubba Wallace Wrecks At Las Vegas But Shows Promising Speed
Source: Racing Reference
23XI Racing has always been fast on flat 1.5-mile ovals, and Sunday's Las Vegas race was no exception, even though neither Bubba Wallace nor his teammate Tyler Reddick ended up with good finishes. Despite starting 20th, Wallace drove up to fourth at the end of Stage 1 and then took the lead twice before being passed by both Kyle Larson and William Byron. However, while attempting to make a four-wide pass on Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and Noah Gragson for sixth in the outside lane on a restart, Blaney, Wallace, and Gragson came together and Wallace ended up finishing 28th and a lap down, which was not representative of how he ran. Nonetheless, he definitely had improved speed this year, likely thanks to his new crew chief Charles Denike, who led over 1,000 laps with Christian Eckes in the Craftsman Truck Series last year. The fact that he's been pretty unlucky and is still 11th in points is a great sign.Alex Bowman Recovers From Loose Wheel To Finish Seventh
Source: Racing Reference
Alex Bowman started sixth and finished seventh at Las Vegas, so you might figure he had his typical run-of-the-mill run where he ran in the back half of the top 10 of the race without really contending, but his run was actually a lot stronger than that. Bowman led two laps early after passing Austin Cindric after the first restart before Cindric repassed him, but then while running fifth on Lap 90, he pitted for a loose wheel and fell to 35th. He gained considerably after staying out of the pits on the eighth caution and quickly re-entered the top 10 for good after that, running as high as fourth in the latter stages. It remains to be seen whether he will have the speed to dominate a race again (which he hasn't for a while), but Sunday was an encouraging sign.Austin Cindric Wins Stage 1, But Loose Wheel Foils Victory Bid
Source: Racing Reference
In a race where all the Team Penske drivers and their Wood Brothers satellite entry for Josh Berry seemed quite fast, Austin Cindric outdueled Alex Bowman to win Stage 1 at Sunday's Las Vegas race -- his first stage win on a non-drafting oval since Gateway in 2022. He still continuously ran in the top 10 until he had to pit a second time during the caution for Shane van Gisbergen's crash for a loose wheel, but he eventually worked his way up to sixth. If all the cars that stayed out of the pits on the eighth caution had ended up running out of fuel, which seemed very possible at one point, Cindric might've been in the hunt for the win since there were times he was ahead of William Byron and Kyle Larson -- the latter of whom he out-finished. Perhaps this suggests he has more staying power after strong qualifying sessions than he did in previous years.William Byron Loses Las Vegas Race On Strategy But Expands Points Lead
Source: Racing Reference
William Byron entered Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas as the points leader and expanded his lead over Christopher Bell to 29 points after a fourth-place finish. Byron entered the race as one of the pre-race favorites and did briefly lead twice for 10 laps after passing Bubba Wallace then Michael McDowell for the lead before his teammate Kyle Larson passed him both times. Larson looked faster than Byron for most of the race, but Byron was rarely far behind and ended up passing all the drivers on the main pit strategy by race's end. However, the usual contenders out-thought themselves in choosing to pit during the eighth caution and many others didn't, which (along with contact from Ross Chastain) prevented them from catching the unusual podium finishers of Josh Berry, Daniel Suárez, and Ryan Preece on the other strategy.