April 27, 2025
Even though Ryan Preece is surprisingly running as well as his lead RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher this year and qualified fourth for today's race at Talladega, it's very risky to start him since he is almost certain to lose positions since he averages fewer than one top five of a year. Admittedly, his first top five did come here in 2019 and he seemed to have a little speed at this track type when he was at JTG-Daugherty Racing, he's rarely seemed to have speed on drafting tracks with the Next Gen chassis. Admittedly, RFK does seem to be faster than his previous team Stewart-Haas Racing, but perhaps not that much faster since Buescher and especially Preece's boss Brad Keselowski seem a lot slower than last year. Even though Preece is in a Ford, he's extremely unlikely to have the speed he needs to dominate, making him a terrible DFS option.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
In one of the year's biggest surprises to date, champion crew chief Rodney Childers announced last Wednesday that he had resigned as Justin Haley's crew chief. Perhaps this served as a distraction since Haley ended up qualifying 37th, slowest of all the full-time chartered teams. However, the crew chief doesn't really matter in forecasting races at Talladega and Haley likely has a lot of value since he is a good drafter in general and has earned two top tens in his last three Talladega starts, including a seventh last fall in his second start after returning to Spire Motorsports last year. It's obviously a crapshoot picking which drivers from the back will get good finishes at Talladega, but Haley is a good drafter and he's definitely capable of it in theory. The issue is whether Spire will have more speed than they did last year when they looked slow on this track type. Perhaps Carson Hocevar's second at Atlanta suggests they've turned a corner.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
In one of the more amusing anecdotes from qualifying, Chase Briscoe qualified 17th (slowest of the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars) after being penalized for a spoiler modification at the Daytona 500, where he had shocked everyone by winning the pole. Even though the penalty was rescinded, his inexplicable pole interrupting the perennial Ford qualifying dominance at the tracks likely had something to do with the infraction nonetheless, so his car won't likely be as fast this time in the race either. As with Alex Bowman, he's in a kind of no man's land where he qualified too well to gain many positions but too poorly to likely factor for the lead and earn lap leader points. Briscoe is probably even less valuable when considering he costs $300 more than Bowman.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
Alex Bowman qualified 18th at Talladega yesterday, which is consistent with his relatively bland performance there as this marks his seventh consecutive starting position outside the top ten after six consecutive top ten starts before that. While qualifying certainly doesn't matter there and he has had laps in every other race at Talladega, he isn't likely to be one of the dominant drivers in the race even with his recent uptick in speed and he is usually better at Daytona. He also qualified slightly too well to be a top contender for DFS teams when considering there are several better drivers who started behind him and are likely to finish ahead of him. All three of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates are likely better options.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
While Chris Buescher has seemed to maintain his consistency of recent seasons, he and RFK Racing in general have seemed to lose a lot of speed as he has not led a lap in the first nine races of 2025. Even though he qualified sixth at Talladega, a track which is traditionally conducive to a lot of lead changes, don't expect that trend to necessarily change today as he also qualified sixth for the Daytona 500 and never led that race. He qualified well enough that he should likely be avoided for DFS unless you think he is likely to dominate the race and earn a lot of lap leader points. Since he has a Ford and has won at Daytona, that's not impossible but the RFK Fords have never seemed to have as much speed as the Penske or even Front Row Motorsports Fords on drafting tracks of late and he has historically tended to be better at Daytona than Talladega.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
Ty Gibbs has slightly recovered from a disastrous start to the season with three consecutive good runs elevating him from 34th to 20th in the points standings. He qualified 10th ahead of all other Toyota drivers for today's Talladega race. However, that is not a good thing for DFS lineups because he qualified too well to gain many positions, so the primary value a top qualifier has is if they lead a lot of laps in the race, but even though he contended for the win in last year's second Atlanta race, he is unlikely to lead much in a race where the Fords are likely to dominate, nor is he likely to finish well given his recent history. He is one of the absolute worst choices for DFS lineups and must be avoided at all costs, even though he is available relatively cheaply at $7,000.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
Although Carson Hocevar only qualified 28th at Talladega yesterday and was genuinely rather slow in most of last year's drafting track races, he earned his best career finish (a second) in the previous drafting race at Atlanta despite starting 26th, which means he seems to be driving less conservatively now and is more willing to fight for the lead. Coming off of last week's race at Bristol (which was one of Hocevar's fastest races ever), he clearly has positive momentum entering this race. Considering he has the potential to gain many positions, is available relatively cheaply at $6,900, and has a relatively weak surface record on this track type, he's a very strong pick for DFS if you think he is more likely to replicate this year's Atlanta run than last year's lackluster runs.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
J.J. Yeley starts 39th and last at Talladega for the NY Racing Team. If there is any track type where he might have value for DFS purposes, it is the drafting track as the only chance he might have a decent finish for that team is if he doesn't crash and many of the drivers in faster cars do. That is always a possibility on drafting tracks. However, Talladega races have not typically been as chaotic as Daytona races or to a lesser extent Atlanta races and there have tended to be relatively few cars crashing at Talladega lately. As a result, it's extremely unlikely that enough cars will crash out for Yeley to gain as many positions as he needs to become valuable, particularly when there are so many other faster cars and drivers who didn't qualify much better.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 27, 2025
Ryan Blaney is the favorite to win the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend according to sportsbooks across the country. The Team Penske driver is one of the best at superspeedway racing and was a strong contender at both Daytona and Atlanta earlier this season. Here at Talladega specifically, Blaney is a three-time winner and has finished first or second in three of his six starts here in the Next Gen era. This weekend, Blaney will roll off the starting grid from ninth-place when the Jack Link's 500 goes green. This gives him a little bit of Place Differential upside with obvious race-winning potential as well. When it comes to DFS contests, Blaney is sure to be one of the higher-owned drivers on the slate. While it's important to have some exposure to a strong drafter like him, there's a strategy play in being underweight to the field in tournaments due to the volatile nature of races at Talladega.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: CBS Sports
April 27, 2025
In the Next Gen era, William Byron has been one of the best at drafting tracks. In addition to his two Daytona 500 victories, Byron also has two wins over at Atlanta, which was recently converted into a drafting-style track. One place that Byron has yet to get a win at, though, is Talladega Superspeedway--although you have to think that a victory is coming soon. Over the six Next Gen races at this track, Byron has yet to finish worse than 15th at Talladega, and he's currently on a four-race streak of top-seven results. In the last two fall races, he's came home with podium finishes each time. This weekend, Willy B qualified mid-pack in 16th, which gives him Place Differential upside with a moderate amount of risk. In tournament-style contests on DraftKings, he makes for a strong play to consider, especially when you take into account his history at this track type.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: NASCAR.com
April
27,
2025
If
Brad
Keselowski
is
going
to
make
the
Playoffs
this
season,
it's
looking
more
and
more
likely
that
he's
going
to
have
to
win
a
race
to
get
in.
After
nine
races
completed
this
season,
Keselowski
sits
in
31st-place
and
68
read more...
April 27, 2025
Ross Chastain should be one of your most-used drivers in DFS this weekend. The Trackhouse Racing driver has been one of the strongest at Talladega Superspeedway in the Next Gen era, with the fifth-best driver rating among active drivers in the six races here with this new car. Additionally, Chastain went to victory lane here back in 2022 and also had a fourth-place finish to his credit that season. This weekend, the Watermelon Man will roll off the starting grid from 32nd-place when the Jack Link's 500 goes green, which means Chastain has very high Place Differential upside for DFS players. Because of that, along with his very strong track history, you should have plenty of Chastain exposure with your daily fantasy lineups at Talladega on Sunday. At Atlanta earlier this season--which is another drafting track--Ross came home eighth after starting back in 33rd.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Driver Averages
April 27, 2025
As is usually the case at Talladega Superspeedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr will be one of the most popular drivers in DFS contests this weekend, as the No. 47 Chevrolet will roll off the starting grid from 35th-place on Sunday. At only $7,500 on DraftKings, that makes Stenhouse a great pick in daily fantasy contests due to his Place Differential upside alone. Add in the fact that he's one of the strongest racers on superspeedway tracks in the series and it's hard to make a case against Stenhouse this weekend. Obviously there is a strategy angle by going against him in DFS on Sunday, but the upside here is extremely hard to ignore. Stenhouse is a two-time winner at Talladega and has posted top-10 finishes in 11 of his 23 career starts at this track.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
April 27, 2025
Zane Smith continued the strong superspeedway qualifying efforts for Front Row Motorsports this weekend, as he captured his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series pole by over a tenth with a lap of 182.174 mph on Saturday morning. The Fords are always strong at the big, drafting tracks, and Zane will have the best track position to start the race with on Sunday in the Jack Link's 500. However, he should be avoided when it comes to DFS contests. The pole sitter rarely wins the race at a track like Talladega, and with dominator points being so spread out at tracks like this, it makes the driver starting first one of the worst options on the slate. Even if Smith runs inside the top five all day on Sunday, it's not worth the risk in rostering him in DFS due to the extremely high negative Place Differential probability.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
April 27, 2025
Some NASCAR Cup Series drivers have certain tracks figured out. That's the case with Erik Jones and Talladega Superspeedway. In 16 career starts at this track, "That Jones Boy" has walked away with top-10 finishes half of the time, and even has three top-five results to go along with his. Over the last seven races here, Jones has been even more impressive, finishing ninth or better five times over that span. Now, obviously track history doesn't predict future success at a volatile track like Talladega, but the point still remains: Jones is a solid superspeedway racer. He also finished 12th in the Daytona 500 earlier this season. This weekend, Jones qualified way back in 34th-place for Sunday's race, which makes him an excellent Place Differential play in DFS contests. You should have plenty of Erik Jones in your DFS lineups on Sunday, especially with his very palatable $6,400 salary on DraftKings.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
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