July 5, 2025

The No. 66 Ford for Garage 66 has been one of the slowest cars on every track this season, but that hasn't been the case at the Chicago Street Course this weekend. Josh Bilicki is behind the wheel of this race car for Sunday's Grant Park 165 and he showed some unexpected speed during practice and qualifying on Saturday. After posting the 36th-fastest lap (out of 41 drivers) in practice, Bilicki went out and qualified 31st for Sunday's race. While that is not mind-blowing speed by any means, that is significantly better than every other effort by the Garage 66 drivers this season. Now, with that being said, Bilicki is still in a back-marker car and that can't be overlooked. He finished 28th at the Chicago Street Course in this No. 66 Ford last season and also wound up 29th at the Charlotte Roval. Without major attrition in this weekend's race, that's about the ceiling you should expect from Bilicki on Sunday as well. --Jordan McAbee
Source: Jayski

July 5, 2025

Katherine Legge will be racing in this weekend's Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course, as the British 44-year-old put down a lap of 92.368 seconds in qualifying on Saturday afternoon. That was faster than several notable drivers, including Erik Jones, Cody Ware, Ty Dillon, and Bubba Wallace. That lap was also faster than Corey Heim's attempt, who did not qualify for the race after hitting the wall during his attempt. This will be Legge's third-ever start in the Cup Series. She finished 30th at Phoenix earlier this year and wound up 32nd at Mexico City while driving this No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports. It will likely take plenty of attrition for Legge to move up any from her starting spot this weekend, and therefore it's not recommended to have much exposure to her in DFS (even with the super-cheap salary of $4,500 on DraftKings).--Jordan McAbee
Source: Chicago Tribune

July 5, 2025

Corey Heim's birthday didn't go as planned. The Toyota Racing driver was poised to make his third Cup Series start of the season this weekend at the Chicago Street Course, but after the No. 67 Toyota made contact with the wall early in the session, Heim was the slowest driver to make a lap in qualifying on Saturday. Because there were 41 entries for this weekend's race and only 40 spots available, that means Corey Heim will officially be credited with a DNQ for this year's Grant Park 165. Heim took to X after missing the race to remark, "Made a mistake on my first lap and bent the toe link. Tried to get everything I could out of it after that but clearly wasn't enough. That's completely my fault and still trying to process all of it. Thank you [23XI Racing] for a car plenty capable enough to make the race." Heim was beat out on speed by Katherine Legge. Considering he did not make this weekend's race at Chicago Street Course, you should not roster Corey Heim in DFS, as he will score zero points.--Jordan McAbee
Source: Corey Heim X Account

July 1, 2025

Another domino in this year's NASCAR "Silly Season" has fallen. It was announced on Tuesday that Trackhouse Racing and Daniel Suarez will part ways at the conclusion of the 2025 season in a mutually agreed-upon situation. A few weeks ago in Mexico City, Suarez noted, "There [are] a lot of things in Trackhouse that are adjusting and changing. Performance-wise, we're not exactly where we want to be — not just in the 99 but in Trackhouse as a company, and we have to make sure that we fix that before we want to go any longer. This goes really both ways." Suarez currently ranks 29th in the points standings and will likely need a win to make the Playoffs this year. --Jordan McAbee
Source: NASCAR.com

June 30, 2025

Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports was one of the top contenders of the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the win. Bowman started the race from the ninth position, but lost ground throughout the first stage. He ended stage one in the 21st position and failed to score stage points. In the second stage, Bowman ended up continuing despite the race's biggest crash on lap 69 that took out many top contenders. He went on to lead a couple of times until the end of the stage, where he ended in fourth and gained several stage points. In the final stage, Bowman continued shuffling the lead between several other drivers as he ran most of the stage inside the top five. The No. 48 Chevrolet driver did take advantage of pit strategy with 30 laps to go in order to get fresher tires and start further back in the field. He soon rejoined the top five and played a pivotal role in determining the winner of the race. On the final lap, Bowman made it up to third and then, while his teammate Chase Elliott was going against Brad Keselowski, Bowman gave Elliott a push past Keselowski and then competed with Keselowski for second. Although Bowman was unable to pass Keselowski and settled for a third-place finish, Bowman helped Elliott win the race since he slowed down Keselowski and kept him from charging back for the win. Bowman's finish of third ties his best career Cup finish at Atlanta and also marks his best finish of the season since finishing second at Homestead in March.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

June 30, 2025

Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones placed fifth at the end of Saturday's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Jones started 26th at the beginning of the race, but remained in the back during the first stage, finishing in 31st and earning no stage points. Jones successfully avoided the race's biggest wreck on lap 69, and from there, he became more competitive as the race progressed. The No. 43 Toyota driver ended the second stage in fifth despite also making contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and sustaining damage. In the final stage, Jones kept quietly remaining in the top 10 until lap 196 when he spun around the track, but obtained little damage and was able to continue. After multiple pit stops, Jones ended up getting new tires and charged through the field to regain fifth place by the end of the race. Jones secured his second career top-5 finish at Atlanta, marking his second of the 2025 season. --Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

June 30, 2025

Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing finished Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the fourth position after being one of the top competitors for the win. Reddick began the race from the 23rd position, but lost ground in the first stage, as he ended in the 28th position. In the second stage, Reddick survived a massive multi-car accident with no damage and as a result gained plenty of ground on the field. Reddick worked his way to the front and shuffled the lead between several other drivers. The No. 45 Toyota driver prevailed and won the second stage, collecting a playoff point and 10 driver points. In the final stage, Reddick remained a strong contender for the win as he kept running towards the front part of the pack. Eventually, despite multiple incidents and cautions, Reddick did a contrarian pit strategy by heading to pit road with 30 laps to go for fresher tires and gave up his track position. This strategy seemed to pay off as Reddick quickly charged through the field and contended for the win up until the end of the race. However, in the final two laps of the race, Reddick failed to take an opportunity to pass Brad Keselowski for the lead and faded back to fourth as Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman passed him as the race ended under the yellow flag. This is a new career-best finish for Reddick in the Cup Series at Atlanta and the second top-5 finish of his Cup career at the site.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

June 29, 2025

Chase Elliott is back in NASCAR Cup Series victory lane, as the Hendrick Motorsports driver showed impressive drafting and passing skills to take the win in Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway. The victory snaps a 44-race winless streak for the 2020 Cup Series Champion and vaults Chase into second-place in the points standings behind his teammate, William Byron. After the race, Elliott remarked, "All the cards fell on the right places there those last couple laps,. What a crazy race. ... It was wild from my seat. I'm so glad we got to run that thing out there to the end." It was the second career win for Elliott at Atlanta, with his first one coming back in 2022. The Cup Series now heads to the Chicago Street Course, where Chase has a third-place finish to his credit (in 2023).--Jordan McAbee
Source: FOX Sports

June 29, 2025

Brad Keselowski has had a very rough 2025 season, but there was a glimmer of hope near the end of Saturday night's race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), as the No. 6 Ford was in firm control of the race lead for most of the final stage. However, when the checkered flag flew, Keselowski was just one position short, finishing second to race-winner Chase Elliott in an epic final few laps of racing. On the team radio after crossing the finish line, Keselowski remarked, "I just needed a teammate." He needed someone to give him a push to get back around Elliott. Keselowski is now 27th in the points standings but will likely need a win if he wants to make the playoffs this season.--Jordan McAbee
Source: Catchfence

June 29, 2025

After driving from 26th to second in the February Atlanta race, Carson Hocevar had another stellar run there on Saturday night as he drove from 30th to 10th despite getting caught up in the Lap 70 Big One. In the first stage, Hocevar arguably demonstrated winning speed as he drove from his subpar starting spot to finish fifth in Stage 1, but he pitted during the Stage 1 caution and almost all the other drivers who did crashed on the ensuing restart, while the drivers who stayed out mostly did not. Nonetheless, he didn't have as much damage as a lot of other drivers, which allowed him to receive the free pass on the next caution and make up his lost lap. He laid low for the remainder of Stage 2, probably to avoid crashing again, but re-emerged in the top 10 in the last 60 laps. Although he remains 62 points below the playoff cut line, he did upset Ryan Blaney to advance to Round 2 in the in-season challenge.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

June 29, 2025

William Byron retained a 37-point lead in the regular season NASCAR Cup Series championship despite being eliminated in the lap 70 Big One because most of the other top points contenders also crashed. Byron was very fast like his Hendrick teammates except Kyle Larson, driving from his 18th place starting to position to finish 4th in Stage 1. However, most of the drivers who ran up front in Stage 1 elected to pit while nine drivers stayed out. Since the wreck started with eighth-place Denny Hamlin on the next restart, almost all the cars who pitted on that caution crashed while those who stayed out did not. Although the crash did not really affect Byron's playoff position much, it did eliminate him from the In-Season Challenge as Byron's opponent Ryan Preece finished the race.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

June 29, 2025

Although Denny Hamlin entered NASCAR's In-Season Challenge as the No. 1 seed at Atlanta, Hamlin was mostly a nonfactor, only driving from 33rd to 28th in Stage 1 before staying out of the pits on the stage break caution, which elevated him to seventh. On the ensuing restart, Chris Buescher let off the gas to avoid running into Chase Elliott, which triggered a stackup that caused Justin Haley to run into Buescher, John Hunter Nemechek to run into Haley, Hamlin to run into Nemechek, and Todd Gilliland to run into Hamlin, triggering the race's 23-car Big One. Since Hamlin's bracket opponent Ty Dillon mostly averted the wreck, Hamlin was eliminated from bracket contention. His playoff position didn't shift much since points leader William Byron also crashed and Hamlin ended up only losing two points to him, now sitting 80 points behind.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

June 29, 2025

Despite entering NASCAR's in-season challenge as the 32nd and last seed, Ty Dillon utilized a fast Kaulig Racing car and a nifty move to swerve around the Big One in Saturday's Atlanta race to finish eighth, giving him his first top-10 finish at Atlanta and first of the season. It allowed him to upset top seed Denny Hamlin, whose spinout in a restart stackup caused him to crash out of the race. However, even after the crash, Dillon was barely running in the top 15 until he broke into the top 10 before a caution came out shortly before the race's halfway point. Despite dropping to 20th on Lap 168, he recovered and ran as high as third before somewhat fading. Although he isn't remotely in the playoff picture and this was one of his last two chances to win, he still has a lot to hang his hat on.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

June 28, 2025

Kyle Larson has never won a drafting track race in his NASCAR Cup Series career, nor did he win at Atlanta in the years it was a regular intermediate track. It seems likely that he will win a drafting race at some point, but tonight will probably not be that race. Although he starts 11th (ahead of all but two non-Fords), it's unlikely that Larson will be able to keep up with the dominant Ford speed in an era when the Penske cars seem to dominate every drafting race. Although Larson crashed out of five of his first six Atlanta races in the Next Gen/drafting track era, he did finish third in the February race and was in the fight for the win. Ultimately, he's probably not a good enough drafter to seriously threaten for the win when the Fords are faster despite this result and since he's unlikely to dominate, he probably qualified too well to start him for DFS.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

June 28, 2025

Although Christopher Bell qualified 28th at Atlanta on Friday, he started even worse in the February race here before winning it via a last-lap pass, so don't discount the idea that he might be able to duplicate that feat. What makes that less likely this time is that his hot streak of three wins in a row in 2025 came off his very strong tail end of 2024, while in recent weeks he has been consistent but not much of a contender. Perhaps Bell's team after the three-in-a-row streak has gone all in on to focus on the playoff races, so the desire to fight for the win won't be there. He still qualified poorly enough that with his usual pace and consistency, you should consider starting him anyway, but he probably isn't quite the best option, especially since he only led a single lap.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference