October 19, 2025

Considering the dominance the Fords in general and the Penske Fords in particular have shown on drafting tracks in recent years, it wouldn't come as much surprise if Josh Berry won at Talladega on Sunday, especially after the inferior Harrison Burton already won at Daytona in the Penske-aligned Wood Brothers car last year. However, in general, you don't want to start drivers who start near the front for DFS play on drafting tracks since finishes are far less predictable at this track type than any other, meaning drivers are far more likely to lose positions when starting at the front here than anywhere else, and Berry starts sixth. Furthermore, even if you were considering him for lap-leader points, Talladega races have fewer laps than any other oval (188), so Berry is probably not a good choice, especially since he's never finished better than 16th here.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

October 19, 2025

Although Austin Dillon has won two drafting-track races, both of those came at Daytona, where he roughed up the leader. Although theoretically anyone could win at Talladega, Dillon seems like he would have only the remotest chance because to win at Talladega, you still need to be able to put yourself in the lead, and even though Dillon has earned seven top-10 finishes at Talladega, including each of the last two races, he has only led four career laps here. Since the last few Talladega races haven't even been very crash-prone, the likelihood of him backing into a win is less likely than you would think as well. He may still be worthy of consideration for place-differential points since he only starts 21st, but there are probably better choices starting worse.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

October 13, 2025

Although Christopher Bell has not been as dominant as in previous years, he's having arguably his most consistent season with a series-best 11.4 average finish. Those trends continued in yesterday's race at Las Vegas as he never led in a race where his teammate Chase Briscoe won the pole and his other teammate Denny Hamlin won the race while he finished third, but he consistently ran in the to ten for nearly the entire race and his average running position of 7th was not much worse than Hamlin or Briscoe's. Bell has arguably been a little too complacent this year in going for consistency over wins in a championship format where he will likely need to win at Phoenix to win the championship. However, he's definitely had a knack for clutch victories when he has a significant opportunity to win. Because he had no bad luck while other drivers did, he sits third in points, 20 ahead of William Byror for the final transfer spot in the Championship Round. With no bad luck (which is definitely a questionable thing to say entering Talladega), he should likely advance but it's by no means guaranteed.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

October 13, 2025

Chase Briscoe did what he needed to do to hold serve in the NASCAR playoffs on Sunday. After qualifying second, he blew around his teammate Denny Hamlin on the opening lap and led the first 35 laps until William Byron beat him out of the pits on the first green-flag pit cycle. Briscoe consistently ran in the top 10 (falling no worse than eighth outside of pit cycles), but resurfaced in the lead when he took two tires on the race's final caution. Although Joey Logano beat him to the start-finish line on the restart, Briscoe outdueled Logano before Hamlin returned the favor and passed Briscoe for the win with four laps remaining on his four fresh tires. Briscoe fell to fourth, where he also sits in the standings. Thanks to the bad luck other drivers faced, Briscoe now holds a 15-point lead on Byron for the final transfer spot to the championship round.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

October 13, 2025

Although Joey Logano has a knack for winning the first race of the penultimate round of the NASCAR playoffs en route to the championship, he perhaps surprisingly wasn't much of a factor in Sunday's Las Vegas race. After starting ninth, he consistently ran in the back of the top 10 until a pit stop during the Stage 2 caution relegated him to the middle of the pack. He never really recovered until a two-tire stop on the race's final caution elevated him to second. He ultimately fell to sixth when the cars that took four tires passed him, leading one lap when he beat Chase Briscoe to the line on the final restart. However, while he benefited from William Byron and his teammate Ryan Blaney's crashes, he was so far behind on playoff points to begin with that he remains a long shot to make the Championship 4, especially since he's a lot less likely to win than Blaney or Byron are. He now sits 48 points out of the points lead and 24 points below the playoff cut line.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

October 13, 2025

Ryan Blaney had a nightmare situation befall him in the first race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs on Sunday at Las Vegas. After qualifying 14th, Blaney did not make much progress, consistently running between 12th and 14th, until a blown tire sent him straight into the wall with nine laps remaining in Stage 1. The car could not be prepared, resulting in a last-place finish in 38th. Moreover, the fact that he scored no stage points while the other seven remaining playoffs drivers all did, left him in a precarious position in eighth in points, 55 points behind eventual winner and points leader Denny Hamlin, and 31 points behind Chase Briscoe for the final transfer spot. Blaney is already in a situation where he will likely need to win at either Talladega or Martinsville to advance to the championship round, but he could definitely do it.--Sean Wrona - RotoBaller
Source: Racing Reference

October 13, 2025

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin won Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but not in dominating fashion, as he led only nine laps in the event. Hamlin started in the pole position for the race, but did not maintain the lead as he botched the opening restart. This mistake sent Hamlin back to fighting for a top-5 spot, but he eventually finished the first stage in fourth. In the second stage, Hamlin kept his car clean, executed pit stops without mistakes, and ran in the top five during the entire stage outside of pit stops. Hamlin wound up fourth at the end of the stage. In the final stage, Hamlin quietly rode between the top 10 and top five through most of the stage, keeping pace with the top drivers at the front of the pack. During the last two cautions of the race, Hamlin took four tires and took advantage of them to rise back up to third with under 10 laps to go. Hamlin chased down Kyle Larson, the dominant driver of the day, and passed him while he was trying to overtake Chase Briscoe. Instead, Hamlin went on to pass Briscoe and lead the final four laps to claim victory at Vegas. This was Hamlin's 60th career Cup Series win, second at Las Vegas, and also earned him an automatic berth to the championship round at Phoenix, where he will compete for the 2025 Cup Series championship.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

October 13, 2025

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson had a strong showing during the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Larson started the race from sixth place, but quickly showcased that he had one of the best cars in the field. In the first stage, Larson went from sixth to second, falling short of the stage win behind his teammate William Byron. Where Larson took the race over, however, was in the second stage. The No. 5 Chevrolet driver ended up dominating and winning the second stage, leading the majority of laps outside of green flag pit stops. Larson continued his dominance into the final stage, leading at several points outside of green flag pit stops until Byron crashed on lap 237 with Ty Dillon. After pit stops, Larson lost a few positions and the lead and spent the last remaining parts of the race trying to regain it. Larson made it back as high as second and was catching Chase Briscoe, who was only on two fresh tires for the lead late, but was unable to pass him. Denny Hamlin soon got past Larson while Larson kept trying to use momentum to pass Briscoe, sending him back to third. Although Larson did pass Briscoe in the closing laps, he could not generate a run to catch Hamlin and settled for second. Despite falling short of victory at Vegas, Larson had a strong points day and now sits 35 points above the playoff cut line with two races left in the Round of 8.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

October 13, 2025

Chase Elliott's performance in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway started off with promise, but ended with a disappointing finish of 18th on Sunday night. Elliott started fifth in Sunday's race and ran inside the top five for the duration of the first stage. The No. 9 Chevrolet driver ended the first stage in the fifth position, scoring stage points. In the second stage, Elliott continued running inside the top 10, but suffered a major setback during green flag pit stops. Elliott's team was tagged with an uncontrolled tire penalty during his pit stop, forcing him to make a pass-through that set him a lap down. As a result, Elliott spent the rest of the race trying to make up ground and finished the second stage in 25th. Elliott struggled to regain further track position through the final stage as his car struggled to pass other drivers. By the end of the race, Elliott placed 18th, marking the second-lowest finish of 2025 for him since the playoffs began. Elliott now sits sixth in the playoff standings, 23 points behind the cut line, with two races left before the championship round begins.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

October 13, 2025

William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports had one of the strongest cars during Sunday night's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but ended up leaving the race in 36th with a wrecked race car. Byron began the race in fifth position, but quickly worked his way towards the front of the pack. After the first wave of green flag pit stops were completed, Byron acquired the lead from Chase Briscoe and went on to not only lead the rest of the first stage but also win it. In the second stage, Byron lost the lead and was unable to regain it throughout the stage. He still ran in the top five through most of the second stage outside of pit stops, and scored more stage points by placing third at the end of the stage. During the final stage, Byron kept himself in contention against Denny Hamlin, Briscoe, and his teammate Kyle Larson. After obtaining the lead from getting past Larson, Byron led 10 additional laps before heading for another green flag pit stop on lap 231. Byron lost the lead after finishing his pit stop, but then on lap 237, Byron was caught in the path of Ty Dillon, who attempted to head to pit road. Byron and Dillon collided, leaving Byron unable to continue the race with heavy damage. As a result, Byron was credited with a finish of 36th, and with two races left in the Round of 8 in the playoffs, he now sits 15 points behind the cut line to advance to the championship round.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com

October 12, 2025

Sportsbooks have pegged Christopher Bell as the favorite to win this weekend's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver qualified third for this weekend's race and had one of the best cars in practice, ranking second-best in 30-lap average during the session. Bell had the dominant race car in this exact race last season, leading 155 laps before ultimately finishing second behind surprise winner, Joey Logano. That is Bell's second-straight runner-up finish in the Playoffs race here at Las Vegas, and his third top-five finish over the last five races at this track overall. As far as DFS contests go, Christopher Bell is a solid pick despite his hefty $11,200 salary on DraftKings. If he can grab the lead early on Sunday evening, we could see another dominating effort out of him in Sin City.--Jordan McAbee
Source: FOX Sports

October 12, 2025

Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday evening for the South Point 400, as the Round of 8 kicks off from Sin City. Denny is a previous winner at Las Vegas (back in 2021) and has been a constant top-10 threat in the Next Gen era, with five finishes of 11th or better over the last six races at this track. Additionally, Hamlin had the dominant car at Kansas a couple of weeks ago, and that is the sister race track of Las Vegas, so there's no reason to think the No. 11 Toyota will be lacking any speed this weekend. As far as practice goes this weekend, Denny had the sixth-best 10-lap average but ranked a little lower on the longer-run charts--although that could be because of one or two bad laps during the run. With how strong the No. 11 Toyota was at Kansas a couple of weeks ago, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see Hamlin lead early and often, plus compete for the Las Vegas win this weekend. --Jordan McAbee
Source: Jayski

October 12, 2025

Last year in the Las Vegas Playoff race, Joey Logano used strategy and some helpful blocking by his teammate to get to victory lane and punch his ticket to the Championship race. Can he do it again? Logano qualified ninth for this weekend's South Point 400, which is actually pretty good considering he was quite slow in practice, ranking 28th-fastest out of the 38 cars on the track. In last year's race, he started from back in 10th before swiping the victory at the end. Logano has two victories at Las Vegas in the Next Gen era and four total in his career, so he definitely knows how to race this track. As far as DFS goes this weekend, Joey isn't a highly recommended play due to his $10,200 salary on DraftKings and limited dominator upside. However, if he pulls off another surprise win, he could very well end up in the optimal lineup. --Jordan McAbee
Source: Speedway Digest

October 12, 2025

The No. 24 Chevrolet was the fastest car in practice on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as William Byron posted the best 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, and 30-lap average during the session. We've seen him put on dominating efforts at intermediate tracks this season, particularly at Charlotte, where he led 283 laps before finishing second. At Las Vegas specifically, Byron has one win under his belt (in 2023) and has back-to-back top-five finishes over the last two races here. Additionally, he's on a five-race streak of top-10s at this track. For Sunday evening's South Point 400, Byron will roll off the starting grid from fifth-place, giving him solid track position to start out with, and he comes in at a very affordable $10,000 on DraftKings. He should be a popular DFS pick with plenty of dominator upside this weekend.--Jordan McAbee
Source: ifantasyrace

October 12, 2025

Ty Gibbs had the fastest lap time in practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, posting a 29.714-second circuit at 181.733 mph around the 1.5-mile oval. And while that is definitely a good sign for Gibbs and the No. 54 team, their tendency to fade during races could come into play this weekend once again. For the overall picture, though, this is a very good sign for Toyota as a whole, as that organization was the dominant one at Kansas a couple of weeks ago, and it looks as though that speed has carried through to Las Vegas. As far as Ty Gibbs goes specifically, he qualified 10th and is priced at $7,400 on DraftKings. While he could make for an interesting tournament play, keep in mind that he has finished 22nd or worse in five of his six career starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is worth noting, though, that his career-best result was a fifth here in 2024, so it's probably worth sprinkling some Gibbs into your DFS lineups this weekend.--Jordan McAbee
Source: Jayski