August 31, 2025
Be sure not to overlook Tyler Reddick at Darlington Raceway this weekend. In the seven races in the Next Gen era, Reddick has the second-best average driver rating (107.8) and the most top-five finishes (four) among active Cup Series drivers. He walked away with a fourth-place result in the first race here this season (after leading 42 laps) and has been in contention to win in three of the last four races at "The Lady in Black." As far as this weekend goes, Reddick comes in at a very affordable salary of $9,700 on DraftKings, and although he doesn't have much Place Differential upside (Reddick qualified fourth), the dominator potential is there for this No. 45 team. With how this weekend's Southern 500 DFS slate has shaken out thus far, it could be easy to overlook Tyler Reddick when building lineups this weekend. Make sure you don't do that. Reddick had some of the best lap times in the second group during practice on Saturday morning.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
August 31, 2025
Alex Bowman is going to be one of the most popular picks on the DFS slate this weekend at Darlington Raceway. That is because Bowman qualified back in 29th-place for Sunday evening's Cook Out Southern 500, and with his very affordable DraftKings salary of $7,800, that makes Bowman a prime Place Differential pick on this Crown Jewel slate. As far as practice goes this weekend, Bowman's No. 48 Chevrolet wasn't blazing fast by any means, but it had respectable speed in it. The same comparison could be made about Bowman and his career fproamcne at Darlington Raceway. In 15 career starts at "The Lady in Black," Bowman has just four top-10 finishes, although it's worth noting that two of those came in the last five races. The No. 48 team will have a bit to overcome at the start of the Southern 500 on Sunday night but it wouldn't be surprising at all to see Bowman challenging for a top-10 finish when it's all said and done.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
August 31, 2025
Don't overlook Ty Gibbs this weekend at Darlington Raceway. The young Joe Gibbs Racing driver has taken a knack to "The Lady in Black," as Gibbs has finished seventh or better in five of the last six Stages at this track. As far as race results go, Ty ended up ninth here in the spring race and also has a second-place finish to his credit (in the 2024 spring race). In practice for this weekend's Cook Out Southern 500, the No. 54 Toyota ranked third-fastest among the 38 cars, although that should be taken with a grain of salt considering Gibbs was in the first group during practice (which had a speed advantage over the second). When it came to long-run speed, Ty had the best 25- and 30-lap average on Saturday. At just $6,900 on DraftKings this weekend, and with a 16th-place starting spot, Ty Gibbs has good upside at a cheap price for DFS players on Sunday night.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
August 30, 2025
Every time the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Darlington Raceway, fantasy managers need to keep an eye on Erik Jones. In 15 career starts at the track, Jones has collected two victories and eight top-10 finishes, all while posting an average result of 13.5. Of course, many of those good results came when he was in better equipment, as Jones was at his best at Darlington while he was still with Joe Gibbs Racing. However, Legacy Motor Club -- the current organization he drives for -- has steadily been improving, and over the last four Darlington races, Jones has been able to post finishes of 17th, 24th, 19th, and 10th. This weekend, the No. 43 Toyota looked to have some speed during practice, and then in qualifying, Jones ended up 19th-best (his best qualifying effort here since his victory in 2022). At $7,000 on DraftKings, Jones is definitely worth a roll of the dice in tournament situations.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Driver Averages
August 30, 2025
Don't sleep on Zane Smith this weekend in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The Front Row Motorsports driver was able to walk away with a 12th-place finish here in the spring race, and the No. 38 Ford had some good long-run speed during practice on Saturday, with Zane ranking sixth-fastest when it came to 30-lap average. Now, Smith was part of the first group in practice, which had a speed advantage over the second group, but it's still noteworthy that he was able to show the speed that he did. Zane has been a 10th-to-15th-place driver in several races this season, including the Homestead race back in March when he started 17th and ended up 11th when the checkered flag flew. At Darlington on Sunday night, Zane will roll off the starting grid from 24th-place, and if he has the same speed this weekend as he did in the spring, he could be a very valuable play on DraftKings at just $6,300 for your DFS lineups.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
August 30, 2025
Keep an eye on AJ Allmendinger this weekend at Darlington Raceway. The Kaulig Racing driver has had some solid results on the steep, intermediate ovals this season, including a seventh-place finish at Homestead and a ninth-place result at Bristol. When it comes to Darlington, though, The Dinger is still searching for his first top-10 result in the Cup Series. Through 14 career starts at the track, he has a best finish of 13th, which came in last year's Southern 500. AJ followed that up with an 18th-place finish earlier this season in the spring race, which included a 10th-place finish in the first Stage. Allmendinger will roll off the starting grid from 22nd-place for Sunday night's Southern 500 and had good speed in practice on Saturday, ranking seventh-best on the overall speed chart and looking solid on the long run. AJ could be a viable tournament option in DFS this weekend (especially at just $6,000 on DraftKings).
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Driver Averages
August 30, 2025
Although Chase Elliott came close to winning the last two 2020 races at Darlington before two separate crashes with Joe Gibbs Racing drivers took him out of contention, he hasn't really factored for the lead at Darlington since. However, he's still been pretty consistent with top-12 finishes in all but two of the last nine races despite not qualifying better than 13th since qualifying returned in 2022. That trend continued on Saturday as he qualified a mediocre 21st, but he has definitely been faster this year overall than he was in either 2023 or 2024, so it stands to reason he should run a little better this year. He has gained an average of 11.6 positions in the last five races here, which makes him a solid bet for a top-10 showing. He's not one of the best overall DFS options, but he's likely a very good one, and the only reason he's probably not a top-tier option is that at $9,500, he may be priced a little high.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Joey Logano has almost been the polar opposite of Chris Buescher as he no longer seems to care about where he finishes in a race as long as he wins at the right moments and accumulates a lot of stage points. While purists prefer Buescher's consistent approach, there's no denying that Logano's approach is better-suited to the modern championship format, as much as it perpetually annoys people. So whether Logano runs well effectively comes down to whether the No. 22 team views this race as important or not and that's difficult to predict. It seems more likely that Logano will go hard in every playoff race this year than last year because he didn't accumulate many playoff points, but that's just a guess. As a result, expect him to run a little better at Darlington than he has lately even though he only qualified 14th. He did win here in the Next Gen car in 2022, albeit not cleanly.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Although some people see Chris Buescher as a major playoff snub, he was far less deserving this year than in 2024 when he was a genuine snub because this year, he hardly ever had anything resembling winning speed. He is typically too risk-averse to avoid mistakes, which gives him a higher floor than most other drivers. This would have been a good strategy for the '90s but not today when very few drivers advance to the playoffs on points. However, not making the playoffs does give Buescher the chance to take more risks and go for wins, as he did at Watkins Glen last year. Although it's hard to see Buescher having winning speed at Darlington, he has finished in the top ten in four of his last five races with the only exception being the 2024 spring race, where he battled Tyler Reddick for the win before Reddick took him out. All the RFK drivers will likely have speed, which could make Buescher a solid DFS option.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Since there is no road course in this round of the NASCAR playoffs, Shane van Gisbergen's playoff run will likely end right here. His 20th-place qualifying run made him one of the only three playoff drivers who failed to qualify in the top 14, so he'll likely lose points to all of them unless another playoff contender fails to finish. Furthermore, the other two playoff drivers who qualified poorly (Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman) are typically faster in every oval race so one would expect them to finish better as well. SVG is in an awkward position where he qualified too poorly to have much of a chance to lead laps and score points that way, but also too well to gain much in the way of Place Differential points, which thereby makes him one of the worst DFS options.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Despite never leading a lap at Darlington, Austin Dillon wasn't actually bad here in his earlier years as he posted five top-10 finishes in his first 12 starts, including a second-place finish in the 2020 Southern 500. But almost all of that came with the Gen 6 car, while he has been significantly slower everywhere with the Next Gen chassis, except for his last two Richmond wins. Dillon did earn his best qualifying on speed here when he qualified ninth for Sunday's race, but since he's never finished better than that with the Next Gen chassis, he is almost guaranteed to lose positions, especially when considering his average finish with this chassis is a mere 21st. Dillon's recent speed at Richmond and solid qualifying may not make him the absolute worst choice since there is a chance he could lead the race, but that possibility seems so unbelievably remote that Dillon is still a pretty poor choice for DFS play.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Kyle Busch won only a single race at Darlington in 2008, but he has had some speed in the Next Gen era, leading 155 laps in the 2022 Southern 500 before an engine failure. He then finished 11th or better in four of the last five races, including a second-place showing in last year's Southern 500, but he led no laps in any of those races and has tended to get slower and slower each year at Richard Childress Racing. His 23rd-place qualifying run for Sunday was his worst since 2019, but on paper, he isn't a terrible selection when considering his recent races here and the place-differential points he could accumulate. However, when you consider that he seems to be running significantly worse in 2025 than he did last year when he was more unlucky, starting him is a pretty big risk.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Although Carson Hocevar hasn't posted a good finish at Darlington yet, Sunday's Southern 500 could provide him such an opportunity. Hocevar had speed when he qualified second for last year's Southern 500, although he quickly faded and earned no stage points before crashing out. Despite his general increase in speed, he had his worst qualifying position ever at the track on Sunday (26th) and he was surprisingly outqualified by both of his teammates. The track might be a poor fit for Hocevar at the moment since he is not really known as a finesse driver. On the other hand, he is young enough that he has the potential to significantly improve at any track and no one would be surprised. Given his inconsistency and poor luck this year, Hocevar is a risky pick, but given his talent level, poor qualifying, and cheap salary, it might be a pick worth taking.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Ryan Preece starts 27th for Sunday's Southern 500. Preece has neither led a lap nor earned a top-10 finish at Darlington, but he did start on the front row twice. One of those came when he started on the pole in the second race in 2020 after a field inversion, but he qualified second on merit in his first Darlington race for RFK Racing earlier this season. Preece actually ran really well in that race, remaining in the top five for the entire first half until he was trapped a lap down when he pitted before a caution came out, which ultimately resulted in an unrepresentative 26th-place finish. If he has similar speed on Sunday, he might be a great choice for DFS play, considering his poor starting position and the team's general speed at Darlington with team owner Brad Keselowski earning his last win there last year.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
August 30, 2025
Michael McDowell's Darlington record has been pretty paltry to date, as he has only posted three top-10 finishes in his career here. While all three of those races came with the Next Gen car, which indicates that he's obviously improved of late, he has still run worse than his record implies because he has never led here. Even in those races, he never posted a top-10 driver rating, so even those races had more to do with attrition and luck than speed, especially the 2022 spring Darlington race. Since there has been less attrition at Darlington in the later races with this car, he probably won't finish very well, although admittedly Spire Motorsports has been arguably faster than Front Row Motorsports here with Carson Hocevar starting on the front row last year. Nonetheless, McDowell probably isn't worth it, even at the low DFS price of $5,900.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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