October 12, 2025
Don't be surprised if Bubba Wallace contends for the South Point 400 win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday evening. Remember, the No. 23 Toyota was in position to win the race at Kansas a couple of weeks ago before Bubba got passed on a late restart and ended up finishing fifth. Kansas is the sister track to Las Vegas. As far as his track record in Sin City specifically, though, there's a lot to be desired. Bubba finished fourth here back in 2023, but that is his only top-10 result at Las Vegas over the last 10 races here. Still, the No. 23 Toyota had speed in the spring race here this season, finishing fourth in both Stages before ultimately winding up in 28th-place after getting caught up in a wreck. In practice this weekend, bubba had the fourth-best 30-lap average, showing that the No. 23 Toyota has good long-run speed.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
October 12, 2025
Ross Chastain had an interesting Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 1 Chevrolet was one of, if not the fastest cars during practice, but late in the session, Chastain got a little too high in turn three and ended up scraping the wall. His Trackhouse Racing team was able to repair the car, though, and Ross still went out and qualified 15th for Sunday evening's South Point 400. Now the question is, will that car still have the same speed during the race despite hitting the wall in practice? Las Vegas has been a great track for Chastain, as he has finished seventh or better in six of the seven Next Gen races here. The only exception? A 12th-place result in 2023. At $9,000 on DraftKings, Chastain makes for a great DFS pick this weekend due to his Place Differential and finishing position upside, assuming his No. 1 Chevrolet can stay away from the wall on Sunday night.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: On3
October 12, 2025
Chris Buescher has had solid speed at intermediate tracks this season, and it looks as though the No. 17 Ford is fast once again this weekend in Las Vegas. During practice on Saturday afternoon, Buescher was one of the best on the long run, ranking seventh-fastest in terms of 10-lap average during the session. Will that translate to speed during the race itself, though? The No. 17 Ford will roll off the starting grid from 11th-place when the South Point 400 goes green, and Buescher will be looking for his first finish better than 10th at this track since the 2020 season. In fact, that ninth-place run in 2020 is his best finish ever at Las Vegas in 17 career starts. With the speed that this Roush-Fenway Keselowski team has had this season, though, Buescher may be able to best that this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Driver Averages
October 12, 2025
In this year's spring race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Austin Cindric's No. 2 Ford was one of the best. He started third, led 47 laps, won a Stage, and ended up finishing sixth when it was all said and done. This weekend, though, Austin will have his work cut out for him if he wants to repeat that, as he qualified back in 31st-place for Sunday evening's South Point 400. However, when you look at practice speeds, Cindric wasn't nearly that slow in race pace, as the No. 2 Ford ranked ninth-fastest in 30-lap average during the session. If Cindric has that kind of speed on Sunday evening, he could make for a great DFS Place Differential pick, especially at his affordable salary of $7,200. Over the last five races at this track, he has two top-10 results along with three outside of the top 20 entirely, so it has been a bit hit or miss for Cindric in Sin City.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
October 12, 2025
Although he no longer seems to have the blinding speed he once had in the Gen 6 era, Chase Elliott has gotten his consistency back as a modern-day analogue to what the Labonte brothers were 25-30 years ago. It seems likely he doesn't have the speed to make the Championship Round, particularly since he's never led a lap or finished better than 9th at Las Vegas in the Next Gen era. However, his fourth-place qualifying run yesterday was his best here and he is coming off a gallant win two weeks ago at the very similar Kansas Speedway. Since he ranked third overall in practice and also had the third-best average speed, he'll likely run in the top five a lot but he'll probably struggle to lead. Nonetheless, at $9,500 he is cheaper than drivers who will more likely dominate like Denny Hamlin and William Byron, so starting him instead isn't a terrible idea.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Although Kyle Larson only finished ninth in the March race at Las Vegas, he was pretty spectacular, as he made five passes for the lead without being passed once for the lead himself before he was ultimately foiled by pit strategy. While he has been nowhere near as fast in the second half of the season (probably because he has been a little more conservative after the backlash from him crashing in both Memorial Day races), he's still getting finishes, but he hasn't had one of his patented dominant runs in a while, which might make him a difficult option since he is very mistake-prone. At $11,500, he is the highest-priced driver on DraftKings DFS in the field. You should probably choose Denny Hamlin instead since he's more likely to get a good finish and dominate, but a lot fewer people will likely start Larson, which might be the best reason to choose him instead.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Although Ryan Blaney has led only 84 laps at Las Vegas, it still seems like he's kind of overdue for a win, here particularly after the 2020 race where he was leading when a caution came out with five laps left, which handed the race win to Blaney's teammate Joey Logano after Blaney pitted. After an unlucky start to the season, Blaney's luck has improved as the season has progressed. Although his race in March may have been his unluckiest of the season, the fact that the Penske and Penske-adjacent Fords were fast enough for Josh Berry to win means Blaney will likely have speed on Sunday in what is probably his best season to date. His high salary of $10,500 may keep him from being the absolute best option, but since he's starting 14th while the other likely winners are starting in the top 10, you could argue he might be.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Chase Briscoe continued his run as NASCAR's most dominant qualifier with a second-place qualifying run on Saturday at Las Vegas. Although he finished fourth in the fall race in 2022, he normally doesn't run well here, although he has run better at most tracks since he switched to Joe Gibbs Racing after Stewart-Haas Racing, which was typically slow on intermediates in that era, closed down. He has earned top-five finishes at the last four unrestricted 1.5-mile oval races since the last race at Las Vegas, so he'll likely run well. But he's still never finished better than third on this track type, which means he'll likely lose a couple positions from where he starts, and he doesn't tend to dominate on intermediate tracks, either, so he likely won't get many lap-leader points. For those reasons, as well as his relatively high salary of $9,700, he's not the best option.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
On paper, Tyler Reddick seems like one of the best DFS options since he is generally regarded as a flat-intermediate master. He had five top-10 finishes in six starts here from 2021-2024, and he also led 34 laps in the March race before he got trapped a lap down after making a green-flag pit stop with only 26 laps left in the race. However, he understandably seemed a little distracted in recent months, what with 23XI Racing's lawsuit against NASCAR, rumors that he might leave the team if it loses its charter, and most importantly the health condition of his son Rookie. After being eliminated from the playoffs, Reddick will likely have a string of decent but uninspired runs to end the season, and he hasn't been leading much. Since he starts eighth, he has little to gain in terms of place-differential points, and since he's probably not going to dominate, there are better options.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Alex Bowman typically runs well at Las Vegas as he does on most flat intermediates. He won the first Next Gen-era race in 2022 here, drawing the ire of Kyle Busch, who whined after the race about how Bowman backed into most of his victories. His luck has mostly run out since then, especially after his two injuries, but he has still finished 7th or better in five of his last nine starts and it seems likely he might be able to do it again. What might hold him back is that he has been eliminated from the NASCAR playoffs while his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates are all in the Round of 8, so they might let his performance slide to focus on the other three cars. Starting 12th, he's probably more likely to gain positions than not, but there are certainly several better options, especially considering that Bowman doesn't lead much.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Brad Keselowski used to be a master at Las Vegas wih three wins from 2014-2018, but as with most tracks, he hasn't been much of a contender here with the Next Gen car, although he did lead 38 laps and finish fourth in the 2023 fall event. His 34th-place qualifying run yesterday is the worst of his career here, so you need to at least give him some consideration. Although he seemed washed up earlier this year, he did have RFK Racing's arguable best runs this year at Michigan and Iowa and has been the most dominant RFK driver even though Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece have both been faster and more consistent. His main issue is that he has often failed to get results this year even when he's run well, but nobody else who could reasonably contend qualified anywhere near that poorly, so you should probably start him anyway.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Although Shane van Gisbergen hasn't typically been fast in oval races yet, he's now outqualified both his Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez several times, and his speed in recent weeks has rapidly improved in oval races as well. He'll probably never win one, but much like his Supercars champion predecessor Marcos Ambrose, he'll likely acquit himself fairly well on them eventually. As a result, you can't exactly look at past history to forecast his performance since he will almost certainly run better than any model based on his past results would indicate. However, he also qualified 13th and his best oval finish remains his 10th two weeks ago at Kansas so he will likely still lose positions in terms of Place Differential points. You probably shouldn't start him, but he should still run better than you think.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Although Josh Berry's win in the March race at Las Vegas seemed to mark a breakthrough for him in the NASCAR Cup Series, in retrospect, it's starting to seem like more of a fluke. This is not to say Berry hasn't had a number of good runs this season - his Loudon drive was probably even better - but the consistent speed Berry and his de facto teammate Austin Cindric showed on intermediates early in the season has fizzled out lately and he won the previous Las Vegas race primarily on strategy. A lot of people will be tempted to start him especially since his 29th-place starting position is far worse than he usually qualifies, but it also seems to indicate that his speed has stagnated recently despite the Loudon run. Based on the first half of the season, he could be a solid bet for a top fifteen, but his more recent races except Loudon have not been inspiring.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Although the fan base seems to be giving up on Carson Hocevar's potential as he has caused more crashes and been arguably sloppier than he even was last year, avoid him at your own peril. Hocevar hasn't posted a particularly good finish at Las Vegas yet, but Spire Motorsports clearly has speed here if they were even able to put Michael McDowell on the pole here in the spring and despite finishing thirtieth two laps down in the March race, he earned points in both stages before spinning out Ty Gibbs on pit road. Hocevar also qualified 22nd for today's race, substantially worse than most of the other realistic contenders, not to mention the fact that he had the second-best average lap time in practice. All that makes him a great option for DFS Place Differential points especially since he has only been placed at $7,000 on DraftKings due to his poor earlier record. He'll likely exceed expectations today.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
October 12, 2025
Ryan Preece earned a career-best third-place finish in the last race at Las Vegas in March, but he ran nowhere near as well as that implied. His average running position of 15th was the worst of any of the drivers who finished in the top ten as the No. 60 team made an excellent strategy play by staying out of the pits on the race's final caution to advance from 14th to third, but to his credit he stayed there. Preece has run so much better at nearly all tracks this season than he had ever before in the past that his earlier results this season are probably more reflective of how he will perform tomorrow than his past results here. Since he has earned four top ten finishes on 1.5 mile tracks this year, don't he surprised if he does so again today, which could possibly make him viable for DFS play even though he has an above-average starting position in 16th.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
RADIO
